A doctor of allopathic medicine attends medical school for four years, after which he or she undertakes graduate medical education by taking up residency in a specialty for 3 or more additional years of training.  Students hoping to be accepted into medical school the first time they apply should strive for at least a 3.75 GPA.  Average MCAT scores were: 10 for Verbal Reasoning, 10 for Physical Science, 10 for Biological Science, and a Q in the Writing Sample.  For schools such as Duke, Johns Hopkins, or Vanderbilt, most students should have a 3.9 or better and score 11 or better on each of the 3 parts of the MCAT.  For the 2002 entering class there were 34,786 applicants vying for 16,538 positions resulting in 47% of the applicants enrolling.

EVALUATING MEDICAL SCHOOLS

*Prepared by The Organization of Student Representative of the AAMC, Washington, DC

Curriculum:

·  Are there any special programs for which this medical school is noted?

·  Describe this school's curriculum in the preclinical and clinical years.  Are there any innovations, like Problem-Based Learning?

·  Are there opportunities for students to design, conduct, and publish their own research?

·  Is there a note-taking service?  If so, is it University-run or student-run?

·  Is there flexibility in the coursework (the number of electives) and the timing of the courses (acceleration, decelerating, and time off) during the pre-clinical and clinical years?

·  Has this medical school, or any of its clinical departments, been on probation or had its accreditation revoked?

·  How do students from this medical school perform on the National Board Examinations?  How does the school assist students who do not pass?

Evaluations:

·  How are students evaluated academically?  How are clinical evaluations performed?

·  Is there a formal mechanism in place for students to evaluate their professors and attending physicians?  What changes have been made recently as a result of this feedback?

Counseling/Student Support:

·  What kind of academic, personal, financial, and career counseling is available to students?  Are these services also offered to their spouses and dependents/children?

·  Is there a mentor/advisor system?  Who are the advisors -- faculty members, other students, or both?

·  How diverse is the student body?  Are there support services or organizations for ethnic minorities and women?

Facilities:

·  Tell me about the library and extracurricular facilities (i.e., housing and athletic/recreational facilities).

·  What type of clinical sites -- ambulatory, private preceptors, private hospitals, rural settings -- are available or required for clerkships?  Does this school allow for students to do rotations at other institutions or internationally?

·  Is a care necessary for clinical rotations?  Is parking a problem?

Financial Aid:

·  What is the current tuition and fees?  Is this expected to increase yearly? If so, at what rate?

·  Are there stable levels of federal financial aid and substantial amounts of university/medical school endowment aid available to students?

·  Are there students who have an 'unmet need" factor in their budget?  If so, where do these students come up with the extra funds?

·  Are spouses and dependents/children covered in a student's budget?

·  Is someone available to assist students with budgeting and financial planning?

·  Does this school provide guidance to its students, and to its graduates/alumni, on debt management?

Student involvement:

·  What medical school committees (e.g., curriculum committee) have student representation?

·  Are students involved in (required or voluntary) community service?

·  How active is the Student Council/Government?  Are there other student organizations?

Policies:

·  Is there an established protocol for dealing with student exposure to infectious diseases?  Is disability insurance provided to cover this exposure?

·  Does this school provide, or does the student pay for, vaccinations against Hepatitis B or prophylactic AST treatment in case of a needle-stick or accident?

·  Is there a school Honor Code?  Is there a grievance process/procedure?  Are the students involved?

Residency:

·  May I see a list of residency programs to which this school's recent graduates were accepted?

Questions to ask yourself:

·  Does this school have strengths in the type of medicine (primary versus specialized care, urban versus rural practice environment, academic medicine versus private practice) that I will want to practice?

· Would I be happy at this school (for at least the next four years)?

COMBINED DEGREE PROGRAMS:

The following web sites contain information on Combined Degree Programs with the M.D. degree.

AAMC Research: MD - Ph.D. Programs in the United States : this is the American Association of Medical Colleges site which lists all schools offering M.D.- Ph.D. programs in the United States.

Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) Institutions: The National Institute of General Medical Sciences is a component of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. By supporting basic biomedical research and training nationwide, NIGMS lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

AAMC Listing of Schools Offering Combined Degree Programs: this site has a drop-down menu for Combined Degree Programs that can be search either by the school or the program. Possible combined degrees are:

BS/MD – combined Bachelors of Science and MD program
MD/M.Ed – Masters of Medical Education
MD/MPH – Masters of Public Health
MD/JD - Law
MD/MBA – Masters of Business Administration
MD/MHA – Masters of Health Administration
MD/PhD (various fields listed)

RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

After completing medical school you will be ready for a Residency Program. To get some idea about the types of residency programs available and the length of the programs visit the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA) web sites. The FREIDA Online Search page will allow you to search either by the program or the location. The site FREIDA Online Specialty Training Search will let you look at recent statistics on the different Residency Programs.

Another site you may wish to visit is the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) which is a private, not-for-profit corporation established in 1952 to provide a uniform date of appointment to positions in graduate medical education (GME) in the United States. Five organizations sponsor the NRMP:

• American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
• American Hospital Association (AHA),
• Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS)

FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOLS

American Association of International Medical Graduates:  serves as an accurate information source for American citizens unable to gain acceptance into medical schools in the United States.

List of All Foreign Medical Schools and their web links

Princeton Reviews Guide to Foreign Medical Schools

            If you are planning on applying to foreign medical schools you should read Carlos Pestana’s Foreign Medical Schools for U.S. Citizens which is available in the Chief Health Career Advisor’s office (PH224).  It contrasts the French-type medical schools (originating with hospitals) and the German-type medical schools (originating with universities).  It gives information on the last six years of ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) statistics for U.S. citizens on % passing the tests needed to get back into the U.S. as well as the language used in the medical schools and difficulties encountered by U.S. students. 

