Why MUA?

Discover more about our medical school in the Caribbean including class sizes, clinical rotations, and accreditations.

Discover MUA

Medical University of the Americas was founded over 20 years ago on a philosophy of education that believes students are best taught medicine in small classes, with one-on-one instruction, and with a commitment to providing an education on par with U.S. and Canadian medical schools.

Today, MUA continues to adhere to those founding principles and has earned a reputation for academic excellence - and graduate success - that has made it a leader among international medical schools.

Here are a few reasons why so many doctors now get their start at MUA:

Residency Placements

Three Years of Competitive Excellence with 96% Average Residency Attainment 2021-2023*

*Three-year residency placement rate is the percentage of students attaining a residency position out of all graduates or expected graduates in 2022-23 and graduates in 2021-22, and graduates in 2020-21 who were active applicants in the NRMP match or attained a residency outside the NRMP match.

Most Affordable of the Top Schools

MUA is the most affordable of the Top Seven Caribbean medical schools that are approved to participate in the U.S. Federal Financial Aid Programs

Integrated, Systems-Based Curriculum

MUA’s academic program is based on the integrated, systems-based approach in use at top U.S. medical schools. Diverse learning opportunities include interactive lectures, small-group work sessions, individual and group presentations, team-based learning, and simulations with standardized patients.

In addition, our MD program offers learning experiences you won’t find at big international schools. For example, MUA’s first-semester anatomy class includes the dissection of cadavers, as at many U.S. medical schools, giving you early hands-on training you won’t get at the bigger schools.

Also, MUA offers a unique research module that teaches you critical analytical skills you’ll need throughout your medical career to evaluate and assimilate scientific evidence and continually expand your knowledge.

Class Size and Learning Environment

At MUA, we teach an integrated, systems-based curriculum similar to what you’ll find at leading U.S. medical schools. What truly differentiates MUA is how we teach it.

Our Faculty

All MUA faculty members have an advanced medical or doctoral degree (MD, MBBS, PhD) in their academic field, with postgraduate training in their specialty, as well as demonstrated experience in teaching and research.

They are available on-campus and on the island throughout your studies and are passionate and care deeply about your future success within the medical industry. The small class sizes allow for more personal and quality teaching from staff to students, providing the support needed to nourish our student’s full potential.

MUA Faculty

The Campus and Caribbean

Located on the beautiful island of Nevis, MUA’s 10-acre campus boasts modern classrooms (including a dedicated on-campus test center), fully equipped laboratories, an extensive library, and an island hospital where students can get clinical experience early in their basic science study. Outside the classroom, students enjoy well-appointed student residencies and gym facilities, plus all the amenities of Nevis island life, including a weekly fresh produce market and the stunning beaches Nevis is famous for.

And then there is the amazing adventure of spending two years of your life on the beautiful and historic island of Nevis — an opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture and a different way of life that you may never have again.

So yes, you will study hard when you come to MUA. But you will leave not only with an incomparable medical education but with good friends and a lifetime of memories.

Student Experience of Life on Nevis

Residency Placements

MUA students obtain residencies in competitive programs across the full range of medical specialties in the U.S. and Canada. Many of MUA’s graduates excel in their residencies, becoming Chief Residents, and many pursue Fellowship opportunities following residency.

The extensive experience progressively gained through each clinical rotation, both cores and electives, combined with MUA’s oversight, prepares each student for board exams, USMLE Step II CK/CS, and ultimately successful placement into residency and success as a resident and a physician.

Most importantly, MUA provides students with a comprehensive “Road to Residency” plan, which clearly identifies all steps required to gain a desirable residency position. MUA’s clinical faculty works individually with students to prepare them for each step of the process, helping them train for the Step II exams, identify potential residency opportunities, and even conduct mock residency interviews.

Our goal is to do everything possible to make sure MUA students get the training, development, and support they need to get the residency they want and ultimately succeed as a practicing clinician.

