Caribbean school... smh

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abbsmeddoc said:
Agreed, now that we are all so invested in this dilemma, do enlighten us 🙂
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Haha, well I think her cgpa and sgpa are both between 3.4-3.5 She actually never told me her MCAT so, I am assuming that was her issue.
 
500miles said:
90% of people don't know the different between MD and DO, they just know that they are seeing a "doctor". The other 10% have a skewed opinion about how big the difference actually makes.
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I think a lot of people don't even know that DO exists or that they're "real doctors." I will admit that I was unaware of DO until I started applying for med school.
 
jonnythan said:
I think a lot of people don't even know that DO exists or that they're "real doctors." I will admit that I was unaware of DO until I started applying for med school.
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Honestly I didnt know what DO was either before this and I'm sure I saw some of them but I assumed that all doctors had MD behind their name. I just figured if i made an appointment with Dr Smith he was qualified to do the job. Never really checked the letters after haha. But if I had I probably would have wondered what a DO was.
 
500miles said:
Honestly I didnt know what DO was either before this and I'm sure I saw some of them but I assumed that all doctors had MD behind their name. I just figured if i made an appointment with Dr Smith he was qualified to do the job. Never really checked the letters after haha. But if I had I probably would have wondered what a DO was.
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Yeah, I actually saw a DO as my primary doc growing up but had no idea. I didn’t know there was even such a thing as a DO until I was 20 years old and in OR tech school. My instructor recommended I check out DO schools because of the whole holistic angle.
 
Dr.Housexoxo said:
Haha, well I think her cgpa and sgpa are both between 3.4-3.5 She actually never told me her MCAT so, I am assuming that was her issue.
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People for which the MCAT was hard will struggle with the massive volume of information in MED school... at a do program it’s nice to be able to shrug off a few c’s without feeling like the world’s ending. In for a rude awakening...


Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Yeah, I actually saw a DO as my primary doc growing up but had no idea. I didn’t know there was even such a thing as a DO until I was 20 years old and in OR tech school. My instructor recommended I check out DO schools because of the whole holistic angle.
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Finally figured out a response to this
“DO are just the first 2 letters of doctor”
 
NYCking said:
Yeah until your patient looks you up and found out you went to a school overseas.
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I don't think people really care much about that. They see "Ross University" or "St George's University" or whatever and for the most part they don't care. People don't drop their doctor because they find out later they're a graduate of Ross.

With DO, however, you do have to explain to people that it's the same as MD. I imagine that can be frustrating to do with friends and family, or having friends and family do it on your behalf.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
OP is a med student. I doubt he's considering transferring from a US med school to the Carib.
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As insane as it may seem, that's been done: SGU clinical rotations

On a related note, if anyone has an inside line to Rhabdoviridae, I'd love to know how the Match went for him. Is he living his dreams?!?!?!

IlDestriero said:
Your cousin is about to start down a path that’s going to teach her a very expensive lesson.
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Fixed that for you. 😉
 
HomeSkool said:
As insane as it may seem, that's been done: SGU clinical rotations

On a related note, if anyone has an inside line to Rhabdoviridae, I'd love to know how the Match went for him. Is he living his dreams?!?!?!


Fixed that for you. 😉
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That guy was an idiot. Really hoping that's not what's happening here.
 
jonnythan said:
I don't think people really care much about that. They see "Ross University" or "St George's University" or whatever and for the most part they don't care. People don't drop their doctor because they find out later they're a graduate of Ross.

With DO, however, you do have to explain to people that it's the same as MD. I imagine that can be frustrating to do with friends and family, or having friends and family do it on your behalf.
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None of the DOs I know have had to explain what a DO is. Obviously, that's a small n, but I really don't think very many people look up where their doctor went to school.
 
HomeSkool said:
As insane as it may seem, that's been done: SGU clinical rotations

On a related note, if anyone has an inside line to Rhabdoviridae, I'd love to know how the Match went for him. Is he living his dreams?!?!?!


