Any thoughts/input about St. Christopher's outside London!

[Jug27]

I have heard a lot of things about St. Christophers located in Luton, outside of London. What are your thoughts about the school and have you heard any good/bad things? The link to the school is below. I know that the caribbean schools get a lot of face time on SDN but i havent seen any threads about St. Christopher's college of medicine. There was a segment on BBC news that i saw about the school. An overwhelming majority of students are American. Does anyone have any experience or know anyone that went there? How is the quality of education and residency match? Any info is greatly appreciated.

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[vegangirl]

You may want to try this link
http://www.medschoolguide.co.uk/

 

[ttpatel]

here is the website for the American Association of International Medical Graduates. They evaluate several forgeign schools....

http://www.aaimg.com/evaluation/index.html

hope this helps.

 

[DrMom]

moving to the Europe forum...

 

[hotlikebutter]

i believe the st christopher you are talking about is an island in the west indies aka caribbean.

 

[snuffles04]

A friend of mine is currently attending St. Christopher's in Luton. I hear they have a really good pass rate for the USMLE. The first two years are in England and the last two rotating in US hospitals. The only thing is that St. Christopher's grads aren't licensed to practice in all US states (my friend is from Cali and she won't be able to come back to Cali apparently - that's what she told me anyway). I'd say if you can get accepted to a US school (MD or DO) you're probably better off. However, if your MCAT score isn't that great (like my friend's), its an okay option. Classes aren't too terribly difficult either. But Luton isn't the best area of England though...

 

[hotlikebutter]

oops, i guess st christopher is a school as well.

heres what i read( didnt sound so good to me):

St. Christopher has given up the more prestigious environs of Cambridge and moved its operation to the more mundane campus of Luton University, just north of London. Other than downscaling the location, little has changed about this operation. The labs and classrooms are a few rented rooms from the local university and the bulk of the faculty are undergraduate Luton faculty moonlighting or unemployed M.D.’s from former British colonies who are unable to pass the PLAB or practice in the U.K. There are a few Ph.D.’s that are both students and teachers. There are a large number of transfer students from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean schools, many with a history of failures. The operation in Senegal is virtually non-existent; a call to the Senegal “office” is answered by a local lady with limited English who cannot name any local faculty, or students or describe any teaching activities at the hospital. Although this school only opened in 2000, it advertises US clerkships in 72 “Greenbook” hospitals and board passing rates of 100% in 2000 and 82% in 2001. This type of advertising is not surprising since the promoter is a graduate and former vice dean of Grace University who never completed postgraduate training. St Christopher had a fiscal and credential relationship with the disastrous St. John's University School of Medicine, closed by the Attorney General of Oregon. See http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/rel072500.htm.

 

[bts4202]

A friend of mine is currently attending St. Christopher's in Luton. I hear they have a really good pass rate for the USMLE. The first two years are in England and the last two rotating in US hospitals. The only thing is that St. Christopher's grads aren't licensed to practice in all US states (my friend is from Cali and she won't be able to come back to Cali apparently - that's what she told me anyway). I'd say if you can get accepted to a US school (MD or DO) you're probably better off. However, if your MCAT score isn't that great (like my friend's), its an okay option. Classes aren't too terribly difficult either. But Luton isn't the best area of England though...

I agree with all this. I am a current 3rd year ( about to be 4th year) student of this school. If you have any questions, feel free to email or PM me. I have taken and passed my USMLE on the first attempt and I am currently doing all my clinicals in the US at teaching hospitals.

 

[whoam]

Try looking on valuemd for more information. I have heard that SGU is the best carribean medical school. Even though St. Chris isn't in the Carribeans, it is just like the Carribean med schools.

 

[neilc]

st chris is a poor choice...here is why:
1. no licensed grads
2. ineligible for licensure in several states, CA, TX, NJ, KS, NM at the very least, and likely many, many more.
3. operates outside of the country of charter, which may cause licensing issues
4. non-accredited school in the UK, who knows how long that will be legal...especially after the kigezi fiasco
5. long history of lies and deception from students and admin

there are plenty of legit schools out there. run far away from this one.

 

[tottihead]

My situation is kinda different....

