Thread: What are my chances of getting in to medical schools in the philippines?

What are my chances southwestern university MHAM college of medicine?

Curious to know why specifically MHAM?

I think you have a good chance of admission in MHAM or most Philippine schools. The general requirement for entry into medical school here is having TAKEN (yes, taken) the National medical admission test (NMAT)--there is NO PASSING NMAT cut-off except for the a handful of schools that are in the top 5 nationally. Off the top of my head, schools with stringent requirements (High GWA cut-off and NMAT cut-off) are University of the Philippines-PGH, University of Sto Tomas (UST) Cebu Insitute of Medicine (CIM) , West Visayas State University (WVSU) these have consistently have board passing averages of high 80-100% passing for the past 5 years at least. Of these, UP & UST have lot of graduates that take the USMLE and get into US residencies.

However, there are other schools that aren't so strict with admissions (some are in the top 10) that have special populations of foreign students and do cater to their needs-Our Lady of Fatima (not popular locally), UERM, FEU, Cebu Doctor's University, etc. they also do get into US residencies. I'm sure there are more schools that I forgot.

One Fil-Am graduate once advised, that the local performance/reputation of a school shouldn't matter so much to to the foreign student--what should matter is that the school meets your needs for a US residency, including US rotations.

Originally Posted by maia

Curious to know why specifically MHAM?

I think you have a good chance of admission in MHAM or most Philippine schools. The general requirement for entry into medical school here is having TAKEN (yes, taken) the National medical admission test (NMAT)--there is NO PASSING NMAT cut-off except for the a handful of schools that are in the top 5 nationally. Off the top of my head, schools with stringent requirements (High GWA cut-off and NMAT cut-off) are University of the Philippines-PGH, University of Sto Tomas (UST) Cebu Insitute of Medicine (CIM) , West Visayas State University (WVSU) these have consistently have board passing averages of high 80-100% passing for the past 5 years at least. Of these, UP & UST have lot of graduates that take the USMLE and get into US residencies.

However, there are other schools that aren't so strict with admissions (some are in the top 10) that have special populations of foreign students and do cater to their needs-Our Lady of Fatima (not popular locally), UERM, FEU, Cebu Doctor's University, etc. they also do get into US residencies. I'm sure there are more schools that I forgot.

One Fil-Am graduate once advised, that the local performance/reputation of a school shouldn't matter so much to to the foreign student--what should matter is that the school meets your needs for a US residency, including US rotations.

Thank you maia for the quick response. After looking at some threads I felt like I have a better shot getting in MHAM. In fact I am more attracted to OLFU because the can send students to US for clinical rotations but I assumed that it may be tough to get in.
Are you in one of these schools? If so can you please recommend me specific school that can fit a need of foreign student. I have enough savings and I am not worried about the cost. My best school option is a school that will accept me with possible clinicals in the US.
Thanks a lot again.

Originally Posted by kingm

Thank you maia for the quick response. After looking at some threads, website and my grades I felt like I have a better shot getting in MHAM. In fact I am more attracted to OLFU because the can send students to US for clinical rotations but I assumed that it may be tough to get in with to Ds on my transcript.
Are you in one of these schools? If so can you please recommend me specific school that can fit a need of foreign student. I have enough savings and I am not worried about the cost. My best school option is a school that will accept me with possible clinicals in the US.
Thanks a lot again.

I recommend fatima med school in the philippines. Im from san francisco california and i will definitely enroll there because of their US clerkship program. I' ll be going to the philippines at end of june just to check out the school.

Originally Posted by Richietlf

I recommend fatima med school in the philippines. Im from san francisco california and i will definitely enroll there because of their US clerkship program. I' ll be going to the philippines at end of june just to check out the school.

Thank you Richietif,
Do you think I have a shot at Fatima with two letter grad Ds in Calculus II and Classical physics?

Originally Posted by kingm

Thank you Richietif,
Do you think I have a shot at Fatima with two letter grad Ds in Calculus II and Classical physics?

Hi!
I'd like to suggest that you ask around 3-4 other schools about their grade requirements, whether individual subject grades matter or just the GWA. I also don't think that those two D's should limit your options into other schools, coz like you said, you did well in the bio science subjects..don't focus so much on them D's. For Philippine schools, I don't think college grades are a too big of a deal to hinder you, the pre-med and medschool admissions cultures are quite different.

About fatima, I heard on some forums that they have dedicated classes for foreign students (and they really take care of them, though you'd have to expect extra fees for that) and help with US rotations. I'm not sure if UST makes it easy for US rotations now but they do have a very good record with getting into US residencies for their students (UP and UST). Other schools with students I met in the local board review who had plans to also take the USMLE where University of the East RMM, Far Eastern University and Cebu Institute of Medicine.

For MHAM (aka Southwestern Uni), they were quite good in sending MDs to US residencies decades back and i know several alum but are of retiring age now.

Kingm
As long as you have a bachelor's degree you are good. Dont worry too much on your Ds. I have friends here in california who graduated in fatima and they are dooing good in their residency here. I know Fatima is not the best school in the Philippines but for us non locals, they will cater to our needs in terms of time. So that we could have more time to study for USMLE. I'll ask them the exact tuition when i visit fatima. I'll keep in touch.

Hey guys, I was wondering if I could get some input on my chances to get an interview. my GPA is 2.96 from a top 20 university, and i'll be graduating with a degree in biology. I've shadowed a physician for 60 hours, volunteered at a local community center for over 400 hours, leadership positions, upward trend in my grades, 3 years of research experience with a presentation, and an award based on that (research was social neuroscience, and I did a lot of independent work). Also EMT certified. I just recently took my MCAT, so I'm awaiting those scores still. What should I shoot for?

What are my chances for an interview and acceptance too? Thanks guys.

Take the Philippines National Medical Admissions Test (NMAT) (in the US or fly out to the Philippines), your MCAT scores are irrelevant. Medical schools are ranked in the country by the average NMAT of the entering student, a few schools mentioned below even have defined cut-offs of minimum entrance scores.

If you have a bachelor's degree in anything and speak English, you have a 100% chance getting of Southwestern - MHAM. Southwestern (MHAM) and University of the Visayas (Gullas) are the choice schools for SE Asian, Middle Eastern and African students, both with small American student contingencies. Both schools essentially have no selectivity in admissions.

I would shoot for a school with a better rep and actually has an admissions process/decision making - UST, UERM, Fatima, Cebu Institute of Medicine, Cebu Doctor's University, St. Luke's or Ateneo.

Fatima is an okay school...you are not gonna get into ust or up tho.....You can take your nmat after you arrive here and have been going to school....For Fatima......I took mine after the first semester.......Fatima does have a international program the rest DO NOT. Ateneo is a brand new program and therefore not not not accredited........ there are no loans for any of the schools here.....4 year degree is necessary....
Nearly there MD will have no problem getting in.....even if you want to start this september