Puerto Rico

[rezin385]

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I know the puerto rican schools are considered carribbean schools because of their location, but they are still accredited in the US none the less. My question is does a student at the puerto rican schools have the same chance for good residencies as those students in the 'regular' US? Do those students have the opportunity to match into great residencies?

 

[Instatewaiter]

I just looked it up and apparently there are 3 LCME accredited Puerto Rican Mdical schools: Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine, Ponce School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine.

They are accredited, meaning you can get a residency in the US. However, it may be more difficult to get a given residency.

 

[Law2Doc]

I know the puerto rican schools are considered carribbean schools because of their location, but they are still accredited in the US none the less. My question is does a student at the puerto rican schools have the same chance for good residencies as those students in the 'regular' US? Do those students have the opportunity to match into great residencies?

The accredited PR schools are not considered the same as offshore caribbean schools. You won't have the same kind of hurdles coming from the PR schools.

 

[PuertoRicanDiva]

If you are not Puerto Rican, forget about applying to UPR School of Medicine. ALthough, it's the best school in the island, they don't allow OOS to apply. The other two schools are pretty decent but you must have 12 credits in Spanish in order to apply. Other than that, it's always sunny and nice here . . .

 

[Dr Who]

I just looked it up and apparently there are 3 LCME accredited Puerto Rican Mdical schools: Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine, Ponce School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine.

They are accredited, meaning you can get a residency in the US. However, it will be more difficult to get a given residency. It is like getting a low MCAT, you can get into medical school but it may limit your options.

Instawaiter, who told you that? Have you actually seen the match list for those schools? Ponce school of medicine and UPR have very impressive match lists. Going to a school in PR is actually a plus if you plan on practicing in a large urban area with a large hispanic population such as NYC, Miami, etc...
Nothing personal against Instawaiter, but one problem I see over and over on SDN is crass ignorance and conjectures about the realities of PR schools from people who know nothing about the island or its realities. Some base their opinions on MSAR stats, but dont realize that MCAT scores are scaled to reflect the social and cultural realities of a society where english is a second language at best. For this reason an MCAT score of 23 for an ISLAND RESIDENT is considered adequate. Dont believe me? try taking a super difficult standardized exam in french or german and tell me if you expect to get more than a 23. For US mainland residents PR schools usually accept applicants with 25- 26 or more on the MCAT.
Now with this in mind consider going to med school where lectures are taught either in your language or a foreign language, where ALL text books, tests, quizzes and class material are also in a foreign language. Now these same schools when compaired to ALL US med schools, are right in the middle of the pack in USMLE test scores, and have good to excellent match lists. Yes, I am saying they have better USMLE pass scores and match lists than many US mainland schools. That speaks volumes about the quality of education in those institutions. Med schools in the island are completely accredited and graduates are considered US graduates.

I am writing this becuase I read too many uninformed opinions and biases passed off as fact in these forums. The fact the most threads regarding med schools in Puerto Rico are found in a forum dedicated to foreign caribbean med schools attests to this unfortunate fact. There are a few of us here who study or have studied in PR and are more than happy to answer questions about schools in PR, such as me, mig26x, adamant, anamarylee, and others.
For those of you who are truly interested in getting information about med school in PR, from those who know, please feel free to post here or PM any of us.

Dr Who

 

[ScootDoc]

Well said. Thank you Dr. Who! I agree 100 %

 

[R-35]

Instawaiter, who told you that? Have you actually seen the match list for those schools? Ponce school of medicine and UPR have very impressive match lists. Going to a school in PR is actually a plus if you plan on practicing in a large urban area with a large hispanic population such as NYC, Miami, etc...
Nothing personal against Instawaiter, but one problem I see over and over on SDN is crass ignorance and conjectures about the realities of PR schools from people who know nothing about the island or its realities. Some base their opinions on MSAR stats, but dont realize that MCAT scores are scaled to reflect the social and cultural realities of a society where english is a second language at best. For this reason an MCAT score of 23 for an ISLAND RESIDENT is considered adequate. Dont believe me? try taking a super difficult standardized exam in french or german and tell me if you expect to get more than a 23. For US mainland residents PR schools usually accept applicants with 25- 26 or more on the MCAT.
Now with this in mind consider going to med school where lectures are taught either in your language or a foreign language, where ALL text books, tests, quizzes and class material are also in a foreign language. Now these same schools when compaired to ALL US med schools, are right in the middle of the pack in USMLE test scores, and have good to excellent match lists. Yes, I am saying they have better USMLE pass scores and match lists than many US mainland schools. That speaks volumes about the quality of education in those institutions. Med schools in the island are completely accredited and graduates are considered US graduates.

