I have several things to say...I read the entire post thoroughly, and here's what I see:
1) Skeptics want to bash Foreign schools, citing that their instruction is inferior.
2) Skeptics say Foreign schoos are "for profit" businesses, that only want to "make their wallets fat".
3) Skeptics believe that a D.O. degree exceeds the Foreign conferred M.D. degree.
Well, here's the truth...
Ross definitely IS a business, it exists to make money. Let me just see if I see the logic. You're telling me that Harvard Med. wants to educate its physicians for free? Can someone please tell me the last person they knew personally that got a full-ride paid medical degree? They are as rare as three dollar bills...why? Because who would give away a degree, when one seat is competed for by 30-50 people? So lets set the record straight, all schools are businesses, otherwise they would no longer be educating, they would be "out of business." Next lets talk about the D.O. degree being superior to the FMG's M.D. degree...hmm...when was the last time a common everyday patient asked his doctor where he graduated from? Truth is, if you are a good doctor, you will have good business, and a good relationship with your patients. The only thing your patients are gonna see is John Q. Smith, M.D. Lets compare that with a patient seeing John Q. Smith, D.O. First thing that gets asked, "what is a D.O.?" "Is it like an M.D.?" "Isn't the school easier?" "Are you really taking the same classes?" "Why did you pick being a D.O. instead of an M.D.?" Now let me be honest here...some people instinctively know what a D.O. is. Here in Philadelphia, possibly the D.O. capital of the world, you have PCOM and UMDNJ within 15 miles. You travel down the street you see D.O. after D.O., HOWEVER, when I lived in Ohio not more than 60 miles from OUCOM, not more than about 1 in 50 people could tell you that a D.O. was a "real doctor", its amazing. Of that 1 in 50, most people recognized that being a D.O. was one step between a Chiropractor(Ugh) and an M.D. So let me summarize this...you say Ross is a business, well ok, but so is every other school in the nation...if you disagree...name one U.S. school that grants free degrees to its students. You say Ross is inferior...I think that depends on the individual students...medicine isn't magic, you don't have to be intrinsically brighter than someone else to be successful. Hard work is the key ingredient to becoming a good doctor. The basic science knowledge can be picked up in a library-loaned textbook. If foreign medical graduates can pass the USMLE, the measuring stick for medical licensure, how exactly are they inferior? IF, U.S. schools are superior, why do Ross grads. specifically, and FMG generally, score better than their U.S. counterparts on the USMLE? If residencies are so few and far between for FMG's, why does the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, state that obtaining residency is "NO PROBLEM", providing prerequisites have been met. Why is it when I call Philadelphia area hospitals such as MCP Hanneman, Jefferson, Cooper, Temple, UPenn. etc., they all say that they view FMG's no differently than U.S. graduates?
The truth is that many U.S. allopathic students begrudge caribbean schools because of historically laxed admission standards. They have the, "we're smarter", "we worked harder", "we sacrificed a life in undergrad." attitude to why they are there. Unfortunately, there aren't enough seats for everyone who thinks they can be doctors. So caribbean schools offer an opportunity to individuals who are willing to sacrifice and go to a third world country for an education. Yes, there's a high attrition rate, but then again, shouldn't there be? I mean, they give chances to people with lower scores, some of those people just CAN'T do the work, so they fail. Those that can, EARN their degrees. Same courses, same work, same boards, same residencies; just all off U.S. soil. Sure there are problems with it...no entertainment, no family, no civilization, confinement, but then again, I have more respect for people who are willing to go through all the extra trouble, because it shows true desire. Yeah, it'd be easier to get a D.O. and move on, but lets face it, (no offense to D.O.'s) some people don't want to settle for a DO degree. Truth is an MD is an MD. You don't have to like it, but you CAN'T change it. So cry all you want. I am gonna be the FMG who sucks all your patients away...because I'm gonna have superior physical diagnoses skills, better interpersonal communication skills, and a big fat pair of initials that say M.D. behind my name, and when night falls I'll be able to sleep comfortably knowing that it was my hard work and tenacity that got me there, not just some family affiliation or gpa.
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