Introduction:

Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba (XUSOM) employs a holistic approach to selection of Medical students. Defined by the AAMC, holistic review is a flexible, individualized way for medical schools to consider an applicant’s capabilities, providing balanced consideration to experiences, attributes, and academic metrics. These factors are considered in combination with how the individual might contribute value as a medical student and physician.

Nondiscrimination policy:

Xavier University School of medicine follows consistent criteria for the admission of students to the school of medicine, without discrimination in age, gender, religion, disability or any other factors.

Diversity and Inclusiveness Policy:

Xavier University School of medicine acknowledges that it operates in a diverse community of multiple nations, ethnicities, economies and religions. In valuing the diversity of its student and staff population, the university believes in equality of opportunity in staff and students recruitment, access of resources and academic growth. It strives to provide an environment that is free of harassment and discrimination and adopts measures to respect heterogeneities in thoughts and practices due to variations in gender, culture, ethnicity, socioeconomics, religions and geographic backgrounds.

General Criteria for Selection

Following AAMC’s holistic guide to admissions, XUSOM uses the following general criteria for selection of medical students. These criteria balance both academic accomplishments and personal factors in applicants designed to achieve mission-related goals, with evidence of how (and why).

  • Academic background (e.g., major, grade point average and grade trend, MCAT scores, science background, other academic interests, enthusiasm of recommenders, quality of undergraduate institution, quality of essay, area and difficulty of undergraduate course selection, and coursework loads).
  • Personal attributes (e.g., culture, socioeconomic status, geography, rural/inner city, race/ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, faith, family status, national origin, individual interests, values and beliefs, maturity, leadership, being multilingual, etc.)
  • Personal experiences (e.g., overcoming hardship, work history, community service, health care experience, research experience, success in prior career[s], and life experiences).
Key Elements of Admission committee criteria:
  • Admission criteria are aligned with schools mission and goals
  • Are approved by the faculty
  • Balance both academic accomplishments and personal factors in applicants designed to achieve mission-related goals,
  • Evaluation of enrollment decisions: the enrollment process should be periodically evaluated for the desired outcomes (Program completion, attrition rate, professionalism issues, performance on standardized exams, specialty selection and career plans( clinical practice, research, academic medicine)
AAMC’s 4 principles for holistic admission:

The following principles published by AAMC have been adopted by XUSOM.

The AAMC’s Definition and Core Principles of Holistic Review:

A flexible, individualized way of assessing an applicant’s capabilities by which balanced consideration is given to experiences, attributes, and academic metrics and, when considered in combination, to how the individual might contribute value as a medical student and physician.

Four Core Principles of a Holistic Admissions Process:

In a holistic admissions process, selection criteria are broad-based, are clearly linked to school mission and goals, and promote diversity as an essential element to achieving institutional excellence.

  • A balance of experiences, attributes, and academic metrics (E-A-M) is
    • a. used to assess applicants with the intent of creating a richly diverse interview and selection pool and student body;
    • b. Applied equitably across the entire candidate pool; and
    • c. Grounded in data that provide evidence supporting the use of selection criteria beyond grades and test scores.
  • Admissions staff and committee members give individualized consideration to how each applicant may contribute to the medical school learning environment and the practice of medicine, weighing and balancing the range of criteria needed in a class to achieve the outcomes desired by the school.
  • Race and ethnicity may be considered as factors when making admission-related decisions only when such consideration is narrowly tailored to achieve mission-related educational interests and goals associated with student diversity, and when considered as part of a broader mix of factors, which may include personal attributes, experiential factors, demographics, or other considerations.

XUSOM will consider for admission any applicant who meets its academic and nonacademic criteria and who demonstrates the ability to perform the skills listed in technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodations, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. This policy conforms as well to the AAMC guidelines for medical schools, “The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Disabled Student in Medical School,” approved for distribution by the AAMC Executive Council in June, 1993.

The Admission Committee has continued to reaffirm that all students must possess the intellectual, physical and emotional capabilities necessary to undertake the required curriculum in a reasonably independent manner, without having to rely on intermediaries, and that all students must be able to achieve the levels of competence required by the faculty. All candidates for admission, both those with and without disabilities, are expected to be competitive with others in the applicant pool in academic, personal, and extracurricular dimensions and to meet these technical standards.

