Saint Christopher School of Medicine

[NeedtoKnow]

If you are a current student, may I ask for your honest experiences. What did you think about the professors? What is your experience living and studying in UK? Were there any conflictions with the Luton or Cambridge St. Christopher classes?

If you or others have taken the USMLE, what was the average USMLE reported scores? How was St. Christopher's Board Review Course conducted? Was it useful?

Please, only current or past students. No useless or opinionated post...remember, it's not useful.
As for pre-clinical experience during the basic sciences, were there any? If yes, what did you learn from the pre-clinical experience?

Lastly, what is your experience with the administration and faculty members? Were they cooperative and understanding? Were they easy to communicate with? Are the faculty members available for help out of class?

If you or anyone graduated from St. Christopher, was it difficult to obtain a US residency? Were these residency spots competitive? Or were most matched for family medicine?

Thank you.

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[robin1]

Maybe I am missing something, but the answers to all of these questions seem like the kind of information that the school itself should be providing you with. Besides just these various facts and figures that all US IMG schools usually provide (often on their website) they should also be willing to put you into direct contact with a current or former student.

But bear a couple of things in mind:

1) Remember that all of the off-shore schools are for-profit businesses. This means that as a potential 'customer' (so to speak) you have the right to good service, access to the information you need and perhaps most importantly, immediate help or clarification of any issues you may have.

2) Don't forget that like most other businesses these schools will usually over-exaggerate every postive aspect of the program while overlooking the possible faults or problems that occur with just about every off-shore school. Basically just remember that these schools are trying to sell themselves, so when you're speaking to the school's recruitment official keep in mind that he's practically giving you an advertisement for his school. Don't believe everything you hear.

3) Personally I don't know how much talking to current students will help anyone in your position because I doubt most students are willing to admit to themselves, let alone anyone else, the really serious problems or issues that may be occuring in the school they chose. If you contact five students from five different schools each person will give you a list of great things about their school and an equally long list of terrible things about other schools.

4) Try to ignore the argument that revolves around "my school has transfers from your school so we must be better." This is a poor argument and means nothing. 'Transfers' can mean people who genuinely left one school and chose another or it can be a deceptive way of describing a student who failed out of one off-shore school and was then let into another. Either way, the admsissions office isn't going to tell you, or the other students studying there, about letting in students who have flunked out elsewhere so it's really a useless point to make. Besides, what decent US university do you know of that attempts to bolster it's own image by naming the other schools that students transfered from?

5) Most importantly, make sure that the head office is responsive to your concerns and questions. You are going to need this office when applying for USMLE's, arranging interviews, and applying for residencies. If they can't pick up the phone and talk to or help someone who is willing to pay them thousands of dollars, then why should you believe they will help you four or five years from now when they've already gotten all of your cash.

In the end the choice is yours, but I think it's better you do the research for yourself so that in the end you are convinced the decision was right. Don't rely on others to make the decision easier for you because it is supposed to be a hard choice to make.

 

[neilc]

amen to the previous post...go where you want to go, listen to many sources and make up your own mind.

and asking only current students or grads and no one else is asking for trouble. i think that any advice or information that you recieve, regardless of the source, could be important. so, listen with one ear to everything and evaluate everything you hear and read on your own. then, decide where is best for you, go there and do well. simple.

my 2 cents is that the students at st chris that i have heard seem very happy with the school. the only things i can see as problems are 1. new school, no history of placement/test results and 2. operating outside the country of charter. the second point is prob. only a problem in very strict states.

good luck! wherever you decide to go, the level of your success is only determined by you!

 

[NeedtoKnow]

Thank You!