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forget it!!!!!!!!!!!! too hot to talk about SMU
St. Matthew's University
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I actually applied to SMU along with SGU, Ross, AUC and Saba. SMU is not a bad school, they are graduating some very good physicans and the USMLE step 1 scores seem to be on there way up. The only real drawback as you mentioned is that they are not approved in some states yet. For me it wouldn't have mattered because my home state approved SMU. I chose Saba for basically 2 reasons, best step 1 scores of any caribbean school (even SGU). Then it was the cost of tuition, I pay less than 8K a semester whereas SGU is almost 22K and I think SMU is around 12K plus a very high cost of living in the Cayman Islands. You have to really look at all the factors when choosing a school because each one has it's own pluses and minuses.
1) Step 1 scores
2) State approval
3) Cost of tuition
4) Cost of living
4) Living conditions
1) Step 1 scores
2) State approval
3) Cost of tuition
4) Cost of living
4) Living conditions
I just finished basic sciences at SMU and I can tell you that I have no regrets thus far. I left AUC by choice to transfer to SMU and it has been a good move for me. The issue of state licensure is a little different than what it looks like. California did not approve SMU it's first time out and if you look at the report it had nothing to so with the quality of the education but more with the fact that the school was young and needed to improve on some administrative things like tracking graduates better, purchasing a building instead of leasing, having the vet school in a seperate building etc. Some states use California as a guide line for licensing graduates so SMU is on a case by case basis in those. Kansas I believe will not license anyone who attends a school less than 15 years old so this says nothing about the quality of SMU just that the school is too new. Texas is a case by case basis just like for every other Caribbean school other than Ross. Indianna I am not sure about but the school has a couple students doing rotations in the state so who knows what is going on there.
The tuiton at SMU is $8900 as of this semester which is an increase of 1000 so it is still much cheaper than Ross SGU and AUC. What makes SMU better in my eyes than some others is the living conditions which may or may not matter to some but it did to me.
Not every school is for every person so it pays to visit each school and spend time talking to students outside the school to see what is really going on and what is "said to be coming in the future". Make your own decision based on where you feel comfortable because no matter what anyone says if you can't get settled in you will never be able to put the mental effort in needed to do well in your classes.
Good luck
The tuiton at SMU is $8900 as of this semester which is an increase of 1000 so it is still much cheaper than Ross SGU and AUC. What makes SMU better in my eyes than some others is the living conditions which may or may not matter to some but it did to me.
Not every school is for every person so it pays to visit each school and spend time talking to students outside the school to see what is really going on and what is "said to be coming in the future". Make your own decision based on where you feel comfortable because no matter what anyone says if you can't get settled in you will never be able to put the mental effort in needed to do well in your classes.
Good luck
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Oldpro, last week i asked you a question about residency in NY for St James' students. This is what someone posted onVMD about residency in NY
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if you would like to jeapordize your medical career and possibly get sued by the New York board of education..then apply for residency in NY..i dont mean to hate..but it is a FACT that if the school is nto approved by New York state then you cannot do residency there, however, you MAY do residency in another state, and then transfer over..One possible reason a St. James grad may be doing residency in NY is because individual residency programs most times dont concern themselves with state regulations..state regulations are enforced when it comes time for licensing..and 100 percent i guarantee that any Non-NY approved school graduate doing residency in NY state without approval will have trouble later on..big big trouble..Now I know many st. james students are going to jump down my throat right now, but listen..im just trying to inform you guys..be very very careful..this is not taken lightly..i have a friend from hungary that exceeded 12 weeks of rotations in NY by 3 weeks only before they were approved for extended rotations, and had a law suit brought up against him..and remember..its is NOT retrospective..so if you start residency without approval in NY state, and later get approval, only time completed AFTER approval is valid.you can call up the New york state board of education for further questions but i have done extensive research into the subject..good luck..and please..if you are going to respond hastily..dont bother..im just trying to inform you guys of the real deal..many people get territorial..this is not meant for those people..
VMD.
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if you would like to jeapordize your medical career and possibly get sued by the New York board of education..then apply for residency in NY..i dont mean to hate..but it is a FACT that if the school is nto approved by New York state then you cannot do residency there, however, you MAY do residency in another state, and then transfer over..One possible reason a St. James grad may be doing residency in NY is because individual residency programs most times dont concern themselves with state regulations..state regulations are enforced when it comes time for licensing..and 100 percent i guarantee that any Non-NY approved school graduate doing residency in NY state without approval will have trouble later on..big big trouble..Now I know many st. james students are going to jump down my throat right now, but listen..im just trying to inform you guys..be very very careful..this is not taken lightly..i have a friend from hungary that exceeded 12 weeks of rotations in NY by 3 weeks only before they were approved for extended rotations, and had a law suit brought up against him..and remember..its is NOT retrospective..so if you start residency without approval in NY state, and later get approval, only time completed AFTER approval is valid.you can call up the New york state board of education for further questions but i have done extensive research into the subject..good luck..and please..if you are going to respond hastily..dont bother..im just trying to inform you guys of the real deal..many people get territorial..this is not meant for those people..
VMD.
