Vietnamese and Cambodian Students Studying Medicine and Dentistry in the Philippines: NMAT and Admission Requirements

Why Vietnamese and Cambodian students look at Philippine medical schools

Medical and dental education in Vietnam and Cambodia carries limited seats and high competition for admission. Philippine medical schools teach entirely in English, run structured pre-med to MD pathways, and typically cost less than comparable private medical education in the US, Australia, or Europe. Established teaching hospitals across Manila, Cebu, and Davao give students exposure to a wide patient base during clinical years.

How the entry structure works

Philippine medical schools generally require applicants to hold a bachelor's degree before starting the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program, which then runs four years. A small number of schools offer an integrated track combining pre-med coursework with the MD program under a single extended admission, but the standard route is a bachelor's degree first, then a separate MD application.

Dentistry follows a similar structure: a bachelor's degree, ideally with science coursework, followed by a four-year Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) program. Confirm the exact prerequisite subjects with your target school's admissions office, since science unit requirements differ between universities.

The NMAT for medical school admission

The National Medical Admission Test (NMAT) has been developed and administered by the Center for Educational Measurement (CEM) since 1985 under commission from the Department of Education. The test now runs online, with registration and payment handled through CEM's own testing platform.

NMAT results come back as a percentile rank rather than a raw score, comparing your performance against other test takers nationally. Individual medical schools set their own minimum percentile for admission, and this cutoff varies by school and changes between intakes, so confirm the current requirement directly with your shortlisted schools rather than working from an outdated figure. Read the NMAT Bulletin of Information published by CEM before registering, since it lists current eligibility rules, test format, and the full registration checklist.

Dentistry admission requirements

Dental schools do not use the NMAT, since it applies specifically to medical school admission. Instead, each dental college runs its own entrance exam or evaluates applicants through their bachelor's degree grades, an interview, and prerequisite science coursework. Contact the dental college directly at each university you shortlist, since format and passing requirements are not standardized across schools.

Duration and what to budget for

Plan for roughly four years to complete a bachelor's degree, then four more years for the MD or DMD program, before any licensing exam or internship year required after graduation. Tuition for medical and dental programs runs higher than general undergraduate degrees because of laboratory, clinical, and equipment fees, and the exact figure varies significantly by school. Request a full, itemized cost breakdown directly from each medical or dental school's admissions office before applying, since published estimates online often leave out clinical and internship-year costs.

Licensing after graduation

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) administers the Physician Licensure Examination and the Dentist Licensure Examination. As with nursing, eligibility for foreign nationals to sit these board exams depends on citizenship and reciprocity rules that the PRC sets, and these rules change over time. If practicing in the Philippines after graduating matters to you, confirm your eligibility to sit the relevant PRC board exam before you enroll in the degree program, not after you finish it.

Most Vietnamese and Cambodian graduates use the Philippine MD or DMD as a foundation degree and complete licensing requirements in their home country or wherever they plan to practice, since medical licensing rarely transfers between countries without additional local exams regardless of where you studied.

Preparing your application

Start your bachelor's degree with the target medical or dental school's prerequisite subjects in mind, particularly biology, chemistry, and physics, since gaps here slow your admission timeline. Register for the NMAT well ahead of your intended MD application cycle, since results take time to process and most schools require the score at the point of application, not after a conditional offer.

Choosing between medicine and dentistry as a path

Both routes ask for the same starting point, a completed bachelor's degree with strong science grades, but the day-to-day training differs. Medical students spend more of their later years rotating through hospital wards under supervision, while dental students spend more time in supervised clinic sessions on campus treating patients directly. Talk to current international students in each program at your shortlisted school before deciding, since the workload and clinical exposure pattern shapes your daily routine for four years.