All students got the letter. I have a copy of it but I don't know the legality of sharing it here.
So, GMDC is currently applying for WFME recognition, which is a requirement to be ECFMG eligible starting in 2024 but seeing as how they haven't been granted it yet and could very well be rejected; I think SGU should be completely avoided until after GMDC gains recognition. Feel bad for people that just started as they will be SOL if they don't get this accreditation and recognition.
Are you saying that the quality of SGU has gone down and they are saying that they are withdrawing CAAM-HP accreditation when in reality they were in jeopardy of losing the accreditation in the first place?
I can't comment on whether the quality is down or not but I don't buy the reason for their CAAM-HP withdrawal to be only due to it being a secondary accreditation. Itis pretty telling though.
You know 2020 was a bad year when SGU is losing accreditation lol.
Yes and no. It means if you are applying for ECFMG certification before 2024 then you should be fine but if you are at SGU right now or planning to attend in the immediate future while the accreditation with GMDC is still outstanding, you will be paying for a worthless degree....yeah, SOL is about right.
This is actually massive. If you read the report, it says that at the time of voluntary withdrawal SGU had been placed on probation. Some behind the scenes BS going on with them and their admin will definitely try to sweep it under the rug. Hedging all their bets on the recognition of a mostly no name accrediting body to become ECFMG eligible is rather dicey especially since they recently got billions of cash influx a couple years ago from a Chinese company.
Seems like OP was right. This is a major change.
Yeah, i saw that. That's crazy. There is probably shady stuff going on and why they probably withdrew so they don't get denied accreditation.
Current students applying before 2024 will be okay. Afterwards itll be a random gamble. Current students that will apply to reosneecy before 2024 should be okay but all the new students will be SOL.
Yeah that's what i assumed too esp since rn you could take the step and apply for the match w/o ECFMG. The only thing is you just need to get certified by them before starting from what I know. Looks like SGU might drop from the Big 3 (and even big 5 if we were to include aua and saba). I think it's incredibly dangerous to go to SGU now and the cost of it doesn't even justify for the name if they lose their accreditation status.
Wouldnt your buddy who just been accepted be class of 2025? Doesn't that affect him? To be class of 2024, i think you have to have started at least 6 months ago.
Hi, I don't believe you read through this whole thread but it says "my buddy" decided not to attend SGU so no, this does not affect him
I am an SGU alumnus and I have a daughter who is a freshman at SGU. SGU does have GMDC accreditation which is approved by the US Department of Education for loans.
OK thank you. I will tell my friend to not NOT go now.
Thank you for jumping in and clearing this up. I was expecting a school admin to jump on here and make a post but looks like you've beaten 'em to the punch.
There might be no reason but there is also no guarantee. We are often being told carib is a gamble but most of that gamble relies on yourself. Now you are relying on GMDC to gain accreditation which you have no power to sway. Regardless, it is still a heightened risk and if someone is dead set on SGU I'd recommend they at least wait for this recognition to be granted first.
This is true, however, they have been accredited with conditions for years now when subpar schools are able to get full accreditation. Also, per the report, they were put on probation as of their last visit prior to voluntarily withdrawing their accreditation with CAAM-HP.
Do you think there could be a conflict of interest with them seeking accredition from GMDC specifically since SGU has a lot of ties to the country?
Except you're missing the fact that they withdrew as they were put on probation by CAAM-HP. It isn't like there was no problem and they were like "well might as well drop this long-standing accrediting body in favor of a no name one that hasn't gotten approval yet."
Eh, they might be able to skid by easier but the problem isn't getting GMDC accreditation, it's GMDC getting WDME approval so the accreditation actually means something.
I agree. They would not bother with this had there not been an issue with CAAM-HP.
How is that the case if their students can't sit for STEP?
The ECFMG changes take affect in 2024 that's why.