I currently am enrolled in first year at gulf medical college, which is not a bad school but i know there are a lot better, and people were telling me to transfer here. I wanted to know if it would be worth my time. And if not anyone have any suggestions of good schools for transfer, if not now then before clinicals.

P.S. Im a Canadian citizen who has done three years of Uni and have not written the MCAT

 

[Reenie]

I agree with all this. I am a current 3rd year ( about to be 4th year) student of this school. If you have any questions, feel free to email or PM me. I have taken and passed my USMLE on the first attempt and I am currently doing all my clinicals in the US at teaching hospitals.

I'm going to be a 1st year student at St. Chris this coming fall... Any information about your experience (especially your 2 years in Luton) would be helpful to me.

 

[Miklos]

I'm going to be a 1st year student at St. Chris this coming fall... Any information about your experience (especially your 2 years in Luton) would be helpful to me.

I'd recommend taking a look at the St. Christopher's forum on www.valuemd.com and then reconsidering your decision to attend.

Good luck.

BTW, shouldn't this be in the Africa forum due to their charter in Senegal?

 

[bts4202]

I'm going to be a 1st year student at St. Chris this coming fall... Any information about your experience (especially your 2 years in Luton) would be helpful to me.

Sure, happy to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to PM me or email me.

 

[whuds]

" ttpatel
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Default
here is the website for the American Association of International Medical Graduates. They evaluate several forgeign schools....

http://www.aaimg.com/evaluation/index.html

hope this helps."

This is a fraud site out of Russia. They never set foot at the colleges mentioned and the deficiencies are made up.

I've been at St. Christopher's for the past 6 months. I'm in Basic Sciences there. I find it to be a good experience. In a nut shell: Charted in Senegal, Main campus in Senegal, Campus in Luton, England. FAIMER and WHO listed 2000. We do have Lic. Grads. Do to the college being new there are a few states that you would not be able to get fully Lic in at first such as California
Kansas and Oregon. Yes go to Value MD and read. Apply to St. Chris after looking around. Students can do clinicals in the US or UK. I have not regetted my choice. I was a RN for the past 16 years in the US.

 

[whuds]

Yes form one of the above posts St. Chris students have had to put up with constant harrasment from poster's like the one above. Constantly telling us to go somewhere else. As I said there are fully Lic. Grads from St. Chris but there are reluctant to be made public due to the constant harrasment from certain people who post on SDN and Value MD. Go to St. Chris site on Value MD and see for yourself. I have only been posting this past year since interested in the school and now attending but there is a long history. I do take some offense to posters constantly berating my school to me wouldn't you?

( a reasonable person would say yes).

Oh and one last thing its hard to want to come here and read and interact with such insults being thrown around. I would like to friendly disagree.

 

[neilc]

Yes form one of the above posts St. Chris students have had to put up with constant harrasment from poster's like the one above. Constantly telling us to go somewhere else. As I said there are fully Lic. Grads from St. Chris but there are reluctant to be made public due to the constant harrasment from certain people who post on SDN and Value MD. Go to St. Chris site on Value MD and see for yourself. I have only been posting this past year since interested in the school and now attending but there is a long history. I do take some offense to posters constantly berating my school to me wouldn't you?

( a reasonable person would say yes).

this post is hilarious! there are grads, but the school does'nt want to make them public!! don't you think the school would recieve LESS harrasment if they did post grads, and prove that they are legit???

the only reason people berate your school is because, with all of the other options out there, it is a relativley poor choice. i am sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it is the truth. i have NEVER heard a valid reason to pick st chris over the other "better" schools out there....what schools are better? here is a list- 1) auc, ross, sgu, saba 2) ireland australia isreal 3) mexico, ca approved english programs, native language programs....why are these better? simple...they have licensed grads in most (if not all) specialties and states, they have been around a long time, and they do not have the potential issues with country of charter. in addition, they are not squating in a first world country via a loophole, which could be closed at the whim of the UK govt. finally, all of them are recoginzed via some outside agency as having equivilent standards to the US accreditation system (ie Ca approval, NY approval, that nemba or whatever list...) st chris has none of that.

