Hi everyone,
I am considering applying to SGU for the MD program. I've read old posts about the pros and cons of Grenada vs the UK program, however, I thought that some things might have changed since 2016, if any of you have done the UK program, would you please post some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing your first year in the UK? Also, what if you would like to do your second year in England as well? Can you do that?
Thank you in advance, any information will be appreciated.
In general, you should go to the program that will train you for the country in which you intend to practice. This goes without saying, but it's worth pondering as neither of those two options will do that if you want to practice in the U.S.
I will tell you as a former assistant program director for a very good program in the U.S. that there is a huge stigma for applicants coming out of the Caribbean. I did everything I could, and was able to get some of them interviews (I read all the letters, statements, ERAS etc) but the traditional U.S. trained faculty really did not want to rank them in the end. This amazed me since some of them did very well, had sky high scores and grades, and interviewed well. I would also bet their performance would have been better than some of the (few, I will stress) unmotivated U.S. graduates I had the responsibility for training in acute medical settings when I would sometimes wonder how they got there. Mostly, they coasted, and then they moved on. But that's another story...
In the end, most will go to community programs and lower tier state residency programs. Some of the best doctors I know trained in those places, and I am not making a statement -- I've worked as doc in rural hospitals where I was the only doctor and in some of the best academic places in the U.S. so I'm informed. It's a pattern I saw.
U.S. applicants coming out of British or Australian medical schools were generally better-received that Caribbean or osteopathic students. Not sure why that is since those systems are massively different from the U.S. and, unlike Caribbean students who have a good understanding of and 2 years of training in U.S. hospitals, I felt they were less clinically prepared.
In the end, as long as you match and practice it does not mattter where you trained and patients don't care. trust me -- I'm more than a decade out from training. I was average going in, I got through, and medicine is not rocket science. Physically and emotionally demanding, definitely, but hang in there if this is what you want to. do.
I wish you and everyone else on here every ounce of luck and favor I had.
