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Medical School Philosophy
By Thomas Landefeld
In my opinion, international medical education represents a critically important component for the future of medicine, especially for US and Canadian students. I believe this based on my involvement for many years, directly interacting with medical school applicants (and medical school matriculants) at the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) as an extremely active Admissions committee member as well as a pre-health advisor/counselor for undergraduates interested in medicine as a profession.
Moreover, the emphasis of my advising has been with under represented minority students who, for a number of reasons, the primary of which relates to standardized tests scores, i.e. MCAT, have had difficulties with admissions. In many of these cases, the students are quite capable of not only surviving but often excelling in the medical school curriculum (based on my experiences with admissions and teaching in the curriculum); however their standardized tests scores will very often prevent them from gaining admission.
As a result, I have worked with a number of students who have been in this situation and very often will advise them about alternatives. One such alternative, of course, is osteopathic medicine, as these schools have a history of placing less emphasis on standardized test scores.
Similarly, international medical schools, particularly those in the Caribbean and Mexico, are ones which I encourage the students to consider for the same reasons. The availability of these options is particularly important because without them these students most likely will not be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to successfully master the medical school curriculum, and of course eventually become excellent physicians.
This is especially true as testing agencies are still trying to convince us that there is a direct and significant link between MCAT scores and performance in, and graduation from, medical school. When the lack of this link is considered along with the cultural biasness of the examinations, it is critically important to future of medical education that opportunities are provided that are not so dependent upon the MCAT, especially when there is absolutely no diminution of the quality of the education received at these institutions.
In addition, the international medical education opportunities provide students with a broader exposure to culture, life styles and all other issues associated with an educational and life experience in a region other than where they live or originate from. As someone who has worked for many years with promoting diversity and inclusivity in education, this component cannot be overemphasized in the education process, especially in a field such as medicine where "delivery of services" is key.
Of course with all of the aforementioned advantages, there are drawbacks and with the international education of US and Canadian medical students, that drawback is the not only the way the traditional system views these schools but also the limited opportunities afforded the students and the graduates for training.
For this reason, efforts to expand and increase the number of training opportunities in the US and Canada for matriculants in, and graduates from, the international schools do represent the major focus of the administration of these institutions. There must be a continued and in fact expanded effort to provide excellent international medical education opportunities to US and Canadian students to adequately serve the needs of the medical community of the future.
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