Questions for SGU Alumni (Please HELP)

[BloodySurgeon]

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I KNOW THIS IS LONG, BUT PLEASE BARE WITH ME (if you want, you can skip the story and just throw some facts about SGU or residency afterwards).


My brother started his first two years @ a university with VERY low grades (2.5) and it was not until his third year that he decided that he wanted to do pre-med. Unfortunately after a year of classes (he is now a senior) he is left with a 3.0... although his grades were all A's and B's as a pre-med/3rd year (with harder science courses I might add) he has too many cumulative units to change his GPA. He has two options at this point: 1) Take a masters and hope after 2 years (there is a 1yr waiting period) he can get accepted to any of the bottom ranked med schools in the U.S. (or) 2) Apply to SGU and move on without the possibility of potentially losing 2 years.

I strongly recommended that he get his masters, because if he does well in the program and get a mid 30's on MCAT he will be a good candidate for a US med school. However, the problem is that he is going to finish his pre-reqs at the age of 23, two years of masters will make him 25, and if he does not get into a US med school he would most probably attend SGU (since its the next best option) at mid 20's when he can just as easily go at his early 20's.

He is now strongly considering applying to SGU after he takes his MCATs next fall and I was totally against it. After arguing, he asked me if I really know much about caribbean med school.... I've heard a lot from peers and physicians, but he was right.... I don't know much about it besides unreliable rumors.

Now I want to ask the Alumni of St. George (HOWEVER, not limited to SGU):
1) Do you recommend my brother to follow the same road you once took?
2) What are his chances at a U.S. residency (including restrictions) opposed to going to a U.S. med school?
3) What comparisons (pros and cons) can you make for caribbean schools vs. U.S.
4) What are his chances for residency in competitive states like California and New York?
5) Any other comments or facts you can think of.

SGU is an expensive, hard process that may leave him with fewer options than he may realize. I will research more tomorrow as it is now 4:00am and I need to study my own pre-req classes. However, I believe the end justifies the means (for certain cases of course) and if my brother becomes a good doctor that is all that matters. Good night 😴 😴

 

[jdub]

imho most likely the best option if getting into a us school is not possible. the chances of getting into competitive residency is limited. some people pull it off, but i am not really sure how.

plenty of people from my school do well on the boards. the main problem is getting the residency that you want. surgery is possible, but specialties like urology, ortho, plastics, ent etc are unlikely at best. you will be able to find a home somewhere, but it might not be exactly what you want or where you want. check out our match list, it is on the sgu.edu home page. it is okay. graduating from a us school is better, but coming from our school doesn't totally screw you over. i am pretty sure that i will match a good general surgery program, but it has been a bit frustrating, especially when you know that your boards are better than most of the us applicants and you don't even get half of their interviews.

getting a masters degree is no guarantee to get into a us school. there are people in my school who tried that route as well, so you have take a look at what kind of time commitment you are willing to do and how confident you feel that a masters will get you into a us med school. a really good mcat score might be enough to get your brother into a us school, although there are a few poeple in my school with 35's and 36's. but honestly, the majority of the folks in my school did not do well on the mcat. the gpa problem is a little more rare.

anyhow, to sum it up, if you are not able to get into a us school, then sgu will put you in the position to get residency in the states. you might want to measure the d.o. option too. if you do it, know what you are getting into. it is not always pretty, but it seems to work okay.

oh yeah, new york: really depends on the residency that you want something in manhattan is really difficult, stuff upstate is a bit more managable. california: really difficult for most residencies. for surgery, most cali programs will not interview you with out your ecfmg and cali certificates (both of those cannot be optained until graduation, ie you would have to wait out a year to apply).