ponce school of medicine

[opel]

Hello everybody,
I have been accepted into ponce school of medicine and universidad centrald el caribe.Both are LCME accredeted. I was wondering which school has a better reputation. Also, if I attend any of these schools do you think I will be able to match well.Thank you very much any comment would be very much appreciated.

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[Castro Viejo]

Between Ponce School of Medicine and Universidad Central del Caribe (UCC), I believe the one with the better reputation would be Ponce. I make this judgement not based on any silly survey I saw on the internet, or in some magazine, but because UCC has had accreditation problems in the past.

Furthermore since I assume you are an American and your primary language is English -- not Spanish -- life at Ponce may be a lot easier since their classes are conducted mainly in English. At UCC the classes are conducted in both Spanish and English, depending on the professor's preference. According to a friend of mine who attends UCC, the overwhelming majority of professors tend to prefer Spanish.

UCC is also facility-poor. It's got a tiny affiliated hospital and a poor network of hospitals. Their board pass rate is also supposedly pretty low compared to the other two LCME medical schools on Puerto Rico.

 

[vinsanity]

I am from Puerto Rico and I would say that between these two schools Ponce is definitely the better one.

 

[opel]

I was wondering if any of you know somebody directly who went to ponce school of medicine and what they think about it. Also, do you know anybody from ponce who got into god residency programs.

 

[Fernj75]

Unlike the Universidad Centrald el Caribe, Ponce School of Medicine is a Member of AAMC thus is an American Medical School. This would give Ponce a huge advantage over UCC and enhance your prospect at gaining a good competitive residency in the States. Good Luck.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Actually both Ponce School of Medicine and Universidad Central del Caribe are accredited by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). Thus both are considered "American MD Schools" and therefore would have the same advantage in gaining residency in the United States.

Interestingly enough, however, several years ago the AAMC issued a memorandum to a good many program directors of various residencies reminding them that the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, Ponce School of Medicine, and Universidad Central del Caribe Esculea Medica were AMERICAN MD schools and their graduates were to be considered as AMERICAN MD graduates.

 

[FionaS]

Uh, does Ponce mean the same in the US as it does in the UK? Sorry, that's a bit off subject, but it's making me laugh a little here... :wink:

 

[johnM]

•••quote:••• ponce

n : someone who procures customers for ****** (in England they call a pimp a ponce) [syn: pimp, procurer, panderer, pander, pandar, fancy man]
••••this is from <a href="http://www.dictionary.com." target="_blank">www.dictionary.com.</a> I had no idea that this was a meaning of "ponce," but I see why you find it funny! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[FionaS]

Also, someone up themselves, snobbish etc as well in the UK - a Ponce School would be one where everyone thought themselves very superior to the rest of the world, so not exactly a flattering term...!! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

But I'm sure Ponce School of Medicine is nothing like that!

It is making me laugh though - I'm going to tell my friends that it's a real place - they won't believe me <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

Cheers me dears

Fiona

 

[opel]

I would like to thank you all for your replies and please if you hear or know anything more about Ponce School of Medicine (good or bad) please let me know especially any info about matching because the info I have does not seem right.

 

[jcb5y]

Hi,

Congrats on your acceptance to PSM.
I attended Ponce School of Medicine and graduated in May of last year. For personal reasons I decided to do transitional year here in Puerto Rico. I am happy to say that I just matched for a position in internal medicine at Yale (my first choice).
This is a sample of where my classmates matched last year: UT Southwestern for internal med, Baylor for Radiology and Psych, U Miami for internal med, Tulane for Ob-Gyn, just to name a few that I can remember. I know a lot of past students have gone to big name residencies; you should talk to Mr. Arvin Baez, he has a list of the places we have matched in the past.
Good luck with your medical studies. Enjoy!

 

[8deuce]

hey jcb,

welcome to SDN and congrats on your matching at yale.

thanks for the info and i hope you can give us even more later on!

good luck and God bless

 

[adamant]

I would pick Ponce in a second over Caribe.
I interviewed at both schools last week and definitely prefered Ponce to Caribe. My reasons were the following:

1. Location- Ponce seems like a much safer, cheaper and all around livable place then Bayamon. The traffic is pretty hectic in Bayamon and it has a reputation for being a rough and wild place.

2. Facilites- I thought Caribe looked run down and kind of depressing. they did have a decent library though. Ponce is opening a new student center next year which should improve things for the students.

3. Fellow students- Ponce has a more diverse student body then caribe they take 10-15 non-residents each year while Caribe only takes 6-7.

The only thing that I think favors Caribe is that they get some really good clinical exposure to serious pathology. Their students don't do very well on Step 1 but they get good scores on Step 2.

Just my 2 cents worth

 

[One-Zero]

adamant- Thanks for the info. Can you tell me what the interviews at each school were like? Mostly English or Spanish? Difficult questions? Any surprises? Thanks!

 

[adamant]

10- I'll tell you about both interviews.

Ponce - 2 seperate interviews both 30-45 minutes.
The first interview was 1/2 Spanish, 1/2 English with a clinical instructor.
She wasn't the friendlist person, she seemed a little suspicious of my motives for wanting to study at Ponce. They have an interview form they follow at Ponce. They ask mostly standard questions about your undergrad major, coursework, research, EC's. Then they ask about your reasons for choosing medicine and specifically for choosing Ponce. They also ask questions about current events in Puerto Rico and in medicine. They seemed to be closed file interviews since both interviewers asked for my GPA and MCAT scores.
The 2nd interview was all in Spanish, with an Anatomy professor. She was much friendlier than the 1st woman.

Caribe- 1 interview with a clinical instructor. The interview was very laid back, they only ask questions about you and your motivations for medicine and for Caribe. No difficult questions at all. The interview was 90% in Spanish.
Then they give you 30 minutes to write a 1 page essay in Spanish on a current medical topic which they provide.

All in all I think the interviews are more laid back than in the States. Nobody is going to grill you about medical ethics or why did you get a C in Orgo?

Good luck in your interviews, PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[SurgeonS4]

I think you can match well as long as you work hard during your medical education . . . and receive good grades . . . a close family friend was matched in Orthopedic Surgery at Yale and he graduated from the carribean . . . another family friend of mine matched in ENT at Columbia and she also graduated from the carribean. So enjoy your time there, especially the weather , but dont forget to hit the books once in awhile!

 

[opel]

bump

 

[adamant]

Anyobody out there been accepted to Ponce or Caribe yet?