- Joined
- Sep 15, 2015
- Messages
- 90
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- 264
Due to recent threads I thought it was time I wrote up my experience, and help guide others in their Carib journey.
- When I ran the statistics of my incoming 1st term class vs my 5th term class, only 66% of the same names were on the roster. Many of my friends and partners decelled. Some failed a class by .01 % and were permanently excused, locking them in with 100k+ in debt and nothing to show. Some repeatedly failed steps, and were "graduated"/excused with a masters in biology.
- The teachers were horrible, many do not speak English clearly. Many times test questions reflected this.
- Clinical rotation sites vary from being a complete joke to being 120 hrs a week, depending on where you chose to rotate. Some locations rotate directly with students from USMD schools.
- During interviews, many PD's were nervous about my clinical experience. If I was in their shoes I would be nervous as well.
- You cannot easily do audition rotations, a fact Carib tries to hide. You must pay for any audition rotation you wish to complete, and many sites will not even consider taking an international student.
- When you compare my interview invite list with DO students with similar or lessor scores than me, you can see the heavy bias in the direction of DO grads. Again, if I was a PD I would feel the same. I would say 90% of the mid to higher end IM programs would rather a DO with a step 1 of 240 than a Carib with a 260.
- I made a stupid decision of going carib. Family doctor pressure and coming from a lower class upbringing played a part, but in the end it was me not doing my research. I worked hard to be in the top 5% of my carib class, but my choice of university IM programs was still limited.
- Many of my friends did not match at all, some had to SOAP. I do not know a single person out of 9 that SOAP'd successfully.
- The school offers no guidance in terms of how many positions you should apply to, or what specialty. We had one talk stating if you don't have a 220 on step one your SOL come match time, and that was about it.
- I ended up matching in my #1 choice, a decent university IM program. I got very lucky, and I am the only one I know that matched at their top choice. Some matched as far down as 12th.
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