St.Kitts or Nevis??

[mjoll]

I plan to start school in Jan.2001 at either IUHS on St.Kitts or Medical University of the Americas on Nevis.Does anyone have any information on these new schools or any advice on problem based learning vs. traditional curriculum?

Thanks for any input.

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[girlMD2be]

I would contact the state board for medical licensing in the state you intend to practice medicine in before you make a decision on any foreign school. Find out from them if the schools you are interested in are approved by them. Also, find out what your state requires for foreign grads to get licensing. For instance, some states will not allow a foreign grad to get licensed there if they did ANY of their clinical rotations in that state. Also, doing clinicals in ACGME approved facilities can be crucial in obtaining licensing. Make sure the school you chose has ACGME approved clinical sites. I don't know anything about Nevis, but I did look into IUHS a while back. I was not impressed with what their admissions folks had to say; a lot of "double talk" and general evasiveness in response to my questions. Finding out that they were not recognized by California as an approved program finalized my decision to not apply. Of course things may have changed recently, it was some months ago that I spoke with them. I decided to stick with schools that have been around a long time and have proven track records for getting students back to the USA to practice medicine. I am curious to know why you are looking at these two programs. What attracted you to them? What sort of factors are important to you in choosing a school?

 

[mjoll]

Thanks for the advice! I will contact my state's licensing board about requirements for FMG's license to practice and find out if the clinical sites are certified as well.

The reason I am looking at IUHS is because they offer problem based learning and have several clinical sites in my home state. You can also finish your M.D. degree in less time through the year-round program. As for Nevis, they are affiliated with Saba School of Medicine,which has a good track record of graduates in the U.S. and the tuition is much more reasonable than the other schools I have researched.
The factors that are important to me :
1. quality education/USMLE preparation
2. reasonable tuition
3. quality clinical rotations that will enable me to enter a good residency program
4. Good student support from school in returning to the U.S. for clinicals,boards,licensing,etc....

 

[girlMD2be]

You may want to visit the Guide to Foreign Medical School board on the Network54 web site. It has listings of lots of foreign schools and you may be able to hook up with folks who have first hand experience with the schools you are looking at. A lot of info is discussed on the general board about licensing, rotations, etc... really anything pertaining to the foreign route. SGU has problem based learning but they are really expensive as compared to some of the other schools. I think you are going about things the right way. If you are thorough in your research of schools you are interested you should be ok. Good luck!