Question about Med-School

[wmdeltaman]

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hello, thanks for viewing. I would like to enter a caribbean medical school next fall. i am trying to avoid taking the mcat. what medschools are there that don't require the mcat exam? also, if i go to this school, will i be able to get a residency in the U.S without taking the mcat exam? also, which school has affiliations in the U.S. that I could attend for clinical rotations. Thanks for any comments.

 

[Skip Intro]

Residency programs don't care a whit about your MCAT scores. What they care about are the following:

(1) Are you a liability? Essentially, no program wants a problem resident. You prove that you are not going to be a problem with no hiccups during your education (meaning that you sailed through your program without being held back), your letters of recommendation (which are vouchers from trusted people that you are an upstanding person), and a solid track record of prior accomplishment with no personal blemishes (you haven't been arrested or convicted of anything, etc.). This, in essence, tells the program that you are low risk if they offer you a spot.

(2) Will you pass the boards on your first try? You demonstrate this by high board scores. You may be the smartest person in the world, but if you have trouble with standardized tests you might struggle when it comes time to sit for board certification.

(3) Are you dependable? Again, much like item (1), this is a bit harder to prove. Getting into a residency is a bit like marrying someone after a first date. They want to see such intangible things like how your appearance looks during the interview (which shows that you care about how you present yourself), whether or not you misspelled words in your personal statement, if you show up on time and look interested, if you ask relevant questions and are engaging, and whether or not you appear serious about your profession. Some of these things are subtle, but they can definitely come across in the interview - which is why we have interviews.

(4) Are you motivated? Ironically, proving that you earnestly want to be a physician by going through the trouble of inserting yourself into a foreign country for a few years, moving around to do clinicals, and getting through the program without delay actually helps you in this regard. Of course, some residency programs will not even consider you because of a Caribbean degree, others see this as a huge plus. But, you have to do your part too by not having any major mistakes during your time obtaining your degree.

MCATs have no bearing on any of these things, and they're not even asked for during the residency application process.

Good luck!

-Skip Intro
PGY-4/CA-3
Graduate with Honors, Ross University (2005)

 

[wmdeltaman]

Ok thanks for the quick responsea skip. Also, if anyone could direct me to which medical schools in the caribbean are credible that do not require the mcat. Looking for a school that has good education and low attrition rates. Thanks for the help.

 

[dragonfly99]

Are you a US person? If so, I totally don't understand wanting to dodge the MCAT so much that you don't even apply to any school in the US. Carib grads can succeed but some specialties will be pretty much off limits to them, and the rate of failing out, and/or not passing the US medical license exam Step 1 (which you MUST pass to get a residency in the US) is quite high at a lot of these schools. Even the better ones like Ross and some of the others...
so you are taking a huge risk by going down there, particularly if you aren't a good standardized test taker to start off with.

IMHO a better plan would be do as well as you can at a US college/university, volunteer a good bit in hospitals, etc. then take an MCAT prep course if you aren't good at standardized tests. Even if you don't do great, you could have a shot at a US school. Don't give up before you start. I agree with the above post that if you are afraid of the MCAT then there are some med school classes that are going to kick your a--. You need to get a hold of yourself and conquer your fear.

The other poster above is right in saying that residencies will not care about your MCAT score. They WILL care about your US medical licensing exam score (tends to be lower in those who went to non-US medical schools) and where your trained (i.e. a US school vs. Caribbean school).

Yes, you can succeed by going to somewhere like St George or Ross, but you won't be able to get into radiology, dermatology, plastic surgery, or some other fields (very likely). Also, you'll have to pay a lot of money, be traveling around a lot for your clinical rotations (which may be of low or sporadic quality) during 3rd and 4th years, and you may not even make it through school. Even Ross has a <90% USMLE pass rate I think, and there are very few if any US schools that have a pass rate that low for the exam. You have to pay attention to that b/c you will NOT get US residency without passing that test. You are setting yourself on a hard path if you go to the Caribbean just to avoid the MCAT.

 

[McGillGrad]

I'm not here to judge why you want to avoid the MACT. Mainly I don't care.

AUA, St. Matts and maybe Saba didn't require it recently (although it could change).