Do people who end up in the carribean have similar EC work, leadership, etc.?

[drdan83]

To students who end up in the Carribean have the same or similar level of EC work, leadership positions, life stories, etc. that US allopathic students have?

Or do students in the Carribean just barely have the grades but they have the money?

I have met many US allopathic students and you can clearly observe that they are some of the best of the best. I know several docs from SGU and Ross that are just as competent but I have my doubts that the Carribean docs have the same amount of volunteer work, clinical experience, leadership, etc.

Are both candidate pools on-par with each other in that respect?

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[Law2Doc]

To students who end up in the Carribean have the same or similar level of EC work, leadership positions, life stories, etc. that US allopathic students have?

Or do students in the Carribean just barely have the grades but they have the money?

I have met many US allopathic students and you can clearly observe that they are some of the best of the best. I know several docs from SGU and Ross that are just as competent but I have my doubts that the Carribean docs have the same amount of volunteer work, clinical experience, leadership, etc.

Are both candidate pools on-par with each other in that respect?

Most US citizens who go to the caribbean do so because they feel they don't have the grades/MCAT to attend a US school. They may have gone through the motions of the typical premed before they came to that realization. So yeah, I'd say many probably have some volunteer work, shadowing. You have to realize that there is huge attrition and many hurdles for those who go the caribbean route. So those that actually make it out the other side and attain categorical/advanced residencies are the best of the best of that crop. These are the folks who probably could have done alright in US schools had their undergrad stats/scores been better, and are the group of folks who in the future would probably be in US schools as the number of US med school seats increases. So I'd say the offshore folks who do well are probably just slow starters who deserve kudos for righting the ship, but they are probably not representative of the class they started with during their first year of med school, before the mad attrition.

 

[patel2]

To students who end up in the Carribean have the same or similar level of EC work, leadership positions, life stories, etc. that US allopathic students have?

Or do students in the Carribean just barely have the grades but they have the money?

I have met many US allopathic students and you can clearly observe that they are some of the best of the best. I know several docs from SGU and Ross that are just as competent but I have my doubts that the Carribean docs have the same amount of volunteer work, clinical experience, leadership, etc.

Are both candidate pools on-par with each other in that respect?

FYI these things like volunteering/physician shadowing/"leadership" are just hurdles that we need to jump over to get accepted to US allo school. None of them are indicative of future clinical ability, so I'm not sure I understand the connection you are making between them and competence in the workplace

 

[drdan83]

FYI these things like volunteering/physician shadowing/"leadership" are just hurdles that we need to jump over to get accepted to US allo school. None of them are indicative of future clinical ability, so I'm not sure I understand the connection you are making between them and competence in the workplace

You misunderstood the question my friend. I'm talking about admissions only.

 

[235009]

There are basically two types of students at carib schools ...
1. Students who had marginal numbers that could've gotten into a US school but they couldn't bear going through another cycle or refused to apply DO. They've usually done all the ECs a US student has done but
2. Students who have atrocious numbers who may not have even tried to get into a US school. They're more likely to have few or no ECs.

As far as the vast majority of carib schools are concerned (SGU being the only exception) if you have a pulse and the application fee they will probably accept you and they don't care if you've had any exposure to the field or any other ECs that US med schools look for.

 

[235788]

Many Caribbean schools have 500+ classes, composed of 75+% americans, most of whom do no finish. I can imagine it been next to difficult studying in paradise. Thank god ohio is only nice for 3 months of the year.