hmmm this is weird...

[ocean11]

Ok so I'm on surg now and I met this weird 'med student'. She dosn't go to my school and is doing a fourth year elective at the SICU in the hospital. She claims that she goes to St. Christopher's school of medicine in England and actually graduated last year, but is doing audition rotations at our hospital. OK cool.... BUT she also told me that she transferred from King's college medical school in England (reputable) to St. Chis' 2 years back ok..... she said that she dropped out of the match last year to 'take a year off and relax' and maybe do a few electives here and there... and then last night she electively stayed 'on call' and did not sleep for 40+ hours. There is no call for fourth year med students/elective students. She also told me how good a school St. Chris' is and how her brother got PMR in Emory this year and that is why she dropped out of the match, b/c she was more 'confident' about getting a position.... so Why the (*&^ are you busting your a$$ this year?!? thought you were going to take a year off?!? why did you transfer from a great med school to one that is about to shut down?!? on top of it.... she told us how George Washington med school is letting her transfer in this year and how last year she turned them down?!?!?

DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE?!?!? it dosn't to me.....

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[chrisisinnocent]

Out of curiosity, why do you care?

 

[Tired]

DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE?!?!? it dosn't to me.....

I've run into maybe 2-3 train wreck "med students" in the last two years, and they all kind of sound like this. They're like the premeds who apply 8 times before they get in. They barely get in and squeak through the first two years, have all sorts of excuses about their grades (chronic illness that "took years to get diagnosed", assorted personal tragedies, etc etc), and then don't manage to match but have great reasons why they didn't want to.

I just avoid them. I'm guessing they eventually drop out.

 

[Tiki]

Out of curiosity, why do you care?

I second that.

 

[ocean11]

I second that.

I don't really care, but I see this person ALOT and she ALWAYS comes up to me to tell me how great her school is. I guess I just got annoyed and decided to post this.... I was just wondering if anyone else has met weird people like this during their clerkships?!?!? its sort of like "how do these people get into med school in the first place?!?"

 

[Tired]

I don't really care, but I see this person ALOT and she ALWAYS comes up to me to tell me how great her school is.

You could start returning the annoyance with comments of your own:

"Really? I didn't know they had medical schools in England."

"It's really great how much you remember, even though you've been out of medicine for so long."

"Oh! So you're the one all the residents talk about! Oh wait, forget that I told you that . . . "

 

[blz]

I'm pretty sure St. Chris lost accreditation or something. I had a friend there who had to leave a year ago after finishing her first year there. She had to start all over again at Ross (3rd and 4th years also had to leave to other schools and start ALL over again from MS1 at other foreign schools). There was a lot of shady business going on at that school.

 

[VeerTheTIGuy]

St. Christophers is not an accredited UK medical school, according to the Council of Heads of Medical Schools

at least it's not on their list of UK med schools: http://www.chms.ac.uk/schools/index.htm

 

[Winged Scapula]

Who knows what your acquaintance is up to...although the story sounds somewhat unorthodox.

The truth is that St. Christopher's (chartered in Senegal) is longer accepted in the UK because the GMC (General Medical Council) requires that 50% of the education be obtained in the country of charter. St. Chris does not meet this requirement and because they no longer have the equivalent form of UK accreditation, many US states have ruled that St. Chris' grads are not eligible for a US license. ECFMG requires that applicants be eligible to practice medicine in the country of their degree...so there is some gray area here as to whether or not that means the UK (which they are not eligible for) or Senegal.

At any rate, your acquaintance has likely been caught in the middle, is embarassed about the situation and may be stretching the truth in regards to her situation.

For more details about the legal issues at St. Chris' see: http://www.valuemd.com/st-christophers-college-medicine/

 

[Options]

I think politely asking her about any of the points above may shut her up. If that doesn't work, just ask her about the school being located above a pizza hut.