What's the "real deal" on these Carribean Medical Schools?

[justme1972]

I'm starting to notice a higher number of doctors that graduate from medical schools in the Carribean that practice in the USA.

Anyone know something I don't?

[CHATSDALE]

there are medical schools in granada, probably a lot of other places but the ones i personally heard of was there

with the shortage of openings in our medical schools these have become an avenue for those with the money to go to school

i don't know about the quality of the education or what they have to go through to be licensed here in states

[Plain Vanilla]

I read about those...seems that people who obtain their bachelors but don't get into the medical schools of their choice here in the U.S. take these as an alternative or others overseas in Europe. I'm not sure about the quality of the education there, but I read that upon graduating and returning to the U.S., they have to take the USMLE to take their residency and practice in the U.S.

[TiredMD]

The Carribean Medical Schools have been around for a long time and have a mixed reputation in the U.S. As pointed out here, it frequently serves as a pathway for U.S. students who didn't do real well as undergraduates to get an MD. Of course, since they are international schools, there are also many students from foreign countries who go there for a variety of reasons.

A lot of the suspicion about these schools comes from the fact that they are for-profit institutions, something that you will not find in MD schools in the U.S. (although the DO schools are starting to move in this direction here).

It's not really fair to speak of "Carribean Medical Schools" although we do this often. In truth, there are 4 older, large, semi-well respected schools colloquially known as the "Big 4". They tend to produce better physicians, have reasonably good success in getting their graduates into U.S. residency programs, and reasonable board passing rates. What they also do (and I think this is a good thing) is have very rigorous academic programs and pretty high attrition rates, meaning that a lot of people fail out but the ones who make it are reasonably good quality.

The remainder of the medical schools in the region range from mediocre to outright crap, and a lot of these are just scams to get money from rich kids.

From what I understand, there is no recent increase in the number of Carribean graduates. Likely you just randomly have met more recently. They still represent a very very small proportion of the MDs in America.

[avsmch]

I've seen quite a few posters/ads for these med schools hanging up in college classrooms. The ads show students wearing scrubs playing volleyball on perfect beaches with tall palm trees. They say something about going to school in paradise. While I know that some of these schools probably deserve the respect and such these ads make me suspicious. If these schools are so perfect in paradise, why don't we see more people applying to them? Why do these schools have to advertise then?

[just_cause, BSN, RN]

Caribbean schools are typically used when applicants are unable to attend US based schools based on MCAT, GPA, EC activities.

They provide a route to still becoming an MD.

The major downsides of Caribbean schools include high attrition rate from those accepted to those graduating - and the difficulty of arranging residencies.

The attrition rate could be a combination of the lower 'average standard' of students and could be argued as the quality of instruction. The residencies are harder to coordinate as they are not geographically attached and are less affiliated then many other schools.

[summerscoopy26]

To think that the United States is the only country to have "quality medical schools" is very ARROGANT and depicts a shallow depth of thought!

[just_cause, BSN, RN]

summerscoopy - if your comment is directed at me...

Did I state that the US has the only quality medical schools? No, actually I did not.

Caribbean schools differ from most as they are offshore - for profit - schools designed for US students to attend NOT to educate caribbean doctors... they are for profit schools and it's much cheaper to operate in the Carib vs the US.

Arrogance is based on ?? The fact of the matter is you can look at the attrition rates and USMLE passage rates - then you can get back to me.

Do you wonder why not all states boards of medicine allow Caribbean school graduates to practice in their state? I doubt it is due to anyone's ignorance except those who just assume...

Do you wonder why medical cert boards question the Caribbean schools?

Do you wonder WHY the typical applicant only applies as an alternative or on the second year of application?

[algebra_demystified]

You know what they call somebody who graduated at the bottom of his class from a Caribbean medical school?

Doctor.

[just_cause, BSN, RN]

I'm not doubting that.

Do you know what they call a Caribbean student? Someone X% less likely to be a doctor.

I'm simply stating the correlation between LESS students graduating as a percentage of freshmen...then all OTHER MD schools.

It's a combination of lower admittance standards and lower teaching quality.

If I were spending 100k+ on an education that would mean something to me.

But yes - anyone who HAS graduated is a doctor - great point.

[zahryia, LPN]

summerscoopy - if your comment is directed at me...

Did I state that the US has the only quality medical schools? No, actually I did not.

Caribbean schools differ from most as they are offshore - for profit - schools designed for US students to attend NOT to educate caribbean doctors... they are for profit schools and it's much cheaper to operate in the Carib vs the US.

Arrogance is based on ?? The fact of the matter is you can look at the attrition rates and USMLE passage rates - then you can get back to me.

Do you wonder why not all states boards of medicine allow Caribbean school graduates to practice in their state? I doubt it is due to anyone's ignorance except those who just assume...

Do you wonder why medical cert boards question the Caribbean schools?

Do you wonder WHY the typical applicant only applies as an alternative or on the second year of application?

Please, higer education in the US is big business. Please don't be fooled by the non-profit status. They're out to make some serious money. We (the public) just don't get a piece of the pie.

[TiredMD]

You know what they call somebody who graduated at the bottom of his class from a Caribbean medical school?

Doctor.

In the Caribbean, maybe. But not in the U.S. Graduating from school is the just first step in a long process to become a licensed, practicing physician here.