Medical School at UAG Pros and cons? Resident docs, what are your thoughts?

[Hands4Surgery]

Hi all,
I recently graduated from a US medical school and my gf wants to go to UAG. I know how crippling it is to attend an international med school (aside from the strain to the relationship), and come back to the states to match as an IMG especially in anything other than primary care. Has anybody attended UAG or know anybody that has, and can provide pros/cons of doing this?

1. UAG charges $1600 to get an interview, and they take anybody irrespective of MCAT or GPA. To me that's a huge red flag, but I want inputs.

2. We all know how miserable clerkships can be if you are not in a decent location. Clerkships in middle of nowhere, U.S. are not the same as clerkships in decent cities. Does anyone know what are the hospitals affiliated to UAG for their US med student clerkships?

3. What is match like at UAG for anything other than primary care, such as dermatology, ENT, urology, ophthamology, etc?

4. ANY OTHER PROS/CONS OF ATTENDING A CARIBBEAN MED SCHOOL, OR UAG IN PARTICULAR?

Many thanks!

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[AdmiralChz]

This has been answered already in another recent forum:

UAG vs DO school

I've never heard of UAG (a medical school in Mexico), which is probably the first red flag.

1) Taking all comers without any real admission requirements is another, gigantic red flag. You can cry foul about the MCAT, but that's nothing compared to USMLE Steps 1-3...

2) I can't answer this, I'm in Texas now and I've polled people around - no one's heard of this school or students rotating from there.

3) Youre asking about very competitive subspecialties that are hard for AMGs. It's unlikely to be an option for IMGs, and practically impossible for a graduate from a school no one has heard of and may have a dubious reputation. So, to be honest, probably no chance.

4) Look, to be completely honest this is a bad idea. Your GF is going to have an increasingly hard time getting back to the states from a foreign school at baseline since more American MD and DO schools are opening and growing in graduate numbers. Plus with the AOA/ACGME merger done by that time and it will continue to squeeze out all but the absolute best IMG applicants.
- Most undergraduate prehealth advisors will tell you if you absolutely MUST go IMG for visa reasons or an inability to get into MD/DO, the Caribbean is a better bet. The schools of repute with a consistent record of landing their top (read: only the best applicants, not the bottom of the class) graduates are Ross, St George's and possibly AUC. The others to be completely honest are probably better avoided because they are little more than scams and rarely land someone in a US residency. The forums are littered with horror stories from dubious FMGs, search for some of them.

Your GF would probably better be suited by exploring the PA route, rather than blowing a ton of money and being unable to return to the states for residency training.

Tl;dr - I can't stress enough how bad of an idea this is, especially going forward.

 

[bashwell]

I agree with everything @AdmiralChz says.

Also, if UAG is in Mexico (I've also never heard of it before now), does your gf speak and write Spanish well enough to learn medicine and communicate with attendings, patients, others?

If your gf moves to Mexico, but you're in the US for residency, then how will that affect your relationship?

 

[Smurfette]

I don't think input from residents, students or attendings will vary much on this one; best bet for working as a physician in the US is to go to a US med school. Anywhere else is taking a big chance. Would your gf be ok working in Mexico (or another country that would take a UAG grad) as a physician if she can't find a US residency spot?

Moving to pre-allo since this is not a residency topic.

 

[P0ke]

Let's see what Will Smith has to say about this...

He went to medical school in Guadalajara.

 

[rokshana]

when the 5th pathway was an option, UAG was a reasonable option...there are many UAG grads form the 70s out there practicing.

However support for 5th pathway students ended ~ 5-7 years ago so now you have to do the 5 years at UAG (internship that is required to have a degree from a Mexican school), though i vaguely remember hearing that UAG was going to do a 4 year path, but not sure how that works.

If she must go the international route (though has she tried the DO route?) then, as noted above, the bigger caribbean schools would be the better choice.

 

[Dantes]

The risks of attending a Caribbean school are well known, other schools like Mexico less so. I believe UAG is similar, where back in the day it was a viable alternative. It's a school that utilizes a fifth pathway program, where you do a fifth clinical year in the states to "prove" you're ready for residency. I'm not sure if that's still the case or how that would even work in the current residency climate.

