How's living at St. George's

[jcpetruc]

Hoping to get a little more information.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[muonwhiz]

I'm not a student there, so I'm not a primary source. I have heard that if you can get a room in the dorms on the True Blue campus, they are pretty nice. The older dorm is not as nice, but not horrible. I haven't heard anything about the off campus housing. Are you considering going to SGU or have you been accepted there? Good luck!

 

[stephew]

I gradudated in 1999 long before the nice new dorms; i lived at Grand Anse, then the place to be; its very livable; the lowliest dorms are quite adequate and after first term you can move off campus and live quite well; the upper true blue dorms are gorgous. The rest of the facilities happen to be state of the art and better than most US med schools if not all; I'm currently a resident at Johns Hopkins and have worked in Syracuse and at Sinai in NYC and none of those facilities come close. So life style is quite easy to be honest.
All the best,
Steph

 

[roughgod]

With all due respect,
I frankly found what you wrote partially misleading. I have never been to the island myself, but considered it at some point. That's when I did an elaborate investigation on the school and living conditions in the island and postgrad yeras and continuing ed. and more.

What I found out (mostly by interviewing/talking t to SGU alumni or surrent students in rotation) was actually quite deviated from what Stephew has said!

Living conditions are not no where similar to the US conditions obviously. One must remember that Grenada is a 3rd world country. It looks beautiful, but gets really boring and major depression kicks in for almost everyone.....which I must say it is overcome by overwhelming amount of school work during the 5 semester in the island (all of which will not be in St. George.....last semester or two is held in another part of Grenada: St. Vincent).

So, I guess what I'm saying is that one must carefully and most importantly REALISTICALLY look at this issue of going off to a remote island to study medicine.....it has benefits as well as many many downsides. One must do that before blowing off a good chuck of money before realizing how unfit the island is for him or her.

Best of luck Stephew,

 

[roughgod]

Sorry for the TYPO's in my message above.


".....current students in rotation..."

'Living conditions are no where similar to..."

 

[Stephen Ewen]

I have communicated in the past with a family residing in Grenada. The living conditions are not bad.

Besides, let us assume for the sake of my making a small point that they ARE bad--in Grenada or anywhere. In this case, one can look upon the experience as actually an integral part of their training...learning to enter into the conditions and relate with others who MUST ALWAYS live in poor conditions can, in the end, add at a lot more to oneself than just the medical or any other academic knowledge.

[This message has been edited by Stephen Ewen (edited 02-27-2001).]

 

[the_rock]

Stephen,

I was wondering, if I attend SGU, will my wife be able to find work there, or is there absolutely nothing for her to do there? She is a college grad in finance. How about the other carribean schools.
thanks

[This message has been edited by the_rock (edited 03-02-2001).]

 

[Stephen Ewen]

The one wife of a student that I knew there homeschooled her several children; so she was well busy just with that. I would encourage you to contact the S.O. Club that SGU has. I would also encourage you to NOT go EXPECTING and REQUIRING your wife's income to make it--have your budget meet without it, and any she makes is all the better. Many of the students' wives who do find work tend to end up working for the schools. Best wishes.

 

[stephew]

sorry roughgod; I was there. What I posted is my experience. THe basic sci facilities are better than most US med schools. The Island is developing...I was talking about the campus. No its not exciting there. PLease reread what I wrote. Unless you choose to live as many of the locals, its not exactly roughing it.

 

[jenavari]

I was last in Grenada/St. Vinnie's in 1999--so let me tell you a little bit about housing in Grenada.
There are 2 campuses--True Blue and Grande Anse. Grande Anse is the older campus, and from what I have been told is not used that much anymore for the med students...I think that the pre-med students are housed there. Having said that, I did live there my 1st term. It is right on the beach, and the rooms are a decent size, each with its own bathroom and balcony. I think that you are more likely to be placed at True Blue. There are two sections of True Blue--upper and lower. Lower True Blue was supposed to be torn down--but, things sometimes go slowly. You want to be on upper True Blue. There are all kinds of housing options available, including married housing. Be warned though...married housing is small...it is essentially a small studio with a kitchen. Other housing options are 6-person suites (three bedrooms, three bathrooms, with kitchen and washer/dryer), 5-person suites (5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, kitchen, washer/dryer, balcony--I lived in one of these suites for 2 terms, and I loved it...they were brand new and beautiful), 4-person suites (4 bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchen); of course, there are singles and doubles (both of which are studios)...also, when I left the school was in the process of building more dorms on Upper True Blue...so there may be even more options available to you. The woman in charge of housing down there is Dawm Buckmire. Call the school and ask if there is any way for you to get in touch with her.
Also, you have off-campus options. I lived off campus for 1 term as well...it is well worth it if you are married.
Best of luck!

 

[dcolvin]

Rock: I am waiting to see if I've gotten accepted to SGU and have done alot of research, especialy regarding whether or not my fiance could work there. What I found out was "almost deffinately not". The local unemployment rate is so hight that they're very hessitant to give out work visas to non-locals. I did hear a couple of stories of student wives getting together thier own little businesses such as making and selling pizzas for/to the students. Not exactly a living. Hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by dcolvin (edited March 28, 2001).]