There is a note service thing for some of the courses. It's not as official as at US schools, but you can buy that stuff if you want it (it's usually from previous year's lectures, not from current lectures, but it's close enough). They also have old exams for sale too and yes, lots of old questions are repeated.
They also have this club called the SO club. Lots of people bring their entire family, dog and all, down to Grenada. Be aware that you are living in Grenada for one and a half years and the remaining half year is spent at St Vincent (90 miles north of Grenada) because of St Vincent's Kingtown Medical Center. You'll be doing two week rotations at the hospital during your final Caribbean semester.
They have dumped millions and millions of dollars into their Grenada True Blue campus. Freshmans are probably housed there now and not at the run down hotel on Grand Anse beach (the most beautiful white sand beach on the planet).
The histo lab is state of the art, better than a few of the US medical schools that I have seen. The anatomy/neuro lab is nice and new, about comparable to US medical school anat labs. Micro/path lab is a bit old. Not terrible but not great.
They have three lecture halls, very modern in two of them and a bit older for the third one. They were building a new library as I was leaving, so it's probably in use now. The campus looks like the US. If you live on campus, you've lost the opportunity to immerse yourself in a third world way of life. With black outs, the campus kicks into the generator power. With water shut offs at night, the campus has hot water stored up in tanks. It's just like the US. Im' not sure if they laid cable tv lines to the dorms in the campus yet, but cable tv is available in Grenada (makes a big difference if you're living there for months on end). ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, ESPN, ESPN2, HBO, Cinemax, TNT, Discovery, etc. I don't think they have FOX, so you can't watch Ally McBeal or X files. Have your friends tape it and Fed Ex it to you!
They are on UK power, 220 volt, 5 amp. Drives on the left side of the road. Gas is something like $3-5 a gallon. Cars are really expensive because there aren't many on the island. Food is airshipped there, so it's expensive, except for some tropical fruits (bananas, mangos, coconut) indigenous to the island. Now is the opportunity to try native foods, callaloo soup or lambi chowder...yummy.
They have student clubs there, AMSA, ER club, etc. You can keep busy with health fairs into the community to serve the locals as well as the wonderful orphans from the Sapadilla Orphanage. You can visit the beach or rain forest and bathe under a water fall.
Students are very very competitive and cut throat at SGU. Grades are very high and tension is high too. Students routinely study until 2am at the library and lecture halls. Test averages can range up to 85%! Some students are older, in fact, there's a wide range of ages and backgrounds with SGU students. Non Traditional students tend not to be as wealthy as the traditional-just-graduated-from-college students, but more than a few of SGU students have a few dollars in their pockets.
Regular semesters are about $13,000 while the single summer session between 1st and 2nd year runs about $7,000. Rent isn't bad there, but phone calls to the states can be about $2/minute or higher. Phone cards are handy. Better yet, bring a lap top and use ICQ or AOL Instant messanger to keep in touch.
The roads are dirt gravel roads with a few paved roads with pot holes. They have a KFC/Pizza hut, but also lots of local restaurants (local cuisine, Italian, French Chinese). Their super markets (3 of them around the area, two requires car or bus) are small and can be pretty spartan sometimes...food is expensive as you would expect. Lots of people bring back tons of food back from the States when they go home for vacation.
Lots of time spent with standardized patients (most students felt this was a waste of their time).
They have a 5 year program for academically challenged students. Profs are accessible (assoc dean was my neighbor in our apt) as are the dean/adminstration. The chancellor comes down a few times per semester and is the provential politician, kissing babies and shaking hands with a perfect smile.
They have OSCEs in St Vincent right before you take off for your USMLE Step One. There is also two comprehensive exams called the BSCE (Basic Science Comprehension Exam). The BSCE 2 is similar to Step 1. If you pass BSCE 2, then you'll probably pass USMLE Step 1. Step 1 pass rate is pretty good, like 92% and up. Step 2 pass rate is unknown to me, but it's not that good. Those that do pass, tend to pass with poor scores. Even overachieving classmates did poorly on Step 2, not sure what happened. Perhaps it's a reflection on the student, perhaps it's a reflection on the hospitals? Be aware before you sign the dotted line.
The rotations are offered in the US and UK. Usually in NY/NJ...and the North east/Midwest, plus a few hospitals that allow a few rotations in CA. Some hospitals are great, some are modern day indentured servitude/slave bondage. That's the same for all schools.
Students usually sign out side of the match for a residency slot, and usually at second tier university affiliated hospitals in the NY/NJ region in Internal Med or Family Practice. Those that match can match in University primary care programs, some very prestigious. The occasional surgical match is possible, but it's usually not at a "prestigious" hospital.
If you can't get into a US school, then SGU is a good choice. Transferring out of SGU is usually not an option unless you are a Florida resident with a spouse and kids in Florida, then U of Miami might look at you.
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