From Reddit: St George's withdraws from CAAM-HP effectively making its students no longer eligible to sit for the USMLE/apply to residency

[juleppedMint]

Copied from u/slkzj (edited to add link: )

"https://www.caam-hp.org/program-details/St+George%27s+University+School+of+Medicine/63856c5a-0572-11e8-ba7f-f23c911818f6

This is really serious. They claim CAAM-HP was just their secondary accreditation and that it didn't matter but CAAM-HP was their only WFME/ECFMG recognized accreditation. Their students will no longer be eligible to sit for the USMLE Step exams or apply to American residency programs unless their other accreditation, GMDC, becomes recognized by WFME/ECFMG very soon.

SGU likely withdrew from CAAM-HP because they've been on probation for a long time now and probably would have failed reinspection as it is regarded as the stricter organization compared to GMDC.

You should never apply Caribbean in the first place but this is even more reason to not apply - and specifically not to SGU."

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[Goro]

Sounds too good to be true

 

[chaim123]

Copied from u/slkzj (edited to add link: )

"https://www.caam-hp.org/program-details/St+George%27s+University+School+of+Medicine/63856c5a-0572-11e8-ba7f-f23c911818f6

This is really serious. They claim CAAM-HP was just their secondary accreditation and that it didn't matter but CAAM-HP was their only WFME/ECFMG recognized accreditation. Their students will no longer be eligible to sit for the USMLE Step exams or apply to American residency programs unless their other accreditation, GMDC, becomes recognized by WFME/ECFMG very soon.

SGU likely withdrew from CAAM-HP because they've been on probation for a long time now and probably would have failed reinspection as it is regarded as the stricter organization compared to GMDC.

You should never apply Caribbean in the first place but this is even more reason to not apply - and specifically not to SGU."

My understanding is that ECFMG rules will change until 2024, so they have some time until then. But for ECFMG certification in 2024 they will need either CAAM-HP certification or for GMDC to become WFME certified.

 

[Isomerase]

My understanding is that ECFMG rules will change until 2024, so they have some time until then. But for ECFMG certification in 2024 they will need either CAAM-HP certification or for GMDC to become WFME certified.

Can you explain this to me like I'm 5? Does this mean that current students will be "safe" (by Caribbean standards) but in the future the students are screwed and/or the school is in jeopardy?

 

[KnightDoc]

Can you explain this to me like I'm 5? Does this mean that current students will be "safe" (by Caribbean standards) but in the future the students are screwed and/or the school is in jeopardy?

I'm no expert, and am barely above 5 myself, but here goes anyway!

Their whole business model depends on their graduates being eligible to practice in the US. Even though I am the furthest thing from a Caribbean advocate here, everyone can rest assured the school would never do anything voluntarily to jeopardize its business by screwing their students (beyond the inherent screwing their students willingly sign up for! ), and their CAAM-HP withdrawal was voluntary (at least according to the website).

Putting 2+2 together, this means their current students will be fine through 2024, and they certainly have a plan to obtain whatever certification they will need by then to stay in business. Count on it. They are one of the Big 4 in the Caribbean, and, with the increased interest in MD education, their business is undoubtedly booming. They would never voluntarily put themselves out of business.

 

[Doctoscope]

Reading around, it looks like they only “voluntarily withdrew” because they had an acceleration warning that they weren’t going to meet.

You should stay away from the Carib anyway, but if you were seriously considering it, I wouldn’t touch SGU with a 100 ft pole until (or if) this whole s***show gets resolved.

 

[chaim123]

Putting 2+2 together, this means their current students will be fine through 2024,

Just to further clarify this point, my understanding is that students will be safe under the new rules if their school is accredited at the time they submit their first application in order to take the USMLE exams. So given that the current first year class is the Class of 2024, they would be safe under the old rules as they will apply to ECFMG for their first USMLE exam in 2022 (M2 year) under the old rules, if that makes sense.

and they certainly have a plan to obtain whatever certification they will need by then to stay in business. Count on it.

I agree here - St. Georges has stated at Top Accredited Medical School | SGU Accreditation in the US & more that "GMDC, along with many other international medical accrediting bodies around the world, is taking steps to meet those ECFMG requirements." so it seems their plan is to get their GMDC certification to be ECFMG/WFME certified.

 

[allantois]

So this settles Ross vs SGU debate? Lol

 

[deleted1022107]

I wouldn’t worry to much about this. If you check out the WFME and GMDC website they gave gmdc the green light to apply since they meet all the criteria to be approved by wfme. Current Students have nothing to worry about and sgu wouldn’t drop caam unless they were 100% confident. It’s also worth noting here that Caam-hp is up for reaccreditation in 2022 anyways. Rest assure sgu is still the top program in the Caribbean.

 

[Unconditionalloves]

Go to SABA! problem solved!

 

[Unconditionalloves]

SABA? you mean the school where it was founded as a charity then sold for profit, with the husband and wife founders arrested for tax evasion. BTW, the wife served two years, while the husband took the money and ran and is still a fugitive.
Caribbean medical school founder gets 2 years in tax case (1) - IEyeNews
Founder Saba Medical School on trial for tax evasion in US

The school is open for a reason.

 

[Unconditionalloves]

Yes, profit.

Saba, along MUA was sold by the founders in 2007 for $34 million to a joint venture of Equinox Capital/Prairie Capital, which previously purchased St. Matthews for estimated $10-$15 million dollars. They put these three schools under the company called R3 Education. Soon after the purchase 2008 financial crisis hit, these two capital companies had major investment losses and investment at all three schools, particularly SMU, which was de-listed from the California Approved Medical School list about 2012, thus making their graduates ineligible for licensing in the state and many other states that followed that list. While some capital investment were made across all the schools estimated at $30 million total, both Prairie Capital and especially Equinox had been trying to unload the schools for sometime. This became quite urgent for Equinox which apparently lost over $350 million overall in 2020. All three schools were acquired by a for-profit educational group, Global University Systems based in the Netherlands for about $125 million with the sale closed in 2020. BTW, the sale was funded with bonds rated as "BB-" below investment grade, commonly referred to as junk bonds

This is all fine but all stand-alone Caribbean med schools are private for-profit schools same SGU and Ross AUC etc...

 

[melab]

Reading around, it looks like they only “voluntarily withdrew” because they had an acceleration warning that they weren’t going to meet.

You should stay away from the Carib anyway, but if you were seriously considering it, I wouldn’t touch SGU with a 100 ft pole until (or if) this whole s***show gets resolved.

what s***show?