I am writing this becuase I read too many uninformed opinions and biases passed off as fact in these forums. The fact the most threads regarding med schools in Puerto Rico are found in a forum dedicated to foreign caribbean med schools attests to this unfortunate fact. There are a few of us here who study or have studied in PR and are more than happy to answer questions about schools in PR, such as me, mig26x, adamant, anamarylee, and others.
For those of you who are truly interested in getting information about med school in PR, from those who know, please feel free to post here or PM any of us.

Dr Who

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I don't think that low MCAT is acceptable just because of a "language barrier". They should probably try to raise their standards a little. We puertorricans are taught both english and spanish throughout our elementary, high school and college education. I surely didn't see having my elementary, middle school and highschool education in spanish affect my MCAT performance. As it was mentioned they are US accredited and I don't see any impact in matching as long as you score well on the USMLE.

 

[PuertoRicanDiva]

I disagree with you JBL16. Probably you went to a bilingual school and did your undegraduate in FL, your home state. I went to public school and the state University and all my classes were taught in Spanish. I even took Kaplan and it was taught in Spanish. The reality is that even most of Puerto Ricans take English all their life, there is no need for it to live in the island, therefore our English is not as strong as it can be. Lucky you-

 

[R-35]

I disagree with you JBL16. Probably you went to a bilingual school and did your undegraduate in FL, your home state. I went to public school and the state University and all my classes were taught in Spanish. I even took Kaplan and it was taught in Spanish. The reality is that even most of Puerto Ricans take English all their life, there is no need for it to live in the island, therefore our English is not as strong as it can be. Lucky you-

The schools I attended in PR, elementary, middle and high were all in spanish even most of the English classes were in Spanish. However we do not need to use conversational English in the MCAT. Throughout our lives we have used english textbooks for almost all of our courses, specially science. 3 years of undergraduate in Miami may have given me some sort of advantage, but honestly I have not learned any more English, most people speak Spanish or Spanglish and studying from books is my main way of performing well in my classes.
I have no problem and understand the reasons why the average matriculant puertorrican MCAT is so low when compared to the rest of the nation. Its just ticks me off that our schools get judged by others mainly by this. I am sure the education is top notch as evidence of good residency matching.

 

[Labslave]

The schools I attended in PR, elementary, middle and high were all in spanish even most of the English classes were in Spanish. However we do not need to use conversational English in the MCAT. Throughout our lives we have used english textbooks for almost all of our courses, specially science. 3 years of undergraduate in Miami may have given me some sort of advantage, but honestly I have not learned any more English, most people speak Spanish or Spanglish and studying from books is my main way of performing well in my classes.
I have no problem and understand the reasons why the average matriculant puertorrican MCAT is so low when compared to the rest of the nation. Its just ticks me off that our schools get judged by others mainly by this. I am sure the education is top notch as evidence of good residency matching.

Being fair, it also depends largely on where you grew up/took classes within the island of Puerto Rico AND your socioeconomic status. If you're from San Juan and wealthy, your daily exposure to English (television, news papers in both English and Spanish, etc.) and access to things like cable television (being wealthy) will give you a great advantage over your fellow Puerto Rican peers in academics. I'm not talking about conversation skills here - rather I'm talking about exposure to vernacular and vocabulary out of the every day norm in written AND spoken English. Having a proficiency in these things would certainly lead to improved reading comprehension skills, which are imperative on ALL sections of the MCAT. My fiancee (who happens to be PuertoRicanDiva. 😍 ) is a perfect example of someone from Puerto Rico without all of the benefits of someone who could afford to go to college in Florida, have cable television growing up, etc.

