This page contains unofficial information about the faculty of medicine in Kuwait. It is not, by any means, an authoritative reference on how to get admitted or how any systems work. Also note that this paper was written in 2002 by a student of the class of 2000. Things might have changed since then.
In the first two courses at the university, you study as a student of the health sciences center. After these two courses, your faculty is dicided between medicine, dentistry, and pharmacology according to your preference and your GPA in these first two courses. So, even after you finish high school, the competition is still there in the university to get admitted to the faculty of medicine. It is very important to get a high GPA in the first two courses.
The most important skill you will need to get a high GPA is English. You should be good at English, written and spoken. English accounts for one third of your GPA during your first two courses! You will also need english to read books and understand lectures of the other subjects. Many doctors in the university do not speak Arabic because they don't know Arabic.
To get admitted to the faculty of medicine, you will also need to pass the interview. Doctors from the university will interview you and ask your questions like why you want to become a doctor, and so. The interview is just to check your personality, and it doesn't count for anything in your GPA. According to what we have been told, unless you have seriouse personality problems, you will pass.
Your first three courses in the university are called the premedical courses. Of course, before you start your third course, your faculty is already determined (hopefully, medicine). In those three premedical courses you study English, physics, chemistry, biology, and two elective courses you choose.
After you have finished your first three courses, you are now in the middle of your second year. This is when you start your preclinical courses.
The preclinical courses are divided into years. The first year is called the third year, but it actually starts in the second term of the second year year, and it continues until you finish your comeing third year at the univesity. So this year actually consists of three courses. After that, you start your fourth year, which consists of two courses.
In the third year, you study four subjects: anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and community medicine. During each course of the third year you take two incourse assessments, makeing a total of six assessments by the end of third year. After the three courses comes the final exam. This exam covers all the three courses! At the end of third year, your grade in each subject is multiplied by the subjects credits times three (for three courses).
The fourth year is similar to the third year, but it consists of two courses only with three in course assessments in each course. In this year you study pathology, microbiology, pharmacology, and neurosciences.
When you finish your fourth year, you will get a bachelor in human sciences.
After the preclinical years come the clinical years, three years. During these years you will attend lectures and clinical trials in the form of courses in variouse subjects.
When you finish your clinical years you will become a general practitioner.