I work in clinical research now, and we just hired a research assistant who graduated from UAG two years ago. Went unmatched. From what I know he's trying to take Step 3 and apply to residency programs again. N=1 though and I'm just a pre-med in the application process. Look to see if there's any published data regarding residency match from UAG, and if it looks like they're trying to hide something like most of the data Caribbean schools give out publicly.

Edit: I missed the above post which elaborates on the fifth year a bit as well.

 

[darkeon]

I know of a undergrad A&P professor who graduated from there but he wasn't American I believe. He was Mexican and had practiced medicine there until he and his wife w/ kids decided to migrate to the US where he then obtained the job he has today. He seems happy and all the students are just amazed at his knowledge.

 

[rokshana]

The risks of attending a Caribbean school are well known, other schools like Mexico less so. I believe UAG is similar, where back in the day it was a viable alternative. It's a school that utilizes a fifth pathway program, where you do a fifth clinical year in the states to "prove" you're ready for residency. I'm not sure if that's still the case or how that would even work in the current residency climate.

I work in clinical research now, and we just hired a research assistant who graduated from UAG two years ago. Went unmatched. From what I know he's trying to take Step 3 and apply to residency programs again. N=1 though and I'm just a pre-med in the application process. Look to see if there's any published data regarding residency match from UAG, and if it looks like they're trying to hide something like most of the data Caribbean schools give out publicly.

Edit: I missed the above post which elaborates on the fifth year a bit as well.

no, the fifth pathway wasn't about doing a 5th clinical year. There were 4 paths to being able to practice medicine in the US...1. graduate from a USMD school, 2. graduate from a DO school, 3. become ECFMG certified, and 4. transfer from a foreign medical school into a US school. the 5th pathway was a joint venture between certain foreign medical schools and certain US med schools. Students from these foreign schools did 3 years in the foreign school and then did NOT graduate, but came to the US school to complete their final year and then received a 5th pathway certificate from the US school. Mt Sinai was one of the last schools in the US that sponsored a 5th pathway.

 

[allantois]

No foreign school is > than US MD/DO as far as residency matching goes

 

[allantois]

This has been answered already in another recent forum:

UAG vs DO school

I've never heard of UAG (a medical school in Mexico), which is probably the first red flag.

1) Taking all comers without any real admission requirements is another, gigantic red flag. You can cry foul about the MCAT, but that's nothing compared to USMLE Steps 1-3...

2) I can't answer this, I'm in Texas now and I've polled people around - no one's heard of this school or students rotating from there.

3) Youre asking about very competitive subspecialties that are hard for AMGs. It's unlikely to be an option for IMGs, and practically impossible for a graduate from a school no one has heard of and may have a dubious reputation. So, to be honest, probably no chance.

4) Look, to be completely honest this is a bad idea. Your GF is going to have an increasingly hard time getting back to the states from a foreign school at baseline since more American MD and DO schools are opening and growing in graduate numbers. Plus with the AOA/ACGME merger done by that time and it will continue to squeeze out all but the absolute best IMG applicants.
- Most undergraduate prehealth advisors will tell you if you absolutely MUST go IMG for visa reasons or an inability to get into MD/DO, the Caribbean is a better bet. The schools of repute with a consistent record of landing their top (read: only the best applicants, not the bottom of the class) graduates are Ross, St George's and possibly AUC. The others to be completely honest are probably better avoided because they are little more than scams and rarely land someone in a US residency. The forums are littered with horror stories from dubious FMGs, search for some of them.

Your GF would probably better be suited by exploring the PA route, rather than blowing a ton of money and being unable to return to the states for residency training.

Tl;dr - I can't stress enough how bad of an idea this is, especially going forward.

PA schools have same grade averages with DO programs so it's really not easier to pursue

 

[precisiongraphic]

The PA comment is not appreciated, PA schools have same grade averages with DO programs

I don't see anything wrong with the comment that @AdmiralChz made. PA is a viable alternate path for those who can't get into a US MD/DO med school or who don't want to attend medical school due to other factors (e.g. location, length of time to apply, length of med school residency). It was not a negative comment directed at PAs.