I, too, think it's unfortunate that many people don't understand why being Puerto Rican means you have a distinct disadvantage when taking the MCAT and how this negatively impacts the perception of medical schools in Puerto Rico. I have personally met physicians that have graduated from these schools and would feel more than confident in their capabilities to administer care to me if necessary. This post is getting long, but I just wanted to make the point that you shouldn't underestimate the difficulty Puerto Ricans face in taking standardized exams in English.

 

[R-35]

Being fair, it also depends largely on where you grew up/took classes within the island of Puerto Rico AND your socioeconomic status. If you're from San Juan and wealthy, your daily exposure to English (television, news papers in both English and Spanish, etc.) and access to things like cable television (being wealthy) will give you a great advantage over your fellow Puerto Rican peers in academics. I'm not talking about conversation skills here - rather I'm talking about exposure to vernacular and vocabulary out of the every day norm in written AND spoken English. Having a proficiency in these things would certainly lead to improved reading comprehension skills, which are imperative on ALL sections of the MCAT. My fiancee (who happens to be PuertoRicanDiva. 😍 ) is a perfect example of someone from Puerto Rico without all of the benefits of someone who could afford to go to college in Florida, have cable television growing up, etc.

I, too, think it's unfortunate that many people don't understand why being Puerto Rican means you have a distinct disadvantage when taking the MCAT and how this negatively impacts the perception of medical schools in Puerto Rico. I have personally met physicians that have graduated from these schools and would feel more than confident in their capabilities to administer care to me if necessary. This post is getting long, but I just wanted to make the point that you shouldn't underestimate the difficulty Puerto Ricans face in taking standardized exams in English.

Point made. Good luck with the school year, and any applicants in the app process 🙂.

 

[Dr Who]

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I don't think that low MCAT is acceptable just because of a "language barrier". They should probably try to raise their standards a little. We puertorricans are taught both english and spanish throughout our elementary, high school and college education. I surely didn't see having my elementary, middle school and highschool education in spanish affect my MCAT performance. As it was mentioned they are US accredited and I don't see any impact in matching as long as you score well on the USMLE.

Your post is a bit unrealistic.
They also teach spanish in most US schools yet most of the population does not speak or read spanish very well. Give them a an MCAT completely in spanish and tell me if you see many scores above 24?

The schools I attended in PR, elementary, middle and high were all in spanish even most of the English classes were in Spanish. However we do not need to use conversational English in the MCAT. Throughout our lives we have used english textbooks for almost all of our courses, specially science. 3 years of undergraduate in Miami may have given me some sort of advantage, but honestly I have not learned any more English, most people speak Spanish or Spanglish and studying from books is my main way of performing well in my classes.
I have no problem and understand the reasons why the average matriculant puertorrican MCAT is so low when compared to the rest of the nation. Its just ticks me off that our schools get judged by others mainly by this. I am sure the education is top notch as evidence of good residency matching.

Sorry to pick on you jbl, but for someone who professes to have "limited" english and to no have "learned" any more english, you write in english pretty fluently. Hell, you write better than me, and I lived all my life in the US before coming to the island. In order to pass the MCAT you most certainly need a firm grasp of the english language, grammar and syntax. Not only is the test completely in english, but it one third of the exam is dedicated to verbal reasoning IN ENGLISH, which is considered by many med schools to be the most important section. I also need to mention the essay part. Try writing TWO essays in under an hour under tremendous time pressure and in a language not your own. I am not making excuses for the relatively "low" scores, I am pointing out a reality that exists in the island. In the end does it really matter? All three schools, especially the University of Puerto Rico and Ponce are pretty competitive with mainland schools. The fact that the students with "low" MCAT scores end up competing mano a mano with any mainland med school for the best residencies tells you the whole story.
BTW, ALL books used in public schools are in SPANISH, not english, except of course english class. Something about your story doesnt ring true with the realities of puertorrican education. Either you studied in a private bilingual school or you didnt, but from what you wrote, I am pretty certain that you did not study in public school in the island.

 

[R-35]

Your post is a bit unrealistic.
They also teach spanish in most US schools yet most of the population does not speak or read spanish very well. Give them a an MCAT completely in spanish and tell me if you see many scores above 24?



