Are you looking to receive a high-quality medical education with experienced faculty, cutting-edge facilities, and comprehensive curriculums, gain real-world hands-on clinical experience, live on a paradise island, enjoy a unique cultural experience – and still get to practice in the USA and Canada? Properly accredited medical schools in the Caribbean – such as the Windsor University School of Medicine – provide all that and more. Affordability, higher acceptance rates, world-class education, diverse student population and ample residency opportunities are luring more and more global students towards the welcoming arms of Caribbean medical schools, especially owing to a highly competitive and challenging admissions landscape across U.S. and Canada. Here’s why Windsor University School of Medicine may be the best option for students determined to practice medicine.
More Affordable than other Caribbean Medical schools
Cut-throat competition for medical school programs and exorbitantly high cost of education mean that many capable and hardworking students have to forfeit their dreams of earning a medical degree. If you compare the cost of med school programs in the Caribbean, especially WUSOM, to the cost of medical school tuition in the U.S. and Canada, you are bound to notice a wide chasm.
Are you looking to experience world-class education with cutting-edge facilities, and unlock unlimited opportunities for career growth, without graduating under a mountain of debt? The goal of WUSOM is to ensure that every student has been given an ample opportunity to be successful. With tuition starting at $7190 per semester, Windsor University School of Medicine offers the lowest tuition amongst all accredited Caribbean med schools, bringing you one step closer to pursuing your dream of becoming a physician.
WUSOM was founded with the goal of providing a broad, exceptional medical education program accessible to students from across the globe at a fair and affordable price. By studying at WUSOM, students can minimize their student debt burden while still receiving a quality medical education that is comparable to the best U.S. and Canadian med schools. You can explore WUSOM’s fee structure here. Furthermore, students of WUSOM are eligible to apply for different financial aid options to offset the cost of their medical education. WUSOM also offers various academic scholarships to recognize the accomplishments of prospective and current students. Windsor University School of Medicine has also been approved for funding in some parts of Canada! Students applying from Ontario are eligible to receive loans from the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), while those coming from Alberta can apply for student loans from Student Aid Alberta.
World-class Curriculum Supported by a highly-credentialed Faculty
Every medical school student aspires to receive a world-class education that prepares them for residency, licensure, fellowship and a successful career as a physician in the U.S. and Canada. So why do so many students from U.S. and Canada choose to study at Caribbean MD schools? The answer is quality education.
WUSOM’s comprehensive and rigorous curriculum, modeled after the best U.S. and Canadian medical schools, is meticulously crafted to provide a solid foundation in medical sciences, clinical skills, and ethical practice. The curriculum is continuously updated to reflect the latest advancements in medical research and practice. It includes courses on genomics, precision medicine, and the latest treatment modalities, ensuring graduates are well-versed in current and emerging medical trends.
Our students benefit from integrated learning, early hands-on experience, small class sizes, and research opportunities, backed by an outstanding and highly credentialed faculty that care about your education and each student becoming a physician. These experts bring a wealth of clinical and research experience, ensuring that students receive high-quality education and mentorship. Faculty members are actively involved in research and clinical practice, providing students with up-to-date knowledge and insights. Our students benefit from one-on-one support from the faculty to help them navigate their medical education and career paths with ease.
WUSOM’s St. Kitts campus offers a world-class medicine teaching facility, equipped with advanced simulation and exam rooms with high-fidelity mannequins and virtual reality technology. These cutting-edge labs allow students to practice and hone their clinical skills in a controlled environment before transitioning to real patient care. Additionally, modern classrooms equipped with interactive learning tools and extensive research laboratories enable students to engage in cutting-edge research projects, fostering an environment of innovation and technological adeptness.
Windsor University School of Medicine is accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP). As a WUSOM graduate, you will be eligible for Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification and can apply for U.S. and Canadian residencies and licensure. After completing the preclinical basic sciences years of medical school, students take the USMLE Step 1, or most commonly known as “the Boards”. This milestone is one of the first steps in the medical licensure process. You can gauge the viability of a medical program by the success of its students on this first USMLE exam. Year after year, a high percentage of WUSOM students do extremely well on the boards on the first attempt.
