Is Avicina Medical Academy Legit or not?

[charizxrd]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here and I joined basically to learn more about becoming an MD in the US. Recently, my father's friend informed us about a university in Chicago called Avicina Medical Academy. I was wondering if someone could give me information on whether this place is real or not? Honestly it seems a bit shady but I wanted to be sure. If anyone has firsthand experience or any information at all, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

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[Lawpy]

It's just some stupid Carib school

 

[parachichi]

There's already a thread about this: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/is-this-a-scam.1150512/

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

No. Run away

 

[takis]

seems even less legitimate than other caribbean medical schools, and that is saying A LOT.

4) PRE MED PROGRAMS vs PRE MED CLASSES


Oh my lanta! I WISH I had of known about pre med programs because then I wouldn’t be so far in debt, and I wouldn’t have wasted so much time on my Bachelors Degree. The pre med programs are AMAZING in my opinion! Oh, what is a premed program, you ask? Basically, you take your 4 year Bachelor degree in one year. A pre med program takes out all the “fluff”. That means no electives, no stuff that isn’t needed, and focuses solely on the medical field. Medicine can be a challenging field to learn, and not everyone knows how to study it, so a pre med program will re-train your brain so that you know how to study medicine effectively.
If I had of know about this option, I would have taken it, but instead, I took a 4-year program. In essence, I wasted 3 years, and went about $50,000 in debt taking premed classes, that didn’t really guarantee me getting into medical school.



Oh, I forgot to mention, if you take a pre med programs through a school, you’re already accepted into that school’s medical program. You read that right, after one year in a premed program, you automatically go into the medical degree program. You’re welcome, man I’m a good friend! Haha.

straight from their blog: http://avicina.bz/blog/premedprograms
credit to oopasaloo from another thread

hahaha, what a joke of an institution clearly trying to defraud clueless international students for their loan money.

 

[Lawpy]

I cant trust a medical school who thinks $50,000 is more than $60,000 on a bar graph...
Also, LENGHT up above...

/thread

 

[MD2BE92]

Hahaha Wow^

 

[MD2BE92]

Places like these really make me wonder how they don't get shut down by the IRS or some other governing authority given their ineptitude. Clearly just a money-making scam

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

Perhaps it's a good rule of thumb that if a "medical school" has a .bz web address, it's not a real medical school.

Seriously, though, OP. It's good that you asked. Programs like these are designed to dupe unsuspecting, uninformed premeds.

 

[whatever5]

Definitely not.

I also guarantee you it is not in Chicago.

 

[Rolling_with_the_punches]

Considering i live right down the street from where this school is supposedly located.
Can confirm it does not exist. /thread

 

[flatbear]

Run simba!

 

[deleted407021]

/thread

Become to medicine doctor with us for only 5 year investment. But wait! Tuition is low and education high! Contact to us for info at our web browser!

 

[MD2BE92]

Become to medicine doctor with us for only 5 year investment. But wait! Tuition is low and education high! Contact to us for info at our web browser!

*At our blog

 

[LuluLovesMe]

Become to medicine doctor with us for only 5 year investment. But wait! Tuition is low and education high! Contact to us for info at our web browser!

Please friend do not listen to this J Senpai. He is a fool and a charlatan. Why spend 5 years and countless dollars on a degree from a third rate school when you can get the same M.D. for half the time and a fraction of the price online? At International University of Health Sciences (IUHS) you can get your MD degree without ever stepping foot into a classroom. All courses are online and rotations are done in prime locations in the Carribean, West Africa and Antarctica. All faculty are M.D. graduates from prestigious Carribean medical schools. Tuition is $4900 per semester only.

Apply now. http://www.iuhs.edu/apply_apply/

 

[MD2BE92]

This^

SDN, I'm glad we have people on here who can lighten the mood on occasion

 

[Gandyy]

Another pathetic Caribbean school. Move on folks.

 

[deleted407021]

Please friend do not listen to this J Senpai. He is a fool and a charlatan. Why spend 5 years and countless dollars on a degree from a third rate school when you can get the same M.D. for half the time and a fraction of the price online? At International University of Health Sciences (IUHS) you can get your MD degree without ever stepping foot into a classroom. All courses are online and rotations are done in prime locations in the Carribean, West Africa and Antarctica. All faculty are M.D. graduates from prestigious Carribean medical schools. Tuition is $4900 per semester only.

