Emilio Aguinaldo College School of Medicine: A Guide for Foreign Students

TL;DR: Emilio Aguinaldo College runs a four-year Doctor of Medicine programme in Manila with a one-year internship after the degree, a base training hospital called Manila Med, and an NMAT cut-off it publishes as the 40th percentile or above for freshmen. It does not publish tuition anywhere on its website, so every "total fee" figure circulating online is an agency number. The only per-school outcome data that exists comes from NBEMS: 89 candidates appeared for FMGE 2020 from EAC and 26 passed, 29.21 per cent. Before any of that matters, an Indian applicant has to deal with the fact that India's NMC treats the Philippine MD as a 48-month course against its own 54-month minimum, and de-recognised the Philippine BS pre-medical course in November 2021.

What Emilio Aguinaldo College Is

EAC is a private, non-sectarian college with campuses in Manila and Dasmariñas, Cavite. The Association of Philippine Medical Colleges directory, in its March 2025 edition, lists Emilio Aguinaldo College School of Medicine at San Marcelino St., Ermita, Manila, with the trunk line (02) 8521-2710 loc. 5522. It is one of 74 medical schools in that directory.

The School of Medicine page states that EAC holds government recognition from the Commission on Higher Education and is an active member of the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges Foundation, Inc. (APMCFI). It also says the school maintains linkages with medical councils in China, Thailand, Nepal, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Read that carefully: a linkage is not a recognition, and EAC does not claim it is.

One thing worth checking yourself. EAC's own accredited-programs page, dated 25 February 2023 for the Manila campus, lists accreditation levels for business administration, psychology, physical therapy, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and others. The Doctor of Medicine programme does not appear on that published list. EAC does state that the institution has held CHED autonomous status since 2019. If a PAASCU accreditation level for Medicine matters to you, and it should if you are thinking about ECFMG certification later, ask the College of Medicine for the certificate rather than relying on a summary.

You can see the wider institutional picture on the Emilio Aguinaldo College profile.

The Programme Structure EAC Publishes

EAC describes a four-year Doctor of Medicine curriculum, followed by an addition of one year of internship in any APMC-accredited hospital. The curriculum is described as an Outcomes-Based Curriculum dated 2015-2016, with ten stated learning outcomes.

That shape is not an EAC invention. It is what CHED requires. CHED Memorandum Order No. 10, series of 2006, Section 6, says the medical curriculum "shall be four years, the fourth year of which shall be a 12 months rotating clinical clerkship." Section 8 then says that, as embodied in the Medical Act of 1959, "the Doctor of Medicine degree shall be given after the fourth year and postgraduate Internship continue to be a requirement before licensure," with APMCFI exercising general supervision over that internship.

So the Philippine sequence is: four academic years, the last of which is clerkship; then the degree; then a separate twelve-month postgraduate internship. Hold that thought, because it is the whole ball game for Indian applicants.

Two more CMO 10 provisions foreign students routinely find out about too late:

• No degree is conferred unless the last two curriculum years were taken at the college conferring it. Transferring late is not a fix.
• A student who fails 40 per cent or more of the total annual academic load, in hours, at any year level is dismissed. Failing the same subject twice at any year level means being dropped from the rolls automatically. Schools are allowed to be stricter, not more lenient.
• New students are accepted only in the first semester of the academic year. If anyone offers you a mid-year intake, ask which regulation permits it.

Admission for Foreign Students

From EAC's School of Medicine page:

On top of that, CHED requires a Certificate of Eligibility for Admission to Medicine (CEMed) for everyone, and CEM notes that foreign students apply for it at the CHED Office of Student Services at the National Engineering Center Building, UP Diliman, Quezon City. The CEMed is not a school admission. CEM states plainly that it "does not automatically assure the applicant of a slot in any of the medical schools in the country."

