if you had a choice to start med school all over again and your ONLY 2 options were: Ponce or SJB (both on probation) which would you choose and why?
Hm, that's actually a very good question, but one I'm not sure that it's one I can really answer. Still, I suppose I'll give it a shot, if you like.
I'm actually surprised to hear you say that Ponce is still on probation. I had thought that they'd gotten their full accreditation back this past spring--and if that's the case, then the honest answer would be to go for Ponce, since they won't be up for review for another four years, at least.
But if they're both on still probation and (hypothetically) up for review at the same time, I would say go with the school that most impressed you, in terms of their facilities, organization, etc.
For my part, if I had to do it all over again, I probably would choose SJB again, all things being equal. (And by "all things being equal," I mean no questions of accreditation looming over my head). The reason for this is the following:
I know nothing about Ponce, so I really can't comment on the way they do things, or how things are at their school. But I do know that my "madrina" (the 2nd-year student who was assigned to be my first-year mentor) had very few good things to say about their school, and actually transferred to SJB midway through her first year at Ponce. Again though, I have no firsthand knowledge about Ponce, nor even any idea if her experiences are in anyway typical, or not.
But speaking personally, I've actually acclimated quite well to life here at SJB. And I can think of more than a few reasons why I'd like to stay at SJB, if given the option.
First and foremost, is the tuition: at least for this past year, SJB had the cheapest tuition of any school that I'd been accepted to (all two of them), and really the cheapest cost-of-attendance of any school that I applied to--even factoring in rent, utilities, and relocation expenses. I don't know what Ponce's tuition was like but ours was in the neighborhood of $30K/year (give or take) for out-of-state students.
The second point I'd mention is the fact that, at least here at SJB, the faculty generally try very hard to be responsive to students' needs and requests. If you have any questions, the faculty are more than willing to meet with you--or if not you, then your student class representatives. That is to say, if you have a question or a problem, you can either talk to the faculty directly, or failing that, talk to the elected student representative for that class. Usually, if enough people make a request (for example, to push back an exam to allow more time to study) they are surprisingly receptive and responsive to that.
Furthermore, because you all take the same classes, at the same time, with the same professors, there is a very strong sense of camaraderie and fraternity between the students at SJB. This last point is, I think the most salient one, at least for someone like me. At SJB you're not just a faceless number--people actually notice when you're there, and when you're not. This can be a good thing, in that professors actually know your name, and thus know you from Adam if you ever ask for a Letter of Rec; or it can be a bad thing, in that prof. will actually notice when you're not in class, or when you appear to be falling asleep...>_>.
Still, it's somewhat telling that even people who transferred out of my year to go to other schools still post on our Facebook group, trying to keep in touch with their "SJB family." That's rare, I think, in general--and almost unheard of at other schools. And it says a lot about how close you will be able to get to your classmates, and says even more about the social and academic atmosphere here at SJB.
By far the strongest case I can make for SJB is the strong sense of cooperation we enjoy. Granted, my class might be an aberration, but for the Class of 2015 at least, "competition" is a completely foreign concept. When deadlines are looming, and the pressure is on, you have 40+ people in your corner who are more than willing to lend you their notes, summarize a lecture, or even let you practice your physical examination skills on them while you're waiting to get into the Standardized Patient unit. People actually care about your continued and ongoing success--and while I'm sure that's true at other medical schools, it certainly surprised me when I came to SJB.
All that being said, however, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about the accreditation situation (we'd be fools not to be), but I am cautiously optimistic on that front. Another thing I will mention is that at SJB, you really have to be very flexible. At least this past year, there have been frequent last-minute changes to our syllabi--mostly pushing back deadlines, to allow students more time to do assignments. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the situation with the LCME has thrown our schedule into disarray (and I defy any school to do better, in light of the circumstances). But it is frustrating for a lot of students, and this may not be the case at Ponce.
For my part, however, if SJB receives its accreditation again in the fall, or even probation, I plan on staying for the forseeable future.
Hopefully that helps somewhat. And if you have any other questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask.
Regardless of where you end up, good luck! And if you do end up in Puerto Rico, let me know if you have any questions about life in Puerto Rico.
I want to know if I have to send the official transcripts to them, eventhough the transcripts were submitted to AMCAS. Their website says: "Official transcripts from all institutions attended (undergraduate and graduate)" 