Sorry to pick on you jbl, but for someone who professes to have "limited" english and to no have "learned" any more english, you write in english pretty fluently. Hell, you write better than me, and I lived all my life in the US before coming to the island. In order to pass the MCAT you most certainly need a firm grasp of the english language, grammar and syntax. Not only is the test completely in english, but it one third of the exam is dedicated to verbal reasoning IN ENGLISH, which is considered by many med schools to be the most important section. I also need to mention the essay part. Try writing TWO essays in under an hour under tremendous time pressure and in a language not your own. I am not making excuses for the relatively "low" scores, I am pointing out a reality that exists in the island. In the end does it really matter? All three schools, especially the University of Puerto Rico and Ponce are pretty competitive with mainland schools. The fact that the students with "low" MCAT scores end up competing mano a mano with any mainland med school for the best residencies tells you the whole story.
BTW, ALL books used in public schools are in SPANISH, not english, except of course english class. Something about your story doesnt ring true with the realities of puertorrican education. Either you studied in a private bilingual school or you didnt, but from what you wrote, I am pretty certain that you did not study in public school in the island.

We learn both languages since elementary school, I even had english in Pre K. Its a lot harder to learn a language once your in middle school or high school. Public education is mainly a joke, most people in the island would probably agree to this. This is why most that can afford it seek private education. Private is education is cheaper in the island compared to here in the US which makes it more accesible. I myself was educated in a small private catholic school ( Academia Nuestra Senora de la Providencia in Cupey and Colegio San Jose in Caguas). What I am trying to say is that we do have lots of opportunities to learn the language well and excel, but not all of us take advantage of it. I remember most of my colleagues in high school just passing through the english classes, but they really didn't get anything from it, they just wanted to get through the course. We could sit down and talk all day about these social issues but there is really no point in it, I just wanted to get my thoughts across.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Instawaiter, who told you that? Have you actually seen the match list for those schools? Ponce school of medicine and UPR have very impressive match lists. Going to a school in PR is actually a plus if you plan on practicing in a large urban area with a large hispanic population such as NYC, Miami, etc...

I definately could be wrong since before now I have never had hard data in front of me, but when I applied, I was told by my advisors to be wary because there might be difficulties w/ residencies. So perhaps I am passing along the prejudices of my advisors. I would love to have some hard data since I am not trying to pass along bad info.

I am interested in those match lists and USMLE pass rates/average scores for the PR schools. I looked on the PR schools' websites and that info was absent conveniently. Google also did not turn up any results with the exception of Internal Medicine Residency Pass rates (which were not too good for the PR schools when compared with mainland schools). So if anyone has some data for the PR schools, please post it. I have a bunch of friends that are borderline to get into mainland MD schools and don't want to go to the carribean schools or the DO route. If the rates are good, PR schools sound like a viable option for them.

My bad in advance if I was wrong.

-Instatewaiter

 

[boricua_doc]

Instatewaiter:

Check out the hard data that I found,

http://www.bumc.bu.edu/Dept/Content.aspx?DepartmentID=73&PageID=1148

http://rwjcsp.yale.edu/scholars.php

http://www.debakeydepartmentofsurgery.org/home/content.cfm?content_id=35

http://www.nycosmeticmd.com/html/guzman.html

http://www.bcm.edu/obgyn/currentresidents.htm

This search took me less than a minute and I didn't even search for UPR or UCC, it was just for Ponce... Maybe you are not "conveniently" doing your search right.

In addition, Puerto Rico schools are not a back door option for mediocre students from the mainland US; if a person wants to study medicine in Puerto Rico it has to be because he or she genuinely wants to do so, otherwise the adcoms will notice. If your friends can't do it right in the US where they are instructed in they native language, I don't think they can do better here.

-Boricua_doc

 

[Instatewaiter]

I am glad that you found a 5 people who have gotten decent residencies from Ponce, but 5 'case reports' do not constitute reliable, hard data. One of those listed didn't even finish at Ponce but transferred to SUNY. I am sure that a few people from even the crappiest carribean school get decent residency placements each year and someone could find those and compile a list of 5. That is why I was asking for the match list. It is much easier to spot trends and outliers. While the 5 people you listed could be part of a trend where all Ponce kids get great residencies, they could just as easily be outliers.

