*Caribbean Approx Required Stats

[nygirl243]

ok so my friend's got a 2.5 GPA. I know that they're loose on the MCAT in the caribbean but how is it with the GPA?
is it possible to get in with that GPA and if so, what should he get on the MCAT?
if anyone knows some good caribbean stats, chances etc please let me know.
🙂

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[Lokhtar]

There is a Carribean forum here. The top Carib. school (by many people's accounts) has an average GPA of 3.35 or 3.4, and an average MCAT of 28.

 

[Depakote]

The OP will probably get more accurate responses in the Carib forum.

moving.

 

[jackets5]

anyone can get into a carrib school just depends on which one you want to go to. 2.5 is really low, the MCAT will show if it was due to laziness during undergrad or if the person is just not intelligent. SGU, AUC, Ross, Saba are probally out of reach with a 2.5 GPA. Try AUA, SMU, MUA, St. James. they tend to admit that low but be careful if they MCAT is real low as well because you will fail out and be in a ton of debt. We have people who were accepted with stats that low in my school a few and all of the easily failed both anatomy and histo/cell bio. they think they will somehow get through but they are really fooling themselves. by the time the school kicks them out they will be 75-80k in debt.

 

[stool sample]

forget about MUA Nevis, SMU or even AUA with those stats...try windsor

 

[helpfuldoc2b]

How good is your "friend's" credit score, if it is above 800 he is in at any of the top 4. SGU will just throw them in decel to get more money, Ross will accept them and throw them in their MEDPrep or whatever they call their extra semester program to get money, anf AUC will just accept them and hope they fail to get free cash, and the list goes on. Botton line, have the cash and you are in, whoever tires to play like its hard to get into any of these carib schools is full of crap!

 

[jackets5]

well the big 3 really wouldnt give a damn about your credit score since they all have federal loans. also they dont run a credit check when you apply i dont know why you think that. No school that i know of runs credit checks before accepting they simply accept everyone at St. James, Windsor, All saints etc. they dont have any standards and just take you. for the record SGU is harder to get into than alot of US DO schools and probally on the same level of admission standards as a school like merrhary.

 

[spreebee]

How good is your "friend's" credit score, if it is above 800 he is in at any of the top 4. SGU will just throw them in decel to get more money, Ross will accept them and throw them in their MEDPrep or whatever they call their extra semester program to get money, anf AUC will just accept them and hope they fail to get free cash, and the list goes on. Botton line, have the cash and you are in, whoever tires to play like its hard to get into any of these carib schools is full of crap!

Anti-Big 4 rubbish / Jargon... Anyone that goes to the BIG 3 CAN GET FEDERA LOANS so they KNOW YOU CAN PAY.... So, they do pay attention to statistics as a business plan for being a more respectful institution in the eyes of U.S. medical liscensing boards as well as the future presteige and success of their medical school... If they didn't, nobody would want to attend a dumpster and the school would go out of business.....

 

[gogiants08]

Which would you say is the easiest to get into: Ross, Saba, or AUC?

 

[AngryBaby]

How good is your "friend's" credit score, if it is above 800 he is in at any of the top 4. SGU will just throw them in decel to get more money, Ross will accept them and throw them in their MEDPrep or whatever they call their extra semester program to get money, anf AUC will just accept them and hope they fail to get free cash, and the list goes on. Botton line, have the cash and you are in, whoever tires to play like its hard to get into any of these carib schools is full of crap!

Students that are decelled at SGU do not pay tuition for the classes that are repeated. So if you are in 2nd term and either withdraw or fail a class, when you retake the courses you failed/withdrew from the next term you do not pay tuition only lodging and fees.

If you don't know what you're talking about then maybe you should refrain from posting.

 

[AngryBaby]

Which would you say is the easiest to get into: Ross, Saba, or AUC?

Ross or Saba. I know Ross is one of the easiest of the Big 4 but don't know first-hand which is easier.

 

[jackets5]

id say ross is a little easier to get into simply because Saba accpets like 75 people and ross accepts like 300 per term. But now with the economic situation ross may be harder since they have federal loans.

As for the island, dominica is a terribly underdeveloped island. St. marrteen is a big touristy island one of the nicer islands in the carrib. probally second nicest island of any carrib med school outside of SMU which is on grand cayman.

