A little School Named UNIBE

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IndigoLeft

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UNIBE is a Medical School Located int he Dominican Republic, it's a regional school that is accredited by all boards in the US (allegedly).

Infrastructure- Don't even bother looking at their website, those nice classrooms they show you for med students? You will never use them, they only use them for Continuous Education courses, so that outsiders go and think the university is top notch. Or they're also use to give class to the business students, you know, the rich kids that will inherit Daddy's or Mommy's business. You will take class in the darkest and dingiest classrooms imaginable, they don't even have working air conditioners. Most students have had to buy portable fans trying to not die of a heatstroke (the rooms are not well ventilated on their own).

Classes- The expect you to take 12 hour classes with breaks up to the professors discretion, which in my experience could be 30 minutes or 10 minute breaks both of them are not enough time to grab something to eat because the 2 places to buy food are extremely slow (and the food quality is horrendous). Now all of this is IF the professor decides to show up, so they make you drive all the way to school (because classes are mandatory), so that 5 minutes before class begins thy send you an email that class is canceled or they send you nothing at all and since classes are 4-12 hours long you have to wait a LONG time before you can officially leave and it would not be a strike against you.

Professors- Now I have to say that not ALL professors are bad, a handful of them are quite good at what they do but the majority of them are just Alumni of the school that has never even practiced medicine, for example the School prodigal son (he gives 3-4 different classes) doesn't have a practice and his only rise to fame is that he did well on his Step 1 almost 8 years ago. One of the physiology professors even admitted to failing said class 4 times when he was in Med School and that's who you hire to give the class!? But wait, who gives class to the Dominican students? Anatomists, Surgeons, Specialists in each of the areas they teach.

Xenophobia- Besides the aforementioned disparities between the quality of classes, there is also the disdain in which the administration treats any and all issues with the "international" students. They lose records, give you incorrect grades that they refuse to change (even when you give them evidence), suspend you for no reasons at all and refuse to refund money for services they cancel on you. There have been entire classes that go and complain about X or Y professor and they LAUGH at you and tell you you're just a lazy student. They say Dominican students preform better that international students because they're smarter and not because they get actual classes with flexible schedules (they have more than 1 section they can choose from), well written exams and they are given more varied forms of evaluations. You want go ask about students complaints? They delete all evidence of it and will tell no one has ever complained about said issue or professor. There is a certain professor that has been historically failing students, entire classroom, and there have been MANY complaints, yet when you go and ask they say they have never heard such things before.

Accreditation - They just lost their federal loans, they have been lying about their stats for a while now knowing this was coming and then they blame the students when they don't allow time for you to study for the step and if you take a semester off to get back in you would have to re-apply for admission, which means they could reject you at anytime.

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UNIBE is a Medical School Located int he Dominican Republic, it's a regional school that is accredited by all boards in the US (allegedly).

Infrastructure- Don't even bother looking at their website, those nice classrooms they show you for med students? You will never use them, they only use them for Continuous Education courses, so that outsiders go and think the university is top notch. Or they're also use to give class to the business students, you know, the rich kids that will inherit Daddy's or Mommy's business. You will take class in the darkest and dingiest classrooms imaginable, they don't even have working air conditioners. Most students have had to buy portable fans trying to not die of a heatstroke (the rooms are not well ventilated on their own).

Classes- The expect you to take 12 hour classes with breaks up to the professors discretion, which in my experience could be 30 minutes or 10 minute breaks both of them are not enough time to grab something to eat because the 2 places to buy food are extremely slow (and the food quality is horrendous). Now all of this is IF the professor decides to show up, so they make you drive all the way to school (because classes are mandatory), so that 5 minutes before class begins thy send you an email that class is canceled or they send you nothing at all and since classes are 4-12 hours long you have to wait a LONG time before you can officially leave and it would not be a strike against you.

Professors- Now I have to say that not ALL professors are bad, a handful of them are quite good at what they do but the majority of them are just Alumni of the school that has never even practiced medicine, for example the School prodigal son (he gives 3-4 different classes) doesn't have a practice and his only rise to fame is that he did well on his Step 1 almost 8 years ago. One of the physiology professors even admitted to failing said class 4 times when he was in Med School and that's who you hire to give the class!? But wait, who gives class to the Dominican students? Anatomists, Surgeons, Specialists in each of the areas they teach.

