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University of West Indies
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To be honest, I have no idea, but it doesn't seem like a very good sign if you can't find the information you need online.
My information may be outdated, but I believe international schools are to be used as a last resort all across the board. Unless you haven't had success in the US after fixing any red flags, I would probably not spend my money there, and just focus on fixing any red flags and apply in the US
My information may be outdated, but I believe international schools are to be used as a last resort all across the board. Unless you haven't had success in the US after fixing any red flags, I would probably not spend my money there, and just focus on fixing any red flags and apply in the US
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If they cannot give you evidence that their US students routinely graduate in 4 years with an NRMP match, do not matriculate.
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Are you a troll? You sound like a troll...
In case you aren't a troll:
Don't go there unless your goal is to live and practice medicine in the Caribbean for the rest of your career. I don't know anything about this school, other than what I read in 5 minutes on their website, but they don't seem to even have their students take the USMLE exams. Also you don't get an MD, you get a MBBS, and who knows how that corresponds to US degrees.
Long and short of it is that if you have any desire at all to practice medicine in the US, don't go to the Caribbean. Period. Especially don't go to schools that aren't even trying to get students back to the US.
More discussion on this here, here, here and here.
If you want to practice medicine in the US, then do what you need to do to go to a US medical school (MD or DO). Or if that isn't an option for you, look into NP/PA programs
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The MBBS is considered equivalent to MD by license boards in the U.S.
But, yes, this smells like a troll post.
-Skip
But, yes, this smells like a troll post.
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UWI is considered an offshore school. It is not LCME accredited. It has not even applied for LCME accreditation. It has only been accredited by the Caribbean board and that was only 2 years ago.
If you go there, the odds of you getting a US residency (necessary to practice in the US) are slim to none. Which would then leave you with no way to pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that you will accrue. Your only option to practice medicine at that point would be to work in the Caribbean. If that's what you want to do, then good luck and god bless. However, if you want to practice in the US, you really need to go to school here.
How low is your gpa? and did you even try to apply in the US?
If a low gpa is the only issue with your app (though I take leave to doubt this) then there are ways to fix that. Look into DO schools- they do grade replacement, so you could retake classes you did poorly in and have the new grade used in the gpa calculation instead (MD schools will only average the two). There are many threads on here about people who have done this (fixed their gpas) and gotten into med school. Read through the forum, use the search function, put in some hard work and you may be able to go to a school here.
Taking what seems to be the easy way out now, will only make things harder for you in the long run.
If you go there, the odds of you getting a US residency (necessary to practice in the US) are slim to none. Which would then leave you with no way to pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that you will accrue. Your only option to practice medicine at that point would be to work in the Caribbean. If that's what you want to do, then good luck and god bless. However, if you want to practice in the US, you really need to go to school here.
How low is your gpa? and did you even try to apply in the US?
If a low gpa is the only issue with your app (though I take leave to doubt this) then there are ways to fix that. Look into DO schools- they do grade replacement, so you could retake classes you did poorly in and have the new grade used in the gpa calculation instead (MD schools will only average the two). There are many threads on here about people who have done this (fixed their gpas) and gotten into med school. Read through the forum, use the search function, put in some hard work and you may be able to go to a school here.
Taking what seems to be the easy way out now, will only make things harder for you in the long run.
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I think what the OP referred to as offshore is a school that predominately trains non-native students for return to their own countries to practice.
So in that case UWI isn't an offshore school just as much as University of Barcelona or University College Dublin isn't an offshore school. It mostly trains local students to be local doctors.
While I am indeed surprised UWI offered you admission, I wouldn't take the offer. UWI is not an offshore school, it is the Caribbean's main medical school. With that being said, most people on this forum who are well educated people had no clue that UWI was not a for profit offshore Caribbean school so you can pretty much bet that most people won't know the difference.
The main problem with UWI is it won't offer you 2 years in the US, one of the biggest advantages of Caribbean schools. You may get elective time in your final year but it isn't enough. Most of your clinical rotations will be in Jamaica. The other thing is that the school won't have that many Americans trying to get back and doesn't teach to the USMLE. UWI was always organized towards the British system of education. You will have a difficult time preparing for the USMLE.
UWI is approved by the California Board.
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Ahh, I took the OP's statement to mean that it was a US accredited school, similar to schools in Puerto Rico. But perhaps s/he was drawing a different distinction as you mentioned.
Nonetheless, I think we're both in agreement here that the OP should not go to UWI if his/her primary goal is to practice in the US.
That could probably be due to the fact that almost everyone that attends UWI plan to stay in the Caribbean and practice.
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As I said above, I was using 'offshore' in a different sense, and I would agree with your definition- their primary goal is to train physicians to work in that country/in the Caribbean.
So you've said it twice yourself now, and even though I'm feeling like a broken record I'll say it one more time:
Their primary goal is to train physicians to work in the Caribbean.
They are not trying to send students back to the US.
If you want to practice in the Caribbean, it sounds like a fine school.
If you want to practice in the US, this is not a good decision.
The reason it's not a good decision has nothing in particular to with the quality of the school. The reason has to do with the bottleneck in US residency slots. We are quickly approaching the point where US medical schools will graduate more students than there are residency slots for. This year ~400 USMGs didn't place in the match. ~1000 IMG/FMGs did place, but you'd better believe that those were the absolute best of the best. (exact numbers here)
Graduating 5 years from now, if you go to UWI, the situation will be even more difficult as US MS seats continue to increase, while residency slots stay almost the same.
So, one more time, if you want to practice in the US, you need to go to a US med school.
And this confuses me. Your gpa is not that low, especially applying as a URM (which I'm assuming from your words "family ... in that country [WI]"). Which would lead me to believe that, yes, there are other issues with your application.
