Thread: Any thoughts on Virgen Milagrosa University?

Hello guys!

I came across this university in the Phillipines. What I find attractive is the low fees but I am not certain about the quality of instruction of the MD program there...if you have any experience or knowledge about this institute please share. Thanks!

Medical schools in the Philippines are inexpensive. The higher end would be places like Fatima where the tuition if you do all your training in the Philippines will be $40K for 4 years.

Are you a Filam or American? Do you want to come back to the US to practice?


Are you good with languages-could you pick up Tagalog? The academic training will be in English. However, you may need to speak Tagalog if you want to do your clinical training in the Philippines.

Keep in mind, if you do all your clinical training in the Philippines, getting a US residency may be a lot harder. You really need letters of recommendation from US doctors. Some schools will let you arrange your own, US rotations. UERM and Fatima both have arrangements with US hospitals-but those rotations may not be available to all students. The clinical training in the Philippines is similar to the old system in the US-which means hours are rather brutal-and sleep deprivation is part of the program. The up side: you'll get more "hands on" experience than you would in the USA.

Also, remember the curriculum in the Philippines does not prepare you for the USMLE. You'll need some additional study for that purpose.

I would check and see how many US residents you see from this school. I'd also ask yourself:
how do you feel about being the only American or Filam in a school?

Originally Posted by numbershacker

Medical schools in the Philippines are inexpensive. The higher end would be places like Fatima where the tuition if you do all your training in the Philippines will be $40K for 4 years.

Are you a Filam or American? Do you want to come back to the US to practice?


Are you good with languages-could you pick up Tagalog? The academic training will be in English. However, you may need to speak Tagalog if you want to do your clinical training in the Philippines.

Keep in mind, if you do all your clinical training in the Philippines, getting a US residency may be a lot harder. You really need letters of recommendation from US doctors. Some schools will let you arrange your own, US rotations. UERM and Fatima both have arrangements with US hospitals-but those rotations may not be available to all students. The clinical training in the Philippines is similar to the old system in the US-which means hours are rather brutal-and sleep deprivation is part of the program. The up side: you'll get more "hands on" experience than you would in the USA.

Also, remember the curriculum in the Philippines does not prepare you for the USMLE. You'll need some additional study for that purpose.

I would check and see how many US residents you see from this school. I'd also ask yourself:
how do you feel about being the only American or Filam in a school?

Thanks for the reply numbershacker. Actually I'm a Sri Lankan. I might try the USMLE in the future so thanks for the heads-up.

A couple of other issues to consider medical training in the philippines is a bit different in that they do 48 months of pure clinical(some subjects that are handled more in clinical in the US are done as academic subjects in the Philippines). There a couple ways around that: Many Philippine trained doctors do a year of internship in the Philippines. I've also heard of folks delaying u graduation and doing some extra elective rotations so they'd qualify for US residencies. I think overall, medical education in the Philippines is pretty good and in some areas is absolutely excellent. I've heard folks say that in infectious disease and tropical disease areas, you'll get better training than in the US because there is a greater diversity of cases to observe directly. g