Xenophobia- Besides the aforementioned disparities between the quality of classes, there is also the disdain in which the administration treats any and all issues with the "international" students. They lose records, give you incorrect grades that they refuse to change (even when you give them evidence), suspend you for no reasons at all and refuse to refund money for services they cancel on you. There have been entire classes that go and complain about X or Y professor and they LAUGH at you and tell you you're just a lazy student. They say Dominican students preform better that international students because they're smarter and not because they get actual classes with flexible schedules (they have more than 1 section they can choose from), well written exams and they are given more varied forms of evaluations. You want go ask about students complaints? They delete all evidence of it and will tell no one has ever complained about said issue or professor. There is a certain professor that has been historically failing students, entire classroom, and there have been MANY complaints, yet when you go and ask they say they have never heard such things before.

Accreditation - They just lost their federal loans, they have been lying about their stats for a while now knowing this was coming and then they blame the students when they don't allow time for you to study for the step and if you take a semester off to get back in you would have to re-apply for admission, which means they could reject you at anytime.

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UNIBE is a Medical School Located int he Dominican Republic, it's a regional school that is accredited by all boards in the US (allegedly).

Infrastructure- Don't even bother looking at their website, those nice classrooms they show you for med students? You will never use them, they only use them for Continuous Education courses, so that outsiders go and think the university is top notch. Or they're also use to give class to the business students, you know, the rich kids that will inherit Daddy's or Mommy's business. You will take class in the darkest and dingiest classrooms imaginable, they don't even have working air conditioners. Most students have had to buy portable fans trying to not die of a heatstroke (the rooms are not well ventilated on their own).

Classes- The expect you to take 12 hour classes with breaks up to the professors discretion, which in my experience could be 30 minutes or 10 minute breaks both of them are not enough time to grab something to eat because the 2 places to buy food are extremely slow (and the food quality is horrendous). Now all of this is IF the professor decides to show up, so they make you drive all the way to school (because classes are mandatory), so that 5 minutes before class begins thy send you an email that class is canceled or they send you nothing at all and since classes are 4-12 hours long you have to wait a LONG time before you can officially leave and it would not be a strike against you.

Professors- Now I have to say that not ALL professors are bad, a handful of them are quite good at what they do but the majority of them are just Alumni of the school that has never even practiced medicine, for example the School prodigal son (he gives 3-4 different classes) doesn't have a practice and his only rise to fame is that he did well on his Step 1 almost 8 years ago. One of the physiology professors even admitted to failing said class 4 times when he was in Med School and that's who you hire to give the class!? But wait, who gives class to the Dominican students? Anatomists, Surgeons, Specialists in each of the areas they teach.

Xenophobia- Besides the aforementioned disparities between the quality of classes, there is also the disdain in which the administration treats any and all issues with the "international" students. They lose records, give you incorrect grades that they refuse to change (even when you give them evidence), suspend you for no reasons at all and refuse to refund money for services they cancel on you. There have been entire classes that go and complain about X or Y professor and they LAUGH at you and tell you you're just a lazy student. They say Dominican students preform better that international students because they're smarter and not because they get actual classes with flexible schedules (they have more than 1 section they can choose from), well written exams and they are given more varied forms of evaluations. You want go ask about students complaints? They delete all evidence of it and will tell no one has ever complained about said issue or professor. There is a certain professor that has been historically failing students, entire classroom, and there have been MANY complaints, yet when you go and ask they say they have never heard such things before.

Accreditation - They just lost their federal loans, they have been lying about their stats for a while now knowing this was coming and then they blame the students when they don't allow time for you to study for the step and if you take a semester off to get back in you would have to re-apply for admission, which means they could reject you at anytime.

I can't even imagine why a person would want to practice medicine in rural South Dakota for eternity this badly.
 
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I can't even imagine why a person would want to practice medicine in rural South Dakota for eternity this badly.
The people from DR I talk about are in NY and Pennsylvania mostly. I know American Med Students love to hate on anything not american but there are OTHER Med Schools in the DR that are fantastic, just not this one.

I just want to warn others about this particular School.
 
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The people from DR I talk about are in NY and Pennsylvania mostly. I know American Med Students love to hate on anything not american but there are OTHER Med Schools in the DR that are fantastic, just not this one.