XUSOM believes that medical schools should educate a diverse group of medical students recognizing that in such diversity lies excellence. Included in this group are qualified students who have impairments, functional limitations and/or disabilities. The medical school’s obligation is to produce effective and competent physicians and to seek candidates who will be best able to serve the needs of society. Therefore, applicants with disabilities should be held to the same admission standards, with accommodation if needed, as their nondisabled peers.

Technical Standards for the Student of Medicine:

Applicants and enrolled medical students must possess the general physical health necessary for performing the duties of a medical student and physician in training without endangering the lives of patients and/or colleagues with whom the student might have contact. Candidates for the MD. Degree must have somatic sensation, the functional use of the senses of vision and hearing, sufficient sensory and motor function, intellectual, and interpersonal skills to permit them to carry out the activities described in the sections that follow. They must be able to integrate consistently, quickly, and accurately all information received by whatever sense(s) employed, and they must have the intellectual ability to learn, integrate, analyze and synthesize data.

A candidate for the M.D. degree must have abilities and skills in five areas: observation, communication, motor, intellectual (conceptual, integrative and quantitative), and behavioral and social. Technological compensation can be made feasible for some disabilities in certain of these areas but a candidate should be able to perform in a reasonably independent manner. The use of a trained intermediary, a person trained to perform essential skills on behalf of the candidate, or a person used such that a candidate’s judgment must be mediated by someone else’s power of selection and observation, is not permitted.

  • Observation: The candidate must be able to observe required demonstrations and experiments in the basic sciences, including but not limited to anatomic dissection, microscopic studies, and patient demonstrations. A candidate must be able to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand. Observation necessitates the functional use of the sense of vision, hearing, and somatic sensation.
  • Communication: A candidate must be able to speak, to hear, and to observe patients in order to elicit information, describe changes in mood, activity, and posture, and perceive nonverbal communication. A candidate must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients. Communication includes not only speech, but also reading and writing in English. The candidate must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in oral and written form with all members of the health care team.
  • Motor: A candidate must have sufficient motor function to carry out the basic laboratory techniques and to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other diagnostic maneuvers, perform a dissection of a human cadaver, and have sufficient motor ability to use a microscope. A candidate should be able to perform a complete physical examination (including pelvic examination); diagnostic procedures (e.g., venipuncture and basic laboratory tests) A candidate must be able to execute motor movements reasonably required to provide general care and emergency treatment to patients. Examples of treatment reasonably required of physicians are cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the administration of intravenous medication, the application of pressure to stop bleeding, the suturing of simple wounds, assisting in surgical operations, and the performance of simple, general obstetrical and gynecological procedures. Such actions require coordination of both gross and fine muscular movements, equilibrium and functional use of the senses of touch, vision, and hearing.
  • Intellectual- (Conceptual Integrative and Quantitative Abilities): Problem solving, the critical skill demanded of physicians, requires that a candidate be able to learn, retrieve, analyze, sequence, organize, synthesize and integrate information efficiently, and reason effectively. In addition a candidate should possess the ability to measure and calculate accurately, to perceive three-dimensional relationships and to understand the spatial relationships of structures.
  • Behavioral and Social Attributes: A candidate must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of his intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients and their family members, staff, and colleagues. Each candidate must be able to work effectively as a member of a health-care team. Candidates must be able to tolerate physically taxing workloads and to function effectively under stress. They must be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility and to learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, collegiality, interest, and motivation are all personal qualities that are necessary for the successful physician
Medical Applicants Procedure:

Students apply using a standard application form available from the XUSOM Office of Admissions or Web Site. This provides standard demographic and career preparation information.

All applicants applying for 4 year MD Program are required to finish at least 2 academic years with a minimum of 90 credit hours of undergraduate studies including the following subjects:

  • (8 hours) of Inorganic or General Chemistry (with labs)
  • (8 hours) of Organic Chemistry (with labs)
  • (8 hours) of General Biology (with labs)
  • (8 hours) of Physics (with labs)
  • (3 hours) of English
  • (3 hours) of Pre-Calculus/Calculus or statistics
  • (3 hours) of behavioral or social science

Applicants are encouraged to take the MCAT examination, but it is not required. Applicants are encouraged to have a strong volunteer background in healthcare in order to allow them to understand the specific demands of practicing medicine, as well as to provide them exposure to healthcare as a career field.