Here is an example:
I looked at St. George University, one of the better Carribean Schools. They post their data and I found people going to Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford and UCSF for residencies. From those matches alone, many would say that it must be a great school. But most would agree that St George is not quite up to the level of most mainland schools.

I am not trying to start a flame war here but it seems that w/ an average of a 22-23 MCAT score and a 3.19 Science GPA, Ponce would be a great option for mediocre students from the mainland.

Back to my original questions: Anyone have the match list for ponce?
Anyone know the board pass rate for steps 1/2?
Anyone know the average Board Scores?

 

[R-35]

.

 

[boricua_doc]

Instatewaiter,

I don't know why you have so much interest in the match list, or any information about any of the schools in Puerto Rico if you are not even considering this option for yourself... anyways, if you are so interested you can always call the schools or just send them an email requesting the information that you want, I know they will be kind enough to help you out.

Besides, from what you wrote in your post, people from what you consider to be a "not up to US standard" school competed with people from US schools for residencies and beated them for the place, that speaks for itself. Residency programs are looking for the best candidates no matter where they attended to med school. At the end is up to the person to put his best effort to make the best out of med school.

Puerto Rico schools don't post their match list information because they have no need to promote their schools, they have enough legitimate and qualified applicants from the island and the U.S. ... they are not trying to sell a product to US mediocre students that use the internet as their only source of information, just like the private corporation schools at the other islands of the caribbean or anywhere else.

-Boricua_doc

 

[Instatewaiter]

Instatewaiter,

I don't know why you have so much interest in the match list, or any information about any of the schools in Puerto Rico if you are not even considering this option for yourself...
-Boricua_doc

Fiesty, I like that.

I am interested because apparently my orininal response to the OP was wrong or misinformed. I have no info other than what my advisors have told me, which it seems from how most people have responded, is wrong. I am not going to change my opinion without some facts to support the change. Since I could not find a match list myself and I figured people who went to the school would have access to it, I asked for the lists.

Again, anyone have the match list for 2005 or 2006?
What about board pass rates?

Besides, from what you wrote in your post, people from what you consider to be a "not up to US standard" school competed with people from US schools for residencies and beated them for the place, that speaks for itself.

Funny, that does speak for itself


Just because they gained a residency does not mean they beat(ed) anyone out for a place. There were 24,012 positions available in the 2005 match. There were only 14,719 US allo seniors in the 2005 match. That leaves almost 10,000 positions for osteo, fmg's, canadians, etc. I am not saying that they did not outcompete, I am just saying that it does not necessarily mean they did.

 

[boricua_doc]

Fiesty, I like that...

Funny, I didn't found a definition for FIESTY in the web, maybe you meant FEISTY.

Definitions of feisty on the Web:

showing courage; "the champion is faced with a feisty challenger"
huffy: quick to take offense

Maybe you forgot to turn on your computer's spell checker again after checking my post. English is not my first language, but I can get my message across; so what's your excuse?

 

[MossPoh]

There are a lot of things going on that it is more based on the person. Yes there is a verbal with the mcat but there are people that just have the ability to reason answers. I am not saying it is easy but with foreign language stuff things are weird. I took a placement exam for a german university and actually did better than my friend who was a native german speaker. Not because I am some great speaker (I am god awful) but because I learned to analyze the language in a different way than the "that is just because it is what you do" kind of thing. As far as languages in high school...yea most of those classes are pretty weak and well 3 or 4 years of 5 hours a day for 185 days a year..nobody will be very good at any language..so the exposure and WILL to practice is defintley as important....as for the lower mcat average well..mcat doesn't mean you are going to be a bad doctor........and the puerto rican schools put out some good docs and some bad ones just like every school....the guy that did my dad's heart surgery and saved his life lived his entire life in puerto rico till after medical school and still struggles with english..but he is a damn fine surgeon.

