Hey all,
WARNING: this is a long post, but if you want my opinion on DO vs. Carib, please read!
It's been a while since i've been on this forum and a lot has changed. At one point, I applied to D.O. schools and was rejected/wait-listed and decided not to try again, so I headed to a caribbean school (one of the big 4). for respect of the school, its alum, its students, and its faculty, i will not name the school-- but you may be able to figure it out.
so i got to school and the island was pretty nice, very westernized, and probably the most 'livable' of the islands of the big 4 (should be a dead giveaway at this point). so living and modern conveniences weren't a problem. in school, i struggled with it. i don't know how i passed first semester, but i did. i worked my butt of, as did the rest of my class, and every day was a struggle. [don't let the misconceptions fool you-- just because it is the caribbean doesn't mean people don't care about their future. many people (like me) gave up their job for this and weren't going to just throw it out the window.. so just to reiterated, EVERYONE i knew worked hard.]
second semester, i ended up failing out of school. i took a semester off to re-evaluate what went wrong and what i needed to do. i learned that i wasn't studying properly and i needed to be constantly REVIEWING because i understood everything, but when test time rolled around, i forgot a lot. the amount of material is not like undergrad and you have to be reviewing every day the stuff for the week and reviewing the entire block up until where you are that weekend on the weekends. ironically, i figured out this study method my last block of the last semester there. but by then, i mathematically needed 90's on the block to even have a chance at passing with a passing grade on the final (yes, it was that bad).
so i took a semester off and thought about going into accounting or something else. my failure made me believe that i wasn't intellient enough to become a physician. the irony is that i had the work ethic. my friends back at school saw how hard i worked and felt bad about my outcome. after a long discussion with my parents, i decided to give it another shot and i transferred to another school (a non-big 4 carib school w/o gov't loans). i'm taking out private loans and my parents are also helping me out with the difference. long story short, i took what i learned from my previous school and used my study method and am doing just fine here.
i came here to let everyone know that if i had the choice (which i didnt because i didnt get accepted to a DO school), i would have chosen DO-- simply on the attrition rate of carib schools. i understand that there isn't much hand-holding in med school, but i believe that the US scools (MD/DO) have academic resources and counselors that guide students to the right path. i didn't have that luxury and learned the hard way. in the caribbean, so many students enter and so many eventually fail out (trust me, i wasn't the only one-- there were MANY) that they (the faculty and counselors) are almost immune to it. what most people don't realize is that a good MAJORITY of the entering classes don't graduate ON TIME (in 5 semesters). you fail ONE class, you have to repeat it, and it delays your leaving the island by a full semester (not to mention, more money for the school). majority of my friends are still there, just a semester behind schedule-- with the pressure of not having to fail a class or else they reach their limit, like i did-- very stressful situation! but it is a part of 'the business of carib schools'. as evidenced with the attrition rate of DO/MD schools vs. carib schools, i have no doubt in my mind that DO schools cater to the success of their students more.
financially as it stands, i owe a lot of money to those 2 semesters of my first school school and on top of it, i will owe private loans with ridiculous interest rates at my new school. again, another reason to pick DO over carib.
Again, if I had my choice, it would be DO over caribbean (knowing what i know now).. since i'm only a 2nd semester transfer, i'd be willing to say that I'd start over from scratch if I got into a DO school. However, with my track record, I doubt I'd be accepted. If anyone has any questions, feel free to reply or PM me.. I can't promised I'd get back to everyone prompty-- i'm currently in school now but our 3rd block isnt until the end of the month, so it's not too crazy right now
WARNING: this is a long post, but if you want my opinion on DO vs. Carib, please read!
It's been a while since i've been on this forum and a lot has changed. At one point, I applied to D.O. schools and was rejected/wait-listed and decided not to try again, so I headed to a caribbean school (one of the big 4). for respect of the school, its alum, its students, and its faculty, i will not name the school-- but you may be able to figure it out.
so i got to school and the island was pretty nice, very westernized, and probably the most 'livable' of the islands of the big 4 (should be a dead giveaway at this point). so living and modern conveniences weren't a problem. in school, i struggled with it. i don't know how i passed first semester, but i did. i worked my butt of, as did the rest of my class, and every day was a struggle. [don't let the misconceptions fool you-- just because it is the caribbean doesn't mean people don't care about their future. many people (like me) gave up their job for this and weren't going to just throw it out the window.. so just to reiterated, EVERYONE i knew worked hard.]
second semester, i ended up failing out of school. i took a semester off to re-evaluate what went wrong and what i needed to do. i learned that i wasn't studying properly and i needed to be constantly REVIEWING because i understood everything, but when test time rolled around, i forgot a lot. the amount of material is not like undergrad and you have to be reviewing every day the stuff for the week and reviewing the entire block up until where you are that weekend on the weekends. ironically, i figured out this study method my last block of the last semester there. but by then, i mathematically needed 90's on the block to even have a chance at passing with a passing grade on the final (yes, it was that bad).
so i took a semester off and thought about going into accounting or something else. my failure made me believe that i wasn't intellient enough to become a physician. the irony is that i had the work ethic. my friends back at school saw how hard i worked and felt bad about my outcome. after a long discussion with my parents, i decided to give it another shot and i transferred to another school (a non-big 4 carib school w/o gov't loans). i'm taking out private loans and my parents are also helping me out with the difference. long story short, i took what i learned from my previous school and used my study method and am doing just fine here.
i came here to let everyone know that if i had the choice (which i didnt because i didnt get accepted to a DO school), i would have chosen DO-- simply on the attrition rate of carib schools. i understand that there isn't much hand-holding in med school, but i believe that the US scools (MD/DO) have academic resources and counselors that guide students to the right path. i didn't have that luxury and learned the hard way. in the caribbean, so many students enter and so many eventually fail out (trust me, i wasn't the only one-- there were MANY) that they (the faculty and counselors) are almost immune to it. what most people don't realize is that a good MAJORITY of the entering classes don't graduate ON TIME (in 5 semesters). you fail ONE class, you have to repeat it, and it delays your leaving the island by a full semester (not to mention, more money for the school). majority of my friends are still there, just a semester behind schedule-- with the pressure of not having to fail a class or else they reach their limit, like i did-- very stressful situation! but it is a part of 'the business of carib schools'. as evidenced with the attrition rate of DO/MD schools vs. carib schools, i have no doubt in my mind that DO schools cater to the success of their students more.
financially as it stands, i owe a lot of money to those 2 semesters of my first school school and on top of it, i will owe private loans with ridiculous interest rates at my new school. again, another reason to pick DO over carib.
Again, if I had my choice, it would be DO over caribbean (knowing what i know now).. since i'm only a 2nd semester transfer, i'd be willing to say that I'd start over from scratch if I got into a DO school. However, with my track record, I doubt I'd be accepted. If anyone has any questions, feel free to reply or PM me.. I can't promised I'd get back to everyone prompty-- i'm currently in school now but our 3rd block isnt until the end of the month, so it's not too crazy right now
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