Med School Shopping

[Dr. shorty]

I'm 25 years old so with that said its obvious I Dont have much time to fool around since I did already. I'm dying to attend med school, but since I didn't decide to do that sooner my chances to be accepted into a medical school here in the us are 0 to none.
I'm considering, and by considering I mean I'm completely sold into going to Unibe. Now I have done a lot of research and read more cons, than pros, but I decided to ask questions that pertain more to my personal situation and then judge based on that.

I'm Dominican born, but also a us citizen. Its hard to leave the us and move to Dr after the life that I'm used to here but no great achievements were obtain without some sort of sacrifice.
I want to know do you guys that moved to Dr for school just attend school or also work? My only type of financia support would be whatever I get approve from financial aided and loans. Can I survive based on that? Is med school too much studying to even consider getting a weekend job in the island?

What's the requirements for acceptance? I'm embarrassed to say but when I attended college here my GPA was up and down since I had two jobs it was chaos. I'm taking some science courses now and hopefully by next year 2015 it will increase from a 2.0 to something a little less terrifying. FYI I'm attending here a community college needless to say I didn't take the SATs or any other test, and will have an associates degree by the time I attend unibe if accepted.

Classes: although I speak Spanish perfectly, well not as perfect as someone who lived there their entire life, but it is pretty good. However, I Dont want to take the classes in Spanish because I'm not planning to practice in the DR and I do have to take all the parts here in English I prefer to learn everything in English it will save me the headaches of Learning again all the medical terminology.

Rotations: after two years and after taking part one would I be able to do my clinical rotations in the us? Does unibe gets involved when it comes to helping students get placement for rotations? After first rotation what follows?

Thank you very much in advance for all the input and anything you think that might be helpful to know please tell me. And yes my GPa its horrible but my state of mind its a lot different from when I was 16 and I'm determine and focused and I got my eyes on this and willing to do whatever it takes to reach my goals!

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[Medstart108]

Well looking at the website, UNIBE does offer some rotations, but i think most of your rotations will be in the DR. You probably wouldn't have time to take on a full time job. This is because you need to put in all your effort to study since you will be an IMG. Make sure your loans will be able to cover your studies plus living. I don't think DR jobs will pay you well anyways.

Why don't you go to the Caribbean? UNIBE doesn't offer full rotations in the US which hurts your chances and you haven't even said if UNIBE will teach you in English or not. I think the Caribbean is a much better option for you, first you get US rotations and 2nd you will be among more like minded students which will probably give you more guidance than going to the DR.

There is absolutely no prestige advantage to UNIBE. Most people will confuse it as a Caribbean school anyways.

 

[Dr. shorty]

Well looking at the website, UNIBE does offer some rotations, but i think most of your rotations will be in the DR. You probably wouldn't have time to take on a full time job. This is because you need to put in all your effort to study since you will be an IMG. Make sure your loans will be able to cover your studies plus living. I don't think DR jobs will pay you well anyways.

Why don't you go to the Caribbean? UNIBE doesn't offer full rotations in the US which hurts your chances and you haven't even said if UNIBE will teach you in English or not. I think the Caribbean is a much better option for you, first you get US rotations and 2nd you will be among more like minded students which will probably give you more guidance than going to the DR.

There is absolutely no prestige advantage to UNIBE. Most people will confuse it as a Caribbean school anyways.

Well DR it is in the Caribbean so I thought Unibe qualifies as a Caribbean school. what other Caribbean school do you suggest? I read somewhere if not on their website that they offer rotations here if your grades are pretty good for the 17, and 18 semester as long as you pass part 1. the reason why I choose DR Is because I m from there and I still have family there which might help with living expenses.
thanks for replying!

 

[Medstart108]

Well DR it is in the Caribbean so I thought Unibe qualifies as a Caribbean school. what other Caribbean school do you suggest? I read somewhere if not on their website that they offer rotations here if your grades are pretty good for the 17, and 18 semester as long as you pass part 1. the reason why I choose DR Is because I m from there and I still have family there which might help with living expenses.
thanks for replying!

Hi, it is a Caribbean school in the sense that it is located in the Caribbean, but I believe its main purpose is to train local students which means its not the same as the other Caribbean schools. You could go to a Caribbean school that is one of the big 4 (Ross, AUC) probably not SABA or SGU since you won't get in. It would help you match, but it would likely be more expensive.

It does make sense that if you have family there it would help you with living costs. So really i think it is up to you then. Going to UNIBE would probably mean fewer rotations in the US, likely fewer students on the same path, but it would also mean lower costs.

Either way, the one thing i don't recommend is getting a part time job, you really need to spend the time you are working studying.

 

[Dr. shorty]

Hi, it is a Caribbean school in the sense that it is located in the Caribbean, but I believe its main purpose is to train local students which means its not the same as the other Caribbean schools. You could go to a Caribbean school that is one of the big 4 (Ross, AUC) probably not SABA or SGU since you won't get in. It would help you match, but it would likely be more expensive.

It does make sense that if you have family there it would help you with living costs. So really i think it is up to you then. Going to UNIBE would probably mean fewer rotations in the US, likely fewer students on the same path, but it would also mean lower costs.

Either way, the one thing i don't recommend is getting a part time job, you really need to spend the time you are working studying.

yes I agree a job its not a good option. so you saying SABA or SGU are more likely to accept me due to my GPA? have you heard of Universidad O&M in Dom. Rep.? I found that they have some type of agreement with Harvard or at least were in the talks of such, but that was back in 2006 I guess it didn't work I cant find nothing recent or anyone that went to that school.
thanks for all your input you are the only one answering so far to anything I ask

 

[Medstart108]

yes I agree a job its not a good option. so you saying SABA or SGU are more likely to accept me due to my GPA? have you heard of Universidad O&M in Dom. Rep.? I found that they have some type of agreement with Harvard or at least were in the talks of such, but that was back in 2006 I guess it didn't work I cant find nothing recent or anyone that went to that school.
thanks for all your input you are the only one answering so far to anything I ask

Sorry i was saying that SABA and SGU are not very likely to accept you because of your GPA. They also require the MCAT i believe. I've looked at O&M and the website is quite nice and it was founded in partnership with Harvard, but it doesn't mention any clinical rotations available in the US, so I don't think there is one. This program will be 6 years. I think if you can afford it you can go to UNIBE or O&M. Maybe you can find clin rotations in the US since i haven't spent too much time looking at it, but either way it does seem the DR is a better option for you as you haven't written the MCAT.

 

[NYblackice]

To the OP, if I were you I would carefully weigh my options and visit the school before making any decisions. UNIBE has changed alot in recent years and student's there are pretty miserable. I'm glad I took my time and went to American University of Antigua, there are alot of other options and sometimes taking private loans will pay off better in the long term because you will go to a better school, get a better residency, and make a better salary for the rest of your life. I mean just look at this,
http://www.valuemd.com/unibe-dominican-medical-schools/237451-unibe-medical-program.html

Visit the school and talk to the students first.