The NMAT itself is run by the Center for Educational Measurement. Its published fees are ₱500 registration plus ₱1,400 test fee for domestic applicants, a total of ₱1,900 (roughly ₹2,950), and US$15 plus US$45, a total of US$60 (roughly ₱3,700), for NMAT-International applicants. The registration fee is non-refundable.

EAC's Manila admissions page splits foreign-learner documents into two piles. Not needing apostille: the online application form, the acceptance letter from EAC, an ACR / student visa / tourist visa, a certificate of quarantine if you hold a tourist visa, passport photocopies and four 2×2 photos. Needing apostille in the original: birth certificate with English translation, transcript of records with English translation, marriage contract if applicable, a notarised affidavit of support and proof of adequate financial support, and police clearance from your country of origin.

Fees: What EAC Publishes and What Agencies Claim

EAC publishes no tuition figure for the MD programme. Not on the School of Medicine page, not on the admissions page, not on the Manila payment options page. The payment page lists channels only: peso accounts at AUB, BDO, BPI and Metrobank, US dollar accounts at BDO and Metrobank, a Chinese yuan account at BDO, plus GCash and Maya. It warns students away from unofficial payment channels and points them to the Cashier's Office.

That the school maintains USD and CNY receiving accounts tells you it takes foreign money routinely. It does not tell you how much.

For contrast, here is what one agency publishes. MOKSH's EAC page carries a six-year peso table: ₱110,000 for each of years one and two, then ₱275,000 for each of years three to six, ₱1,320,000 in total — roughly ₹20.5 lakh or about US$21,300 at rough conversion. That is an agency figure, not an EAC figure, and we could not match it to anything on eac.edu.ph. The same page, to its credit, says: "we do not encourage students to go to Philippines for their MBBS because there is no way to ascertain their admission."

Not published — confirm with the registrar. Ask the College of Medicine, in writing, for: annual tuition and miscellaneous fees for a non-Filipino MD student, the English placement test fee, whether the internship year is billed separately, and whether fees are locked for the duration.

The NMC Problem Indian Applicants Have to Solve First

This section decides the value of everything above.

India's Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate (FMGL) Regulations, 2021, in force from 18 November 2021, require a foreign medical degree of minimum 54 months, with the medium of instruction in English, an internship of twelve months in the same foreign institution where the primary qualification was obtained, registration with the licensing body of the country that awarded the degree, and a pass in the screening test or National Exit Test. NMC's own FAQ on the regulations adds that the entire course, training and internship must be done outside India in the same institution, that no part may be done in India or a third country, and that the course must finish within ten years of joining.

The FAQ also settles a question people try to argue around. Asked whether internship or clerkship is the same as the clinical posting inside the 54-month course, NMC answers: "No; internship/clerkship and clinical posting & training are separate phases of practical learning."

Then there is the NMC public notice of 22 November 2023, which addresses Philippine graduates by name. Two findings from it:

• "with effect from 18.11.2021 i.e. with the publication of FMGL Regulation, 2021, NMC de-recognises BS Course in Philippines."
• For those admitted to the MD on or before that date, an extra year of internship is required to compensate "the deficiency in their training from parent foreign medical college... (Since their course is of 48 months only unlike 54 months MBBS course in India)."

A year later, on 26 November 2024, NMC circulated a public notice repeating that "any variation in duration, medium of instructions, syllabus, clinical training or internship/clerkship may lead to disqualification in grant of registration in India" and that "in case of disqualification, the sole responsibility shall lie upon the candidate only."

There is a second trap in FMGL Regulation 4(b): registration with the professional body of the country awarding the degree. In the Philippines that means the Physician Licensure Examination, and Republic Act No. 2382, the Medical Act of 1959, Section 9, allows a foreign citizen to sit it only where documentary evidence confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs shows that the applicant's home country lets Filipinos practise on the same terms. Treat that as unresolved and get EAC's written position on it before you enrol. The background is set out in what NMC recognition of Philippine medical schools actually means and in the wider MBBS in the Philippines guide for Indian students.

