Pathway to become a medical doctor in Lebanon: American-based curriculum (ABC) medical schools

So you want to become a doctor. What are your options for studying medicine in Lebanon?

Lebanese medical schools can be divided based on the curriculum they follow into French system-based curriculum (FBC) schools and American system-based curriculum (ABC) schools. Some might argue that this division is not totally precise, however it is the best way to create a road map that you’ll be relying on in your decision making. For details on the ABC and the difference between ABC and FBC check this link.

In this article we will be dealing with the various universities that follow the ABC pathway. This system is a 7 years process divided into Pre-Medical years (average of 3 to 4 years) and Medical school or Medicine years (4 years) and requires that the applicants hold at least a BS degree and take the MCAT exam. Note that you need to take the SAT during highschool to be able to apply to ABC universities in general.

Figure 1 shows a quick presentation of the process.

So, what is this Pre-Med thing?

Basically Pre-med is any specialty that you choose to study that provides at least a Bachelor’s degree (BS) in addition to extra courses that are called Pre-Med required courses.

We said at least BS because one can go for a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree which generally requires 4 to 5 years and still decide to apply to medical school as long as you have taken your pre-med courses (try to do well on these!).

However, school graduates generally choose Biology as their Pre-med specialty because it includes most of the Pre-Med required courses, or they go for what we call biology or health sciences related specialties such as medical lab that cover most of what is Pre-med required. If you decide to go for a specialty that is not considered a health science, such as engineering or business, you need to keep in mind that you’ll have to take a bunch of extra courses which might make things a little more challenging.

What is the MCAT?

During your Pre-med years (any year but generally 2nd or 3rd) you’ll need to sit for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) MCAT. This is an international exam required for all universities following the ABC pathway. Generally speaking, the extra courses that universities offer are tailored for you to be familiar with the content and requirements of the MCAT exam. Your MCAT score is an international score (like the SAT). You can be a student in any of the 7 universities and take the exam. It is not a requirement for the FBC universities but you can take the MCAT if you want to change university and apply to an ABC medical school in Lebanon or abroad.

In Lebanon the testing center is at AMIDEAST in downtown Beirut. Note that you can take the test outside Lebanon if you can’t find a spot (we’d recommend Qatar, Dubai, or Cyprus as they’re all very accessible) . Theoretically, you can repeat the test as many times as you wish but any all your attempts are registered with some programs only accepting the first or up to the second attempt scores. Note that you can use the MCAT to apply for ABC medical schools inside and outside Lebanon.

Applying for an ABC medicals school

You’ve done your MCAT and you are expecting to graduate this year. You can now apply to medical schools. Regardless of which university you are doing your BS at, if you have all the requirements, you can apply to any ABC medical school (eg, you are doing your pre-med in AUB, you can apply for medical school in UOB or LAU). Furthermore, even if you’re studying for example Biology in one of the FBC universities you can sit for the MCAT and apply to any ABC university).

Generally, in order to get accepted into medical school the accepting committee looks at 4 things:

• MCAT scores,

• your GPA,

• interview scores

• the university from which you’ll be graduating (generally, there is an advantage if you did your pre-med years at the same university you are applying to).