valuemd (Admin)
AUC School of Medicine has one of the more eventful histories in Caribbean medical education. Founded in Montserrat in 1978, the school was forced to relocate when the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted and made much of the island uninhabitable through the late 1990s. AUC eventually rebuilt on Sint Maarten, only for Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, to cause severe damage to the campus in September 2017. We are opening this thread for current students, alumni, and prospective applicants to discuss how the school has managed these disruptions, what the recovery and continuity plans looked like, whether the Sint Maarten campus is genuinely stable today, and what any of this means for someone considering enrolling. Please keep discussion factual and respectful. Personal experiences from those who were enrolled during either event are especially welcome.
aaliyahmorgan (Aspiring student)
I was actually a first semester student when Irma hit in 2017. The storm made landfall as a Category 5 and Sint Maarten took an absolutely direct hit. Campus was shut down and we were evacuated pretty fast. I remember the administration sending out emails within 24 hours telling us that classes would continue off-island temporarily. They arranged for us to finish the semester at partner clinical sites in the US and gave us credits without penalty. Honestly for how bad the storm was I think they handled the logistics better than I expected. The big question at the time was whether we would go back at all and that uncertainty was rough.
seandouglas1138 (Student)
That matches what I heard from people who were there. Did the school cover any of the travel and accommodation costs or were students on their own for that part? I am considering AUC for 2027 and the disaster history is literally one of the first things my parents bring up every time we talk about it.
avam221 (Student)
From what I remember the school helped coordinate housing options and there was some financial assistance available through the student affairs office but it was not like a full blank check situation. A lot of us leaned on family or used savings. The credits and tuition adjustments were the cleaner part of the response. The actual logistics of finding a place to stay on short notice was messy and very student-dependent. Worth asking AUC directly what their current contingency plan looks like now because it has probably changed since then.
amitjoshi2256 (Alumni)
The Montserrat chapter is honestly wild to read about. The school was there for like 19 years and then basically had to pick up and move because a volcano made the southern half of the island off limits. I have read that they relocated through Plymouth which was the capital and that whole area got buried in ash and pyroclastic deposits. AUC apparently managed to keep accreditation throughout the move and transition to Sint Maarten which in hindsight is impressive given what a logistical nightmare that must have been. The USMLE pass rates did not collapse during the transition period which tells you something about institutional continuity.