And when you say you withdrew from UMiami... withdrew from UG? withdrew from their medical school?
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I'm saying there are other issues because of the URM applicants last year, those with 3.4+ gpa and 24 MCAT or higher, had 57% or greater acceptance rate. so clearly, gpa isn't the issue that's holding you back. https://www.aamc.org/download/321520/data/2013factstable25-5.pdf numbers here
I don't know what it is (MCAT below 24, no ECs, made up obstacles in your head) but I'm tired of guessing. If you don't want to say, or you can't be honest with yourself, that's your business. But, if you truly have no other "red flags" in your app, then you actually have a decent shot at us schools.
If you still want to go to the caribbean, then good luck to you, but be prepared to stay there.
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I wouldn't do it there. You could expand the number of MD schools applied to and look seriously into DO. Any school that isn't the big 4 or 4.5 is really risky unless there's an expansion in residency slots.
what's the 4.5?
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I'm half including AUA despite their student loan interest rates and cryptic match information, LOL!
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They've given you a list, and since you have to scroll down to see all of it, you're thinking that's impressive. Right?
What they're not giving you is a percentage - they're very deliberately not telling you about the people who didn't match this year.
Or how many of the people on that match list graduated last year. Or several years ago.
Or how many failed out in year 1&2, or failed to secure clinical rotation slots for years 3&4, or who failed their step exams....
In other words...They're not giving you real data, just impressive marketing.
And they're not predicting the future. The situation is changing so rapidly that not only does 5 years ago not predict what will happen 5 years from now, but last year doesn't even predict this year.
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Are you a student at AUA? I read a thread somewhere on valueMD that something like 50 students passed step 1? How many are accepted each year? And what gpa, science and cumulative gets you into their program? Please PM me if you'd like.
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No, I'm not a student at AUA.
Just someone who's done their due diligence in researching schools before deciding where to apply. 4 years by the beach sounded nice to me too, but then I looked into it more.
I don't know the numbers you're asking for. You could try your own internet search, though I doubt you'll find some of them. Or you could call a recruiter, I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to you. Once you get off the phone with them I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you though...
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Yes, you do...
Something to think about, no?
I would like to weigh in on going to any OFF Shore Med School. The #1 issue is obtaining a residency. And lets just make that the only issue for this conversational thread. If you have to chose one of these schools than based solely upon the 5 years of matching into residency programs it is a tie, kind of, between SGU & Ross. 3rd AUC. Than the schools jumble up. But in a sense SABA has not the # of matches because of the less graduates per year, but their % of matching to graduate is very high. Next is St Matts, AUA. The rest have some matches but not consistent. As I have been writing on these threads best to try DO schools first. The # of residency spots in not increasing with the #s of applicants.
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I think that would be a good idea and give you a much better outcome in the long run.
Best of luck to you.
Reading this over, Does URM mean under reperesented minority?
Does this mean African-American? No I'm actually indian...Does this actually play a role for medical schools? I didn't know that.
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You have to look closely to realize they're spreading that list out over three + years.
No telling what the actual numbers are.
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URM=under-represented in medicine, which is typically defined as Hispanic, Black & American Indian.
India-Indian isn't URM. Carib-Indian or S.American-Indian can fall in that definition though.
It does play a role as schools are trying to get more people from these groups in and through med school, so that they can go back and help address health care disparities in their communities. Med schools are looking for diversity in general- so other things that can give a slight bump to an app are being:
-1st gen college student
-1st gen immigrant
-growing up economically or socioeconomically disadvantaged
-plus a number of other things, though with lesser weight.
Do you know where I can find these other factors? Thanks alot.
I thought it was only undergrad...not med school that did this...but guess it makes sense.
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Yep, med school does it hard core.
There's a pretty large list, but basically it boils down to things that a) give you real life experience and b) make you interesting and well rounded.
I mean think about it, last year >48,000 people applied for just over 20,000 med school seats. Even after weeding out the people who had no business applying (gpa <2.0, MCAT <20), there's still a lot more than can be accepted. But the majority of them are clones of each other. Cookie cutter pre-meds and no reason to take one person over the other. The super high stats people mostly get accepted (barring serious personality issues, or a complete lack of preparation aside from numbers), but of the medium stats people, med schools are only going to take a chance on the interesting ones.
Not all of these other things may be stuff that you want to do (like do military service) , or would be willing to take take several years to do (like Peace Corp or Teach for America). Some may already apply to you, or may never apply to you (ex. being LGBTQ, growing up in foster care, overcoming XYZ terrible obstacle). But you can still be interesting.
Best advice is go finish your degree (with As), and along the way, look around at the other pre-meds, see what they're doing (typical shadowing + volunteering stuff) and think of something different that would really float your boat. Then, in addition to the volunteering & shadowing, go do that extra thing. Because:
1) you may not get the time to do it at any other point in your life.
2) Doing something, anything, that you're really passionate about will not only make you a better, more interesting person, but will make your app stand out by that little bit of something extra.
As an example, a bit of my story: I got my bachelor's in philosophy because I wanted to. Then, because I wanted to, I set out to travel the world. And I did. I paid my way by teaching English in other countries, which turned into a passion in its own right. I had some great times and some ****ty times along the way. I came back to the US to do my pre-reqs and apply to med school (I'm in the cycle now). If I hadn't done all that, I have no idea what I would have talked about in all my application essays. I wouldn't have had any real, interesting answers to give to the questions like "what was your greatest obstacle?", "what diversity will you add to our class?" or even "why medicine?" It was the experiences I had after undergrad and the time I spent really examining my motivations that gave me the drive to do this.
So if you can take some time and go do something you love, not only will it make you look better, it will make you better.
