Caribbean medical schools are, first and foremost, schools of opportunity. They’re a necessary one, too. Nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens study abroad and match into residencies in the U.S. every year, nearly all of which do so after not gaining admission at home. The Caribbean is a huge part of that. With no shortage of qualified people wanting to be doctors, and a marked shortage of doctors, it’s no wonder the Caribbean persists as an option. Caribbean schools underscore not just an economic demand, but an acute need. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t strive to improve, though.
When we opened our institution for operation ten years ago, we took the opportunity to look at how things had been done for the past thirty years, and where we could improve. We kept coming back to the same basic idea: Limiting enrollment to match the U.S. average (140-150 per year) addressed the majority of the issues students have historically faced studying in the Caribbean. We prioritized quality for each of our students over raw quantity of students.
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