<p>i was looking at: [List</a> of medical schools in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_schools_in_the_United_States]List”>List of medical schools in the United States - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>and was curious about puerto rico. are the med schools there just as competitive as the other regular states, or is it pretty much like carribean med school?</p>
<p>Are you Puerto Rican? If not, you are unlikely to be admitted.</p>
<p>For example, at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine preference is given to qualified applicants who are legal residents of Puerto Rico. Highly qualified Puerto Rico non-residents must demonstrate strong ties to Puerto Rico. To determine strong residential ties to Puerto Rico, the Committee on Admission will review the applicant´s birthplace, high school attended, college attended and parent´s legal residence. An applicant who meets three of the four categories demonstrates strong ties to Puerto Rico. Candidates are also required to take a minimum of four college courses in Spanish, and since applicants’ primary language tends to be Spainsh, those classes are normally in Spanish Literature taught in Spanish.</p>
<p>Spanish is the big thing. If you aren’t fluent, you can’t get in regardless of the requirements. You patients will speak spanish. The nurses will speak spanish. The doctors will speak spanish. Everything will be in spanish and (if you are lucky) with english as well. Puerto Rico is definitely better than the Carib, in my opinion, but it is also primarily focused on creating docs with ties to the hispanic community.</p>
<p>I checked with some folks, apparently the textbooks are mostly english, but professors have the option in teaching in Spanish, and some do.</p>