Caribean Medical School Admissions

[lsmith55uf]

Hello All,
I am currently an active duty Army Officer deployed to Iraq. When I return to the States, I am planning to pursue my lifelong dream on becoming an MD. Here are my Stats: BS degree from University of Florida in Human Nutrition , 2.67 GPA (I worked 2 jobs, and did ROTC, and had didn't take school as seriosly as I should). I took physics 1 &2 at a CC and got a 4.0. I took Anatomy at BYU and got an A, and retook Organic Chem at Oregon State and received an A. I am looking at American University of the Caribbean where my uncle is an alum. Hopefully can get some influence from him. I am studying for the MCATs here in Iraq and plan to take them as soon as I return stateside. I have volunteered in my free time in our Batallion aid station here in Iraq, and am combat lifesaver qualified. I also have volunteer time both at the VA Hospital in college, as well as time at my uncle's clinic in FL. I don't think I have a lot of chances of getting into a US school, so I am very interested in AUC. I am also planning to take more college courses when I get back to Ft. Bragg. My question, is what can I do to really help my application, and what is the best way to study for the MCAT since i havent had a lot of that stuff in a few years. Thanks!

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[NonTradMed]

Best place to ask about the carribean schools is the 'carribean' section under the international forum. www.valuemd.com is also a good site for potential international candidates since it focuses exclusively on international candidates.

If you're going to the carribeans, I think all you need to do is hit the MCAT and get ~25 and you'll probably good enough with your current GPA to get into a reputable carribean school, but again, best place to ask about entry into carribean is on the carribean forums.

If you are remotely interested in stateside schools, your GPA from your college days are going to need ALOT of pull to get it into shape. You need at least a 3.0 to have it taken seriously, and with a 3.0, you'd probably need >30 to make it marginally competitive.

 

[ntmed]

Just keep in mind that about 50% of foreign medical graduates (FMG's) fail the USMLE's. The failure rate is actually higher for U.S. citizens who attend medical school overseas. And of those who pass, only about 50% get into residency. The numbers have been a bit higher lately. But overall, this means you'll have about a 25-30% chance of becoming a doctor in the U.S. if you attend medical school overseas.

I'd only consider the Carribean after I exhausted my chances of getting into a U.S. school. It looks like you've turned things around academically. You may want to consider completing a quick masters in biology and applying to U.S. medical schools. If you continue to do well, a strong post-bacc and graduate GPAs, along with good MCAT scores, should make you a competitive applicant.

Back to your original question, I took the MCAT about 12 years after I completed my premed courses. What I did was to take a couple review courses (which it looks like you recently did). Then I studied for about 20-40 hours a week for about 6 months. I initially used "The Easy Way" books by Barrons to get a handle on the basics in bio, chem, and phys. But I spent most of my time with the Kaplan MCAT review book, supplemented with the Flowers & Silvers book and Schuam's outlines for additional practice. I studied one section a week (bio, organic, chem, phys), ending each week with a practice test in that area, and kept repeating this cycle each month. I also did half a verbal test about twice a week or so.

Best of luck.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Just keep in mind that about 50% of foreign medical graduates (FMG's) fail the USMLE's. The failure rate is actually higher for U.S. citizens who attend medical school overseas. And of those who pass, only about 50% get into residency. The numbers have been a bit higher lately. But overall, this means you'll have about a 25-30% chance of becoming a doctor in the U.S. if you attend medical school overseas.

Care to provide a source for that information? Until you can prove otherwise, I'm calling bull**** on this because those seem a little outlandish, especially the one about American students who go to the Caribbean. I've always seen stats for those students coming out of Ross and the two other decent offshore schools that are around 70% passing. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly not a "You're totally screwed" situation either.

I'd only consider the Carribean after I exhausted my chances of getting into a U.S. school.

However I do agree with this part of your post.

 

[ntmed]

Care to provide a source for that information?

Sure I can.

The NBME states that the overall USMLE Step I pass rate for FMGs was 53% in 1999 and 55% in 2000. For Step III, the overall pass rate for FMGs was 49% (http://www.usmle.org/scores/medlic.htm). What they currently post is no longer broken down by U.S-born vs. foreign-born.

The NRMP states that the overall match rate for foreign-born FMGs was 38.5% to 55.6% between 2000 and 2006. For U.S-born FMGs, the match rate during this time was 50.6 to 55.4% (http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/data_tables.html). The overall match rate is actually lower, if you include the FMGs who withdraw from the match each year (up to 30%).

In 2000, based on the USMLE Step III pass rate (49%) and the NRMP match rate, (51.4%, 38.5%), you get a success rate of about 25%. There may be some exceptions, as you suggested, for those who attend Carribean schools with better reputations.

 

[NonTradMed]

The NBME states that the overall USMLE Step I pass rate for FMGs was 53% in 1999 and 55% in 2000. For Step III, the overall pass rate for FMGs was 49% (http://www.usmle.org/scores/medlic.htm). What they currently post is no longer broken down by U.S-born vs. foreign-born.