 

[Dr Who]

OK people, this thread is not about Flaming and Belitteling, its about informing. No matter what is said there are always going to be people who will think themselves or US mainland schools superior because of MCAT scores. For those who insist on MCAT scores alone as a future predictor of professional capabilites, there have been numerous studies that show that undergraduate GPAs and MCAT scores are good indicators of NBME I performance, but they are not useful in predicting clinical performance. Do a pubmed search and see for yourself. Mcat scores indicates good test taking skills more than future potential as a clinician.
For those of you who might want to know I got a pretty decent score on the MCAT and was accepted to various med schools in the mainland. I am originally from NYC and chose to come here because it represented a new and challenging experience. I have met students who are excellent students that would be in the top percent of any class and others who struggle just to get through.
I will be more than happy to answer any questions or doubts about my experiences here as a med student in PR. I will not go on the defensive flame war with someone who writes ignorant or untruthful comments. In the end we are in this together and we should all help in what we can.

Dr Who

 

[Instatewaiter]

Maybe you forgot to turn on your computer's spell checker again after checking my post. English is not my first language, but I can get my message across; so what's your excuse?

Stupidity

 

[Dr Who]

This is a PM I sent to someone who asked me a few questions. He seemed genuinely interested in getting information on schools in PR so I took my time to answer them as best as I could. This might apply to many people so I decided to share it with you guys. I deleted his name and any information I saw fit, but the message is still there. Please read and if you have any questions about med schools in Puerto Rico and my experieces there you can post here or PM me if you wish.



Hello ___,
First, let me apologize for not answering your PM promptly, but I was in the middle of exams, so my time was very limited. I am glad you are interested in starting a career in medicine, even more glad you are considering Puerto Rico. First off I will tell you a thing or two about myself so you can have a clearer idea of where I come from. I was born and raised in NYC, but my family is originally from the island. I came to PR as a way to experience something different and connect to my roots. When I first came here my spanish was extremely limited, and being that I am from NYC I did experience a bit of culture shock, but it was an overall positive experience. I took a couple of undergrad courses here and earned a masters in epidemiology on the way. Although I always entertained thoughts of med school, it always remained just that, a goal that seemed far away, but I guess the road led me to med school after all.

You asked me about probable difficulties with studying in PR for someone who has never been here. My answer to that is that it depends. If you were, lets say, someone from Alaska who only speaks english and has had absolutely no experience with spanish or hispanic culture whatsoever then it will be more difficult. In your case, I imagine you can at least speak and understand some spanish, and as you have lived in _____ you shouldn't have any problems adapting to life here, so it shouldn't be at all that difficult for you. While there are certain regional and cultural differences, they shouldn't represent a problem. In order to avoid accepting students that will have extreme difficulty adapting to the island, the admissions committee does make a conscious effort to accept students who they feel have the capacity to not only function, but thrive in PR. The school I go to is a state school so they do give preference to island residents, but the other two schools, Ponce and UCC evaluate every app equally. Their student bodies are pretty diverse, more so the here at UPR.

As for my personal experiences here? Very good to say the least. The first two years are made up of lectures, clinical skills courses, small group problem based learning sessions, preceptorships (doc shadowing), standardized patients and so forth. Lectures are taught either in english or in spanish, depending on the preference of the particular faculty member. All class material, quizzes, exams, lectures presentations, EVERYTHING is in english. After every course we take shelf exams like every other med school in the US. After the second year you have to take, and pass the USMLE step 1, or you will not be allowed to go on to third year, no exceptions. After 4th year you must pass the USMLE step 2 or you will not be granted your diploma.

Since my school (UPR) is smack in the middle the largest tertiary medical care complex in the caribean, patient contact is ample and varied. Here you will see anything and everything, I guarantee it. Here is where your spanish will come in hand, as most patients mostly speak spanish, but after two years you should have had ample practice. Most third year clinical rotations are in one of the many hospitals that make up the complex, but you have the option of doing some rotations in other hospitals around the island. Fourth year students can do their electives in the US if they want. You can do them in your home city if you wish. Nurses here are pretty cool.