Fixed that for you. 😉
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Thank you for finding this thread! @Matthew9Thirtyfive this is the person I was joking about the other day. Literal insanity.
 
jonnythan said:
I don't think people really care much about that. They see "Ross University" or "St George's University" or whatever and for the most part they don't care. People don't drop their doctor because they find out later they're a graduate of Ross.

With DO, however, you do have to explain to people that it's the same as MD. I imagine that can be frustrating to do with friends and family, or having friends and family do it on your behalf.
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I care lol, rather have an American DO than an overseas doc.
 
Worked in healthcare 6 years before going to Med school, never knew that DO’s were different from MD’s. Thought they had just taken an OMM fellowship or something.
 
Dr.Housexoxo said:
Hey guys I need advice on how to help my cousin. So, my cousin is about to make the worst decision of her life! We both applied to medical school together hoping to end up at the same place unfortunately for my cousin she was not accepted anywhere and I fortunately was. She tried applying for the fall 2017 cycle without applying to DO which I strongly urged her to, but once again she was not accepted. I finally convinced to apply to DO for this years cycle and she was luckily just accepted to a DO school. However, she also applied to Caribbean schools and is deciding to head that route. I have been trying to advise her not to go the Caribbean route, but she is convinced being a MD is more superior than DO no matter what. I have even asked her to look into other healthcare routes, but she refuses. She believes that she knows what she is doing and that she has done much research on her own. She claims that the school she going to attend are not like the other Caribbean schools.


She is not attending a big four Caribbean school, instead she is attending Trinity school of medicine which I have never heard of. After looking into this school I found that they accept about 100 students and they have their clinical sites exclusively around Maryland and are able to provide spots for all their students. My cousin recently showed me the school’s 2018 match rate which was an 86 percent! This school does seem nice, but I am not sure if what they present is reliable.

I wanted to know if anyone has any real unbiased info about Trinity. Is it actually a good school? Or is it just like the other Caribbean schools that deceive and trick desperate pre-meds…… I just do not want to see my cousin make a stupid mistake because of her pride.
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Sounds like they're selling her BS and I'd be highly skeptical. Even the Big 4 don't have match numbers that high if you include attrition. And that's today, four years from now things could look quite ugly with all the new schools opening. DO is the way to go if you can't go US MD.
 
jonnythan said:
I had to explain to people what it was when I was applying.
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I’m assuming you told people you were applying to DO schools. My point wasn’t that most people know what a DO is, it was that most people don’t know whether their doc is an MD or DO.
 
Mad Jack said:
Sounds like they're selling her BS and I'd be highly skeptical. Even the Big 4 don't have match numbers that high if you include attrition. And that's today, four years from now things could look quite ugly with all the new schools opening. DO is the way to go if you can't go US MD.
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Matching into some prelim program at a backwater pseudo academic community hospital is a dead end. But they matched!


--
Il Destriero
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
One of the best surgeons I've ever worked with went to school in Spain. He graduated like 25 years ago though.
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It’s not really a fair comparison to compare the average US citizen going to a Caribbean or foreign school (because they couldn’t get into school here) to someone who is foreign and went to a good foreign medical school prior to coming to the US. There are plenty of great physicians, researchers, leaders in their fields that attended foreign medical schools +/- did residencies there who had great success here. However those people, had they been US citizens, wouldn’t have had any problems going to a US medical school. I work with several of them.


--
Il Destriero
 
IlDestriero said:
It’s not really a fair comparison to compare the average US citizen going to a Caribbean or foreign school (because they couldn’t get into school here) to someone who is foreign and went to a good foreign medical school prior to coming to the US. There are plenty of great physicians, researchers, leaders in their fields that attended foreign medical schools +/- did residencies there who had great success here. However those people, had they been US citizens, wouldn’t have had any problems going to a US medical school. I work with several of them.


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Il Destriero
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I'm not comparing them. I was responding to jonnythan talking about someone who went to school in Europe.
 
Dr.Housexoxo said:
I sent her the million dollar mistake article. unfortunately , she believes that every scenario is anecdotal and does not apply.