 

[Lokhtar]

Remember that while you will have an easier time at many of these schools, that doesn't mean you will get out of there. They don't provide second class education - they want their students to pass the USMLE just like everyone else. So be prepared to work very hard. Many people who go to the Caribbean expecting to continue their study habits which got them a 2.5 in the first place and expect to succeed. Those students are the ones kicked out and end up with $100,000 in debt.

 

[DeniseEN]

Well I have a question regarding Ross University. I am considering going through their MERP program, that "crash course" prior to starting actual medical school at Ross. I guess I am concerned with what will happen if I do go through their medical school and pass the boards. How bad is it for someone like me, and American student at a carribbean school, to get back to the U.S. and get into a residency program?

 

[ScootDoc]

...

 

[handwriting]

That maybe true of some of the Caribbean schools, but it's less likely so for the top 4, especially St. George's University.

I know of people who applied to SGU with 27 MCATs and GPAs over 3.0 and got told by St. George's that they need to take an SGU prep course in order to matriculate. The average MCAT score in the US schools is probably something like 30 or 31 for matriculants. In SGU it's 27. That's not that far off. In fact, I have looked at SGU threads on valuemd.com and have seen people with MCATs in the vicinity of a 33 get in...plenty of them.

 

[bipolardoc]

That maybe true of some of the Caribbean schools, but it's less likely so for the top 4, especially St. George's University.

I know of people who applied to SGU with 27 MCATs and GPAs over 3.0 and got told by St. George's that they need to take an SGU prep course in order to matriculate. The average MCAT score in the US schools is probably something like 30 or 31 for matriculants. In SGU it's 27. That's not that far off. In fact, I have looked at SGU threads on valuemd.com and have seen people with MCATs in the vicinity of a 33 get in...plenty of them.

You wont know until you apply, and the prep courses dont hurt like deceling at SGU or MedPrep at Ross, if your 100% sure you want to do medicine then those routes can be a good thing to orient you with the island, new study skills and med school. If anything it will give you a leverage. Apply and I am sure you will get in somewhere. Just try to have a decent essay, recs. etc...

 

[c3c4cam]

well the big 3 really wouldnt give a damn about your credit score since they all have federal loans. also they dont run a credit check when you apply i dont know why you think that. No school that i know of runs credit checks before accepting they simply accept everyone at St. James, Windsor, All saints etc. they dont have any standards and just take you. for the record SGU is harder to get into than alot of US DO schools and probally on the same level of admission standards as a school like merrhary.

get your facts Straight efore you run your mouth. Don't even compare the Carribbean schools to DO school. USDO = USMD. At the end of the day DOs have 300 extra hours of training on osteopathic medicine on top of the regular curriculum. I myself have a GPA of 3.7+ and a 31MCAT. Most of the DO schools average GPA are 3.5. Most of the studnets have undergraduate, masters and some have PhDs. Whats the average at SGU? 3.0? I know 2 of my friends iwth crappy MCAT and 3.2 GPA got into SGU. One even got in without a degree.

Also look at the attirition rate of DO schools (basically none) vs carribbean schools. Also, DO schools place 80% + of their students into the top residency of their choice, while the remaining 20% usually get their 2nd choice. Carribbean school? well they aren't even allowed to rotate at all the states, so that limits their residency choice.

I have a friend who got into Windsor Univeristy in Carribbean after high school (60% avg) and he is now doing rotations in the States. They only had one cadeavor to dissect for a class of 100+ people and had no microscopes, laboratories etc. In other words, Carribbean medical schools aren't REAL medical schools; they are factories that train students have to write USMLE and pass them.

One last reminder: DO NOT compare DO schools to carribbean schools.

 

[AngryBaby]

get your facts Straight efore you run your mouth. Don't even compare the Carribbean schools to DO school. USDO = USMD. At the end of the day DOs have 300 extra hours of training on osteopathic medicine on top of the regular curriculum. I myself have a GPA of 3.7+ and a 31MCAT. Most of the DO schools average GPA are 3.5. Most of the studnets have undergraduate, masters and some have PhDs. Whats the average at SGU? 3.0? I know 2 of my friends iwth crappy MCAT and 3.2 GPA got into SGU. One even got in without a degree.

Also look at the attirition rate of DO schools (basically none) vs carribbean schools. Also, DO schools place 80% + of their students into the top residency of their choice, while the remaining 20% usually get their 2nd choice. Carribbean school? well they aren't even allowed to rotate at all the states, so that limits their residency choice.

