Seriously Confused...

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F#&$#^&&@theMCAT

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Hey everyone. Why does everyone advice not to go to Caribbean Medical Schools. I have been doing a lot a lot of research (online, calling admissions, talking to current students and alumni) and many have said they love it and have not experienced any issues with getting into residency. And btw the caribbean schools im talking about are (SGU, ROSS, AUC). Is going to any one of these three medical schools that bad?? The facts on each of their sites regarding pass rates, residency placements, etc. dont seem that bad. Im starting to notice a lot of doctors that come from SGU and ROSS.

Whats everyone thoughts?
 
I feel like SDN is exaggerating things,though! I mean clearly US med school is obviously better lol, but i just feel if that person couldnt get in and if he/she really wants it theyll get it. I am just saying this because I know handful of people who have gone and have become successful. To be clear though, I am not applying just curious.
 
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F#&$#^&&@theMCAT said:
I feel like SDN is exaggerating things,though! I mean clearly US med school is obviously better lol, but i just feel if that person couldnt get in and if he/she really wants it theyll get it. To each their own.
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But that same person didn't "really want it" bad enough to do well and get into a US med school in the first place? Sorry, definitely not buying it.

Nobody can stop you from going Carib, but don't say you weren't warned. And don't kid yourself into thinking you can "just try super duper hard" and get a 250+ Step 1 score when it comes time for that.
 
Glandzburg said:
But that same person didn't "really want it" bad enough to do well and get into a US med school in the first place? Sorry, definitely not buying it.

Nobody can stop you from going Carib, but don't say you weren't warned. And don't kid yourself into thinking you can "just try super duper hard" and get a 250+ Step 1 score when it comes time for that.
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ill attribute this response to your ignorance. Everyone has a different story. That is all.
 
This wasnt meant to be a thread to bash the Carib. Med schools? I was just curious why so many neg. are said about them as if they cant even place one of their students in a match. By looking at SGU and ROSS Residency placement list, seems like med students are being placed in a spot.
 
F#&$#^&&@theMCAT said:
This wasnt meant to be a thread to bash the Carib. Med schools? I was just curious why so many neg. are said about them as if they cant even place one of their students in a match. By looking at SGU and ROSS Residency placement list, seems like med students are being placed in a spot.
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Did you even read the thread or search old SDN posts like people told you to? All your questions have been answered literally dozens of times on this forum alone.
 
F#&$#^&&@theMCAT said:
This wasnt meant to be a thread to bash the Carib. Med schools? I was just curious why so many neg. are said about them as if they cant even place one of their students in a match. By looking at SGU and ROSS Residency placement list, seems like med students are being placed in a spot.
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When you're gambling $250,000 of debt with a ~40-50% chance of being able to practice medicine, and often not in your desired specialty, you can see why people don't take the Caribbean's atrocious match rates lightly.
 
DrShephardWannabe said:
When you're gambling $250,000 of debt with a ~40-50% chance of being able to practice medicine, and often not in your desired specialty, you can see why people don't take the Caribbean's atrocious match rates lightly.
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I respect your answer. Thank You. Interesting stat, the admission advisor I spoke with from ROSS says 86% of first time application get matched. Could this be true?
 
A number of new DO schools are opening up. I was thinking of Carib as well, but unfortunately the statistic that just 50% or so get matched is all too real. I am going for DO.
 
F#&$#^&&@theMCAT said:
ill attribute this response to your ignorance. Everyone has a different story. That is all.
Click to expand...
And I'll attribute the creation of this thread to your ignorance. Seriously, use the search function. And you very clearly did not read the page I linked you to if you think that you can trust the ROSS admissions advisors.

Carib schools are FOR PROFIT... of course they are going to skew their stats to take your money.
 
Glandzburg said:
And I'll attribute the creation of this thread to your ignorance. Seriously, use the search function. And you very clearly did not read the page I linked you to if you think that you can trust the ROSS admissions advisors.

Carib schools are FOR PROFIT... of course they are going to skew their stats to take your money.
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I did read the page. it was a a bunch of side track convos.
 
boxer0011 said:
A number of new DO schools are opening up. I was thinking of Carib as well, but unfortunately the statistic that just 50% or so get matched is all too real. I am going for DO.
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Thank You! Do you know where i could find a list of those new schools opening?
 
Simple explanation. He's lying!

F#&$#^&&@theMCAT said:
I respect your answer. Thank You. Interesting stat, the admission advisor I spoke with from ROSS says 86% of first time application get matched. Could this be true?
Click to expand...

Pay attention:
High attrition rates
~50% [at best] chance of matching (and this will go down over time)
IF you match, it won't be into your first choice
IF you match, it will be into a crummy residency.

If Ross and the other carib schools were on the US mainland, they'd be shut down by the accreditors. They engage in, in a word, educational malpractice.

If this doesn't dissuade you, then by all means go there. You've been warned.
 
LOL OKAY EVERYONE! WOW A simple question, not like im disagreeing with everyone....positive energy everyone! good luck to everyone and their future endeavors. To everyone's success.
 
F#&$#^&&@theMCAT said:
LOL OKAY EVERYONE! WOW A simple question, not like im disagreeing with everyone....positive energy everyone! good luck to everyone and their future endeavors. To everyone's success.
Click to expand...

I think Goro gave you a very fair answer. All you are really going to get out of this thread is more repetition, but in the interest of me being bored I'll throw in my 2 cents.

1. The most obvious problem is that residency directors will look down on Carib students, which reflects in the match. The match rate is sub 50% from what I remember, and that 50% are going to be the most remote and toxic residencies in the nation. So even if you are lucky you still lose.
2. I know you dont want to hear this, but there is no reason to currently think you can get through medical school/pass step. Let me just say that step is significantly more challenging than the MCAT, and I don't I think it's reasonable to think you will get a 240+ step without getting an mcat good enough for us schools.
3. The Carib is so expensive both in tuition and cost of living. with no guarantee of future salary, this seems like an unreasonable risk. What in the world would you do if you dropped out with 300k in debt?
4. The last and I think the best reason to not go Carib is that you have such a good alternative in do schools. They aren't that competitive and they allow grade replacement. This means if you put the time in now, you can avoid any of the risks of the Carib and guarantee you will be a doctor. This option is enormously better than Carib, and I think it would be foolish to choose the latter.

Sorry for any spelling errors this was typed on my phone
 
I'm on my phone and it's hard to search, but a while back there was a post I made which quoted a poster on here several years ago saying something to the effect of "why would I waste 2 years trying to salvage my grades for DO school when I can go Caribbean?" contrasted with a thread he had just started basically extolling all his terrible trials and tribulations/failures as a Caribbean student trying to match.

It was pretty hilarious.

Edit: found it, although the poster (samuelp) went back and edited his original (and, in retrospect, inadvertently hilarious) post.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/extremely-disappointed-in-my-match.1061335/#post-15045953
 
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OP, @sliceofbread136 is right. If you can't succeed on the MCAT (which I'll assume based on your username) then US schools are doing you a favor in not letting you in. What makes you believe you're prepared for or capable of handling medical school and ITS standardized tests if you can't perform on the easier one you're currently facing?
 
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