You know what. I would appreciate posts like "your cousin" to please leave this thread. If you think I am the one who would stupidly go to Caribbean school over DO school , cool so be it . Do not respond to the thread. I am trying to seek real advice on how to help a family member.
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Lmao, calm down, why do you care so much?
 
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IlDestriero said:
It’s not really a fair comparison to compare the average US citizen going to a Caribbean or foreign school (because they couldn’t get into school here) to someone who is foreign and went to a good foreign medical school prior to coming to the US. There are plenty of great physicians, researchers, leaders in their fields that attended foreign medical schools +/- did residencies there who had great success here. However those people, had they been US citizens, wouldn’t have had any problems going to a US medical school. I work with several of them.


--
Il Destriero
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Exactly, an AIIMS student born and raised in India >>>>>>>>>> U.S born Caribbean student. Therefore, I call IMGs students from the US who went abroad and FMGs foreigners who are trying to come to the US.

If it were up to me, the pecking order with all other variables equal would be the following:

US MD>FMG from good school>DO>FMG from lesser known school>IMG
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Why does he care that his family member is about to make an extremely costly mistake, both time- and money-wise?

I see you ninja edited. Nvm.
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I mean it’s a cousin, not his or her own family. Sorry for the Ninja edit, wasn’t meant to be sneaky. I make a lot of mistakes and notice them only after posting.
 
Syncrohnize said:
Exactly, an AIIMS student born and raised in India >>>>>>>>>> U.S born Caribbean student. Therefore, I call IMGs students from the US who went abroad and FMGs foreigners who are trying to come to the US.

If it were up to me, the pecking order with all other variables equal would be the following:

US MD>FMG from good school>DO>FMG from lesser known school>IMG
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Dude what. There are tons of exceptional students, residents, and physicians coming g from Caribbean medical schools.

It's the schools that are bad, not the students or graduates.
 
Syncrohnize said:
I mean it’s a cousin, not his or her own family. Sorry for the Ninja edit, wasn’t meant to be sneaky. I make a lot of mistakes and notice them only after posting.
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She’s family enough that she lives with him. You and I must have different definitions of family.
 
jonnythan said:
Dude what. There are tons of exceptional students, residents, and physicians coming g from Caribbean medical schools.

It's the schools that are bad, not the students or graduates.
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The students are the ones that choose to go to an MD diploma factory. If an American student thinks they’re good, they should go to an MD/DO. There’s no reason to go to a Caribbean school other than for getting out fast or other options being exhausted.

Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
She’s family enough that she lives with him. You and I must have different definitions of family.
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I didn’t read that part. Congrats, you win.
 
Syncrohnize said:
The students are the ones that choose to go to an MD diploma factory. If an American student thinks they’re good, they should go to an MD/DO. There’s no reason to go to a Caribbean school other than for getting out fast or other options being exhausted.
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I find this attitude both disturbing and troubling. It's one thing to discourage people from going to Caribbean schools, but it's another thing entirely to disparage students and physicians who have gone through them. It is 100% not OK, and is genuinely disheartening, to find a medical student wholesale crapping on the many fine physicians who have successfully completed medical school, Step 1, Step 2, residency, boards, and all the other things just because they went to school in Grenada or wherever.
 
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jonnythan said:
I find this attitude both disturbing and troubling. It's one thing to discourage people from going to Caribbean schools, but it's another thing entirely to disparage students and physicians who have gone through them. It is 100% not OK, and is a genuinely disheartening, to find a medical student wholesale crapping on the many fine physicians who have successfully completed medical school, Step 1, Step 2, residency, boards, and all the other things just because they went to school in Grenada or wherever.
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Agreed. It is one thing to crap in the schools for being predatory diploma mills or even to say that people who go to the Carib are making a huge mistake. It’s quite another to imply that all foreign trained docs, including the Carib, are somehow inferior.

