US Medical School- A Door To Success

The candidates are usually evaluated on the basis of their GPA and MCAT scores. The other aspects on which a candidate is evaluated are: application material, personal interview and recommendation letters. These recommendation letters are written by one's faculty or any medical professional, one who has interacted with the student at classroom level. For being a competitive applicant, one needs to be good not just at one's MCAT and GPA score, but also at extra curricular activities. Some medical institutes even deny an interview if they do not see enough of extra activities on the applicant's application.

Although the admission criteria varies and is different for different medical schools, some schools may not consider an applicant seriously if one has never been a part of a clinical setting. The admission criteria of Caribbean medical schools is much easier, as they ask for lesser GPA and MCAT scores but the flaw is that most of the Caribbean medical schools are not accredited in all the states of US.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) represents the 125 accredited MD granting US Medical Schools and 17 Caribbean medical schools. Licensing of medical doctors in the United States is coordinated at the state level. Most states require that prospective licensees complete some basic requirements, such as graduation from an accredited medical school, satisfactory completion of a AOA- or AMA-approved residency, passage of the USMLE. So while applying in any medical school, it is must to be sure of its accreditation. The choice of the medical school shapes the future of a candidate. Hence many things like reputation of the school, cost of living and courses offered, should be considered before joining any of these schools.