WELCOME TO THE AUC PARENTS GUIDE

AUC is accredited by the Accreditation Commission on Colleges of Medicine (ACCM). You might hear that AUC is not accredited in the United States—but being a foreign operating school, AUC is not eligible to seek accreditation from traditional US accreditors. In addition, the fact is that the US Department of Education has not appointed a US accreditor to foreign schools. Instead, the Department of Education has appointed the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA) as a special review board that focuses on monitoring and evaluating foreign medical education accreditors on their standards. The NCFMEA’s review of ACCM’s standards confirms their recognition with the US Department of Education and has determined that they are comparable to those used to accredit medical schools in the US. This is an important distinction for AUC, for two reasons:

• It attests to the quality of education AUC provides.

• It qualifies eligible AUC students to participate in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. Only a few Caribbean medical schools currently have this distinction. 

AUC graduates can become licensed in all 50 states and in Canada.

This is a very important consideration to take into account when helping your son or daughter select a medical school. Admissions requirements and standards vary from one medical school to the next, and among the Caribbean medical schools, there are important differences.

For example, not all Caribbean medical schools require applicants to take the MCAT, and some that do don’t figure the MCAT score into their evaluation of a candidate. This approach might be enticing for students looking for an easier entry into medical school, but at AUC our hope is that students want to come into an environment where they will be held to high standards and be highly motivated to succeed.

At AUC, we have rigorous standards when considering applicants. Yes, we look at the whole person–we want to know about one’s life experience, maturity, and commitment–but we also look closely at how a candidate performed academically as an undergraduate and their MCAT score.

Our Admissions Committee is very serious about not only selecting students who have great potential to succeed and become great doctors, but also about creating a learning environment at AUC populated by bright, talented, and driven students.