Avalon is accredited by CAAM-HP until 2028 and graduated only 61 students in 2019, how does a small graduating class affect your ability to compete for clinical rotation spots at US teaching hospitals

valuemd (Admin)

Avalon University School of Medicine, based in Willemstad, Curacao, holds CAAM-HP accreditation through 2028 and has maintained a notably small student body compared to the larger Caribbean medical schools. Its 2019 graduating class of 61 students stands in stark contrast to schools like Ross, SGU, or AUC which graduate hundreds of students annually. This raises some practical and strategic questions that we want this community to help answer. On one hand, a smaller class might mean less internal competition for rotation slots at affiliated US teaching hospitals and potentially more individual attention. On the other hand, a school with fewer graduates may have a narrower hospital affiliation network, less name recognition among residency program directors, and a thinner alumni base to draw on for mentorship or letter writing. There is also the question of what happens to students if accreditation is not renewed beyond 2028. We are opening this thread for current students, graduates, and prospective applicants to share their real experiences with how Avalon's size has affected the clinical rotation process specifically, and what the downstream effects on residency competitiveness have looked like.

calebfoster (Aspiring student)

I graduated from Avalon a few years back so I can actually speak to this directly. The small class size cuts both ways. On the rotation side, I never felt like I was elbowing past twenty other students from my school to get a spot at an affiliated site. There were maybe two or three of us at any given hospital at one time which meant the attendings actually knew your name and tracked your progress. That kind of individual visibility is something you do not get at SGU or Ross where you are one of a crowd. The flip side is that Avalon's hospital network is narrower and some of the affiliated sites are not exactly places that residency programs have on their radar. You have to be a lot more intentional about doing away rotations at recognizable programs to compensate.

omarfoster8812 (Student)

This is exactly the kind of firsthand account I was looking for. Can you say more about the away rotation piece? Like how many did you do and at what stage did you start planning them? I am trying to figure out whether going to a smaller school means you basically have to budget extra time and money for aways just to stay competitive, or whether the core rotation experience at Avalon's sites is strong enough to carry you if your scores are solid.

avam221 (Student)

omarfoster8812 (Student) I did two away rotations, one in internal medicine at a university-affiliated program in the midwest and one in my target specialty. I started planning them about halfway through my core rotations which in hindsight was almost too late because some programs have waitlists that fill months in advance. To answer your question directly, yes I think at a school Avalon's size you basically need at least one strong away rotation to anchor your application with a letter from somewhere programs already know. Your scores matter a lot but a letter from an attending at a name institution gives your application context that a letter from a smaller affiliated site just cannot provide on its own. Budget for it, both in time and money, because it is not optional if you are serious about matching into something competitive.

chenwei2754 (Aspiring student)

I want to bring up the accreditation timeline because I think it is something people gloss over when they are evaluating Avalon. CAAM-HP accreditation runs through 2028 which means if you are starting now you will finish your basic sciences and probably be mid-rotations when the renewal cycle hits. Accreditation renewals are not automatic and if a school loses it or gets a conditional status that affects whether your degree is recognized by certain state medical boards and whether you are eligible to apply for some residency programs. I am not saying Avalon will lose accreditation, I genuinely do not know, but I think anyone choosing the school needs to look into what their contingency is if the renewal does not go smoothly. That uncertainty is a real factor on top of all the class size stuff.