now, before you blow a gasket, let me say that st chris does have a niche of students it fits well...those that have a very specific state that they will 99% work in, those with a family that want to live in the UK for spouse or children, those that could not get into one of the above schools. it also seems to be a home for the UK students that fail out of the european programs, as a nice second chance while living in the UK...so, it does have a place, it appears to be managed decently with an eye on the future (unlike kigezi) and it has a nice sized student body, giving it the funds to have some staying power.

but, given all the above information, it is simply not smart to have st chris as a first choice in all but a very, very small proportion of cases. sorry that "offends" you. but, such is life. my school is certainly not an ideal place to be, but i am comfortable with that. i think you need to also grasp the fact that simply because you wound up at st chris does not make it a good choice. the facts are, it is NOT. hopefully, it will fill your needs, but a premed looking at schools would be well advised to look elsewhere.

 

[whuds]

this post is hilarious! there are grads, but the school does'nt want to make them public!! don't you think the school would recieve LESS harrasment if they did post grads, and prove that they are legit???

the only reason people berate your school is because, with all of the other options out there, it is a relativley poor choice. i am sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it is the truth. i have NEVER heard a valid reason to pick st chris over the other "better" schools out there....what schools are better? here is a list- 1) auc, ross, sgu, saba 2) ireland australia isreal 3) mexico, ca approved english programs, native language programs....why are these better? simple...they have licensed grads in most (if not all) specialties and states, they have been around a long time, and they do not have the potential issues with country of charter. in addition, they are not squating in a first world country via a loophole, which could be closed at the whim of the UK govt. finally, all of them are recoginzed via some outside agency as having equivilent standards to the US accreditation system (ie Ca approval, NY approval, that nemba or whatever list...) st chris has none of that.

now, before you blow a gasket, let me say that st chris does have a niche of students it fits well...those that have a very specific state that they will 99% work in, those with a family that want to live in the UK for spouse or children, those that could not get into one of the above schools. it also seems to be a home for the UK students that fail out of the european programs, as a nice second chance while living in the UK...so, it does have a place, it appears to be managed decently with an eye on the future (unlike kigezi) and it has a nice sized student body, giving it the funds to have some staying power.

but, given all the above information, it is simply not smart to have st chris as a first choice in all but a very, very small proportion of cases. sorry that "offends" you. but, such is life. my school is certainly not an ideal place to be, but i am comfortable with that. i think you need to also grasp the fact that simply because you wound up at st chris does not make it a good choice. the facts are, it is NOT. hopefully, it will fill your needs, but a premed looking at schools would be well advised to look elsewhere.

Sorry but Prague is not first on the list also. I could spend more time about the potential problems of going to your school but why waist my time. It seems that we did post one Grad fully Lic. and all that happened was another long drawn out St. Chris bashing.( you stated above no licensed grads not true) Oh again I never say St. Chris is a first or second choice but we are there for students who still want to go to medical school but have circumstances. First choice is US medical schools always. BTW thank you for the part that points out what St. Chris should be good for, second chances. Yes this is my chance I have a family and would be working full time in the states while in school. Now I can finish the couple of undergrad courses and take Basic science courses at the same time full time in school ( I'm an older student too 41)

 

[neilc]

Sorry but Prague is not first on the list also. I could spend more time about the potential problems of going to your school but why waist my time. It seems that we did post one Grad fully Lic. and all that happened was another long drawn out St. Chris bashing.( you stated above no licensed grads not true) Oh again I never say St. Chris is a first or second choice but we are there for students who still want to go to medical school but have circumstances. First choice is US medical schools always. BTW thank you for the part that points out what St. Chris should be good for, second chances. Yes this is my chance I have a family and would be working full time in the states while in school. Now I can finish the couple of undergrad courses and take Basic science courses at the same time full time in school ( I'm an older student too 41)

of course prague is not number one. look at my post. i made it very clear that prague is near the bottom of legit options. why? because you have to learn czech, it is a 6 year program, you can't do too many US rotations, and the curriculum is not USMLE based. i am happy to point out the real limitations of my school, and i expect others to be honest enough to do the same.

and, check the date on the post re licensed grads. i posted that april 9. it was in early may that bts announced the grad. so, at the time of that post it was true.......

i know you have one grad, in Louisiana...great. but, i think you would agree that one grad after all this time, and in Louisiana doing FP is not the most reassuring news of all...there should be more.