UERM vs UST (Philippines Medical School)

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Hi everyone! Please don't take this as a debate thread (it is not). I'm just merely asking for everyone else's assistance to help me fill up a Pros and Cons list for each school: UERM and UST medical school. I know it would not matter where you go as long as you do well in the school and in your boards. But I still need a list to go by to help make my decision (maybe location, the kind of program, US rotations). I'm not really aware about any of these so it would help a whole lot.

Thanks!

both are pretty much the same in terms of location, both busy, polluted and crowded. traffic is worse in the UST area, based on experience. UST however has a bigger and nicer campus than UERM. both locations have nice condos to rent nearby.

UST is traditional (more theoretical), UERM is integrated (more problem-based and application).

i know people who study in both schools, and the ones studying in UERM are generally much happier about their life in med school than the ones from UST. the ones in UST even told me straight out not to study there.

taking the USMLE after 2nd year is difficult for both schools.

not too sure about internship abroad, but i think in UERM you can take it in the US for the entire year. correct me if im wrong

UST generally has a better reputation though, and has the 2nd highest passing rate in the local board exams, after UP.


hope that helped

UST has a gorgeous campus, really quality lab stuff as well.
UERM old outdated campus, really, but there have been some improvements lately from what I hear, I'll see when classes start in June.

I believe the UST area floods a lot so take into consideration transportation/housing/area choices when choosing a school.

Both UST and UERM have a large alumni network stateside but UST afaik, UST has a larger network

UST has a 2 week rotation stateside, but you must plan that and set that up on your own.
UERM has up to 1 year stateside and has 2 affiliate schools, one in NYC and the other in Chicago.

I can't say how big UST classes are but i believe UERM admits about 400-500 students a year, with 10% being foreigners.

UERM retention rate is about 50% in terms of graduating with no problems, I think UST is lower, but have someone else confirm that.

UERM has a $10,000 "foreign" fee but costs about 105,000php or $2,450 per semester. UST is a little higher, but not by much, maybe 20,000-40,000 php or so?
UST also has a foreign fee but I forget if it was $6,000 or $10,000.

UERM has an integrated curriculum which is a mixture between PBL and traditional.
You cannot transfer to UST if you have been a previous matriculant of an MD program/have started taking MD courses.

UST application sucked though, especially if you are not catholic/christian. The biggest pain was getting my baptismal certificate as well as getting a recommendation from a priest. Stuff is pretty hard if you are agnostic/atheist/not catholic.

I am a graduate of UST FMS and the only "con" I have seen is that it is very difficult to get international rotations. I have seen only a very few who were able to do so. It is therefore harder to get USCE, which is very much a necessity nowadays for any IMG who wishes to get matched in a residency program in the US.

On the flipside, UST does have a large number of graduates who eventually practice in the US, and they sometimes help new graduates out.