The NRMP states that the overall match rate for foreign-born FMGs was 38.5% to 55.6% between 2000 and 2006. For U.S-born FMGs, the match rate during this time was 50.6 to 55.4% (http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/data_tables.html).

In 2000, based on the USMLE Step III pass rate (49%) and the NRMP match rate, (51.4%, 38.5%), you get a success rate of about 25%.

I'm not questioning your numbers, but I was curious as to what the passing rate for US-born FMGs were for Step I. I think, without that data, it's hard to figure out the 'chances' of a US-born FMG in getting residencies. In theory, I would say it should be higher than the foreign born FMG simply because of the language barrier. However, I am surprised at how low the US-born FMG match rate is. I also figured it was much higher.

To the OP, the best thing to do is to ask about the success rate of the students in the few reputable carribean schools out there. My guess is their success rate is higher than the ones offered here b/c they tend to attract more serious students. However, try to get into a US med school first. It will save you a lot of hassles later in life.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Sure I can. But don't be so quick to call something "bull", Dropkick.

The NBME states that the overall USMLE Step I pass rate for FMGs was 53% in 1999 and 55% in 2000. For Step III, the overall pass rate for FMGs was 49% (http://www.usmle.org/scores/medlic.htm). What they currently post is no longer broken down by U.S-born vs. foreign-born.

The NRMP states that the overall match rate for foreign-born FMGs was 38.5% to 55.6% between 2000 and 2006. For U.S-born FMGs, the match rate during this time was 50.6 to 55.4% (http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/data_tables.html). The overall match rate is actually lower, if you include the FMGs who withdraw from the match each year (up to 30%).

In 2000, based on the USMLE Step III pass rate (49%) and the NRMP match rate, (51.4%, 38.5%), you get a success rate of about 25%.

Thank you for providing references. I've just gotten so used to the rampant posting of unsubstantiated numbers by various people on here, I've developed somewhat of a hair trigger at times.

 

[ntmed]

I'm not questioning your numbers, but I was curious as to what the passing rate for US-born FMGs were for Step I.

I edited my original post to include Step I and Step III data. But all of the results can be found on the links in that post.

 

[ntmed]

Thank you for providing references. I've just gotten so used to the rampant posting of unsubstantiated numbers by various people on here, I've developed somewhat of a hair trigger at times.

No problem. I agree with you that there probably are some foreign schools that are better than others. And I agree that there can be wild claims at times in these forums.

 

[helpfuldoc2b]

Sure I can.

The NBME states that the overall USMLE Step I pass rate for FMGs was 53% in 1999 and 55% in 2000. For Step III, the overall pass rate for FMGs was 49% (http://www.usmle.org/scores/medlic.htm). What they currently post is no longer broken down by U.S-born vs. foreign-born.

The NRMP states that the overall match rate for foreign-born FMGs was 38.5% to 55.6% between 2000 and 2006. For U.S-born FMGs, the match rate during this time was 50.6 to 55.4% (http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/data_tables.html). The overall match rate is actually lower, if you include the FMGs who withdraw from the match each year (up to 30%).

In 2000, based on the USMLE Step III pass rate (49%) and the NRMP match rate, (51.4%, 38.5%), you get a success rate of about 25%. There may be some exceptions, as you suggested, for those who attend Carribean schools with better reputations.

There are some solid Carib Schools like SGU, Saba, AUC, Ross. The lowest USLME passing rate out of these schools will be on the side of 80% with the highest at such schools as SGU with 99% passing rate, higher than some US MD schools. The source refers to most foriegn schools such as those in india where the curriculum and language are very different than that of their US counterparts hence makes it harder to pass the USMLE. Carib schools gear their curriculum towards US medical education hence makes it extremely easy/feasable to pass.

 

[Doc2007]

Sure I can.

The NBME states that the overall USMLE Step I pass rate for FMGs was 53% in 1999 and 55% in 2000. For Step III, the overall pass rate for FMGs was 49% (http://www.usmle.org/scores/medlic.htm). What they currently post is no longer broken down by U.S-born vs. foreign-born.

The NRMP states that the overall match rate for foreign-born FMGs was 38.5% to 55.6% between 2000 and 2006. For U.S-born FMGs, the match rate during this time was 50.6 to 55.4% (http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/data_tables.html). The overall match rate is actually lower, if you include the FMGs who withdraw from the match each year (up to 30%).

In 2000, based on the USMLE Step III pass rate (49%) and the NRMP match rate, (51.4%, 38.5%), you get a success rate of about 25%. There may be some exceptions, as you suggested, for those who attend Carribean schools with better reputations.

The data listed by NRMP does not include students who took prematch offers. Also lot of USIMGs match through scrable which are not reported by NRMP. AUC, Ross, and SGU are more established schools and most of their graudates obtain residency.