By the way...

Has anyone had an interview at Ponce yet? If so, care to share your experience?

cpb80 said:

Has anyone had an interview at Ponce yet? If so, care to share your experience?

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Since the topic of "lower tier schools" has come up frequently, I am really surprised that most students haven't considered Ponce as a "safety"(or UCC- however there are accreditation problems or UPR- though it's difficult to establish "strong ties" to the island).

Although it's in the carib, it's LCME accredited and board scores are above avg- which makes it on par with schools located in the states and this certainly helps with residency matching.

There's also opportunity to hone your Spanish skills, which would better prepare students to work with underserved pop's, as so many of us claim to be interested in. Moreover, it would make you much more desirable for residencies. Plus the weather...

Just a thought.

Do you need to know Spanish before attending these classes? I thought I read that the lectures are taught in Eng & Spanish...I may be wrong though

i read on the carribean board that the lectures are in spanish but the text books and exams are in english (i guess they use the same texts that are used on the mainland). i'm applying to Ponce next cycle. they are on AMCAS so why not? i also read on that board that the university of puerto rico is a better school but almost impossible to get into if you aren't puerto rican.

i think there was a thread about ponce here a while back, i don't think many people on SDN are applying there.

liketolift said:

Do you need to know Spanish before attending these classes? I thought I read that the lectures are taught in Eng & Spanish...I may be wrong though

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Med school is difficult enough in English; if I ever had to do it in Spanish, I'd surely flunk out before the first year was up. 👎

Psycho Doctor said:

Med school is difficult enough in English; if I ever had to do it in Spanish, I'd surely flunk out before the first year was up. 👎

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that's definatly true. i think i could hack the spanish since i'm nearly fluent, but if i had to go abroad, i would go to sackler, in isreal but everything is in english.

cpb80 said:

Since the topic of "lower tier schools" has come up frequently, I am really surprised that most students haven't considered Ponce as a "safety"(or UCC- however there are accreditation problems or UPR- though it's difficult to establish "strong ties" to the island).

Just a thought.

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Hey cpb80,
I just wanted to let you guys know that UCC has totally revamped its curriculum and has been approved for unrestricted accreditation until 2012. So they no longer have any accreditation problems. But in the end if you have to choose between UCC and Ponce, I would definately go with Ponce (better USLME step 1 passing rates and does better in the residency match).
Wendy, although I am going to UPR med school, I believe that both Ponce and UPR are on the same level as far as quality, which is pretty good. The tropical weather is a definate plus. I went there for interview and I was impressed by the school, believe it or not, more so than many of the "US" mainland schools (I will not name them in order to not offend anyone)

BTW, I have written many posts on the subjet of PR schools, if you like take a look at my past posts to get an idea.