I have a friend who got into Windsor Univeristy in Carribbean after high school (60% avg) and he is now doing rotations in the States. They only had one cadeavor to dissect for a class of 100+ people and had no microscopes, laboratories etc. In other words, Carribbean medical schools aren't REAL medical schools; they are factories that train students have to write USMLE and pass them.

One last reminder: DO NOT compare DO schools to carribbean schools.

Big difference between Windsor and SGU/Ross/AUC, friend.

 

[Ludacris]

Big difference between Windsor and SGU/Ross/AUC, friend.

Quoted for truth!👍👍

 

[digitalising]

get your facts Straight efore you run your mouth. Don't even compare the Carribbean schools to DO school. USDO = USMD. At the end of the day DOs have 300 extra hours of training on osteopathic medicine on top of the regular curriculum. I myself have a GPA of 3.7+ and a 31MCAT. Most of the DO schools average GPA are 3.5. Most of the studnets have undergraduate, masters and some have PhDs. Whats the average at SGU? 3.0? I know 2 of my friends iwth crappy MCAT and 3.2 GPA got into SGU. One even got in without a degree.

Also look at the attirition rate of DO schools (basically none) vs carribbean schools. Also, DO schools place 80% + of their students into the top residency of their choice, while the remaining 20% usually get their 2nd choice. Carribbean school? well they aren't even allowed to rotate at all the states, so that limits their residency choice.

I have a friend who got into Windsor Univeristy in Carribbean after high school (60% avg) and he is now doing rotations in the States. They only had one cadeavor to dissect for a class of 100+ people and had no microscopes, laboratories etc. In other words, Carribbean medical schools aren't REAL medical schools; they are factories that train students have to write USMLE and pass them.

One last reminder: DO NOT compare DO schools to carribbean schools.

I would take your own advice. AngryBaby's right, there is a big difference between the "Big 4" and most of the lesser known schools that are set up.

Additionally, there are a number of individuals who would take exception to your US DO = US MD statement based on perception alone, so please don't try to pass it off as fact. I'm not going to comment on the Caribbean MD vs. US DO.

I'm glad you're in a school which you seem enthusiastic about. Good luck.

 

[JohnnyRockets]

SGU is the top medical school in the Caribbean their average MCAT is 26 with a 3.4 GPA. Their class sizes have become huge, they have two entry semesters with nearly 400 students, giving a total of 800 students. The biggest US medical school, U of Illinois has 2600 students total. LECOM averages 500 students per year.

Island schools for the most part are all about taking your money, I have heard nothing but horror stories regarding most of them. DO schools are definitely the way to go if you want to be a doctor. Way better option than island schools.

 

[psych22]

List of things you must have to get into a Carribean school:

1. Pulse

2. $$$ or a good credit score

3. MCAT = 15+

4. GPA = 2.0+

Feel free to add to the list.

now, on the flip side. list of things you must have to get into a US Medical school

1. Pulse

2. $$$ or a good credit score

3. MCAT = 15+

4. GPA = 2.0+

pretty comparable lists eh?

 

[digitalising]

SGU is the top medical school in the Caribbean their average MCAT is 26 with a 3.4 GPA. Their class sizes have become huge, they have two entry semesters with nearly 400 students, giving a total of 800 students. The biggest US medical school, U of Illinois has 2600 students total. LECOM averages 500 students per year.

Island schools for the most part are all about taking your money, I have heard nothing but horror stories regarding most of them. DO schools are definitely the way to go if you want to be a doctor. Way better option than island schools.

If you're alleging that large class sizes are a hindrance to education, I have two counterpoints to that:

1. The August and January SGU classes are never in the same lecture or lab, so we don't have 800 people in a class. I'd consider your point of two entry semesters moot based on this fact.

2. LECOM has a larger class than SGU (369 in the Fall 08 entering class). Are the additional 131 students (approximately) somehow improving this situation by virtue of being osteopathic students? Or is it OK for osteopathic schools to have huge classes but not other schools?

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you (although I don't believe that the class size really matters in a lecture situation), but just thought that there were some other arguments to be made.

I'd also amend your statement to read "U.S. M.D. schools are definitely the way to go if you want to be a doctor." A U.S. M.D. is a much more powerful degree, if only looking at international recognition.