Clinical Rotations

MUA, like other international medical schools, offers a full complement of tools to help students organize patient notes, perform self-assessments, and manage other elements of their clinical rotations. What sets MUA’s clinical program apart, however, is the personalized, hands-on support provided by MUA’s faculty at every stage of a student’s clinical rotations.

At every step of your clinical rotations, MUA faculty will be in contact with your attending physicians and preceptors to monitor your progress. They’ll personally review your logs and casework and provide regular assessments to make sure you’re progressing as expected.

MUA’s small class size, combined with our emphasis on personalized learning, means you’ll receive a level of support and guidance during your clinical rotations that simply can’t be matched by bigger schools—particularly those with classes three and four times as big as MUA’s.

And if you’re not, the school’s Deans and clinical faculty will work with you to help ensure your success.

Clinical, Professional, and Personal

MUA’s objective is not only to make sure each student maximizes his or her clinical experience but also to focus on career planning and personal growth. Additionally, MUA works with students on the mundane yet vital administrative details that come with clinical rotations, such as housing and scheduling.

The result is that MUA students are able to focus fully on their clinical, professional, and personal development during this critical phase of their education, knowing the MUA team is behind them.

That’s a far cry from the experience at other schools, where students are often on their own once they move on from Basic Science.

Hand-Picked Programs – Personalized Attention

MUA’s extensive clinical network and curricular design ensure that all students have a robust clinical experience focused on preparing them to practice medicine.

The school’s clinical sites provide students the opportunity to become immersed in the finer points of clinical medicine, and they receive significant hands-on training under the guidance and supervision of the clinical faculty and deans.

Key U.S. Approvals

MUA is one of only a handful of international medical schools with approvals from the key states of New York, California, and Florida. This means that MUA students have access to high-quality clinical rotations in their 3rd and 4th years of medical school that would otherwise be unavailable to them, as well as access to sought-after residencies and licensure in the case of New York and California, respectively. Collectively, these approvals also make MUA graduates who complete the requisite licensing exams eligible to practice in all 50 U.S. states and Canada.

Accreditations and Approval

Medical University of the Americas is a fully accredited medical school.

Welcoming Canadian Students

Canadians make up a large proportion of each incoming MUA class, and while they’re attracted to MUA for all the same reasons that draw non-Canadian students, these reasons stand out:

  • MUA’s incredibly strong track record of securing clinical rotations and residency placements in Canada.
  • Scholarship: MUA is pleased to offer to qualifying candidates the Canadian Citizen Grant and the Canadian Merit Scholarship, designed to assist in the cost of education and to recognize past achievements. It also doesn’t hurt that the extensive prep that MUA provides for USMLE Step 1 also applies very well to the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE).
  • My experience at MUA has been very positive. The faculty put in a lot of effort to make sure you learn the material and are very supportive when you need help.
    Julian JinadasaMD Student
  • I had family ties to MUA which made me look further into the school and once I learned more about what the school offered I knew it was the place for me.
    Caitlyn YoungMD Student

  • I choose MUA because of the great curriculum that can compete with top universities in the Caribbean, more active in their classroom since there is no online option, and you get one on one learning from your professor.
    Yamil E. Vélez Román  MD Student

More about MUA

Admissions

MUA has built its reputation as a medical school through a careful admissions process that looks at each applicant individually. We want to know as much about you, the person — why you are considering medical school and what you hope to bring to the practice of medicine — as we do about your GPA and performance on standardized tests.
Learn more

Clinical Difference

How the MD prepares you for success:

“My surgical clinical rotation was excellent. It gave me the ability to assist on operations, not simply view them from the corner of the room.”

—Adnan Qureshi, MD

Learn more

Graduate Success

Since its founding in 1998, the Medical University of the Americas has enjoyed a steady track record of success, with more than 1,600 graduates, excellent performance on licensing exams, and a history of winning top residency positions.
Learn more

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