Checking a Caribbean Medical School's Accreditation Before You Apply

Step 1: Check the World Directory of Medical Schools, then read the fine print

Start at the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS), maintained jointly by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) and FAIMER, part of Intealth. Search the school by name and confirm it appears with an active status.

Then read WDOMS's own disclaimer carefully. The site states plainly that a listing does not denote recognition, accreditation, or endorsement by WFME, FAIMER, or the directory's sponsors. A WDOMS listing is a minimum baseline, close to a directory entry, not proof the school meets any education quality standard. Treat this as step one of several, not a final answer.

Step 2: Identify who actually accredits the school

Every medical school is accredited by a body based in its own home jurisdiction, not by Canada's accreditor. Canada's Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) accredits medical schools inside Canada only. No Caribbean school carries, or needs, CACMS accreditation to operate, so do not treat its absence from a CACMS list as a red flag specific to that school.

What you need instead is the actual accrediting body for that specific island and school, which varies by jurisdiction, and then confirmation that the accreditor itself has gone through a recognized international quality review process. Ask the school directly, in writing, which body accredits it, when the accreditation was last renewed, and for how long the current accreditation runs. A school that cannot answer this clearly, or that only points back to its own marketing page, has already told you something.

Step 3: Confirm ECFMG's current accreditation criteria

If you plan to pursue a US residency, ECFMG certification is a required gate before you can sit the USMLE as an international medical graduate, and ECFMG certification depends on your school meeting ECFMG's own accreditation criteria. ECFMG's requirements around which accrediting bodies it recognizes have tightened in recent years, and the exact criteria and effective dates matter for your specific entry year.

Check ECFMG's own current eligibility page directly, for your actual planned entry year, rather than relying on a school admissions page's summary of the rule. A rule that applied to a student who entered five years ago is not automatically the rule that applies to you.

Step 4: Check state-by-state clinical rotation approval

Accreditation is not the only approval that matters. Some US states run their own separate process for which foreign medical schools may place students in clinical clerkships within that state's hospitals. A school can hold legitimate accreditation and still be blocked from clinical placements in a specific state until it goes through that state's own approval.

Ask the school for its current, dated list of states where it holds clerkship approval, and cross-check that against where you would actually want to rotate. This detail rarely appears prominently in recruiting materials, since it complicates a clean pitch, but it directly affects where you can train.

Step 5: Watch for red flags

• The school cannot name its actual accrediting body clearly, or gives a vague answer like 'internationally accredited' with no specific organization named.

• The school will not disclose its graduation rate, attrition rate, or USMLE first-time pass rate in writing.

• Recruiting language promises a guaranteed match or downplays how competitive the IMG residency stream actually is.

• The school has no graduating class yet, or a very small number of graduates, with no track record to evaluate.

• The clinical affiliate hospital list is vague, outdated, or the school will not provide a current dated version.

Step 6: Verify everything yourself, not through an agent

Check each of these points against the accreditor's own site, ECFMG's own site, and WDOMS directly, not a summary from an admissions counsellor or education agent whose income depends on your enrollment. For the Canadian licensing side, check the Medical Council of Canada directly for how it treats graduates of the specific school you're considering, since MCC's own requirements for exam eligibility apply regardless of what a recruiter tells you.

A few hours of direct verification before you apply costs far less than finding out after enrollment that a claim did not hold up.