Foreign Medical Schools

Who should consider applying to foreign medical schools?

• Students with numbers that are not competitive for admission to US MD or DO schools (below 3.3 GPA and 24 MCAT).
• Students who are adaptable and adventurous (the schools may be in places different from the US).
• Students who are willing to go into debt (all of the schools accessible to US citizens are private).

What are the academic risks?

• The school may not have the necessary resources (equipment, faculty, library, etc) to deliver an adequate medical education (check it out!)
• The school might not be stable, either due to financial or political issues(consider schools that have a history).
• Graduates of foreign schools may have more difficulty passing licensure exams (look into US pass rates for the school of interest).

Which schools are recommended?

Canadian Schools:

17 accredited schools, see http://services.aamc.org/memberlistings/index.cfm

for a complete listing.

Caribbean Schools:

• American University (St. Maarten)  www.aucmed.edu
• St. Georges University (Grenada) www.sgu.edu
• Ross University (Dominica) www.rossmed.edu

England and Australia

• St. Christopher's College of Medicine (England) www.stchris.edu
• Flinders University (Australia) www.flinders.edu.au

For Spanish Speakers

• Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG, Mexico) www.aug.edu

How does the curriculum differ from the US medical schools?

Generally the curriculum is geared toward the USMLE exams, and therefore are very similar to that of US schools.

The clinical experience may be somewhat different depending upon the school. For example, Ross University sends students to US teaching hospitals for their clinical rotations in the third and fourth years. The UAG offers what they call the “Fifth Pathway” specifically designed for U.S. citizens who have completed their premedical college education in the U.S. This program permits the U.S. citizen who has completed four years of medical training at UAG to return to the United States to enter a year of AMA supervised clinical training at a U.S. medical school.  (Recently, there has been talk that the AMA will no longer support this pathway.)

How do I eventually practice in the U.S.?

With the MD degree, graduates begin US residencies and complete licensure requirements in the U.S. The recommended schools have nearly a 100% success rate.

How do I find out more?

To find medical schools around the world visit http://imed.ecfmg.org/search.asp