New Forum?

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn.

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[Miklos]

It looks like no one wants SC (and others) in their forum, or for that matter in their country.

Also, in defense of the Russian schools listed above (can't believe that I'm defending the Russians!), it appears (baring new information) that they were suspended merely because one of the squatter schools claimed affiliation, which was denied by the Russians. The GMC is doing well to investigate, of course.

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn.

 

[leorl]

Interesting. I don't think this topic needs it's own separate forum though. We'd like to highlight more positives, not negatives. Just keep this thread going if you feel the need to discuss aspects pertaining to this topic...

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn.

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn.

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn.

 

[leorl]

Sorry Waiting4Ganong, it ain't gonna happen. It is the consensus of the mods that the addition of a forum focusing on sham schools isn't something that SDN wants to engage in, for the reasons I stated above. It is not SDN's job to call out schools which may be under suspicion, but we do encourage our members to be vigilant about these schools and proactive when trying to find information about them. Questions about the schools obviously can be discussed on these forums, but to put a school in a forum which focuses on the negative aspects of the school first would create the assumption that they are definitely sham schools and could lead to libellous statements which SDN cannot be responsible for. Also, we want to encourage a positive atmosphere on these forums, not focus on negatives.

The most we'd be willing to do is sticky a thread on this topic so that members are aware that these gimmick schools exist, and can appreciate the work others have done in gathering information on them. We feel another forum would not serve a helpful purpose.

 

[f_w]

Why don't you call it 'non-resident medical schools'. Schools that sit in one country but issue diplomas in another. That would be a factual statement. Everyone can draw their own conclusions after looking at the facts.

 

[Miklos]

The most we'd be willing to do is sticky a thread on this topic so that members are aware that these gimmick schools exist, and can appreciate the work others have done in gathering information on them. We feel another forum would not serve a helpful purpose.

In addition to that, I would think that the school's threads should be in the region of charter.

I think that the issue is that the non-resident UK schools are getting a "free ride" on SDN by having their posts listed in the UK and Ireland forum.

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn.

 

[leorl]

How about the third one, the W4G plan? Although I'd agree with schools being discussed and assigned to their country/forum location of charter, I don't think it would help with the whole confusion side of things, it'd probably lead to confusion being spread out across more forums! I don't think a neutrally labeled forum would lead to neutral discussion, from the mod end I could see it degenerating quite quickly and leading to another set of problems.

But what if we did a sticky in the General International Forums (either by W4G or azskeptic) explaining about squatter schools and some of the issues, and then discussion/threads concerning certain schools that fit that category can be merged into that stickied thread? Or if you think that will confuse things with schools being mixed up, we can start a thread for each of those schools in the general international forums and then if those schools come up in discussion in the country forums, they can be merged with their counterpart thread in the general international forums. Does that make sense?

 

[azskeptic]

To me it is logical to just leave it as it is and let me explain to you why.

Potential students need to know the slippery slope going to a school that isn't located in its country of charter or isn't chartered at all. To be honest in discussions I've had with students of these schools most KNOW what is real but try to rationalize it saying "All offshore medical schools start out with some problems". I don't agree with that: even the smallest new school if it is properly licensed, has qualified teachers, and govt. support, is ok to go to,if you don't qualify to go to one of the big 5 and aren't willing to accept an alternative career since you've been turned down everywhere else.

When people get farther into their medical careers they'll learn about risk management. When you are spending $100-200,000 you need to weigh risks and going to a school that has questions about its charter and location is a big risk. Currently in the case of 1 school, nearly 1000 students are taking that risk and they have to know because forums like this one and www.valuemd.com have explained it to them.

The worst of the squatter schools are out and out amazing; they've even changed their supposed charters locations numerous times. One of the schools has been thrown out of 2 other countries before landing in the UK.

Bottom line: If you don't want to spend the rest of your medical career looking over your shoulder in case the US/UK/Canada authorities decide to not license you, go to a proper school. Life is too short to be having to wake up and see newspaper/radio/television shows talking about your school. Lets hope that the UK will clean up its nearly 10 squatter schools problems somehow and it appears that is what is happening now as you read this.

 

[Waiting4Ganong]

Advice withdrawn..