I'm not an SGU student so I really don't have a dog in this fight, so to say. However, timelines matter and students can't just write USMLE exams whenever they feel ready (whether they have completed 2 years of medical school or not). From what I understand, most schools (if not all) grant their students permission to write the USMLE exams. This involves writing comp (and passing it), being up to date with fees /tuition, and being done at least the basic science component. From what I've observed, students take a lot longer than they anticipate to qualify to write Step. If you repeat a semester, fail comp once/twice/three times, or fail the Step itself, you may run out of time in terms of accreditation. I'm not saying that will happen with SGU, but at some point the timeline could get dicey. I imagine SGU has explored the pros and cons of what they chose to do, but Caribbean schools are already a risky choice, so there's a real concern when something comes up that makes them even riskier.
The info I provided is relevant to ANY foreign med school. Regardless of my reason to look into it. Just wanted to be helpful and to share. What you said about contacting ECFMG so I can support SGU on SDN in my spare time is incorrect and rude.
Israel and other countries, even the UK accreditation body don't have it yet but that is comparing apples to oranges. Grenada is a small country without the resources or track record to assume the will be recognized and accepted. Also, bringing up the fact that current students can apply before 2024 is moot point. Even if incoming students get the ECFMG requirement, starting in 2022 they won't be able to seeing as how they won't sit for the step exams in time so the best they've done is delay the dilemma for another year.
Pretty sure you didn't read our entire thread. We mentioned that students who are already enrolled or will apply by 2024 will not be affected (as much). We're talking about those 2025 and later. Please re-read the thread carefully. The problem with the EU countries is that a lot of them don't really cater to the US as the caribbean med schools do. Most pre-meds don't really go to EU for med school in hopes to return back to the US/Canada later on. I think the popular ones are caribbean, australia ,etc.
The July 2017 CAAM report is vague but can give you some ideas.
That's crazy because SGU is known for having a huge clinical network. That's actually why a lot of people go there and not anywhere else.
If you want to share something helpful, then share something truthful. What you've written is riddled with inaccuracies. The sort of pseudo-truths that Caribbean students get fed a steady diet of until they learn otherwise. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you don't know any better, but what you wrote previously about what the ECFMG sent you in an email is not accurate. Feel free to send me a private message about the name of the person from the ECFMG that sent you that information. They are woefully misinformed, and if what you wrote is representative of what they told you, then they are culpable for you being misinformed as well. Not sure why they would send you that email? I've never gotten a reply like that. I guess you're special.
What do students need to know about SGU's situation right now? Give us a straight and to-the-point answer.
Only SGU knows what their situation really is. This whole thread is about speculating on what the ramifications will be going forward given various outcomes. I speculate that current SGU student will be fine. If SGU does not gain accreditation in some form (unlikely), and somehow a current student takes a very long time to progress through the program, then they (the student) may have an issue.
Do you have any insight into what could have caused them to drop the accreditation?
The school already has the Grenada accreditation but the roadblock would be WFME recognizing GMDC as a acceptable accrediting body for the 2024 changes given how like you said, it's only giving one accreditation and to a school the country relies on for a vast amount of their GDP. I wonder if/what the pushback will be b/c if they give Grenada recognition what's to stop all those Guyanese carib schools from just making up their own accreditation body since they routinely get denied by CAAM-HP.
SGU should be avoided at all costs no matter what. I went there for a few years. It was the worst school I’ve ever attended.
CAAM-HP charges for every visit and they are cash poor right now.... They don't even have the infrastructure for virtual-site visits during the pandemic and didn't have the funds to visit schools pre-pandemic. They haven't evaluated any schools in probably 2+ years....
Is this true? My daughter is about to start there. We are excited and don’t feel it is a secondary school. I went to USF COM years ago but with Covid etc SGU was a good choice for us. You have a positive review- what else can you add?
Hope you didn’t send your daughter to sgu over a US school because of covid reasons.
We were told that SGU dropped CAAM-HP because they were not inspecting new SGU hospitals within NCFMEA's required 12 month period and this was before the pandemic. SGU did not want to risk staying with CAAM-HP so they went back to the GMCA accrediting body under which they initially received NCFMEA accreditation and US Department of Education loans.
