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I am a Carib school grad success story. Which school? Doesnt matter for the sake of this post, but it is one of the traditional Big 4 and I graduated within the last 5-8 years. From the humble origins of this Carib school, I made it into my dream specialty at a top program while that specialty was uber competitive, and have since landed my dream job. I literally love my work and my specialty. On top of that, my career success has given me the ability to live in the center of the downtown of my favorite city in a luxury highrise with all the amenities of a ritz carlton. I drive my dream car and get treated with the same respect of any of my colleagues who went to Ivy League medical schools. I am so far removed from my time on the island, that I often forget that I am a graduate of a Carib school, which can sometimes feel like a stain on the order of a scarlet letter while you are still a student or a resident. However, this is not an ode to my greatness. I was not a genius who lost their way into a Carib school. I was a regular student, just like you, and I made it through, just like you inshallah will. I am sharing this post as a small beacon of light for those who need encouragement or discouragement of whether or not to go through this process.
In a moment of boredom today, I clicked my way into the Carib meschool forums for the first time in years, and saw the usual fear and loathing of current/prospective students, and the cyber bashing of carib schools by outsiders, and remembered the feeling of being on the other side so hope this is helpful to someone.
It is very possible to make it. It takes a lot of work and you have to know what kind of person you are, whether you are willing to put the work in or not, and what kind of dedication you have. If you are the type of person that is on the verge of making it into a canadian or US med school and getting waitlisted but not making the cut, you have the stuff it takes but not the opportunity so the carib will give you that opportunity to prove yourself. If you were great in another career, and want to make the switch but are a little nontraditional of an applicant to be accepted to a CDN/US med school, you can also be great in medicine if given the opportunity. But if you are considering this as a first choice bc you know you have no chance to get in anywhere else, save your money and become a PA or choose any other great, lucrative but guaranteed career path out there.
In my school, probably only 50% of the people who started with me graduated from basic sciences, and of those survivors, probably 3/4ths matched into residency at all. The rest who didnt make it, just sacrificed years of their lives and a lot of family money to pay the salaries of these for-profit schools. When I was a student, SGU, Ross, Saba, and AUC were the big 4. MUA was a great school. and maybe 4-5 others were acceptable. There were 20 other schools that were joke predator schools.
Going to a Carib school is a LOT harder than going to a traditional school. Anyone who thinks a carib doc is taking the easy way in has it way wayy wrong. It is a lot easier to get accepted for sure, but a lot harder to make it in the end. Being accepted to medical school is worth zero, all that matters is getting accepted to and completing a residency. Consider becoming a doctor in your specialty like running an uphill 10 mile race. The starting point for a traditional medical school is about 3 miles up the way, a position that their accepted students were able to trek gradually over 4 years of undergrad. A Big 4 caribbean medical starts at the 0 mile , you have to make up those 3 miles and still race the remaining 7 all within those 3.5-4 years of Caribbean schooling. So it may be easier to get in because the threshold for acceptance is lower, but make no mistake, you will make up for that easier acceptance by a much more difficult vetting process. Your USMLE score and research does not compare to your traditional US counterpart when you apply for residency. You need 5-10 points higher on avg, some cases a lot more, and an extra research experience or 2 to be on the same page as him/her. But once you make it into residency, your past sins are forgiven and you are back in the same race as everyone else, where all that matters is which residency you got into.
Because of those stats, I still always advice DO schools over Carib. I rotated with a mix of DO students and US medical students, and have encountered many of both in residency and work, there is zero difference between their intelligence or competence. And I also suggest trying for a 2nd or 3rd year even before accepting Caribbean. In my case, I didn't follow that advice and applied straight to Carib, which saved me 2-3 years, but I think it would have been worth it to forego a year for the guarantees of a traditional med school. But, if you want to become a doctor, and those doors are closed and you have what it takes to make it, then you can still become the doctor you dream of being by going through the Caribbean. The biggest piece of advice is to not consider any school out of the current top 5 or 6. If you can afford SGU, which I did not attend, I do know that it gives you an advantage over the rest but comes with a hefty pricetag (in the order of 400-500k debt during residency). If you go lower than the top 6, you are putting yourself at an unfair disadvantage that is hard to overcome. That said, I do know several Gastroenterologists, Intensivists, and Cardiologists who have graduated from lesser schools. But, they worked for it. Also note that those are all amazing specialties but all derive from internal medicine where you are given more time to make up for your choice of school. If you are in a lesser school, apply for transfer while you can.