Apply now. http://www.iuhs.edu/apply_apply/

One of their instructors or whatever is a neurosurgeon from Wake Forest. Which is weird, seeing as it's a bloody online medical school.

 

[LuluLovesMe]

One of their instructors or whatever is a neurosurgeon from Wake Forest. Which is weird, seeing as it's a bloody online medical school.

Is he still licensed?

 

[deleted407021]

Is he still licensed?

Who teh ehf knows?

 

[Lucca]

Please friend do not listen to this J Senpai. He is a fool and a charlatan. Why spend 5 years and countless dollars on a degree from a third rate school when you can get the same M.D. for half the time and a fraction of the price online? At International University of Health Sciences (IUHS) you can get your MD degree without ever stepping foot into a classroom. All courses are online and rotations are done in prime locations in the Carribean, West Africa and Antarctica. All faculty are M.D. graduates from prestigious Carribean medical schools. Tuition is $4900 per semester only.

Apply now. http://www.iuhs.edu/apply_apply/

I clicked this link wanting it so badly to be real and it was. Way to deliver. I googled one of their faculty members and he actually doesnt exist. Straight up, not a real person with those credentials and that name and it said he was faculty at "University of San Diego". Another member on the faculty was a "Professor of Neurosciences". I'm so glad one school out there is focusing on the plethora of neurosciences and not just the one everyone seems to go on about.

 

[WingedOx]

Definitely not.

I also guarantee you it is not in Chicago.

well FWIW, all the "class photos" they have on their facebook and website were taken on the Loyola University Chicago Rogers Park campus. I'm sure LUC is thrilled some idiot is using their campus in a scam.

Also FWIW, in that other thread I received only the second mod warning in my almost 10 years on SDN because I looked at their facebook page and said on the forum "well it looks like the operation is a scam run by [name]," the most active poster on the 'school' page. Next thing I know I get a warning PM from an admin for doxxing "SDN members".

 

[rilte4]

Considering i live right down the street from where this school is supposedly located.
Can confirm it does not exist. /thread

umm Platform 9 3/4 duh

 

[Lannister]

Wait so what happens to the people who enroll in this "medical school"? Do they send in a tuition check and never hear from them again? Or do they actually have like classes?

 

[Chasing Never Land]

@idontknowwhatnametopick

 

[Gandyy]

Wait so what happens to the people who enroll in this "medical school"? Do they send in a tuition check and never hear from them again? Or do they actually have like classes?

Probably the first one.

 

[Dr. Death]

That USMLE pass rate tho

 

[dreamadream]

I hate for-profit institutions, a big giant scam!

 

[Spinach Dip]

Please friend do not listen to this J Senpai. He is a fool and a charlatan. Why spend 5 years and countless dollars on a degree from a third rate school when you can get the same M.D. for half the time and a fraction of the price online? At International University of Health Sciences (IUHS) you can get your MD degree without ever stepping foot into a classroom. All courses are online and rotations are done in prime locations in the Carribean, West Africa and Antarctica. All faculty are M.D. graduates from prestigious Carribean medical schools. Tuition is $4900 per semester only.

Apply now. http://www.iuhs.edu/apply_apply/

ZOMG! Antarctica is an A+ prime region if you desire to specialize in the treatment of frostbite injuries!

I'm so jelly.

 

[dreamadream]

Please friend do not listen to this J Senpai. He is a fool and a charlatan. Why spend 5 years and countless dollars on a degree from a third rate school when you can get the same M.D. for half the time and a fraction of the price online? At International University of Health Sciences (IUHS) you can get your MD degree without ever stepping foot into a classroom. All courses are online and rotations are done in prime locations in the Carribean, West Africa and Antarctica. All faculty are M.D. graduates from prestigious Carribean medical schools. Tuition is $4900 per semester only.

Apply now. http://www.iuhs.edu/apply_apply/

I heard the weather is great in Antarctica.

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

Ok so that Diering guy from Wake, who supposedly is a neurosciences and medical ethics professor, was busted for narcotics use while practicing.

Medical ethics professor, does drugs and gets caught. Priceless.

 

[Chasing Never Land]

ZOMG! Antarctica is an A+ prime region if you desire to specialize in the treatment of frostbite injuries!

I'm so jelly.

Wait where was Antarctica on the actual website? Could t find it but so so need to haha

 

[Chasing Never Land]

Ok so that Diering guy from Wake, who supposedly is a neurosciences and medical ethics professor, was busted for narcotics use while practicing.

Medical ethics professor, does drugs and gets caught. Priceless.