As for competition for residency? I am still a couple of years away, but I have only heard good things. There was a case of a residency director who kept insisting that PR med school students be classified as "foreign" which prompted the LCME (med school and residency accreditation organization) to send him a letter clearing up any "misunderstandings" as to our status as accredited US med schools. The LCME also letters out all residency directors so this shouldn't be a problem in the future. This seems to be the exception, not the rule. Now, if you plan on practicing medicine in a large urban area or someplace with a large hispanic population then studying in PR is definitely a plus. If you plan on doing your residency in, lets say, ______, ______, where the residency director never even heard of a place called Puerto Rico, then you might want to explain some obvious things to the director. But overall, it shouldn't be a problem as you will be evaluated just the same as anyone else, on your own merits.

I would like to have you understand one point that is very dear to me. Some people in their ignorance feel that any applicant with a 19 MCAT and a 2.90 GPA has a shot at a school in PR. They base their "knowledge" on MSAR stats, but they do not understand the whole picture. Most people in PR are NOT truly bilingual, so basically they are taking an MCAT in what amounts to a foreign language. Imagine you or I taking an MCAT exam in french and you get an idea of how it is. You would feel lucky to get an MCAT of 21 in such a case. In order to deal with this, the PR schools scale the test for PR residents, BUT NOT for US residents. What does this mean for you? That in order for you to have a decent chance try for at least a 25 on the MCAT, its pretty doable.

Lastly, if you have read posts by people who have actually gone to med school in PR, you would notice how fiercly we defend our schools, more so than students in US mainland schools. It is an insult to us that people assume certain things that we know not to be true, and pass it off as fact. We are proud of our schools and know the quality of education and experiences in these schools to be excellent. Go to almost any of the best residency programs in the east coast and you will probably see one or more PR med students among the residents. With a little research you can find this out for yourself. Anyway, Sorry for the rambling but I wanted to give you a clearer idea of our reality. Well take care and feel free to PM me if you have any more doubts. I promise not on ramble on the next time. Take care and good luck.

Dr Who

 

[mig26x]

I graduated from Ponce School of Medicine on May 2005.

This is the match list of the class of 2005:

Anestesiologia:
- Sain Luke Hospital NY (1)

ER:
- University of Texas Med School
- University of PR (2)

Internal Medicine
- San Juan VA Hosp (4)
- University of PR (2)
- Mount Sinai Hosp NY
- NYP Hosp- columbus Presbyterrian NY
- Hospital Damas PR

Preliminar de Medicina Interna
- Metropolitan University NY
- Long Island College Hosp NY

Neurology
- Jefferson University PA
- Tulane University LA
- Cleveland Clinic FLA
- Louisiana State University LA
- Universtiy of South Florida FLA

OB/GYN
- Hospital San Lucas PR
- Orlando Regional Healthcare FLA
- University of PR

Ophthalmology
- UPR (2)
- University of Texas, Houston

Pediatrics
- Jackson memorial Hosp FLA
- Miami Children Hosp FLA
- St. Joseph Hosp AZ
- Hospital San lucas (2)

Psychiatry
- University of Cincinnati CN
- Texas AM Scott and White TX
- San Juan VA Med Ctr PR

Radiology
- University of Texas, San Antonio TX
- Univ. of PR
- University of Michigan MI
- Brook Army Med CTR, San antonio TX

Surgery
-Brookdale Hosp Med NY
-St Jhon Hospital MI
-National Naval Med Ctr, WA
-SUNY HSC Brooklyn NY
-NY Hosp Med CTR Queen NY
-University of Buffalo GRad Med NY

Surgery Orthopedics
- Baylor Medical College TX
- Albany Med. CTR Hosp NY

Pre. Surgery
- Univ of PR
- University of Texas, san Antonio Tx

 

[stinastina]

Anyone have any insight into this school along the lines of Dr. Who's great detailed message about UCC ?

 

[Orthodoc40]

Nice match list - thanks!
I guess it is a small class size - also nice.

So, will someone who is not fluent in Spanish have a tough time at a school in PR?? I'm trying to figure out if I would need a LOT more Spanish or just some more. Are books/lectures all in Spanish there?

Thanks for your informative replies, by the way.🙂

 

[Dr Who]

I dont think you will have too many problems, you will learn spanish.

 

[Dr Who]

Nice match list - thanks!
I guess it is a small class size - also nice.

