father in law is a teaching resident doc, will this help ?

[dr.blank]

here it goes: i am a non-traditional(2 infants) student and for many boring reasons i have decided to attend a school in the Caribbean. my father in-law is an ER doc at a teaching hospital teaching residents and working part time still. he is old now but in his earlier years he was also the chief of ER for a while. since caribbean students have a hard time attaining residency, does it help my chances when time comes to apply for residencies or at the hospital where he teaches?

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[CyrilFiggis]

zero.

 

[dr.blank]

i was hoping for more than a one word response but care to explain a little more?

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I'd say depends. If he knows that PD, has a good relationship and advocates for you, you might be given an interview.

 

[deleted480308]

Maybe just a little bit at his hospital, zero anywhere else

What are your scores and did you go to one of the “big 3” cqrrib schools?

 

[CyrilFiggis]

i was hoping for more than a one word response but care to explain a little more?

It won't help with the application process but it may help if you want to do an audition rotation at his hospital. If your goal is to go into EM as well, he will have very little impact because of the SLOE requirement for those applications.

I agree with other posters that some nepotism never hurts anyone, but i'm not sure it outweighs the knock you may get from RDs for being a carib applicant.

 

[dr.blank]

Maybe just a little bit at his hospital, zero anywhere else

What are your scores and did you go to one of the “big 3” cqrrib schools?

please read my initial post. want to start medical school <---- is the plan.

 

[dr.blank]

It won't help with the application process but it may help if you want to do an audition rotation at his hospital. If your goal is to go into EM as well, he will have very little impact because of the SLOE requirement for those applications.

I agree with other posters that some nepotism never hurts anyone, but i'm not sure it outweighs the knock you may get from RDs for being a carib applicant.

thanks, what does RDs mean?

 

[deleted480308]

please read my initial post. want to start medical school <---- is the plan.

ahhh, I thought you meant that had decided and already started....if you haven't started yet the real advice is cancel your plans to go to the carrib

talk us through why you want to go carrib?

 

[dr.blank]

ahhh, I thought you meant that had decided and already started....if you haven't started yet the real advice is cancel your plans to go to the carrib

talk us through why you want to go carrib?

well i don't want to bore you but the quick version goes something like this, in college i was immature and impulsive, i enjoyed the social life basically. after graduation i went to work for a few years and by age 26-27 i realized time was not on my side and i started studying for the mcat(old one) and when i took it i felt extremely nervous about my score and cancelled it. i decided to take it again to only find out that the mcat was changing and all slots were filled up which screwed me royally but again this is my fault for not being vigilant. after that i went into a dark place in this phase of my life but luckily i managed to get my act together and move on with life from medicine. met my wife and oddly enough her dad is a doc and teaches residents and after a while my wife would joke and say things like "suck up to my dad and i am sure he can help" now obviously i know it wont be a cake walk and working hard will be the status quo. we all mature differently and for me it happened late.

why Caribbean you ask? #1 realistically my grades are not stellar from under grad, plus i took chem/orgo at a 2 year college, sGPA is below average. #2 as a person it was my personal preference to have kids at the end of my 20s, in other words i did not want to be a dinosaur dad. #3 i don't really have a lot of time and based on my assessments i could achieve to be a practicing MD by 40, give or take a year. plus i personally know 3-4 doctors that went to Caribbean achieved to do IM or FM but i also know some people that flunked and never made it but these people were irresponsible or were about the lime light. in the end i think hard work is key but there is a little bit of luck/magic that also plays a role, in my opinion.

i am currently studying for the new mcat and plan to take it in May/June of this year. let me know your thoughts Ron.

 

[deleted480308]

well i don't want to bore you but the quick version goes something like this, in college i was immature and impulsive, i enjoyed the social life basically. after graduation i went to work for a few years and by age 26-27 i realized time was not on my side and i started studying for the mcat(old one) and when i took it i felt extremely nervous about my score and cancelled it. i decided to take it again to only find out that the mcat was changing and all slots were filled up which screwed me royally but again this is my fault for not being vigilant. after that i went into a dark place in this phase of my life but luckily i managed to get my act together and move on with life from medicine. met my wife and oddly enough her dad is a doc and teaches residents and after a while my wife would joke and say things like "suck up to my dad and i am sure he can help" now obviously i know it wont be a cake walk and working hard will be the status quo. we all mature differently and for me it happened late.

why Caribbean you ask? #1 realistically my grades are not stellar from under grad, plus i took chem/orgo at a 2 year college, sGPA is below average. #2 as a person it was my personal preference to have kids at the end of my 20s, in other words i did not want to be a dinosaur dad. #3 i don't really have a lot of time and based on my assessments i could achieve to be a practicing MD by 40, give or take a year. plus i personally know 3-4 doctors that went to Caribbean achieved to do IM or FM but i also know some people that flunked and never made it but these people were irresponsible or were about the lime light. in the end i think hard work is key but there is a little bit of luck/magic that also plays a role, in my opinion.

i am currently studying for the new mcat and plan to take it in May/June of this year. let me know your thoughts Ron.

my thoughts are that if you can't get into a US school, that the carrib is too large of a risk to take. You'll never recover financially if you don't make it. what's the gpa?