FMGE Record: The Only Published Numbers

NBEMS published country and institute-wise FMGE performance reports up to 2020. Those are the only per-school Philippine numbers from an official Indian source. Later sessions are published as totals only, so anyone showing you a 2024 or 2025 school-by-school table has built it themselves.

The 2019 cohort is too small to mean much. The 2020 figure, 29.21 per cent against a global 16.48 per cent, is a real signal but still means roughly seven in ten EAC candidates did not clear FMGE that year. NBEMS reported that the December 2025 session, held on 17 January 2026, drew 42,872 candidates of whom 10,262 passed, 23.95 per cent; the June 2025 session was 18.61 per cent.

Campus and Living in Manila

EAC's international students page states that it draws students from about 42 countries and says it provides "good facilities for their academic learning and dormitory accommodation." That is the school's own claim and the only accommodation statement on the site; it names no hostel, publishes no room rate and gives no capacity. Ask for specifics.

The Manila campus sits at 1113-1117 San Marcelino St., Paco, Manila, in a dense central district close to Manila Med, PGH and Ospital ng Maynila. Practically, that means short rotations commutes and city-level living costs. Do not accept a food or hostel claim from an agency page as a fact about EAC.

How to Apply

1. Finish a bachelor's degree in science or arts. Get the transcript apostilled with an English translation.
2. Register for the NMAT with CEM and sit it. Target a percentile rank above 40 at minimum.
3. Apply to CHED for the CEMed. Foreign applicants use the Office of Student Services at UP Diliman.
4. Apply to EAC's College of Medicine with the NMAT result, references, and health and psychometric clearances. Non-Filipinos sit the AILI English placement test.
5. Ask in writing for the fee schedule, the internship arrangement, and the school's position on PRC reciprocity.
6. On acceptance, assemble the apostilled document set and convert to a student visa. Bureau of Immigration lists 9(f) application fees totalling around ₱9,720 plus US$50 for the ACR I-Card, with extensions around ₱4,020 plus US$50.

Verdict

EAC is a long-established Manila college with a real hospital network, a published NMAT cut-off, a clear document checklist for foreign learners, and the second-best of the two published FMGE data points among the four schools in this series. What it does not give you is a price. A medical degree is a six-figure peso decision and EAC leaves you to ask for the number in private, which is common practice in Philippine private higher education but still puts you at a disadvantage against an agency that already knows it.

For an Indian applicant the school-level questions are secondary. The NMC has said in writing that the Philippine MD is a 48-month course, that the BS pre-medical route is de-recognised, and that the consequences of a mismatch fall on the candidate alone. Nothing EAC publishes changes that. Get a written answer on course duration, internship location and PRC registration before you pay anything.

Compare with the other three schools in this series: University of Perpetual Help DALTA in Las Piñas, Lyceum-Northwestern in Dagupan, and AMA School of Medicine in Makati.

Sources

• EAC School of Medicine
• EAC Admissions, Manila Campus
• EAC Payment Options, Manila Campus
• EAC International Students
• EAC Accredited Programs
• APMC Directory of Medical Schools, March 2025
• CHED Memorandum Order No. 10, s. 2006
• CEM: Admission to Philippine Medical Schools
• CEM NMAT Payment and Refund Policy
• NMC FAQs on the FMGL Regulations, 2021
• NMC Public Notice, 22 November 2023: clarifications for FMGs
• NMC advisory to Indian students seeking admission abroad, November 2024
• NBEMS: Country/Institute Wise Performance in FMGE 2020
• NBE: Country/Institute Wise Performance in FMGE 2019
• Careers360 on the FMGE December 2025 results, citing NBEMS
• Republic Act No. 2382, Medical Act of 1959
• Bureau of Immigration: Student Visa
• Agency claim, cited as an example of agency pricing: MOKSH on Emilio Aguinaldo College