53K scholarship to American University of the Caribbean to begin january 2015 vs CUSOM waitlist

[decisions-decisions]

53K scholarship to American University of the Caribbean to begin january 2015 vs CUSOM waitlist for fall 2015. Can't defer scholarship.

Some people were wondering if AUC actually gives out scholarships, heres a link for information about one of the ones I received:
http://www.aucmed.edu/admissions/scholarships/first-generation-md-award.aspx

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted407021]

I call ALL the BS.

 

[EthylMethylMan]

Never Caribbean. Ever.

 

[Lucca]

Caribbean is the wrong choice, every time.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Reapplying is preferable to going Carribbean. I think the views of some on this site towards reapplicants may be a little excessively grim: I've seen reapplicants get admitted to mid-tier MDs like Dartmouth. The key is to identify and overcome what was holding you back in the first place.

 

[listener23]

I call BS, the Caribbean medschool are all about making money not paying out money to attract good candidates

 

[aprimenumber]

Reapplying is preferable to going Carribbean. I think the views of some on this site towards reapplicants may be a little excessively grim: I've seen reapplicants get admitted to mid-tier MDs like Dartmouth. The key is to identify and overcome what was holding you back in the first place.

I'm a re-applicant, and I've been accepted at a top tier school (top 30), and have had interviews from top 20 and top 10 places. Re-applicant stigma really isn't as strong as people think.

 

[decisions-decisions]

I call BS, the Caribbean medschool are all about making money not paying out money to attract good candidates

Thank you all for your responses! Just trying to explore all the options!

This is one of the scholarships (50K) I received along with several smaller ones:
http://www.aucmed.edu/admissions/scholarships/first-generation-md-award.aspx

 

[EthylMethylMan]

Reapplying is preferable to going Carribbean. I think the views of some on this site towards reapplicants may be a little excessively grim: I've seen reapplicants get admitted to mid-tier MDs like Dartmouth. The key is to identify and overcome what was holding you back in the first place.

This. I'm a reapplicant this cycle and I'm sitting on an MD acceptance and three waitlists. As long as you show some considerable improvement to your application then you can beat the reapplicant stigma, which is definitely overstated on SDN to begin with.

 

[amad01]

I don't even know what CUSOM is and don't want to google it but it gets my vote because it's not in the ocean I'm assuming

 

[PlaqueBuster]

Go to AUC. 50k is pretty sweet when it reduces your debt from 300k to 250k after 4 years with a possiblity of landing no residency.

 

[baxt1412]

use that money you save from obtaining the scholarship to pay for living expenses while you get no residency.

 

[pink/\floyd]

This. I'm a reapplicant this cycle and I'm sitting on an MD acceptance and three waitlists. As long as you show some considerable improvement to your application then you can beat the reapplicant stigma, which is definitely overstated on SDN to begin with.

+2. Reapplicant here with early acceptances. The stigma is def overstated. Of course you have to improve your application each time.

 

[deleted390966]

Caribbean med schools are ridiculous. They sent me emails advertising their schools... lol. I don't even know how they got my email in the first place. NO US med schools would do that; here they have more than applicants to fill their seats.

 

[deleted407021]

Caribbean med schools are ridiculous. They sent me emails advertising their schools... lol. I don't even know how they got my email in the first place. NO US med schools would do that; here they have more than applicants to fill their seats.

*cough*LECOM*cough*

 

[chizledfrmstone]

*cough*LECOM*cough*

Seriously?

 

[DokterMom]

+2. Reapplicant here with early acceptances. The stigma is def overstated. Of course you have to improve your application each time.

That's the difference between unsuccessful reapplicants and successful ones. If you correctly diagnose the reason for the first-time non-success and repair the deficiency plus a little, I'd suggest the reapplicant's chances are very nearly the same as a new applicant with the same qualifications.

The trouble is that many people don't really begin to improve their applications until it becomes likely that their first cycle won't succeed. Then there's only a few months to do anything, and the frantic last-minute efforts are transparent to anyone at a cursory glance, further reinforcing the 'we made the right decision the first time' mentality.

OP - Continue to strengthen your application starting NOW.

 

[deleted407021]

Seriously?

Yeah, there used to be an ad on SDN for LECOM. Kind of weird.

 

[leggo_my_ecmo]

*cough*LECOM*cough*

Vanderbilt, too.

 

[JPA178]

Seriously?

Yep, I've received a couple emails from KCUMB too, offering an "accelerated admissions decision," whatever the f that means.