Once the application is complete, it is referred to the Admissions Committee. Committee evaluation includes overall academic performance measured by cumulative GPA, science GPA, shadowing or volunteer experience in a medical facility, results of an in-person or telephone interview, and an overall assessment of readiness and ability to undertake a medical education. The Committee makes a recommendation for admission.

Xavier University has a program for providing exceptions to its usual admissions requirements. Highly motivated students who do not meet the traditional admissions criteria are interviewed in-depth by the admissions committee. If chosen for admission, they are monitored beginning from the start of the first semester, and may be given assistance in terms of tutoring, or a decreased course load. This is done to ensure an adequate education with slightly decreased stress, optimizing the chance of completing the basic science curriculum and passing the USMLE step 1.

Pre-Medical Applicants Procedure

Xavier University also provides for an accelerated 5.5 year MD degree, for motivated High School students.

These students must have:
High School Diploma
GPA: 3.0
SAT: 1200 (old system) 1800 (new system) or ACT 26
TOEFL: 231 (for other than USA, UK, or Canadian students)
IELTS: 6.0 (for other than USA, UK, or Canadian students)

Students apply using a standard application form available from the XUSOM Office of Admissions or Web Site. This provides standard demographic and career preparation information.

Once the Pre-Med application is complete, it is referred to the Admissions Committee. Committee evaluation includes overall academic performance, shadowing or volunteer experience in a medical facility, results of an in-person or telephone interview and an overall assessment of readiness and ability to undertake an accelerated medical education. The Committee makes a recommendation for admission.

All students successfully completing the Pre-Med Program will automatically gain advancement into the Basic Science Component of our MD program.

Basic Sciences Transfer Applicants Procedure

Transfer students apply using the standard application form available from the XUSOM Office of Admissions or Web Site. Students must submit transcripts of their course work at other schools of medicine, as well as the results of standardized examinations.
Students who have not had a course comparable to the Xavier course, or who have failed a course at another institution, must take the Xavier course. Students with unacceptable scores on standardized examinations are not accepted for transfer.

Clinical Sciences Transfer Applicants

Clinical sciences transfer applicants apply using the standard application form available from the XUSOM Office of Admissions website. Students must submit transcripts of their coursework at other schools of medicine, as well as the results of standardized examinations. Transfer students will only be considered from those students who have attended IMED-listed medical schools. Students who have not had a course comparable to the Xavier course, or how have failed a course at another institute, must take the Xavier course. Students with unacceptable scores on standardized examinations are not accepted for transfer. Clinical sciences transfer students will be considered under the following three scenarios:

  • A student who has completed the basic sciences curriculum at their home IMED-listed institution, has completed the equivalent of the Xavier MD5 semester at their home institution, as determined by the Admissions Committee, and who has successfully passed USMLE Step 1, but who has not completed any clinical rotations, may enter 72 weeks of approved clinical rotations at Xavier University School of Medicine sites
  • A student who has completed the basic sciences curriculum at their home IMED-listed institution, has completed the equivalent of the Xavier MD5 semester at their home institution, as determined by the Admissions Committee, and who has successfully passed USMLE Step 1, and who has completed some, but not all, of their clinical rotations, may enter and complete no less than 48 weeks of approved clinical rotations at Xavier University School of Medicine sites
  • A student who has completed the basic sciences curriculum at their home IMED-listed institution, may completed the equivalent of the Xavier MD5 semester at their home institution, as determined by the Admissions Committee, and who has NOT passed USMLE Step 1, must complete the MD5 semester at Xavier University School of Medicine, successfully pass the Basic Science Comprehensive Examination within three attempts, and successfully pass the USMLE Step 1 within three attempts, before being allowed to complete 72 weeks of approved clinical rotations at Xavier University School of Medicine
  • Transfer students are not accepted into the final year of the programme except under rare circumstances.
Publication:

The Admission policy and procedures along with technical standards is included in the Admissions Bulletin distributed to all applicants and appears on the school web site www.xusom.com

 

As of December 1, 2021