Beachbum:
I can only talk about my experience at the UPR school. First 2 years are basic sciences, mostly amphitheater lectures and SGDs. All handouts are in english (only a few pharm ones have been in spanish). Most lecturers give the class in spanish, although a few do it in english. All SGDs and PBLs are in spanish. During the first year you take Intro to clinical skills and second year has Fundamentals to Clinical Dx. They are mostly hospital activities (3-4 students are assigned to a resident or an attending) and you practice taking vitals and doing H&Ps (first year), and later doing a focused H&P and working differential Dxs. There are also activities with standardized patients in spanish (progress notes are in english). For the clerkships the class is divided into tracks and about 3-10 students (depending on the clerkship) go to Mayaguez for them. The rest are divided in the metro area between UDH, UPH, SJ Municipal Hosp, the VA and Carolina UPR Hosp.
As for native/foreign students: I know of people who did undergrad in the states who were accepted, but they were native puertorricans who for the most part grew up on the island.
As for the quality of the rotations/exposure, I'm only second year so I can only comment on what upper classmen have told me. You'll get lots of exposure at UDH in rotations like surgery (being the only terciary care center all the interesting stuff goes through there). As with other schools (I imagine) the exposure and quality depends a great deal on who you get assigned to. Some people had great attendings/residents and that made the clerkships worthwhile, while others hated their experience because of who they got assigned to.
Pathology: It's a huge chunk of year 2, and we get to see a lot of it all year long. The Pathology Dept of the Med school is the only one that does the kidney biopsies in the island and the lesser antilles. In my opinion the professors are awesome for the most part.
Electives: You can check out
this site and click on the PDF for 4th year electives.
Exams: All basic science courses and clerkships have a shelf exam from the NBME (except pathophysiology (MSII) and Radiology (MSIII)). All clerkships (as far as I know) have a local final exam besides the shelf.
Any other questions feel free to post here or PM me.
Ana Marylee =)