That said, I don’t think the post you quoted was saying that. It seemed like it just said that there is no reason to go to the Carib unless you have no other options.
 
jonnythan said:
I find this attitude both disturbing and troubling. It's one thing to discourage people from going to Caribbean schools, but it's another thing entirely to disparage students and physicians who have gone through them. It is 100% not OK, and is genuinely disheartening, to find a medical student wholesale crapping on the many fine physicians who have successfully completed medical school, Step 1, Step 2, residency, boards, and all the other things just because they went to school in Grenada or wherever.
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Well PDs probably already do it when judging these candidates so point the finger at them. That said, say a Caribbean doctor does the same thing a US one does in terms of residency, they’re equal.

Lol @Goro liking every post.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Agreed. It is one thing to crap in the schools for being predatory diploma mills or even to say that people who go to the Carib are making a huge mistake. It’s quite another to imply that all foreign trained docs, including the Carib, are somehow inferior. That said, I don’t think the post you quoted was saying that. It seemed like it just said that there is no reason to go to the Carib unless you have no other options.
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Yes that’s exactly what I meant. Thanks.

Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
She’s family enough that she lives with him. You and I must have different definitions of family.
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I agree that there’s nothing to win on SDN, but I took issue to this bolded because I consider family of utmost importance. How would you like it if someone said this to you without knowing anything about you?
 
Syncrohnize said:
Yes that’s exactly what I meant. Thanks.



I agree that there’s nothing to win on SDN, but I took issue to this bolded because I consider family of utmost importance. How would you like it if someone said this to you without knowing anything about you?
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I’d ask them what family means to them.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I’d ask them what family means to them.
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Not sure if you’re being facetious to be difficult or if you need someone to explain to you that it’s not polite to imply to a stranger that you have stronger family values than them.
 
Syncrohnize said:
Not sure if you’re being facetious to be difficult or if you need someone to explain to you that it’s not polite to imply to a stranger that you have stronger family values than them.
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I’m not being facetious at all, and no one is implying that. You’re incorrectly inferring that based on me pointing out that OP’s cousin is family enough to live with him and saying that a cousin is by definition family.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I’m not being facetious at all, and no one is implying that. You’re incorrectly inferring that based on me pointing out that OP’s cousin is family enough to live with him and saying that a cousin is by definition family.
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Regardless, you should have realized that your original post could have been interpreted as an insult and phrased it more carefully. I could say something that’s technically innocuous if taken at face value...maybe you’d take it that way since you’re so hellbent on taking things at face value, but that’s not how everyone works, especially over the internet.
 
Syncrohnize said:
Regardless, you should have realized that your original post could have been interpreted as an insult and phrased it more carefully. I could say something that’s technically innocuous if taken at face value...maybe you’d take it that way since you’re so hellbent on taking things at face value, but that’s not how everyone works, especially over the internet.
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There is a point at which it is not other people's job to phrase things carefully enough that your feelings will not get hurt. I pointed out something I thought you may have missed (which you did), and then said we must have different definitions of family. That in no way implies any of the extra stuff you put on it. Grow some thicker skin.

ETA: You inferred something incorrectly. I clarified that I was not implying anything insulting. That is the point where you say, "My bad, I thought you meant something else," and move on--not continue to argue and shift blame. This is part of having an adult conversation.
 
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Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
There is a point at which it is not other people's job to phrase things carefully enough that your feelings will not get hurt. I pointed out something I thought you may have missed (which you did), and then said we must have different definitions of family. That in no way implies any of the extra stuff you put on it. Grow some thicker skin.

ETA: You inferred something incorrectly. I clarified that I was not implying anything insulting. That is the point where you say, "My bad, I thought you meant something else," and move on--not continue to argue and shift blame. This is part of having an adult conversation.
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We’re going to have to agree to disagree here. Great quip about having an “adult conversation” though 🙄. (This time I put in an eye roll to make it sarcasm by definition).
 
Syncrohnize said:
I mean it’s a cousin, not his or her own family. Sorry for the Ninja edit, wasn’t meant to be sneaky. I make a lot of mistakes and notice them only after posting.
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A cousin is still part of your family bro. It is possible to care about someone who is not necessarily a part of your intermediate family.

Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
She’s family enough that she lives with him. You and I must have different definitions of family.
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Agreed. Plus I'd like to add even if she did not live with me, we would still be very close.
 
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