Related Resources:
Is it Worth Attending a Caribbean Medical School? What prospective Students Need to Know
10 Reasons Why Studying at a CAAM-HP Accredited Caribbean Medical School Sets You Up for Success
5 Ways Medical Students Benefit from Smaller Class Sizes
Early Hands-on Clinical Experience
The last two years of medical school include the clinical portion of the training. Hands-on clinical experience and exposure to real patients at affiliated teaching hospitals, is how students can apply textbook knowledge acquired in the classroom to real-world situations. This is when you will finally get a taste of working in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment, in various patient care settings, and dealing with real patients and their families as part of a medical team.
WUSOM believes in making an impact with early hands-on training. Our hands-on learning approach ensures that students gain essential clinical skills and real-world knowledge through clinical rotations at Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-approved hospitals across north America. While students begin their education on the island of St. Kitts, they return to the U.S. or Canada for training. During the four-year MD program offered at WUSOM, students spend the first five Basic sciences semesters on our St. Kitts campus, where they hone their theoretical know-how of medicine. The remaining two years are spent in the U.S. or Canada, where students complete clinical rotations at affiliated teaching hospitals, allowing them to put their classroom learning to use with supervised direct patient care. Afterall, it is critical for students to do a clinical rotation in the United States or Canada if they wish be considered for residency in those countries.
This early exposure develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills, fosters effective communication and teamwork, emphasizes patient-centric care, and helps soon-to-be physicians develop the resilience, empathy, and adaptability needed to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare. Not to mention, clinical rotations allow our students to broaden their professional relationships with faculty, colleagues, and peers, which gives them an edge when pursuing residency positions in U.S and Canada.
At WUSOM, we ensure that our students complete their clinical training in a variety of different areas, such as internal medicine, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. By experiencing different specialty areas from one rotation cycle to the next, students can further explore their medical interests and determine their focus as a future physician.
Extensive Support
You came to WUSOM with a goal, and our goal is to help you get there. Our extensive support services are there for all students at any time, ensuring that students stay on track and thrive. WUSOM students benefit from a close-knit community characterized by small class sizes, and attentive and accessible faculty. We understand that transitioning from pre-med to medical school can be a tough nut to crack and students need all the academic and clinical training support they can get. In addition, students come a long way from home to join an international medical school and may need help with emotional, social, or physical and mental health issues. Students also need assistance with accommodation and transport, securing financial aid, applying for scholarships, selecting clinical rotations, preparing residency application, and much more. Our dedicated team of administrators and faculty go the extra mile to help them every step of the way.
The Student Affairs office serves as a resource in promoting the individual and professional growth and development of our students. Our student councilors work hand-in-hand with students to enhance every facet of student experience, from education to campus life to career planning, and develop innovative solutions to issues and concerns.
Student support at WUSOM also comes in the form of extracurricular activities and clubs and organizations. There are also organizations specifically for Christian, Hindu and Nigerian students on-campus, that serve and represent the best interest of students belonging from different ethnicities and cultures. The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) Windsor chapter helps mold budding physicians into compassionate doctors, good leaders, pillars of the community and graceful representatives of the noble profession, and connect them with other medical students and professionals around the world.
Holistic Approach to Admissions
One of the best perks of studying in Caribbean MD schools is a higher acceptance rate due to a smaller application pool for larger numbers of seats, as well as less rigorous admission requirements, in contrast to U.S. and Canadian medical schools. While this in no way implies that WUSOM is “easy to get into”, it means that the admissions committee at WUSOM sees beyond mere grades and MCAT when evaluating an applicant. After all, a student could have a strong potential as a future physician, yet fail to meet the stringent requirements for a medical school in the U.S. and Canada.
While we cannot discount the importance of MCAT scores and overall GPA of a matriculant, we do afford leniency in academic performance, taking a student’s entire background into account during the application and acceptance process, including their volunteer and job experience, research publications, extracurricular activities, references, transferable skills, and exposure to the medical profession. This means that hardworking and brilliant students with lower GPAs and MCAT scores who may have missed the cut on U.S. and Canaian medical schools may get a second chance at realizing their ambition of becoming a physician at a Caribbean med school like WUSOM.
