Do med schools have summer break in the Caribbean?

Do med schools have summer break? The short answer is yes. But Caribbean med schools typically have multiple intake cycles throughout the year. And so, the time at which you start has an impact on the length and timing of your summer breaks. Actually, your start date dictates the schedule for your entire duration of med school. So the best way to know when to expect your breaks is to understand the different intake cycles and the timeline for each.

What do you mean by intake cycles?

To understand the Caribbean intake cycles, let’s first look at the Canadian and US admission systems. Canadian and US med schools have one admission cycle every 12 months. If you don’t get in for a given year, you have to wait an entire year to apply in the next cycle.

Caribbean med schools, however, have multiple admission cycles and offer 2-3 start times in every 12-month period. Obviously, this approach is driven by monetary reasons. More intake cycles = more students per year = more income.

But there’s an advantage for students as well. With multiple intakes, you don’t have to wait a whole year to get started. This is especially valuable to students who were unsuccessful in Canada and the US a few times (like me), won’t be applying there again, but know they still want to go to med school. And of course, there are also students who apply right after undergrad because they just want to get started. So it helps them too.

St. George’s University in Grenada offers 3 start times per year – January, April and August. I’ll first talk about what my schedule is like and will be like over the next few years based on my start date in January 2022. Then I’ll talk about what my schedule would be like if I started in April or August. And that should help outline when Caribbean med schools have summer break.

Med school summer break with January start

I started med school in January 2022. Or more specifically, I started term 1 in January 2022.

Because of the multiple start times each year, we identify our stage or progress in med school by the term (term 1, 2, etc) more so than the year (MS1, MS2). There are a total of 10 terms over 4 years. However, terms 3 and 4 are combined. So there are 10 terms completed in 9 study periods.

Here’s a breakdown of each year by terms and the length of each term, plus or minus a week.

1. Year 1 (MS1): term 1 (17 weeks) and term 2 (18 weeks)
2. Year 2 (MS2): terms 3/4 (24 weeks) and term 5 (18 weeks)
3. Years 3 & 4 (MS3 & MS4): clinical years terms 6-10 completed in the US (and possibly Canada for some electives). There are 2 start times for MS3, either May or August.

So how does this translate into a working timeline?

1. Term 1: January 17 to May 16, 2022
2. *Summer break* (almost 2.5 months)
3. Term 2: August 10 to December 7, 2022
4. Winter break (1 month)
5. Terms 3/4: January 9 to June 22, 2023
6. Summer break (1.5 months)
7. Term 5: August 8 to December 8, 2023
8. Winter break (1 month)
9. Step 1 dedicated study period: January to April 2024 (in Canada)
10. Terms 6-10 (MS3 & MS4 clinical years): May 2024 to December 2025 (in the US & Canada)

I wasn’t even thinking about the timeline when I applied, but January is probably the best time to start. It allows a summer break that’s almost 2.5 months long. No other start dates accommodate that long a break. And you have a comfortable window to study for Step 1.

Med school summer break with April start

If I started term 1 in April 2022, this is what the timeline would look like:

1. Term 1: April 6 to August 2, 2022
2. *Summer break* (1 week)
3. Term 2: August 10 to December 7, 2022
4. Winter break (1 month)
5. Terms 3/4: January 9 to June 22, 2023
6. Summer break (1.5 months)
7. Term 5: August 8 to December 8, 2023
8. Winter break (1 month)
9. Step 1 dedicated study period: January to April 2024
10. Terms 6-10 (MS3 & MS4 clinical years): May 2024 to December 2025

Students who begin term 1 with the April intake then start term 2 in August. They end up joining the students who completed term 1 from Jan-May. And then follow the same timeline.

The big difference is that the January intake gets to enjoy almost 2.5 months off for summer after term 1. Whereas April students barely have 1 week of downtime between terms 1 and 2. Personally, I would never start in April.

Med school summer break with August start

If I started term 1 in August 2022, this is what the timeline would look like:

1. Term 1: August 15 to December 12, 2022
2. Winter break (1 month)
3. Term 2: January 9 to May 10, 2023
4. Summer break (1.5 months)
5. Terms 3/4: July 3 to December 14, 2023
6. Winter break (1 month)
7. Term 5: January 8 to May 10, 2024
8. Step 1 dedicated study period: not sure about the timing here
9. Terms 6-10 (MS3 & MS4 clinical years): August 2024 to April 2026

Students who start in August certainly have it better than April students. But the winter breaks are barely a month each time.

And since our 3rd year clinical rotations start in May or August, these students have a small window to complete Step 1 in time to start MS3 in August. I’m not sure what happens if they don’t feel ready to write Step 1 in that time. I’m assuming they’ll write the exam in the next window they feel ready and then start MS3 in the following year. In which case, they get a long med school summer break lol.

I’ll update this when I find out more about the timeline for August students.

Winter break…

For now, that should answer the question about do med schools have summer break.

As term 2 comes to a close, I can’t wait for my winter break ahead. Can’t wait to set foot on Canadian soil – even if it’s covered in 6 inches of snow.

Do you have vacation time coming up? If so, what are your plans?

-M

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