 

[dr.blank]

my thoughts are that if you can't get into a US school, that the carrib is too large of a risk to take. You'll never recover financially if you don't make it. what's the gpa?

unfortunately i am not very brave to disclose that info but il give you a range 2.86-3.14 .... the number you guess is most likely correct.

and yes i do believe that the financial risk is horrifying but one of my positives is that since iv been working for many years, i can say it will be slightly easier. i will say that my goal is to do really well(513-517) on the upcoming mcat and if i do achieve that then perhaps i might open my scope to US med schools just as a long shot but i know my chances are almost slim to none. the reason why i started this thread is because i know a resident and i mentioned to him about my situation/father in law and he swears my father in law can help which is why i am getting some "outside" opinions.

Ron have you finished medical school?

 

[deleted480308]

unfortunately i am not very brave to disclose that info but il give you a range 2.86-3.14 .... the number you guess is most likely correct.

and yes i do believe that the financial risk is horrifying but one of my positives is that since iv been working for many years, i can say it will be slightly easier. i will say that my goal is to do really well(513-517) on the upcoming mcat and if i do achieve that then perhaps i might open my scope to US med schools just as a long shot but i know my chances are almost slim to none. the reason why i started this thread is because i know a resident and i mentioned to him about my situation/father in law and he swears my father in law can help which is why i am getting some "outside" opinions.

Ron have you finished medical school?

You have to look at the washout rates at the Carib schools, and then the match rates......if you want to risk 4 years and $300k on 50-60% odds you are either braver than you let on or foolhardy

I really think you are trusting too much in your father in laws ability to help you

 

[dr.blank]

You have to look at the washout rates at the Carib schools, and then the match rates......if you want to risk 4 years and $300k on 50-60% odds you are either braver than you let on or foolhardy

I really think you are trusting too much in your father in laws ability to help you

you make valid points and like i said depending on my mcat score, i have not totally ruled out US schools. thanks for the meaningful exchange mister Ron.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I would say going to the Caribbean is like a death sentence. I'm so grateful I never went there. With all I know now, I'd take podiatry over the Caribbean.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

thanks, what does RDs mean?

Residency Director

well i don't want to bore you but the quick version goes something like this, in college i was immature and impulsive, i enjoyed the social life basically. after graduation i went to work for a few years and by age 26-27 i realized time was not on my side and i started studying for the mcat(old one) and when i took it i felt extremely nervous about my score and cancelled it. i decided to take it again to only find out that the mcat was changing and all slots were filled up which screwed me royally but again this is my fault for not being vigilant. after that i went into a dark place in this phase of my life but luckily i managed to get my act together and move on with life from medicine. met my wife and oddly enough her dad is a doc and teaches residents and after a while my wife would joke and say things like "suck up to my dad and i am sure he can help" now obviously i know it wont be a cake walk and working hard will be the status quo. we all mature differently and for me it happened late.

Look, I'm 30-something, married with a kid on the way. I'm a 2nd year med student who dicked around in college and graduated with a non-science degree and a 3.2 GPA. I busted my ass for 3 years doing research, volunteering, doing a post-bacc and working full-time. Now I'm at a top-50. I'm not saying this to be braggadocious, but to say that this s**t is hard and eventually you gotta start putting in the effort. Caribbean is the easy way to say you got into med school, but the difficult way to become a doctor.

#3 i don't really have a lot of time and based on my assessments i could achieve to be a practicing MD by 40, give or take a year. plus i personally know 3-4 doctors that went to Caribbean achieved to do IM or FM

If your only aspirations are to do IM, FM, or even EM or OBGYN, and time is a factor, you don't need to be an MD. PA school is two years. You make a great living and still get to practice medicine.

 

[PastorDoc]

Caribbean is the easy way to say you got into med school, but the difficult way to become a doctor.

One of the realest quotes I’ve seen on this site.

 

[Phil McCracken]

here it goes: i am a non-traditional(2 infants) student and for many boring reasons i have decided to attend a school in the Caribbean. my father in-law is an ER doc at a teaching hospital teaching residents and working part time still. he is old now but in his earlier years he was also the chief of ER for a while. since caribbean students have a hard time attaining residency, does it help my chances when time comes to apply for residencies or at the hospital where he teaches?

Your thinking is all wrong from the get go and that is a recipe for DISASTER. Yeah, it matters who you know to some extent but none of that matters if you don't have the numbers. I don't know you so I can't advise you but you better get stellar STEP scores if you go to any school in the Caribbean if you want to succeed down that route.