ECFVG and PAVE programs

[Jeff SGU]

Hey Everyone! I was reading through some of the old posts, and there seems to be a lot of confusion about the tests students from non-AVMA accredited schools have to take to become licensed in the United States, so I thought I would try to explain the process for everyone.

The non-AVMA accredited schools in the Caribbean all have affiliations with U.S. and other AVMA accredited schools, where their students can attend for their 4th year clinical rotations. This is important to note, as it puts them in a different position than other non AVMA accredited schools around the world.

To be licensed in North America, (That is the United States and Canada) everyone has to take the NAVLE (North American Veterinary Licensing Exam) Yes even if you go to Cornell. Everyone also has to take the individual State exam that may be required in the state you wish to practice.

In addition, students from the Caribbean schools currently have to take one additional exam. The original exam that was set up for foreign students was the ECFVG which is run by the AVMA. The largest portion of this exam is a 3 day clinical proficiency exam where you are tested on your clinical skills. After passing this exam, along with the NAVLE students are eligible to be licensed in all 50 states of the United States.

Around 6 years ago, a few State Veterinary Licensing boards decided the AVMA should not have control over who they gave licenses to. They decided that it did not make sense for the Caribbean vet students who are getting the exact same clinical education as a student attending a U.S. veterinary school is, to have to sit a clinical proficiency exam, so they created the PAVE program which is a 300 multiple choice exam that test students on their veterinary education. There are now 27 states plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that accept the PAVE program, and the list is still growing.

In both cases students are generally prepared extremely well for these exams and the first time pass rates are very high.

Since most residency programs take place at Universities, students from non-AVMA accredited schools can and do complete residencies after graduation before gaining licensure in that state, as they are working under the guidance of the University.

I bolded "AVMA" accreditation because everyone has the habit of saying a "non-accredited school" which is not true. There are many different accrediting bodies. If you look at St. George's University as a whole their programs are accredited by more organizations than probably any other school in the world. It seems like we always have an accrediting body on our campus conducting visits, which definitely keep us on our toes.

SGU has been in the process of gaining AVMA accreditation for its vet school, and has recently put in a request for the final site visit. Stay tuned!

If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

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[david594]

Who specifically is the SGU Veterinary School accredited by? And what is the school's NAVLE first time pass rate?

 

[Jeff SGU]

St. George's University School of Veterinary Medicine is accredited by the governement of Grenada which does regular reviews of our program.

I'm sure you have noticed that many veterinary schools around the world have recently obtained or is in the process of obtaining AVMA accreditation, such as schools in the U.K. and Australia. Many of these schools have been in exisistance for nearly 100 years under the "accreditation" standards of their country, and are fantastic schools which SGU is affiliated with. If you look at all the veterinary schools in the U.K., they are all great schools with a long and successful history. Do they all have AVMA accreditation? No. Does that make them less of a school? No.

St. George's is and always will be an international University. We typically have students from 25-30 different countries on our campus at any given time. Our Vet school has students not only from the U.S. but from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, South Africa, and Australia just to name a few. SGU has been very successful in preparing all of these students to go back to their countries and pass the licensing exams needed in their country. We even have a handful of graduates who are now licensed in both the U.S. and the U.K.

I didn't intend to have this be a rah rah SGU thread. (That's what myOpen House presentations are for) I honestly just wanted to clear up some confusion that was obvious from some of the posts I read here. I think there is a lot of misinformation out there, and I just want to help.

Over the past five years the first time pass rate on the NAVLE has been 87%. The average first time pass rate of the U.S. schools is reported to be around 91-92% Unfortunately no one publishes a report for individual schools. Do you know what it is for any of the U.S. schools? I would love to find out.

Who specifically is the SGU Veterinary School accredited by? And what is the school's NAVLE first time pass rate?

 

[rugbychick16]

St. George's University School of Veterinary Medicine is accredited by the governement of Grenada which does regular reviews of our program.

I'm sure you have noticed that many veterinary schools around the world have recently obtained or is in the process of obtaining AVMA accreditation, such as schools in the U.K. and Australia. Many of these schools have been in exisistance for nearly 100 years under the "accreditation" standards of their country, and are fantastic schools which SGU is affiliated with. If you look at all the veterinary schools in the U.K., they are all great schools with a long and successful history. Do they all have AVMA accreditation? No. Does that make them less of a school? No.

St. George's is and always will be an international University. We typically have students from 25-30 different countries on our campus at any given time. Our Vet school has students not only from the U.S. but from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, South Africa, and Australia just to name a few. SGU has been very successful in preparing all of these students to go back to their countries and pass the licensing exams needed in their country. We even have a handful of graduates who are now licensed in both the U.S. and the U.K.

I didn't intend to have this be a rah rah SGU thread. (That's what myOpen House presentations are for) I honestly just wanted to clear up some confusion that was obvious from some of the posts I read here. I think there is a lot of misinformation out there, and I just want to help.

Over the past five years the first time pass rate on the NAVLE has been 87%. The average first time pass rate of the U.S. schools is reported to be around 91-92% Unfortunately no one publishes a report for individual schools. Do you know what it is for any of the U.S. schools? I would love to find out.

Many schools list their overall NAVLE pass rate someplace on their website.
"The pass rate for KSU graduates on the North American Licensing Examination during 2008-2009 was 99%. This statement is required by the AVMA COE."
But usually the first time pass rates are harder to find out and you have to inquire directly. K-state's first time pass rate for the 2009 NAVLE in December was 98%.

 

[david594]

Thanks for the response.

First time pass rate for students at the OSU taking the exam in late 2008:

The results from the November - December NAVLE indicated that 96.4 percent of students from the College of Veterinary Medicine passed the exam; the national passing average of students taking the exam from AVMA accredited institutions was 93.4 percent.

 

[smilin1590]

Thanks so much Jeff for the complete information on these tests! It was probably all my old post you were reading 🙂 Everyone on this site helped in explaining it to me and I'd like to thank you for adding more specific clarifications. SDN Rocks!