the carib does look lousy to people for several reasons. there are many horror stories out there about schools shutting down, forever depriving its grads of transcripts and other essentials. or schools opening, operating for a few years and disappearing, rendering the credits worthless and the money wasted. or, the schools offered credit for courses completed in chiropractic school, or offered online curriculum, or were discovered to sell degrees without requiring any course work. these are the rare, fly by night operations that recieved some bad press.
more likely, you hear complaints about usmle preperation, or faculty qualification, etc... there is no shortage of that type of complaint from almost any school, as there are usually any number of dissatsified students for a variety of reasons.
however, the important thing to remember is that there are thousands of grads practicing out there, and doing very well that are products of a carib education.
some things to keep in mind if you are going abroad to med school:
1. try to go to a school that can get you licensed in all 50 states. call the state boards to verify this. the only caribean schools i know of that allow this are st georges ross and auc.
2. go to a school that has been around a while and has grads you can contact. good schools will provide you with all the information you need and a way to verify that info. do not trust a website, an agent or some school administrator. do your homework. this also reduces the posibility that you will wake up someday and find your school has disappeared.
3. work your butt off while you are there! this is the most important. most people that go abroad did not get into med school for a reason...med school admissions policies are not entirely arbitrary, and the more leniant standards abroad may produce higher attrition rates, lower usmle pass rates, whatever. you must work your butt off from day one to get the best grades, highest usmle's possible to increase your opportunities to get a good residency. face it, we partied enough as undergrads, now it is time to get serious
basically, i think if you stick with the big 3 (st georges, ross and auc) you are pretty safe. st georges especially, although it is a bit costly...there are grads from other progams that do well (saba pops into mind), but i think the big 3 are the most stable. really think hard about going to a newer school, it is no fun to be a guinea pig.
going abroad can be a great experience. if you pick your school carefully and work hard you can achieve your dream. but, the offshore route is only a feasible option if you REALLLY want it!
good luck.
