Sjsm Offers An
Accredited Md Program

You can not join a medical program directly from high school in the United States. Most medical schools in the US are post-Baccalaureate programs. This means that the prospective student must have a certain number of undergraduate credit hours to be able to apply to the program.

Most US medical schools require that applicants have completed a Pre-Medical Undergraduate program, while others may accept an undergraduate degree with a heavy science background (such as biology, biochemistry, or nursing). In general, most schools will accept a student with 90 credit hours from such programs (without the need to complete the degree).

At Saint James School of Medicine (SJSM), we take a holistic approach to assessing a student’s likelihood of success in the MD program. While a science background is preferred, we have seen many students with non-traditional science backgrounds succeed. Throughout the admissions process, we assess a student's academic, personal and professional background to determine which students possess the drive and determination to become future physicians.

Medical schools are very selective. As such, accumulating the necessary credit hours is just the first step in meeting the basic criteria to apply to medical school. Another important consideration is the student’s performance in their undergraduate level courses. The admission department of the medical school will rank students, not only based on the quality of the courses completed, but the grades they achieved in those courses, the amount of time it took to complete the courses, etc.

At SJSM, academic performance is an important consideration. However, we also take a student's experiences into account. We understand that medicine may find you at a different stage of your life. Different factors may have impacted you as a teenager that are no longer prevalent at this point of your academic and personal development.

Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) is a requirement for admission by nearly all medical schools in the United States and Canada. Schools will use the scores from this test to help them rank candidates and select the most prepared students from the applicant pool for their program. While the MCAT is a very important metric for the admission team, it is not the sole criterion for admission.

MCAT Scores range from 472 on the low end to 528 on the high end (click here to learn more about MCAT). The mean and median score of the MCAT is 501. Most medical schools in the United States prefer to accept students who have scored 500+ on the test. At SJSM, the MCAT is not required. However, students who have taken the MCAT are rewarded through guaranteed scholarships. Based on one’s performance on the MCAT, it is possible to qualify for a full tuition scholarship.

In addition to the factors above, a good medical school candidate will also have some relevant volunteering or work experience. While this criterion is probably given less weight in US and Canadian schools, the Caribbean and other international medical schools believe that this is one of the most crucial aspects of the medical student application- because it demonstrates a passion for medicine.

At SJSM, we agree that volunteering and work experience is crucial in determining a student's likelihood of success. Students with an up-close experience in the field tend to show a greater understanding of the effort and sacrifice it takes to complete an MD program, and they also show a heave a good understanding of the complexities of the field of medicine.

According to the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), the total number of medical school applicants in the United States, in the academic year 2021/2022, was 64,223. This is one of the highest number of medical school applications on record and it represented an increase of 17.8% from the previous academic year. Respectively, the number of students who got accepted into US medical schools also rose, albeit by only 2.6%, to the tune of 23,711 students. In other words, only 36.9% of the applicant pool were accepted into US medical schools. This left over 40,000 medical school hopefuls looking for alternatives to US medical institutions.

SJSM provides a path to these qualified students so they can reach their goal of becoming an MD. During the 2021/2022 academic year, 69% of qualified applicants interviewed were accepted. Additionally, SJSM has produced over 600 practicing physicians back into the US and Canadian health systems. So while many of these graduates were unfairly rejected by US and Canadian medical schools, SJSM provided them the ability to achieve their dream.

Since 1999, Saint James School of Medicine has been educating medical students from the United States and Canada to help address the physician shortage. Our program is comparable to that of the US or Canadian medical school and follows the same international guidelines and principles that dictate medical education worldwide.

While our admission process is similar to US and Canadian medical schools, we differ in the way these qualifications are weighted and we incorporate a much more holistic admissions assessment of each student. SJSM does not require the MCAT, but instead puts more weight on previous academic performance, volunteer work, and professional experience that has helped shape the applicant. Consequently, a significant number of our students tend to be career changers, looking to take what they’ve learned in their professions, such as Nurses or EMTs, and apply the knowledge towards obtaining their medical degree.