Hope this helps someone on the ropes one way or another. The struggle is real, but so is the chance for success. One day, if you keep chiseling, all the hard work will be a distant memory and your Carib struggle will become a badge of honor.
In a moment of boredom today, I clicked my way into the Carib meschool forums for the first time in years, and saw the usual fear and loathing of current/prospective students, and the cyber bashing of carib schools by outsiders, and remembered the feeling of being on the other side so hope this is helpful to someone.
It is very possible to make it. It takes a lot of work and you have to know what kind of person you are, whether you are willing to put the work in or not, and what kind of dedication you have. If you are the type of person that is on the verge of making it into a canadian or US med school and getting waitlisted but not making the cut, you have the stuff it takes but not the opportunity so the carib will give you that opportunity to prove yourself. If you were great in another career, and want to make the switch but are a little nontraditional of an applicant to be accepted to a CDN/US med school, you can also be great in medicine if given the opportunity. But if you are considering this as a first choice bc you know you have no chance to get in anywhere else, save your money and become a PA or choose any other great, lucrative but guaranteed career path out there.
In my school, probably only 50% of the people who started with me graduated from basic sciences, and of those survivors, probably 3/4ths matched into residency at all. The rest who didnt make it, just sacrificed years of their lives and a lot of family money to pay the salaries of these for-profit schools. When I was a student, SGU, Ross, Saba, and AUC were the big 4. MUA was a great school. and maybe 4-5 others were acceptable. There were 20 other schools that were joke predator schools.
Going to a Carib school is a LOT harder than going to a traditional school. Anyone who thinks a carib doc is taking the easy way in has it way wayy wrong. It is a lot easier to get accepted for sure, but a lot harder to make it in the end. Being accepted to medical school is worth zero, all that matters is getting accepted to and completing a residency. Consider becoming a doctor in your specialty like running an uphill 10 mile race. The starting point for a traditional medical school is about 3 miles up the way, a position that their accepted students were able to trek gradually over 4 years of undergrad. A Big 4 caribbean medical starts at the 0 mile , you have to make up those 3 miles and still race the remaining 7 all within those 3.5-4 years of Caribbean schooling. So it may be easier to get in because the threshold for acceptance is lower, but make no mistake, you will make up for that easier acceptance by a much more difficult vetting process. Your USMLE score and research does not compare to your traditional US counterpart when you apply for residency. You need 5-10 points higher on avg, some cases a lot more, and an extra research experience or 2 to be on the same page as him/her. But once you make it into residency, your past sins are forgiven and you are back in the same race as everyone else, where all that matters is which residency you got into.
Because of those stats, I still always advice DO schools over Carib. I rotated with a mix of DO students and US medical students, and have encountered many of both in residency and work, there is zero difference between their intelligence or competence. And I also suggest trying for a 2nd or 3rd year even before accepting Caribbean. In my case, I didn't follow that advice and applied straight to Carib, which saved me 2-3 years, but I think it would have been worth it to forego a year for the guarantees of a traditional med school. But, if you want to become a doctor, and those doors are closed and you have what it takes to make it, then you can still become the doctor you dream of being by going through the Caribbean. The biggest piece of advice is to not consider any school out of the current top 5 or 6. If you can afford SGU, which I did not attend, I do know that it gives you an advantage over the rest but comes with a hefty pricetag (in the order of 400-500k debt during residency). If you go lower than the top 6, you are putting yourself at an unfair disadvantage that is hard to overcome. That said, I do know several Gastroenterologists, Intensivists, and Cardiologists who have graduated from lesser schools. But, they worked for it. Also note that those are all amazing specialties but all derive from internal medicine where you are given more time to make up for your choice of school. If you are in a lesser school, apply for transfer while you can.
Hope this helps someone on the ropes one way or another. The struggle is real, but so is the chance for success. One day, if you keep chiseling, all the hard work will be a distant memory and your Carib struggle will become a badge of honor.
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