 

[Dantes]

no, the fifth pathway wasn't about doing a 5th clinical year. There were 4 paths to being able to practice medicine in the US...1. graduate from a USMD school, 2. graduate from a DO school, 3. become ECFMG certified, and 4. transfer from a foreign medical school into a US school. the 5th pathway was a joint venture between certain foreign medical schools and certain US med schools. Students from these foreign schools did 3 years in the foreign school and then did NOT graduate, but came to the US school to complete their final year and then received a 5th pathway certificate from the US school. Mt Sinai was one of the last schools in the US that sponsored a 5th pathway.

I confused the fifth pathway with a five year program, my mistake. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[AdmiralChz]

I don't see anything wrong with the comment that @AdmiralChz made. PA is a viable alternate path for those who can't get into a US MD/DO med school or who don't want to attend medical school due to other factors (e.g. location, length of time to apply, length of med school residency). It was not a negative comment directed at PAs.

Thanks, exactly what I was trying to say. If one wants to be involved in medicine in the US you are probably better served going PA rather than this alternative path through UAG.

 

[RFK1954]

I never planned to join any of these forums but with all this erroneous information out there I felt I should lend my knowledge to all those who are considering applying to a foreign medical school.

First let me give you some background on myself so you know where I am coming from. I graduated with a degree in history from UCLA in 1977. I applied one year to US medical and osteopathic schools and did not get in. There was a 40% US medical school acceptance rate in those days. I had four fraternity brothers already in medical school in Guadalajara at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG) who told me to get down there and not waste any more years applying to US schools. I took their advice and started the UAG in 1978 graduating in 1982. I did a six week rotation at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan during my fifth semester and a six week rotation at Prince George's Hospital in Maryland during my sixth semester. The UAG students did their entire fourth year at a US training hospital in those days which I also did at PG.

To enter a residency you are required to have the necessary curriculum to be licensed in the country where you graduate. In Mexico, much like the rest of the world, this was a six year program. Four years of medical school, one year of internado, and one year of social service. You were then granted your Titulo, or license, to practice in Mexico. The Fifth Pathway program was sanctioned by the ECFMG (after a lawsuit by UAG students) so that IMG's at Mexican medical schools could do an extra year following their fourth year in a US medical school that had the program. During it's height there were more Fifth Pathway program spots then those applying to them. So you completed your four years at the UAG, were granted a diploma, but not a license. Americans all did Fifth Pathway programs in those years. Fifth Pathway was officially over in 2009. Once you completed your Fifth Pathway year in a US medical school you could enter or match for a residency program. I hope that straightens that out.

The UAG has 15,000 practicing physicians in the United States. It has graduated Americans since the mid 1950's. It was the premiere foreign medical school way before the Caribbean. That has changed due to the loss of the Fifth Pathway Program because the UAG program is six years.

I went on to do my Fifth Pathway at the University of Maryland School of Medicine at Prince George's Hospital (PG) just outside Washington, DC. I then stayed on at PG, accepted outside the match, to complete a three year internal medicine residency from 1983-1986. I served as Chief Resident. I met my wife at PG who I have been with for 36 years. Following this I was the first foreign grad to be admitted to the University of Virginia Anesthesiology Department Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. So I was an internist in the anesthesiology department doing a two-year fellowship. It was a wonderful two years in Charlottesville, VA. I published 6 papers and they invited me to stay and do an anesthesia residency. I felt I needed to return to CA at this point and applied to all of the anesthesia residency programs in CA. With my background I was accepted to 12 of 13. I ended up back at UCLA from 1988-1991 (six months off for other training) doing my anesthesiology residency. So after nine years of residency and fellowship I finished in 1991.

I am now a practicing cardiac anesthesiologist in the busiest hospital in Newport Beach, CA for the past 26 years. I have been a clinical professor of anesthesiology at UCLA for 26 years. I have been both Chairman and President (twice) of the contracted anesthesia corporation at my hospital. There are 60 anesthesiologists in our group.

