On an earlier post of mine I was told premed takes a minimum 2 years to complete. I am hoping that is not absolutely true.
I want to go to a Caribbean medical school, on their websites it looks like they generally require a year of Bio, Chem, Org Chem, Physics, English.
I have a degree already, I don’t have a job and don’t want one and have a few years of living expenses saved up.
I’ve registered for summer biology starting in a month then will take those 5 classes this fall at a community college while applying to a 4 year school to take the rest this Spring, take the MCAT in early summer, and then being in Medical school by fall of 2011, is this possible?
Also, does anyone know if there are there any Carribbean med schools that also teach the prereqs? If I could I’d like to just move down there in Januray if possible.
Thanks 
- In reply to:
Not really, for a couple of reasons. First, the reason it usually takes more than one year to complete the prereqs is because of the chemistry requirements. The vast majority of schools require the completion of general chemistry (or at least the first semester) as a prerequisite for organic chemistry. In order to do them in less than two academic years, you'd need to take at least one of them in a summer session - either gen chem this summer and then organic over the regular academic year, or gen chem over the academic year and organic next summer. In general, doing either chemistry over a summer session is brutal (especially with labs), but organic chemistry is exceptionally brutal in a summer session.
Some schools require completion of at least one semester/quarter of gen chem as a pre-req to biology (Ohio State did when I was doing my pre-reqs).
Lastly - people will be applying THIS summer for med school start dates of Fall 2011. If you take the MCAT next summer and apply then, you will be applying for spots in med school starting Fall 2012. The application process is about a year - often called the glide year. You submit your AMCAS in June/July, then submit secondary applications, LORs, etc. Interviews are held Septemberish-March.
Granted, this all applies to American med schools. Some (or all) of the Caribbean med schools may have different timelines. I know there is at least one that matriculates new classes starting in January as well as in the summer/fall.
Why the rush? And why only Caribbean schools?
- HeyEveryone Said:
I want to go to a Caribbean medical school, on their websites it looks like they generally require a year of Bio, Chem, Org Chem, Physics, English.
I have a degree already, I don't have a job and don't want one and have a few years of living expenses saved up.
I've registered for summer biology starting in a month then will take those 5 classes this fall at a community college while applying to a 4 year school to take the rest this Spring, take the MCAT in early summer, and then being in Medical school by fall of 2011, is this possible?
Also, does anyone know if there are there any Carribbean med schools that also teach the prereqs? If I could I'd like to just move down there in Januray if possible.
Thanks
Just a quick comment as I am between flights, as emergency said , Organic in the summer is brutal. Think of it as a death march
Yes, there are many caribbean schools that offer prereqs, prep programs, etc. Most that do are simply money mills that take almost anyone, pass them in the summer, start you in medical school, and fail out first year after dropping some $50,000 dollars or so.
So slow down, find out what you need to do, where you want to be, and the best way to get there
Emergency,
Why the rush is basically that I have loads of free time right now and I don’t really want to start a new career path other than one I will continue on with. I guess I could apply and go in 2012 and travel for a year or something while I wait for the admission decision but I’ve already traveled for 3 years and not sure I wanna do another.
As for why Caribbean. I think I would just like to live in the Caribbean and my undergrad GPA is only 3.0, I’d have to look at USA schools. If I can get into one I like in an area I like with a price I like then it sounds good. Working in a big hospital that would only higher grads of certain schools isn’t appealing to me but I need to look further into it. All things being equal I certainly want the best quality education I can get.
Hm. I think you need to slow down and do some more research. Most people don’t do the caribbean as a first choice. A 3.0 isn’t great, but if you do very well in the pre-reqs, have a good MCAT score and LORS, and a good story, you still stand a reasonable shot at a US school (MD or DO).
Although there are a couple of fairly well known caribbean schools, you are still at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to applying for residencies. You may be limiting yourself in terms of specialty options. Additionally, the cost of the schools with good reputations is going to be every bit as expensive (if not more) than a US school. There is also not a lot of support from these schools in terms of helping you get through the coursework, board prep, and even setting up your clinical rotations. They tend to have fairly significant attrition rates during the clinical years.
Some other thoughts - why medicine? why now? If you choose to stay in the states, you will need to answer these questions in an interview.
You say you don’t want to spend another year traveling during the glide year - what about volunteering for Americorps or Teach for America or something of that nature? If your finances are such that you don’t need to work, you could do a lot of good (and build an impressive resume) with some volunteer work of that nature.
Not trying to discourage you - I just want to make sure you have fully investigated all of your options. Anyone considering medical school should do their homework on all aspects of what is involved, from the pre-reqs to residency training and beyond. For more insight on the Carib schools, you may want to visit SDN, as I think they have forums specifically devoted to foreign/international medical schools.
Since you are in the chicago area, I think that you will benefit from spending a few days at the upcoming conference, not simply to hear the scheduled speakers and talking to the exhibitors (many from Carib schools) but from interacting with the many students who will be there and hearing what they are doing, planning, and how they going thru their journey to medicine
I just bought tix to conference yesterday
The only situation I’m aware of where you can complete all of the pre-reqs within a year is a formal post-bacc program designed specifically for that purpose. If you try to take all of the pre-reqs concurrently at a local CC or university, you will likely run into scheduling problems or unit restrictions among the various classes.