I just want to warn others about this particular School.

I'm talking about students that would suffer through what you described as a school must be incredibly desperate to go as far as the being the bottom of the barrel for residencies.

Also count how many medical schools have opened up in the U.S. since your NY/PA friends graduated.
 
I'm talking about students that would suffer through what you described as a school must be incredibly desperate to go as far as the being the bottom of the barrel for residencies.

Also count how many medical schools have opened up in the U.S. since your NY/PA friends graduated.

One or 2 years for my cousins and 4 for the others that are closer to my age. I will be leaving the DR because I'm fed up with the bull**** I've gone through here but that's not me condemning the whole of the country, nor should any American elitist on this forum. Nobody knew the school would be like this, we expected some hardships (like in everything) but not this **** storm. The students in more advanced semesters say that it wasn't like that before, it's been getting progressively worse in the University. Most of the people in the School are Half-Dominican or Dominicans raised in the US, it's not a totally random decision.
 
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Before people go to these schools I think they should look at their attrition rate and first-time step1 passing rate. If the former is >30% and/or the latter is <70%, save yourself the headache. I know someone who graduated 2+ years ago from that school and she is still fighting to pass step1. Her prospect of finding residency might be severely limited now.
 
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Be a PA/NP. Much better investment than any medical school.
 
Before people go to these schools I think they should look at their attrition rate and first-time step1 passing rate. If the former is >30% and/or the latter is <70%, save yourself the headache. I know someone who graduated 2+ years ago from that school and she is still fighting to pass step1. Her prospect of finding residency might be severely limited now.

You can graduate without passing Step 1?!
 
That's what she told me... I guess they have their internal exams to pass in order to graduate.
What does a degree from this school confer, exactly? Does it qualify somebody to do residency in Dominican Republic? Is it aimed at locals?
 
What does a degree from this school confer, exactly? Does it qualify somebody to do residency in Dominican Republic? Is it aimed at locals?
They confer a M.D. degree that one can use to work in DR. It is not aimed at locals per se because she said most of the students are US citizens.
 
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Be a PA/NP. Much better investment than any medical school.

In terms of loans and faster entry into a career... maybe. In terms of being a midlevel for the rest of my life, I'd pass on that.


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They confer a M.D. degree that one can use to work in DR. It is not aimed at locals per se because she said most of the students are US citizens.

It was originally only for locals, but they saw a rather healthy influx of half-dominicans and saw an oportunity to make bank. That's when they ****ed up, everyone that has ever even lived in the US is put in the "international track" automatically and that's where the problem lies. They divided us to start giving lower quality education and then blaming us for anything that goes wrong (even when it's 100% their fault).

You get a normal MD when you graduate, it's accredited by the boards (for now). You do have to pass the step 1 to graduate, it's beend that way for a while now. Your friend must have graduated a while ago.
 
It was originally only for locals, but they saw a rather healthy influx of half-dominicans and saw an oportunity to make bank. That's when they ****ed up, everyone that has ever even lived in the US is put in the "international track" automatically and that's where the problem lies. They divided us to start giving lower quality education and then blaming us for anything that goes wrong (even when it's 100% their fault).

You get a normal MD when you graduate, it's accredited by the boards (for now). You do have to pass the step 1 to graduate, it's beend that way for a while now. Your friend must have graduated a while ago.

I talked to her on Saturday and she told me she graduated 3 years ago... Maybe she is lying about having the degree, but I know for a fact she is still studying for step1. She is pretty vague about how many times she already took it.
 
Before people go to these schools I think they should look at their attrition rate and first-time step1 passing rate. If the former is >30% and/or the latter is <70%, save yourself the headache. I know someone who graduated 2+ years ago from that school and she is still fighting to pass step1. Her prospect of finding residency might be severely limited now.

Understatement of the century. I think if you graduate medical school (somehow) and still haven't passed Step 1 (meaning multiple attempts over the years, when, you know, you were supposed to pass it) means that your chances of getting residency will essentially be 0.

