R3 Education Inc?!?!

[airbornemedic]

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I got an email the other day from Kaplan advertising these three schools. I just think it's too good to be true. The tuition from these school are low as 88 grand for 4 years (advertised on the MUA website). They say you can apply year round, there's not that much requirements, not even an MCAT. Are these even legit schools? Do people take you seriously when you get a MD there? I'm Canadian, so how hard would it be to get residence spots if I end up getting an MD from these places? Saba advertised that 20% of their graduates got cheif resident or sub specialty placements.

So my question is what's the catch? This sounds like a scam almost. I have a 3.8 GPA according to Ontario medical admissions grading system, I have research and extracurriculars, so what's stopping me from just heading down there an enjoying the sunshine?

 

[Speculatrix]

I got an email the other day from Kaplan advertising these three schools. I just think it's too good to be true. The tuition from these school are low as 88 grand for 4 years (advertised on the MUA website). They say you can apply year round, there's not that much requirements, not even an MCAT. Are these even legit schools? Do people take you seriously when you get a MD there? I'm Canadian, so how hard would it be to get residence spots if I end up getting an MD from these places? Saba advertised that 20% of their graduates got cheif resident or sub specialty placements.

So my question is what's the catch? This sounds like a scam almost. I have a 3.8 GPA according to Ontario medical admissions grading system, I have research and extracurriculars, so what's stopping me from just heading down there an enjoying the sunshine?

Are you crazy? There is no free lunch. Non-US graduates face extraordinary hurdles to practicing in the United States, not to mention arranging clinical rotations, the stigma of a foreign education, etc. Go to school in Canada or America.

 

[airbornemedic]

I kind of see what you mean, but they say "Saba University students do all of their core clinical rotations at U.S.-based, ACGME-approved teaching hospitals (and their equivalent in Canada) affiliated with Saba University", and another quote "even though Saba University is one of the very few medical schools located in the Caribbean whose students have obtained licensure in all 50 states and Canada".

I'm sure getting a license back in Canada won't be a walk in the park but still... does anyone have experience or know someone who's gone to one of these schools or any other in the Caribbean, oh and I want to be a GP in a rural place, I'm not a fan of the hospital environment, doing research in a hospital has confirmed that.

 

[Speculatrix]

I kind of see what you mean, but they say "Saba University students do all of their core clinical rotations at U.S.-based, ACGME-approved teaching hospitals (and their equivalent in Canada) affiliated with Saba University", and another quote "even though Saba University is one of the very few medical schools located in the Caribbean whose students have obtained licensure in all 50 states and Canada".

I'm sure getting a license back in Canada won't be a walk in the park but still... does anyone have experience or know someone who's gone to one of these schools or any other in the Caribbean, oh and I want to be a GP in a rural place, I'm not a fan of the hospital environment, doing research in a hospital has confirmed that.

If you voluntarily decline a US/Canadian school for an offshore school, you will have proven Darwin correct. There is no way you could do something more stupid or injurious to your future career. But, that's your life and not mine! Don't say you weren't warned. See www.valuemd.com for further details on off-shore schools.

 

[airbornemedic]

I'd never choose a canadian school over a Caribbean school. But is it just the bad reputation they have? Or do they really give you a really bad education making licensing back in Canada or US impossible or unlikely? Thanks for the response, can you mention the sepcific extraordinary hurdles?

It's a backup plan and since I'm entering 4th year this fall it's good to look into this stuff

 

[LetsGo352]

Don't do it.

 

[FlowRate]

R
Having said all that, I was earlier this year in the hospital myself for some fairly major surgery and was treated by recent graduates of Saba and St. George and was quite comfortable in having them as my doctors.

That sounds scary as hell.

 

[ThaliaNox]

That sounds scary as hell.

Do you often interrogate your doctors as to where they went to medical school? I don't think I could tell you where my primary care doctor from when I was a child went, much less random folks who look in on you when you're an inpatient. If doctors who went to medical school in the Carribean are working in a US hospital, then they earned a residency here and are no worse than any US grad.

 

[christina30]

Do you often interrogate your doctors as to where they went to medical school? I don't think I could tell you where my primary care doctor from when I was a child went, much less random folks who look in on you when you're an inpatient. If doctors who went to medical school in the Carribean are working in a US hospital, then they earned a residency here and are no worse than any US grad.

👍

Some of the best physicians I've ever known/worked with happened to be foreign grads. They obviously made it work for them, even if they had to work harder than everyone else.

 

[ThaliaNox]

They can make excellent docs. The issue that that are at a severe disadvantage when applying for US residency programs

BTW, everybody knows what you call the student who graduates last in their US-based medical school class?

I was referring to being afraid of being treated by Carribean grads. The main point being "grads." I wouldn't recommend anyone go the Carribean route, especially with the increasing number of American medical school seats, but it is silly to find being treated by Carribean grads "scary as hell" as was mentioned by someone a couple posts up.

 

[FlowRate]

Do you often interrogate your doctors as to where they went to medical school? I don't think I could tell you where my primary care doctor from when I was a child went, much less random folks who look in on you when you're an inpatient. If doctors who went to medical school in the Carribean are working in a US hospital, then they earned a residency here and are no worse than any US grad.

I've heard plenty of stories of not-so-great US-trained doctors, as well.

I know it's taboo on these forums to have some medical skepticism, but I always look up docs I'm gonna have working on me for anything beyond simple procedures.