Royal College in Ireland versus Sackler & St. George

[yonathan13]

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Does anyone have any advice/info. concerning the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland? How does its reputation compare with Sackler or St. George? I've heard that these are the top 3 foreign med schools - but since I can go to all of them I want to know which one is best.

A big thank you in advance to anyone who can help me out!

 

[prefontaine]

Read Carlos Pestana's book, he covers all 3 in detail.

Over the years, I have met grads from all 3, RC grads tend to get the best residencies, followed by Sackler.

If you don't know Hebrew, you are expected to develop a working knowledge of it, if you go to Tel Aviv, though I met an MS4 from Sackler that managed to get by without it.

 

[Carbon Klein]

If you're a US citizen, then you can qualify for US Gov't Financial aid at St George's. I'm can't speak for the two other schools, but you do your clinical rotation in the US if you're in St Georges.

 

[yonathan13]

I'd like to thank those who have already resonded to my inquiry. I am concerned about not knowing hebrew too well and attending Sackler. Money is not really an issue for me (mama & papa have got it covered) I'm leaning toward the Royal College even though it's a 5 year program. It appears to have the strongest reputation. I hope that other people who know about the Royal College in Ireland, Sackler, & St. George will give me some more advice.

 

[stephew]

One word of warning about the otherwise excellent Sackler: if you try to transfer you'd had better succeceed;They dont like it and people have told me they've felt 'blackballed" for trying and failing (their word not mine). Royal College in Ireland is excellent. It is one of three schools in Dublin, UCD and Trinity being the others; RCS thrives on getting foreign students (ie non-irish) and they are mostly middle eastern ect. They do take americans (so does UCD though that's not published often. I dont know about trinity). HOWEVER RCS DOEST NOT cater to the USMLE. That is for better or worse, US med school is training you as much to pass that as to be a doctor (of hopefully good quality). RCS has no vested interest in this. Also I dont know to what extent RCS is known among prog directors in the US. As for SGU, I can tell you they are USMLE oriented and its respected among prog directors and if you feel you can transfer in your 2nd year they will be happy to help. However nothing can compare to living in ireland (the caribbean is great but in being so different to the US, it gets more stressful I think). Anyway any of these three choices will probably do you in good stead.
Stephanie
SGUSOM '99 http://travel.to/sgusom