I have a 26 year old daughter who graduated from San Diego State and was a fitness model. She has 250,000 Instagram followers. I have a 29 year old son who graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, who is a petroleum engineer. Why do I mention this. Because they have both decided they want to be physicians. They will not make the cut for the MD/DO schools. When they asked for advice I asked them how badly they wanted to be physicians. They are both now at St. George's Medical School in Grenada. They put all the social media and internet negativity behind them because they have me as a example of what can be accomplished if that is what you truly want in life. Every single one of my friends from the UAG is a practicing physician in the United States today, in every specialty, and many rising to the top of their specialty.

Why St. George's versus my Alma mater the UAG? Because you receive your degree in four years and can enter residency after graduation. Not so any longer at the UAG without Fifth Pathway. I am available for any questions that may help an aspiring future physician.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Hi all,
I recently graduated from a US medical school and my gf wants to go to UAG. I know how crippling it is to attend an international med school (aside from the strain to the relationship), and come back to the states to match as an IMG especially in anything other than primary care. Has anybody attended UAG or know anybody that has, and can provide pros/cons of doing this?

1. UAG charges $1600 to get an interview, and they take anybody irrespective of MCAT or GPA. To me that's a huge red flag, but I want inputs.

2. We all know how miserable clerkships can be if you are not in a decent location. Clerkships in middle of nowhere, U.S. are not the same as clerkships in decent cities. Does anyone know what are the hospitals affiliated to UAG for their US med student clerkships?

3. What is match like at UAG for anything other than primary care, such as dermatology, ENT, urology, ophthamology, etc?

4. ANY OTHER PROS/CONS OF ATTENDING A CARIBBEAN MED SCHOOL, OR UAG IN PARTICULAR?

Many thanks!

She should apply to the 3 Puerto Rican medical schools, if she wants to be in a spanish influenced area and she speaks and writes in Spanish well. Its in the Caribbean without having the negative Caribbean tag. She can have her pie and eat it too

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If you want to practice here, go to school here. Do not go to Mexico. Do not go to the Carib.

 

[precisiongraphic]

....

I have a 26 year old daughter who graduated from San Diego State and was a fitness model. She has 250,000 Instagram followers. I have a 29 year old son who graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, who is a petroleum engineer. Why do I mention this. Because they have both decided they want to be physicians. They will not make the cut for the MD/DO schools. When they asked for advice I asked them how badly they wanted to be physicians. They are both now at St. George's Medical School in Grenada. They put all the social media and internet negativity behind them because they have me as a example of what can be accomplished if that is what you truly want in life. Every single one of my friends from the UAG is a practicing physician in the United States today, in every specialty, and many rising to the top of their specialty.

Why St. George's versus my Alma mater the UAG? Because you receive your degree in four years and can enter residency after graduation. Not so any longer at the UAG without Fifth Pathway. I am available for any questions that may help an aspiring future physician.

Congratulations on your success.

I have my own opinion about Caribbean schools for those US students who can't get into US MD/DO schools. If an aspiring MD/DO has 1) tried to get in MD/DO (or has effectively no chance) for one or more cycles; 2) can't stomach doing anything else for a career; and 3) has a trust fund or parent(s) who won't miss the $400,000 or whatever it takes to graduate, not just parent(s) who have the money but for who the loss of $400,000 will measurably impact their own retirement/investments.

In your kids' case, they may be ok, and as long as you have the $$$ to fund their education and to have that $$$$ investment at risk in case they fail out (perhaps through no fault of their own) or otherwise don't become employed, licensed US physicians. I think any student who doesn't have these resources and winds up with upwards of $200,000 of personal debt without the corresponding $200,000/year+ salary is taking on an unacceptable risk and should be dissuaded. The $200,000 debt is crippling unless you have the MD/DO salary to pay it off.

 

[Hero6]

UAG has changed their international program very recently. Now the program mirrors US medical school and is based on the block/organ system curriculum. The program is total 4 years if you want to practice in the US. The clinical rotation years 3 and 4 are done at many different hospitals, with several that are school run/owned (i.e. Las Vegas) and rotations are with the medical students.

ALL material/lectures/exams/quizzes are in English.

ECFMG is given to students who meet US requirements.

For those who want to use US student loans to fund their education, UAG is approved and students can take out loans.

