How do you feel about attending school in the Carribean?

[Orthodoc40]

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Does anyone know the countries that recognize US DO's?? Because I am interested in later practicing outside the US, but was considering the carib route over the DO route simply because I do not know how widely accepted the DO is overseas.

any info would be great

There is a link to this on the AACOM website but I couldn't find it myself.
They claim about 44 countries at this point recognize US DO's.

 

[DyersEve]

I know a few people who went the Carribbean route. You have to make sure that you go to a reputable school (e.g. SABA, St. George's). They follow typical American med school curriculums. I think they have pretty good pass rates. You take your USMLEs as you complete the pertinent material in your studies. A lot of FMGs from overseas actually have to take all of the USMLEs in succession AFTER they've complete their medical training. At St. George's they require you to pass licensure practice tests before they allow you to take the real thing.

But like people said, it might be harder to get into residencies etc. I think it's a good option if you screwed up early in college but now have yourself back on track academically and are ready to work. It's not a good option if you're just lazy and unmotivated. You'll just be throwing away your money.

This one girl I know did pretty poorly through most of college (like a 2.6 GPA) but then really worked hard towards the end. She couldn't get it up to a competitive GPA. But she did well on the MCATs and got into St. George's. She's currently doing her rotations in the States and seems to be on her way.

 

[AngryBaby]

I'd like to hear what DO schools you're referring to. I'm really interested - not trying to be difficult! It may come down to this choice for me, and I'm really not sure what to think.

Along with you're very useful information, it also occurs to me that roughly 75% of DO graduates choose Primary Care (or Family Practice, or Internal Medicine, whatever you decide to call it) for their specialty. Obviously the fact that they are choosing not very competitive specialties makes it easier for them to match into one of their top allopathic choices. Doesn't it? So the higher match rates that you got in that chart aren't really saying, "Oh yah, if you want to go into plastic surgery, you're better off going to a DO school than to the Carribean", necessarily...Or are they??

OK now we're getting into some hardcore speculation which should be taken with a grain of salt unless verified by you. TCOM and OSUCOM are supposed to be in that top 3-5 DO range (I live in TX and know that TCOM is a good school when it comes to med student rep: that is their residents are on par with MD grad students). I would venture to speculate that a good portion of DO students don't want to do primary care but rather "settle" for it. It is undeniable that a high portion of DO students couldn't get into a MD program they wanted and as such don't necessarily want to do primary care. My guess is that the DO match rate isn't higher because some don't match in their top specialty. Now this is a guess on my part and I don't really know this. What I'm saying is that the proportion of DO's wanting to specialize is roughly equal to MD students...IMO.

Secondly, you can get a pretty good idea of each school's student rep and strengths by their match list. Find the lists for the last 2-3 years and you'll have an idea of what specialties they produce frequently and what the caliber of residency program they are being accepted into. Thus making a somewhat educated decision when compared to what's important to you. By the way the osteopathic school in Jersey is supposed to be very good (scandal or no scandal) and maybe one of the Cali/Ariz schools?? Not really too sure about any of that. Again...find a few match lists from TCOM, for example, and see if they frequently produce the specialties you're interested in. I place TCOM 3rd out of the 7 medical schools in TX for me personally, by the way.

 

[Orthodoc40]

OK now we're getting into some hardcore speculation which should be taken with a grain of salt unless verified by you. TCOM and OSUCOM are supposed to be in that top 3-5 DO range (I live in TX and know that TCOM is a good school when it comes to med student rep: that is their residents are on par with MD grad students). I would venture to speculate that a good portion of DO students don't want to do primary care but rather "settle" for it. It is undeniable that a high portion of DO students couldn't get into a MD program they wanted and as such don't necessarily want to do primary care. My guess is that the DO match rate isn't higher because some don't match in their top specialty. Now this is a guess on my part and I don't really know this. What I'm saying is that the proportion of DO's wanting to specialize is roughly equal to MD students...IMO.

Secondly, you can get a pretty good idea of each school's student rep and strengths by their match list. Find the lists for the last 2-3 years and you'll have an idea of what specialties they produce frequently and what the caliber of residency program they are being accepted into. Thus making a somewhat educated decision when compared to what's important to you. By the way the osteopathic school in Jersey is supposed to be very good (scandal or no scandal) and maybe one of the Cali/Ariz schools?? Not really too sure about any of that. Again...find a few match lists from TCOM, for example, and see if they frequently produce the specialties you're interested in. I place TCOM 3rd out of the 7 medical schools in TX for me personally, by the way.

Too bad they (TCOM) accept like, 10 out of state students or something...
I think this all makes sense, though. But I do wonder if that many are 'settling' for primary care. It does seem to be so much a part of the philosophy and teaching. But I don't know. Thanks for the thoughtful posts.

 

[txfisher]

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[Orthodoc40]

Yeah here is the link for tcom's match list, it's impressive.
http://www.hsc.unt.edu/education/tcom/Residencyopps.cfm

Yah - like I said - too bad the chances of an OOS applicant are like, 0% at these particular DO schools...!

 

[Ishzter]

I think the point is how hard you want to work and when you want to put in that work. Let's say you got didn't do as well as you'd like and aren't that competitive for US MD schools. Going to the Caribbean should imply that you want a second chance and are willing to work hard to get back in the states for rotations and residencies. I agree that it'll take more work to compete for a US residency. The question is, if you're not willing to put in your all when you get into a Caribbean, then why apply?

The way I see it, If I don't get into a US School, I'll go to a Caribbean school. I'll work my arse off and continually apply for transfers to an instate school (GA has a few transfers a year) and if I get transferred , great if not I'll work hard to get competitive USMLE scores to get a good rotation/residency.

 

[cgscribe]

I would definitely do D.O., post-bac. before doing Caribbean. It's extremely difficult to make it into U.S. residency programs from Caribbean schools. This may have mostly to do with stigma (because I've heard that if you are extremely focused and independent you can receive a good education at a Caribbean school), but I'd rather not risk such a huge career-component.