Thanks for the post, OP. I'm sure you're biased, but whatever. If anybody ever comes to me for medical school advice in this day and age, it's simple "US MD or US DO or fix what you can to get into one of those"
 
Understatement of the century. I think if you graduate medical school (somehow) and still haven't passed Step 1 (meaning multiple attempts over the years, when, you know, you were supposed to pass it) means that your chances of getting residency will essentially be 0.

Thanks for the post, OP. I'm sure you're biased, but whatever. If anybody ever comes to me for medical school advice in this day and age, it's simple "US MD or US DO or fix what you can to get into one of those"

Or PA/DPM>>>>>>>NP if you can't fix what's wrong with your application... It's hard for some ESL students to fix their MCAT score. VR and BS are like reading comprehension. For instance, I could not raise my VR score to an 8+ after taking multiple AAMC practice exams. Thank God, a few schools (MD/DO) were able to overlook my 7 VR score.
 
The people from DR I talk about are in NY and Pennsylvania mostly. I know American Med Students love to hate on anything not american but there are OTHER Med Schools in the DR that are fantastic, just not this one.

I just want to warn others about this particular School.

So you are making this comments just because some friends in New York told you to say that based on their own experience.

1. Dominican’s performances in their own country is due to being used to less commodities than here. It is what it is and you take it.

2. You have to understand a country before comparing this country to another more developed. Before you decide to go to any country, you need to understand what you are leaving behind and sometimes is your luxurious life, top notch technology in schools and perfect life around you.

3. Yes, teachers are rough, education is good, and they wont sugar coat you. You deal with your own things and laws are NOT REALLY FOLLOWED. It’s a save yourself country and everybody is used to that.

4. I am dominican, my sister just graduated from UNIBE medical program and Just past Step 1/ Step 2 with no issues. ( of course she is dedicated, not a complainer and have enough love for the practice to move forward and do what she has to do)

5. Before denigrating the education of a country you need to give your OWN opinion without being biased. Again, you can not compare Dominican Republic way of living with the United States and if you are not ready to leave behind this and just focus on graduating and move on, then the caribbean is not for you ( focus on scoring good on the MCAT so you don’t have to leave the country to follow your dreams of becoming a physician)

6. Everywhere you will find good educators and bad one. I had plenty here in the United States. In Dominican Republic the payment is not that high ( Minimum wage I thing is 300 dollars a month as of 2020 info) . With that say, the professor you get is doing it for the love to teach and is really engaged in what they are doing ( without sugar coating) and mentor you in whatever they can. That’s the Dominican personality, we are proud to be helpful, welcoming people and be available. Please do not denigrate our integrity just because did not fulfilled your standards.
 
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In regards to xenophobia. The Dominican Republic is known for extreme hate and vitriol against Haitians. Even Dominican born Haitians. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that they display similar sentiments towards international students.
 
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Someone stab this thread in the brain with a wooden stake.
 
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So you are making this comments just because some friends in New York told you to say that based on their own experience.

1. Dominican’s performances in their own country is due to being used to less commodities than here. It is what it is and you take it.

2. You have to understand a country before comparing this country to another more developed. Before you decide to go to any country, you need to understand what you are leaving behind and sometimes is your luxurious life, top notch technology in schools and perfect life around you.

3. Yes, teachers are rough, education is good, and they wont sugar coat you. You deal with your own things and laws are NOT REALLY FOLLOWED. It’s a save yourself country and everybody is used to that.

4. I am dominican, my sister just graduated from UNIBE medical program and Just past Step 1/ Step 2 with no issues. ( of course she is dedicated, not a complainer and have enough love for the practice to move forward and do what she has to do)

5. Before denigrating the education of a country you need to give your OWN opinion without being biased. Again, you can not compare Dominican Republic way of living with the United States and if you are not ready to leave behind this and just focus on graduating and move on, then the caribbean is not for you ( focus on scoring good on the MCAT so you don’t have to leave the country to follow your dreams of becoming a physician)

6. Everywhere you will find good educators and bad one. I had plenty here in the United States. In Dominican Republic the payment is not that high ( Minimum wage I thing is 300 dollars a month as of 2020 info) . With that say, the professor you get is doing it for the love to teach and is really engaged in what they are doing ( without sugar coating) and mentor you in whatever they can. That’s the Dominican personality, we are proud to be helpful, welcoming people and be available. Please do not denigrate our integrity just because did not fulfilled your standards.
Don't necrobump
 
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