            Canadian medical schools are most like the U.S. medical schools, but more difficult to enter.  You are more likely to be accepted at U.S. schools than Canadian schools unless your scores are extremely high.  In terms of quality and similarity to U.S. Medical schools a highly qualified student could consider European schools in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Holland and Switzerland.  However it is difficult to get accepted at these schools.  France would be next in terms of success in getting back into the U.S.  The success of U.S. students in Germany, Italy and Spain is lower.  Comparable in quality to the Northern European schools are medical schools in South Africa and Australia.  Another possibility in Europe is the Karol Marcinkowski Medical University in Poznan.  The classes are taught in English.

            A possibility for religious students interested in medical missionary work with Spanish speaking people would be Laescuela de Medicina de La Universidad de Monemorelos in Mexico.  This school belongs to the Seventh Day Adventists Church and has very high moral standards with many prohibitions. 

            In the Caribbean there is a wide variety of so-called “off-shore medical schools”.  The best bets are shown below in the table.  The newest and most untested is on the tiny island of Saba (island area - 5 square miles; population - 1,200) in the Netherlands-Antilles.  For information call (800) 825-7754 or look at web site www.saba.org.  Another is the rather small Antigua School of Medicine (25 students per class).  For information call (809) 460-1391.  Avoid any medical school in the Dominican Republic where fraudulent schemes to attract money from desperate premedical students have flourished.

            Currently the top choices in terms of quality, passing rates and numbers of U.S. students admitted are listed below with addresses and telephone numbers:

COUNTRY	LANGUAGE	SCHOOL	ADDRESS
Israel	English in class English & Hebrew in hospital	Sackler School of Medicine	17 East 62nd Street New York, NY  10021
U.S. (1st year) Israel	English at Tuoro College (NY) English & Hebrew at Technion	Technion Medical School in Haifa	Tuoro College 135 Carman Road Dix Hills, NY  11746
Ireland	English	Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland	123 St. Stephen's Green Dublin 2, Ireland
Grenada	English	St. Georges University School of Medicine	Medical School Services, Ltd One East Main Street Bayshore, NY  11706-9990
Mexico	English 1st year Spanish for other years	Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara	4715 Fredericksburg Rd – Suite 300 San Antonio, TX 78229
Antiqua	English	American University of Antigua College of Medicine	American University of Antigua College of Medicine 501 Fifth Avenue Suite 1600 New York, NY 10017
Dominica	English	Ross University	International Educa. Admissions 460 W. 34th Street New York, NY  10001
Grand Cayman Island	English	St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine	St. Matthew's University School of Medicine U.S. Offices - Greater Orlando Area 1750 West Broadway St., Suite 222 Oviedo, FL 32765
Poland	English	Karol Marcinkowski Med. Univ. in Poznan	Corvestor Services Corp. 11 Market St. - Suite 204 Poughkeepsie, NY  12601-3215
Newfoundland	English	Memorial University of Newfoundland	St. Johns Newfoundland Canada  A1B 3V6

GETTING BACK INTO THE U.S.A. FOR MEDICAL PRACTICE

ADVANCED TRANSFER: Starting in your first year of foreign medical education you can begin the process of seeking to transfer to a U.S. medical school.  Medical schools favor transfer students from other U.S. Medical Schools and usually for reasons connected with marriage situations or for professional reasons (transfers from Dental School in order to go into oral surgery or from Graduate School to complete an MD/PhD arrangement.  In 1993-94 there were 73 transfer students who were accepted from foreign medical schools.  Nearly 50 of those 73 were from St. Georges where the class size was about 400.  To be among the successful 73 it would require that you be near the top of your foreign medical school class +/or do very well on the USMLE (United States Medical Licensure Examination).  In 1993 there were 16,655 American Medical Students who took the exam and 91% passed.  There were 17,000 foreign nationals who took the test and 45% passed.  Only 28% of the 2,241 U.S. students in foreign medical schools taking the test passed.  Many of the successful U.S. students in foreign medical school had to transfer to private U.S. medical schools with high tuitions rather than to state medical schools.  The schools who have taken most of the transfer students have been N.Y. Med. Coll., U. Miami, Mt. Sinai, SUNY-Buffalo, Robert Wood Johnson, Georgetown, Northwestern, Chicago Med. Sch., Wayne State, U. Alabama-Birmingham, Med. Coll. PA, and Texas Tech.  In some transfer situations it is necessary to retake years of medical school already finished at the foreign medical school.

FULL GRADUATION ROUTE: For this pathway you would complete your medical education at a foreign medical school including all clinical years.  You would have had to have taken all steps 1 & 2 of the USMLE administered by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates rather than through the National Board of Medical Examiners as is the case with students in U.S. Medical Schools.  You would then have to apply to the National Resident Matching Program where 90% of U.S medical students get matched, but only 40-50% of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) get matched.  Those that don’t get matched wind up in the 48 hour scramble to find residencies and may wind up in hospitals outside of the match system.  The final hurdle is to pass step 3 of the USMLE administered by a State Board of Medical Examiners.

USEFUL WEB RESOURCES:

American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)

American Association of International Medical Graduates (AAIMG)

American Medical Student Association (AMSA)

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)

Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG)

International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

Legal information regarding visas

Princeton Review Guide for Students & Graduates of International Medical Schools