In addition, Caribbean MD schools allow applicants to matriculate at three different months throughout the year, as opposed to medical schools in the United States and Canada that begin programs in the fall only. With three flexible admission dates, pre-med students do not need to wait for an entire application cycle to apply (or reapply) to a U.S. or Canadian school, if they need more time to complete their applications or improve their academic records or if they are rejected. Applicants can apply to a Caribbean school for the next available semester and begin their medical career much sooner. With trimesters starting in January, May and September, Windsor University School of Medicine also offers rolling admissions, providing students with a convenient and flexible option to pursue their dream career.
High Residency Success Rate
While you may have pre-conceived notions that attending a Caribbean med school will hamper your chances of matching for a residency program, let alone practice in the United States, the reality is quite different. A high percentage of WUSOM graduates secure residency positions in the US and Canada, thanks to our established partnerships with teaching hospitals in North America. In fact, WUSOM’s impressive US residency placement rate is one of the best among Caribbean med schools. Remember that whether you study from a U.S or Canadian medical school or a Caribbean medical school, ultimately residency success rate depends upon an individual’s academic performance, board exam scores, letter of references, residency interview, and clinical experience.
Caribbean medical school graduates are classified as International Medical Graduates (IMGs), and must pass the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) Step 1 and Step 2 CK (Clinical Knowledge) to be eligible for U.S. and Canadian residency programs. WUSOM focuses on helping its students succeed in the U.S. residency match by offering clinical rotations in U.S. and Canadian hospitals, during the last five semesters of medical school. This shows the residency program directors that these candidates have worked and experienced the quality of practice that is expected in the US and Canada and meet the requirements of their residency program. Keep in mind that being a Caribbean medical school graduate should never deter you from applying to your desired residency programs in the US or Canada.
The Student Advisory and Support Program at WUSOM offers considerable resources to its students on preparing for and applying to residencies. Our knowledgeable staff, led by Dr. Pushparaj Shetty, helps students across every aspect of the match process from where and how to apply to maximize match percentage, to residency interview preparation and more.
Related Resource: Wondering What Medical Residency is Really Like? Here are 5 Common Questions Answered!
Study in Paradise
While it may seem like medical students hardly get any time, but like anyone else, they need some downtime and opportunities to have fun and unwind away from classrooms and textbooks. If you are still wondering whether a Caribbean medical school is right for you, you may want to factor in the picturesque island of St. Kitts. Picture yourself surrounded by lush rainforests, volcanic beaches, and the vibrant sights and sounds of the island. The north is home to scenic rainforests and rugged beaches, while the south boasts calm shores perfect for unwinding. Plus, you’ll enjoy the island’s warm weather and rich cultural heritage. Your home, at least for the time being, will be a pastel-tinted architecture of the majestic true white & blue campus, a state-of-the-art multi-million-dollar campus that includes cutting-edge teaching facilities, labs, library, research institute and much more.
Students can spend their downtime getting to know the lush rainforests around Mt. Liamuiga, riding the scenic railway, sailing aboard a luxurious catamaran, exploring the diverse subaquatic ecosystems, ziplining across the longest adrenalin-loaded 1,350 ft line, liming at the Strip, and other activities, as well as exploring the many local markets and shopping opportunities. Drop by the busy Saturday market to check out where the local people shop, hit the beaches and soak up the sun or enjoy the live music, parades and parties at the yearly Sugar Mas festival; St. Kitts promises never falls short of things to do and a tropical climate to do them in.
Resources: Is St. Kitts Safe? 5 FAQs Students ask about WUSOM’s Location
Ready to Start your Medical Journey in an Island Paradise?
WUSOM is preparing the physicians of tomorrow, whose service to their communities and their patients is enhanced by a world-class education, a diverse learning community, hands-on experience, extensive support, and an emphasis on patient-care and accountability. Take the next step toward becoming a physician: Apply for admission to WUSOM.