Students that apply and have subpar stats are sometimes given an opportunity but are placed on probabation and have to meet certain requirements to continue with the curriculum. Not all students that apply are accepted.

 

[ASU2UA85]

I wish people who had no clue what was going on would just keep their mouth shut. I think your girlfriend will do just fine in Guadalajara. Afterall, the last person who graduates with an MD is still called “doctor.”

 

[ciestar]

I wish people who had no clue what was going on would just keep their mouth shut. I think your girlfriend will do just fine in Guadalajara. Afterall, the last person who graduates with an MD is still called “doctor.”

You can call yourself a doctor, but you cannot be a "doctor" (or you know, practice) without a residency.

 

[gyngyn]

In the only reliable data available, 84 US IMG's who attended medical school in Mexico matched into a preferred specialty, 77 did not. This does not include those who received no interviews so the real denominator is unknown.
https://www.ecfmg.org/resources/NRM...atch-International-Medical-Graduates-2014.pdf

 

[ciestar]

Instead of having this silly ass bickering, a little research by contacting UAG and see how their recent residency placement has been will give more accurate and useful information. I just spoke to some of my former contacts at UAG and they will get me more accurate numbers. Off the top of his head, they have a formal match rate of slightly above 70%. What I dont have is any info on attrition rate nor non-match rates. Just to put this into perspective, US attrition rates are 3% or less. I would say that with a wide variation in the caliber of students, some will leave quickly over the workload, other normal academic attrition, and some just do not like living in a foreign country, an attrition rate for UAG under 10% would be "reasonable." Also, with 70% match rate, say a 15% non-match placement with small amount of "no rank" and "withdraw", anything over 80% total placement would be reasonable. In the US, this is about 92%. I refer to this as the success rate. That is the number of students who start medical school, earn a degree, and get a residency placement.
Residency Placement | Medical School

Wasn’t meaning to “bicker”. Just pointing out a simple fact, but perhaps exams have me cranky and I’m coming across that way.

 

[Kingsmen2018]

Just tell her to apply for the US. If that doesnt work, tell her should get her MD (Married to Doctor) because even that is better than going to the carribean for MD

 

[tun340867]

Hands4Surgery...Tell your gf NOT to go there. I am a graduate of UAG and she is better off either retaking the MCAT, applying to DO school or volunteering/shadowing to improve her application. Or even doing a post-bacc program. Whatever she feels is necessary to get into any medical school in the USA. Believe you me when I say the board passing rate and residency match rate are not as high as what people say they are. Please please please choose another option. I obviously didn't go to school in the carribean but maybe check that out as an option. If you need a more detailed account feel free to sent me a direct message.

 

[concerneduagstudents]

Dear potential students,



Today we are writing you on behalf of a majority of the student body here at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara school of medicine. We are writing you in the hopes that future students will not be in the same situation that we are. As students at an international school complaints are often times repressed; for fear of losing educational loans and of damaging our school´s reputation before trying to match. However, due to the current administration´s unethical actions, we are writing you in hopes you can urge all your members to urge students to apply to other schools other than the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. While international schools are a reality for many U.S. premedical students, the current environment is far from welcoming for any student far less a U.S. medical student. We have attached below photos of the cadavers used in our classes. Students here do not have access to dissection, histology labs, or microbiology labs. It is not in the curriculum, despite tuition for students here up to 4 times what national students pay. The administration is abusing its relationship with U.S. students, and we are writing you to urge you to advise students of the environment here. We hope to present facts in an unbiased manner, and allow you to form your own conclusions.

Our concerns are the following:



1. The dean, dissolved the student government in 2014, and regularly refuses to meet with students. Regardless of his intentions, not allowing doctoral level students a voice in an education they are paying for will not resound well for the reputation of the program nor to possible future students. He constantly lies to the student body, as evidenced by his email to a student here explaining the North American Student Government is not allowed to exist due to legal issues. It is widely used on its website, and can be seen here. We have attached below the email from the dean stating the above organization does not exist.



