valuemd (Admin) Open discussion, share an interesting fact about being a Caribbean medical school student!
iyerr (Student) Most Caribbean students you'll meet at AUA are US citizens who didn't get into allopathic programs stateside. That's just the reality. Some were borderline applicants, some had one bad semester that killed their GPA. The path looks different but the goal is the same.
mwalker (Student) One thing that surprised me when I got here was how many people had already done a post-bacc or a second bachelor's just trying to boost stats. A lot of us put in serious years before landing in Antigua.
devonr (Alumni) The attrition numbers are the part nobody wants to talk about during admissions. A fair number of people who start basic sciences don't make it through. Not because they're not smart enough, but because the pace and the isolation catch people off guard.
torresn (Student) Caribbean grads make up a huge chunk of US residency matches every year. People act like it's a long shot but look at the actual numbers. IMGs including Caribbean grads fill a massive number of spots especially in primary care, internal medicine, and psychiatry.
patelp (Alumni) What torresn (Student) said is pretty much where I landed too. Something I wish someone had told me before I came down was that your Step score matters more than your school name once you're in the match pool. AUA's name doesn't open doors on its own but a solid 240 does.
bpierre (Alumni) Echoing what torresn (Student) said above. The diversity here honestly surprised me in a good way. Students from the US, Canada, India, Nigeria, the Caribbean itself. That mix makes study groups and clinical discussions richer than I expected
sgreen (Student) torresn (Student) covered the main points well. One fact people underestimate is how much the clinical rotation network matters. A Caribbean school with strong New York hospital affiliations is a completely different proposition from one placing students in community hospitals nobody's heard of
