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Im truly sorry that you've had a terrible experience. Unfortunately, your story sounds very similar to thousands of others who have chosen to go abroad--the schools just don't have much investment in heir students.

Frankly, none of the details in your story matter to the bottom line. Anyone going abroad at this point is fighting an uphill battle, and I would not recommend anyone do it. Given that you already failed out of one, I think trying another would be a waste of money and time.
 
What I'm taking home from this is that the OP has some inadequately treated mental health issues that have been aggravated by the pressure cooker of medical school.

I think it's best to drop out, heal, and then improve your app so that you can get into an American medical school.

This is the only way you'd be accepted into my school. We normally treat refugees from foreign med schools as DOA.
 
I've just transferred out of a Chinese Medical University to a UK one after two years so I made it out but clearly you didn't do enough 'realistic' research about going abroad because every single overseas uni is exactly like you described. So don't blame the University at all because it's very easy to find out information about all universities whether you use SDN or valueMD or whatever because the Universities websites reveal nothing about what it's truly like. I survived, I relied 100% on myself and didn't even trust the staff/faculty, I was always ready in case a test was given etc. Clearly there were red flags in first year about how things work at that uni, I have no idea why you stayed on. (Harsh but there's a million posts online about IMG universities)

Secondly, Med school isn't about putting others before yourself, it's a competition at the end of the day and you need to put yourself first and don't trust anyone too much; we've all heard the reports of friends reporting each other over downloading illegal Step 1 stuff etc. Your career and the rest of your life essentially rests on your medical education so secure yourself before you go out of your way for others.

Finally, it sounds like every time **** hits the fan you need some form of 'escape' or 'release' clearly this is a big issue that you need to sort out but you need to find another coping mechanism because you have to be on your game 100% of the time when working.

Take a holiday, clear your head, life isn't easy. Work towards getting a spot in the US.

At the end of the day you can't change a lot of situations you'll get in, you just need to suck it up and move on, no matter how hard it may seem.
 
neuronerd122 said:
or was I mistreated and should continue at another school take the mcat again and apply to schools in the states?

After the experiences I had with previous exams, and proctors I had my first pathology exam and sat in front and really tried to concentrate and finished the exam in thirty minutes. The proctor then filed a complaint against me, the administration wanted me to say I cheated and I need take pathology next year. Based of their advice I met with their lawyer and he told me the same thing, but I will have a cheating file on my record.
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This doesn't make sense, the school said you cheated just because you finished the exam in 30 minutes, or am I missing something? I am surprised that any school would put a cheating mark on a student just because they finished a test quickly.

While I understand it being hard to concentrate with all the stress you had in your life, and with the noise factor at the school....reality is, as a doctor you will have to work even while stressed, and hospitals are incredibly noisy places and you will need to make life and death decisions while tuning out that noise.

Positive though, congratulations on getting help for your drug/alcohol problem! I would follow Goro's advice, continue work on healing your own psyche, then work on doing what you can to make your medical application more acceptable to US based schools. Even so, it will be an uphill road, because of your record of failing medical school work. You will be able to point out though that you have corrected the issues that led to the failing work (drug/alcohol addiction, your ability to handle stress, etc.)

I would not spend any more money on a foreign US school.
 
BidingMyTime said:
This doesn't make sense, the school said you cheated just because you finished the exam in 30 minutes, or am I missing something? I am surprised that any school would put a cheating mark on a student just because they finished a test quickly.

While I understand it being hard to concentrate with all the stress you had in your life, and with the noise factor at the school....reality is, as a doctor you will have to work even while stressed, and hospitals are incredibly noisy places and you will need to make life and death decisions while tuning out that noise.

Positive though, congratulations on getting help for your drug/alcohol problem! I would follow Goro's advice, continue work on healing your own psyche, then work on doing what you can to make your medical application more acceptable to US based schools. Even so, it will be an uphill road, because of your record of failing medical school work. You will be able to point out though that you have corrected the issues that led to the failing work (drug/alcohol addiction, your ability to handle stress, etc.)

I would not spend any more money on a foreign US school.
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1) in these situations of things gone horribly wrong, we rarely have the full story. OP’s story has about 1000 examples of things gone horribly wrong, so plenty of room for omission. As these threads progress, we are usually fed morsels of truth slowly after probing further. A good example is the cheating accusation. There is almost certainly more to the story that led the proctors to believe he was cheating based on either his behavior during the test or a pattern of behavior prior

2) all that said, as others suggested you need to know going into these schools that they are of ill repute and not a god investment, to put it lightly

3) I agree with goro that the stress of medical school clearly exacerbated underlying psychological illness

4) the OP would do well to start owning up to the failures a bit better. In nearly every example of failure you have some excuse (in addition to the overall concern with overextending yourself elsewhere).