 

[DenTony11235]

NO US med schools would do that; here they have more than applicants to fill their seats.

Dude I got a letter from Harvard advertising their school lol


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[freemontie]

There's nothing wrong with having an ad. Equating advertising -> must be crappy can be an incredibly poor heuristic.

And if you're getting emails- it's because you're on a mailing list (duh). When we get department emails from our respective universities advertising a lab research position at, say.. MIT- does that mean that MIT labs are crap?

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Dude I got a letter from Harvard advertising their school lol


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Was that for the online MPH?

I'm trying to figure out where these guys got my email from.

 

[Promethean]

*cough*LECOM*cough*

*cough* BS *cough*

I received unsolicited emails from several state schools and tons of snail mail, including letters from UPenn and Harvard, inviting me to apply to their schools.

LECOM was one of the only schools I was interested in that didn't spam me. I'm not saying that they don't send out emails, but rather that it isn't as unheard of a practice as has been suggested here.

 

[deleted407021]

*cough* BS *cough*

I received unsolicited emails from several state schools and tons of snail mail, including letters from UPenn and Harvard, inviting me to apply to their schools.

LECOM was one of the only schools I was interested in that didn't spam me.

I'm not talking about emails.....which I realize would have been more relevant. I'm referencing the ads that used to be on SDN.

 

[Promethean]

I'm not talking about emails.....which I realize would have been more relevant. I'm referencing the ads that used to be on SDN.

There is still a LECOM ad on SDN. I just saw it. Whatever. It supports the forum you are using.

Also, that is not only less relevant, it is totally tangential to the claim that was made, which was about whether US schools solicit via email.

 

[wjs010]

Don't Carribean school take less competitive applicants precisely to have a reason to jack up the price and NEVER give scholarships? Unless they give scholarships to have a few naive outliers who scored a 38 on the mcat to bring their stats up? Not sure, but I doubt it. Especially 50k. That's pretty big. Maybe 2k. Lol

 

[deleted407021]

There is still a LECOM ad on SDN. I just saw it. Whatever. It supports the forum you are using.

Also, that is not only less relevant, it is totally tangential to the claim that was made, which was about whether US schools solicit via email.

Okay.....

 

[DenTony11235]

Was that for the online MPH?

I'm trying to figure out where these guys got my email from.

Honestly I didn't check. I just saved it with the intention of framing it later in life to troll my grandkids by telling them it's an acceptance letter.

 

[Promethean]

Honestly I didn't check. I just saved it with the intention of framing it later in life to troll my grandkids by telling them it's an acceptance letter.

I'm not having kids, let alone grandkids... but I did keep the Harvard letter also, at least for a few weeks, out of personal amusement. Mine was for the medical school, not the MPH. It explained that they had received my test score and demographics from AMCAS and that based on that they thought that I should apply there. I ultimately tossed it, because why hang on to a piece of junk mail, however prestigious the sender?

I do remember checking a box on the MCAT application saying that they could share my info with schools, so I am sure that is how this info gets out. It happened the year before just after I took the MCAT the first time. My first score was quite good as well, and within a few weeks I was getting tons of postal mail and email from schools.

Back to ads on this site... I just saw an ad for Art Institutes, offering an "art grant" of $18,600 which they identify as 20% of the cost of 4 years of tuition. I consider Art Institutes and Caribbean schools to be very similar in their predatory practices toward students and the likelihood of their students to graduate and find a position in their fields. I cannot tell you how many people I know who are art school dropouts, but I will say that I know a dozen who actually graduated and are now working as artists... sandwich artists. With an average of $100k student loans, they make great hoagies and subs at some of the finest pizza shops in my city.

Carib schools, even the more legit of them, take more students than they can hope to place in clinical rotations. They count on attrition, natural or forced, to trim the class down. Then, their few graduates enter into a competitive residency match process where they are already at a disadvantage from the start. You may emerge from an offshore school as an excellent doctor, just as some people who went to the Art Institutes are exceptional artists. In both cases, that is entirely due to the efforts of the individual, in spite of the school. If the same person had gone to a real institution and given the same effort, how much farther might they go?

 

[DenTony11235]

If the same person had gone to a real institution and given the same effort, how much farther might they go?

Great question


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[malick1]

if true 53K is not that much money you still will get alot of debt and you will be going to DEVRY Medical school !! just saying ( Check out this article : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...al-school-rejects-as-taxpayers-fund-debt.html)