2. It has been brought to our attention that one of our instructors, is not accredited with the National Registry of Professionals here in Mexico. Due to her lack of knowledge of the material and of her nonexistence in the National Registry of Professionals. It has been stated that the school has hired her without credentials, either as a cheaper method or as a political favor to her mother who is a politician here. All doctors are registered in the national system, you can google SEP Cedula to arrive at the professional search page. A quick search will show she does not exist in the system, however all the other professors are in the system.



3. Multiple times in the last year, students have been told they would be arrested if they left the hospital because their school insurance was not paid nor valid. We are being charged tuition, but multiple students have been told the insurance is not up to payment. Along with the added stress of undergoing a medical treatment, the students are also having to deal with the threat of being arrested in a foreign country. This is not an isolated event, but a common occurrence with the school.



4. The current curriculum does not have dissections for current international students. The dean has stated current laws do not allow for new bodies, however national students at this private school have dissection as a part of their curriculum. Also, almost every U.S. based medical school has countless anatomy hours as well as dissections in order to better understand the human body. We are also aware of our larger tuition than national students, and do not understand why we are not allowed dissections nor use of the histology labs.



5. The current dean has hired many professors who are not qualified to teach doctoral level medical students. Many of the current professors do not have specialties or post graduate education, however are trying to teach the material at a level in order to pass the United States Medical License Exam. The medical structure is different in Mexico than in the United States. In Mexico, many students enter medical school after high school. After finishing, they take an exam to qualify for a specialty. This exam is commonly agreed upon to be easier than the USMLE exam. Students who fair poorly on this exam still retain the title of doctor and are qualified to immediately be a general practitioner. A majority of the new professors hired by the dean, are freshly graduated medical students from Mexico who where unable to attain a specialty and have no experience. Many of the students complain over the poor knowledge and selection of professors, but the administration continues hiring under qualified professors.



6. The school is advertising on its recruitment website services that it does not offer. Their are currently no USMLE coaching services offered, there is no North American Student Organization, or alumni mentoring services. Students have never been told of the services, neither are alumni aware of these, yet they are being marketed to potential future students. Recently, at a premedical conference at the campus, all of these services were promoted as existing. Students were chosen and told not to divulge damaging information to the premedical advisors.



7. During the spring of 2018, semesters starting their clinical rotations in Mexico did not have their clinical hospitals setup for the start of the year. In a meeting the dean repeatedly made fun of the students over their MCAT and GPA. The students have heard this story from the fifth semester students and are bothered by how the dean would treat students.



8. In the last two years, many Professors have left the University. Many professors would not with hold their poor opinions of the dean, or of the block coordinator Doctor Mesa. Many students are alarmed at the information professors are telling them over the leadership of the current dean. This is the environment that students unknowingly enter, with the medical admissions staff, a majority never visiting the UAG campus for more than a day, promising many things that are far from the truth.



9. Current fourth semester students did not have their clinical skills classes. For a reason unbeknownst to us, classes were canceled despite being charged tuition for them. Also, the students are aware their clinical skills classes are a requirement in order for the school to have USMLE passing rates below 75%. With the current match rate of 55%, less than 40% of our graduating class will become doctors. The graph on the website is very misleading, as non-matching students are left out of the statistics.



10. A former student of UAG started an organization to help disadvantaged communities around Mexico, GUIMEDIC. She has helped many students practice and learn medicine, and has always been an incredibly beneficial relationship to international medical students at UAG. The dean did not value that relationship, and threatened her with a lawsuit. Rather than helping to continue that beneficial relationship with GUIMEDIC, the dean tried to end it.



11. The current medical library closes on the weekends and most coffee shops are closed before 10pm here. Finding a spot to study outside of your apartment can be difficult at night here in Guadalajara. There are plenty of Carribean schools who have libraries that our open during the weekends. Please let this factor into your decision.



We hope you will forward this information to all of your constituents. We are writing this email anonymously out of fear of repercussions from the dean. However, if you need any additional help verifying any of the above points or additional questions, we are more than able to validate the accuracy of the above statements or respond to additional questions. We believe the abuses of the relationship between UAG and U.S. students has been going on long enough, and hope that this deters future students from attending this international medical school, as we strongly believe better options exist.