5) We all wish OP well, but jumping back into medical school anywhere anytime soon sounds like a bad idea
 
That first post is so much longer than it had to be, just bloated with excuses. In the end, you failed multiple courses and were abusing alcohol and Adderall. If you don't fix YOUR problems, no school will work out for you.
 
sb247 said:
it's not an american medical school abroad.....it's either american or it isn't

And I'm sorry but you failed a number of courses and it is unlikely that a US school will give you a chance
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Unless we are talking about Puerto Rico here...
 
W19 said:
Unless we are talking about Puerto Rico here...
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Based on his story, I'd wager it's one of those nameless predatory Carib schools, probably with the word "America" somewhere in it's name. I love how those schools try to squeeze "America" in their name to confuse people.
 
OP:
image


His med school admin:
Banner-office-space-lumbergh.jpg
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Yeah, if op meant PR, he would have said PR as they are lcme accredited and not an “American school abroad,” whatever that means.
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Something about these schools entice people to make that leap of faith... Was telling an acquaintance not to go to one of these school after doing poorly in the MCAT. Told him become an RN---->NP but he thought he was too good be 'just a nurse'. Went anyway, come back after 3 years after not being able to pass step1 and now talking about going to nursing school. I think the US government should stop subsidizing some of these schools in term of allowing their US students to get fed aid.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Sackler is an Israeli medical school with a partnership with NY hospitals. You still have to get ECFMG certification to apply to the match.
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A doc I worked with graduated from there and the way it was explained to me made it seem like an American medical school in Israel. I guess there was a miscommunication there.
 
curbsideconsult said:
A doc I worked with graduated from there and the way it was explained to me made it seem like an American medical school in Israel. I guess there was a miscommunication there.
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Yeah, it has a "New York/American" program. But it's still a foreign med school.
 
username456789 said:
1) in these situations of things gone horribly wrong, we rarely have the full story. OP’s story has about 1000 examples of things gone horribly wrong, so plenty of room for omission. As these threads progress, we are usually fed morsels of truth slowly after probing further. A good example is the cheating accusation. There is almost certainly more to the story that led the proctors to believe he was cheating based on either his behavior during the test or a pattern of behavior prior
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Completely agree.

W19 said:
. I think the US government should stop subsidizing some of these schools in term of allowing their US students to get fed aid.
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This. A major part of the college debt problem is because of the US government either subsidizing loans in students who have a low chance of success and/or subsidizing loans for a degree with is unlikely to lead to a job requiring such a degree. While I think it would be idea for the government to get out of the loan subsidizing business completely, since that is unlikely to happen, I think the government needs to start considering other factors besides "need" in their loans, just the same as private college loan lenders do.
 
BidingMyTime said:
Completely agree.



This. A major part of the college debt problem is because of the US government either subsidizing loans in students who have a low chance of success and/or subsidizing loans for a degree with is unlikely to lead to a job requiring such a degree. While I think it would be idea for the government to get out of the loan subsidizing business completely, since that is unlikely to happen, I think the government needs to start considering other factors besides "need" in their loans, just the same as private college loan lenders do.
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It would also be nice if tuition didn’t outpace inflation by like a billion times.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Yeah, it has a "New York/American" program. But it's still a foreign med school.
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curbsideconsult said:
A doc I worked with graduated from there and the way it was explained to me made it seem like an American medical school in Israel. I guess there was a miscommunication there.
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zero0 said:
Based on his story, I'd wager it's one of those nameless predatory Carib schools, probably with the word "America" somewhere in it's name. I love how those schools try to squeeze "America" in their name to confuse people.
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Maybe it's Cornell - Qatar?
 
watermelon master said:
Maybe it's Cornell - Qatar?
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That's a fair point, in terms of OP's honesty but I'm pretty sure those students (and Duke-NUS grads) are still very much considered FMGs by everyone in the states because the schools are not LCME accredited.
 
MSTPlease said:
That's a fair point, in terms of OP's honesty but I'm pretty sure those students (and Duke-NUS grads) are still very much considered FMGs by everyone in the states because the schools are not LCME accredited.
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Agreed.
 
Based on the limited information given, I believe the OP went to either Duke-NUS in Singapore or WCMC in Qatar, and I'm not at all surprised by his/her experience (especially if he/she went to the former, which has an especially malignant culture).
 
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Divine Comedy said:
Based on the limited information given, I believe the OP went to either Duke-NUS in Singapore or WCMC in Qatar, and I'm not at all surprised by his/her experience (especially if he/she went to the former, which has an especially malignant culture).
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My money is on St. James School of Medicine, specifically the St. Vincent and the Grenadines campus. Headquarters for the operation is in Park Ridge, Illinois.

OP mentions the school is new. That SJSM campus was opened in 2014. Duke-NUS happened in 2005, WCMC-Qatar in 2001.
 
neuronerd122 said:
I know I made many mistakes and I should have studied harder, but I’m not sure if I should return to medical school? or was I mistreated
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Both. You were a terrible student at a lousy institution. The outcome was virtually preordained.

neuronerd122 said:
and should continue at another school take the mcat again and apply to schools in the states?
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You will have a very, very, very, very, very hard time finding a reputable school that will take a chance on you. I would find a plan B and seek fulfillment in another occupation.
 
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