I was wondering what is the attrition rate for AUC? Do a large number of students fail out? This is a major concern because I heard that the attrition rate at many international schools is higher than at US schools.

Hi,

When I was at the AUC open house, Dr. Chertok mentionned that AUC's attrition rate was about 20%. This is at par with the other Carib. schools and way higher than U.S. schools.

Having said this, I would not worry about it. This attrition is not because the school is bad, it is because the admissions guidelines are more relaxed than in the U.S. schools.

In the U.S. they admit only the top best students according to grade and MCAT. Usually, in order to achieve this you need to be extremely disciplined, motivated, intelligent...etc... So when these students enter medical school, they have no problem.

On the other hand AUC et al. admit students who have a much broader range of GPA & MCAT scores. Some of those students will do great and some won't. Basically the school is giving you a chance to prove yourself. If you can, then you will be a Dr. if you can't then you're out.

The medical education system in France is such that it is very easy to get in. However the studies are brutal and every year, only the top X percent make it to the next year. Suppose they admit 1000 students to the first year, only 200 will get an M.D. at the end. Not because they failed but because they were "cut" along the way. They have the worse attrition in the world, but at least everyone gets a stab at it.

I would not worry about the attrition, AUC is a good school and if you are motivated, hard working and reasonably intelligent you will make it. It all depends on you and the schools attrition rate has no impact on whether or not YOU will make it.

Sorry for the long winded reply,

WantMD :-)

my friend is in school there he said it is ridiculous the amount of attention people who are failing get he basically said they will not let someone fail.....as compared to here and ross i assume it is a sink or swim situation. having said that the vast majority of students here and ross/sgu i assume have scores right in the bell curve if US admis. maybe not the right half but definetely middle on down....this place will give you cahnce just come mature and ready to not see daylight weeks at a time

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OBGYN PGY II
I see light at the end of the tunnel!!!...wait a minute its just another freakin tunnel!

Having had several friends in US schools, I know they are coddled and given every opportunity to pass.

One friend skated through with barely passing (and sometimes NOT passing) scores on most, if not all exams. She finally failed Step I, not once, but TWICE. This is from a Top 25 US med school. Obviously, there are some bad apples in any barrel, but this is not the only instance I know of where students in US schools were given much much more assistance than is available here, just to keep attrition statistics padded.

That being said, I dunno if 20% is accurate at AUC. I won't say it IS wrong, but the entering class of Sept. 2002 started with about 180. Now (4 semesters later, in their final semester on the island), they are down to 112, I think. However, at least 20 of those students, possibly 30, are now one semester back, in my class. So they haven't failed out, just dropped back, and will likely still finish.

Attrition rates are overhyped. Work your butt off, and you'll do fine. Slack and laze around, and unless you have a great gift, you'll be headed back to the US in 1-2 semesters for good. 3 at the most. Make yourself a success story, not a statistic.

Good luck!

Same for our class. Started with about 125+ with around 4 to 6 packing their bags by the time the 1st exams rolled around. There are about 25 to 30 that are re-taking their Biochem or Anatomy (or both) which drops us into the 90's. Those from the September 2003 class currently in Biochem can't take Physio because of schedule conflicts; those who are in Anatomy aren't allowed to take Histo (and if you're retaking Embryo , you're in the likeable position of being the reason we can't move our Immuno lecture to 930 on Fridays...) It's kinda weird looking around our class sometimes and seeing only about 40 - 50 that actually attend lecture (in the dungeon, er, I mean Lecture Hall 1 which hold about 200!), but judging by the size of the Physio review last night, there are a bunch of people who have just given up going to class all together.

Aloha,

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Pathology
PGY-1.75