 

[foreignbrain]

First post. Stumbled across this page trying to request medical school records from UAG. Just wanted to give my two cents about UAG since I, too have personal experience. I applied for and entered UAG in the mid-2000s. I scored a 29R on my MCAT and that was the only place I applied. I felt with my medical experience and background, I would be a good US medical school candidate (despite my mediocre MCAT score) though wanted to do it outside the country. I wanted the experience of going to school in a foreign country and after some research felt UAG was a good option. I also looked into European schools though felt like for the price, UAG was a much better financial option. I had a family who I took with me so we had the full Mexico experience. I knew no Spanish when I went. I mean zero. Nada. In retrospect, this was obviously a very risky thing that I was doing but was too naive and optimistic to understand what I was getting myself into. The only thing I really knew was the school was accredited, you could take the US boards and they had practicing physicians in the US (whom I met personally).

I reviewed the data from the above post about the 2014 IMG residency applicants and would say that it is pretty spot on with respect to my class match rate. Most matched in IM, FM and PEDS. A few, including myself matched into speciality medicine. Though, when compared to the other countries, the match rate is at least on par with most Caribbean schools. I suspect there are many reasons for this, quality of students overall being one of them. This is my personal experience with my class and the match. About half of the 100 or so students end up matching. The rest either never match or work exclusively in Puerto Rico. That being said, it is a very risky gamble to go to medical school in ANY foreign country as a US student, rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and actually find work as a physician in any specialty in the US. In fact, the chance is roughly 50% that you will fail. If you are willing to take that risk, feel like you have what it takes to do well in medical school... in another country... if you want to put it all on black... then UAG is an option.

I suspect that the students, the professors, facilities, environment is similar to what I experienced when I went. Demanding, poor-performing or middle of the road students, antagonistic administration, less than stellar facilities, ****ty professors. I am not surprised this has continued.

There are three types of students that go to UAG. The first are highly motivated students (those who applied to other US schools and use UAG as a backup and those who chose UAG for other reasons, like myself) who are there to study, learn medicine and immerse themselves in the culture. This is probably 20% of the students. The second type are Puerto Ricans who didn't get into medical school in Puerto Rico or the US. Another 20%. There rest are there because of family pressure to be doctors, those that cut corners, party too much, resist learning Spanish, use old exams to study, etc. During the entrance interview, I remember a professor (a ****ty Gringo hiding in Mexico) warning me "it's easy to get into UAG but very hard to get out." I had no idea how true this statement would end up being. This pretty much sums up the UAG experience. They'll take anyone, as long as they pay and they make it easy for you to pass your exams, pushing poor and failing students through the semesters until they graduate. There was a student who had repeated the same semester 4 times because of failing classes. And UAG kept taking his money, kept letting him repeat classes. He was still in 3rd semester when I was graduating.

I learned early on that I would have to change my study habits, and put my nose down and grind out each semester if I wanted to do well. I took Spanish class every weekend and throughout each summer and winter break. I only went back to the US to visit once during my four years. I struggled to learn the language, was yelled at by professors and attendings, made fun of by Spanish speaking students but eventually learned what I had to. It was the most difficult thing I ever did in my life but also the most satisfying. I worked long hard hours to graduate and did well on the STEP exams (>230 on all exams). This was mostly out of fear and determination. If you are considering going there, you have to understand that you will be in a foreign country, with other rules, customs, attitudes. There is a Gringo way of doing things and a Mexican way of doing things. The administration ultimately doesn't give a **** about your feelings, whether your comfortable or not. But they do provide you with the BASIC tools you need to learn medicine, graduate and get into residency. You'll find similar grievances to US schools. But many differences. If you remember to be a foreigner in another country, learn the language, keep your head down and study, you'll do well (at UAG or any other school, in any other country frankly). UAG does not provide a "safe space" for students. You will be pressured, made to feel uncomfortable, frustrated, given minimal resources to succeed. Though, if you stay focused, motivated and work hard, you will succeed. If you are looking for a US experience in Mexico, go to Cabo. This is not the place.

Outside of school, I had the most exciting, enjoyable experience. It was the toughest but best four years of my life. Would I do it again? I probably would.

I currently work as a board certified neurologist at a private hospital.