Nothing like real life experience?

 

[Megaferra]

no. i would not trust this.

 

[Lucca]

Nothing like real life experience?

"research". He does study the neurosciences. If your an ethicist and a neurosciences-ist why not double dip and drop some acid while performing surgery. Publish one paper on the ethics of performing surgery while on acid and another on patient outcomes when treated by high-as-balls surgeons.

 

[WingedOx]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here and I joined basically to learn more about becoming an MD in the US. Recently, my father's friend informed us about a university in Chicago called Avicina Medical Academy. I was wondering if someone could give me information on whether this place is real or not? Honestly it seems a bit shady but I wanted to be sure. If anyone has firsthand experience or any information at all, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

btw @charizxrd I would LOVE to know where your father's friend found out about said "school"

 

[charizxrd]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many responses! Thanks everyone for your replies. I feel more sure about this being a scam now. oh and to answer @WingedOx, my fathers friend apparently had relatives who had their daughter transferred there.

 

[NoTownPreMed]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many responses! Thanks everyone for your replies. I feel more sure about this being a scam now. oh and to answer @WingedOx, my fathers friend apparently had relatives who had their daughter transferred there.

Your fathers friend was probably full of $h!T. Anyways all hail to SDN again for saving a fellow mate from falling into a huge pithole.

 

[jqueb29]

/thread

"program lenght"

What a fabulous place to receive an education.

 

[Law2Doc]

This is standard academic fraud. Google a reputable but not famous physician, list them as an affiliate of your scam, and pull their picture off the net for your site.

The fake "open access" journals do it all the time now. No doubt same thing happening here.

For more info, read the blog titled "Scholarly Open Access."

To be fair, most of the open access journals invite you to serve on their editorial board or offer you some honorarium at one of their conferences before they use you to legitimize themselves, rather than just steal your picture. I get a ton of these emails. But the end result is the same-- they are hitching their legitimacy to your good name, and as someone who can be googled.

 

[Law2Doc]

...who had their daughter transferred there.

Yeah, She's either really gullible or scamming her folks for tuition money.

 

[Law2Doc]

...
"Due to your outstanding contributions to the field of Urology, we would like to invite you to..."

Thanks bro, but I do ortho.

just take it as a compliment on your junk.

I agree it's kind of sketchy, but I'm sure there are tons of people who like the ego stroke enough to accept the editor title and lend them their name. And suddenly they have some legitimacy. And nothing fraudulent about it.

 

[Law2Doc]

I actually agreed to serve on their editorial board, then sent a picture of my junk as my official photo.

for a urology journal that's probably allowed.

 

[Spinach Dip]

for a urology journal that's probably allowed.

 

[Goro]

Yup; many of them are "predatory journals".

They look quite legit on surface. And researchers do use them as "vanity journals" to pad their CVs (you given the publishers cash; they give you a publication.

My rule of thumb is if it isn't in PubMed, it's not real.

To be fair, most of the open access journals invite you to serve on their editorial board or offer you some honorarium at one of their conferences before they use you to legitimize themselves, rather than just steal your picture. I get a ton of these emails. But the end result is the same-- they are hitching their legitimacy to your good name, and as someone who can be googled.

 

[Chasing Never Land]

Yup; many of them are "predatory journals".

They look quite legit on surface. And researchers do use them as "vanity journals" to pad their CVs (you given the publishers cash; they give you a publication.

My rule of thumb is if it isn't in PubMed, it's not real.

There was a fascinating NYTimes special investigation on this last year!

 

[Chasing Never Land]

I think it's important to give credit where it's due.

The New York Times essentially reported on the work of Jeffrey Beall, who has spent years chronicling the rise of open access and the fraud that has accompanied it.

For anyone interested, take a look at hos ongoing work at www.scholarlyoa.com

Very true! I couldn't remember too much of the specifics and was too lazy to look it up

 

[ExCarribeanStudent]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here and I joined basically to learn more about becoming an MD in the US. Recently, my father's friend informed us about a university in Chicago called Avicina Medical Academy. I was wondering if someone could give me information on whether this place is real or not? Honestly it seems a bit shady but I wanted to be sure. If anyone has firsthand experience or any information at all, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

Hello, I am someone who had first hand experience and I am telling you it is a scam, steer clear of this and any other new Carribean schools popping up. ECFMG is only getting stricter!

 

[WingedOx]

Wow, I was just thinking about this thread.

I'd LOVE to hear the story of how you got scammed.