So, will someone who is not fluent in Spanish have a tough time at a school in PR?? I'm trying to figure out if I would need a LOT more Spanish or just some more. Are books/lectures all in Spanish there?

Thanks for your informative replies, by the way.🙂

Hey Orthodoc,
When I first came here I barely spoke spanish. I guess my spanish was limited to well known phrases and such. As time went by my spoken spanish has gotten better to the point where I speak perfectly fluent spanish. Most people are amazed when I tell them then a few years back I barely spoke any spanish at all. Will you have a hard time in med school here? maybe, but understand that all handouts, textbooks, quizzes, tests, EVERYTHING that has to do with your evaluations are in english. In fact, we use the exact same texts here (Netter, Moore, Robins...) than all other mainland med schools, so that shouldnt be a problem.
Spanish really comes in handy during 3rd year clinical rotations, but by then you will have had more than ample time and exposure to spanish. Believe me, you WILL speak spanish by then. Hope that cleared up your doubts.

Dr Who

 

[nataly1313]

Hey Dr. Who,
I am currently applying to Ponce and I am from Florida. I am bilingual but I only scored a 21O on my MCAT. I have volunteered for six months at a cancer center, played soccer for the University of South Florida for 2 years, and I have been working as a research assistant for a developmental behavioral pediatrician for over a year. My BCPM gpa is 3.28, AO is 3.77, and total is 3.45. I am a biomedical science major with a minor in biomedical physics. I know that you have been saying that a mainland student needs to score at least a 25, but will they consider the rest of my application and will I get an invite? I am really stressed because I really want to get into this school but my mcat is scaring me. Please comment on what my chances are. Oh yeah, my file is complete as of last Friday so I am just waiting for a response.
Thanks,
nataly1313

 

[Dr Who]

Hey Dr. Who,
I am currently applying to Ponce and I am from Florida. I am bilingual but I only scored a 21O on my MCAT. I have volunteered for six months at a cancer center, played soccer for the University of South Florida for 2 years, and I have been working as a research assistant for a developmental behavioral pediatrician for over a year. My BCPM gpa is 3.28, AO is 3.77, and total is 3.45. I am a biomedical science major with a minor in biomedical physics. I know that you have been saying that a mainland student needs to score at least a 25, but will they consider the rest of my application and will I get an invite? I am really stressed because I really want to get into this school but my mcat is scaring me. Please comment on what my chances are. Oh yeah, my file is complete as of last Friday so I am just waiting for a response.
Thanks,
nataly1313

Hey,
If I were you I would apply to Ponce and a few other schools. The admissions process can sometimes be a toss up so you never know. The only certain thing at this point is that if you dont apply, you will not be accepted. The worst that can happen is that you wont get accepted, in which case you can always retake your MCAT next april do some things to make your application stand out a bit more and reapply.
If the worst case does happen, you can try doing some things to bring up your GPA a bit, such as retaking, if possible, one or two basic science classes to bring up your GPA. You can then take your time and better prepare yourself and retake the MCAT, but we are getting ahead of ourselves here. Apply anyway, you have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.

Dr Who

 

[nataly1313]

Thanks for your help Dr. Who. I will keep you updated on my progress.

 

[Zeppelin900]

Dr. Who gave me a good share of advice last year when I was applying and now I'm here about to finish the first year already. Thanks again Dr. Whoo. By the way, did you get out of the island already or you're a 4th year now? In any case, good luck in the future.

Zepp ( Ponce es ponce)

 

[Shadowboricua]

na

 

[UVABranch]

this is great information...unfortunatly I didn't do enough research and applied to UPR not realizing the requirements, but I did want to include a PR school in my app list. So Ponce is one that I can apply to (I'm a URM but not PR/spanish/hispanic/etc) as long as I have enough spanish credits? I have 8 so far so geting 5 more won't be too bad at all. I also believe weather in PR or the US being able to speak another language fluently (especially spanish) is always a plus for you and your patients. I'm thinking about taking ASL too, can't hurt right? I still don't know how my mom conned my sistre and I into taking french just because we went to a french speaking country ONCE! I shouldda listened to my dad...he said take Spanish, sill me I didn't think about being able to use it in the US <silly goose!>...now I know (and knowing is half the battle). 😀