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So what? Did they post any proof of problems? HUH? St. James does have a grad in residency right now in NY and NY will visit the school.
Why believe what is posted without proof? If the hard proof is shown to me then I believe it. SO go ahead and say anything but it means nothing without proof. I post the truth about SMU if its not then you prove it wrong, I will not post what is proven wrong.
BTW in case you have not noticed this is not VMD and the poster is not a SJSM student.
AND SJSMS off topic, this is a thread about SMU but to take away the focus is a good ploy
Also a student here posted you can do a residency in Texas from SMU? SJSM is not banned by any state none, SMU is by Texas, so whos telling the truth? I'm not bashing but after the St. Chris disaster I see a need for people to know the truth. I have friends who went to St. Chris and one by one the states are banning them from practice, Why is this not a concern for those of you at SMU? 8 states is a lot I think.
So what? Did they post any proof of problems? HUH? St. James does have a grad in residency right now in NY and NY will visit the school.
Why believe what is posted without proof? If the hard proof is shown to me then I believe it. SO go ahead and say anything but it means nothing without proof. I post the truth about SMU if its not then you prove it wrong, I will not post what is proven wrong.
BTW in case you have not noticed this is not VMD and the poster is not a SJSM student.
AND SJSMS off topic, this is a thread about SMU but to take away the focus is a good ploy
Also a student here posted you can do a residency in Texas from SMU? SJSM is not banned by any state none, SMU is by Texas, so whos telling the truth? I'm not bashing but after the St. Chris disaster I see a need for people to know the truth. I have friends who went to St. Chris and one by one the states are banning them from practice, Why is this not a concern for those of you at SMU? 8 states is a lot I think.
Why do you have to be upset.? i know this thread is not about St James, but i saw other peolpe asked you questions about St James and you didn't tell them, they were off topic. Why don't you let smu students deal with that. I am just tried to find some answers about my friend. Also i saw MUA- nevis on the list and many people think it is a good school. Not seeing your school name on the list that doen't mean that you can practice there or your school is better. For example i don't see St james or other schools on the California list that means you can practice there.
If i will have to make a choice i don't think i will neither pick SMU or St James as a back up. But if i have a plan c, i will go with SMU because i from NY and my parents live in FL.
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I'm not upset, you post something by someone who is going to a school in Poland who is a student, who does not really know, I don't know for sure myself, I would not say that SJMS is ok for NY either, except for final License. But you are not PM'ing me and this seems odd that you ask then post this stuff, I remember before it seemed like you are trying to defend SMU in some strange way? I do not defend the School I go to, but I'm glad for the effort they put in to not end up as other schools.
AUA is a much better school than SMU if you can't go to MUA N. Both AUA and MUA N. have NY, ONLY 4 of the Caribbean schools have the California approval, but California does not look at listing of Caribbean schools and just add a school to the Disapproved list there is a reason SMU is on that list, but please go there and spend 190K and then if end up with not being able to practice in states you want to then don't come crying to us. We warned you just as the St. Chris people were warned for years before they imploded.
I'm not upset, you post something by someone who is going to a school in Poland who is a student, who does not really know, I don't know for sure myself, I would not say that SJMS is ok for NY either, except for final License. But you are not PM'ing me and this seems odd that you ask then post this stuff, I remember before it seemed like you are trying to defend SMU in some strange way? I do not defend the School I go to, but I'm glad for the effort they put in to not end up as other schools.
AUA is a much better school than SMU if you can't go to MUA N. Both AUA and MUA N. have NY, ONLY 4 of the Caribbean schools have the California approval, but California does not look at listing of Caribbean schools and just add a school to the Disapproved list there is a reason SMU is on that list, but please go there and spend 190K and then if end up with not being able to practice in states you want to then don't come crying to us. We warned you just as the St. Chris people were warned for years before they imploded.
The funny thing is i got accepted at MUA nevis for January as my back up school and i turned them down. Thanks for your information.
One last thing, I would like to know when people said a school is better than another school, what are the points that make them draw that conclusion.
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I think all these schools have good and bad. The school I'm at was my choice for many reasons, one was financial and loans. Even though I thought the school is good enough to get me to FP I do think the Big 4 are much better and that other schools have some advantages over the school I'm at like NY approval, if SJMS gets the approval for NY then they will be equal with AUA and MUA N. In my view, but they do not have it yet. When a school has major problems and you know it then it should be posted for others, But no cheerleading allowed I think.
No I do not think everyone should go to SJMS but it may be right for some. Thats why I post the other schools too, its only fair to see they are good schools too.
I really do not like what's happened to SMU its scarry. SO many are willing to risk so much
Oldpro....
If you look at what I wrote I said I had no regrets I didn't get on the propaganda bandwagon saying that I thought the school was great or any such statement. I think the school has done some good things in the short time it has been open and I think there are a lot of changes that can still be made to make it better. I have posted many places many different times stating that not every school is right for every person and that everyone should visit the schools and talk to a wide variety of students and faculty before making the choice of what school to attend. There is a lot more to the California issue than gets talked about anywhere on the boards so it is hard to say where that issue will end up so if California or any of the states that use California as a reference are important to you then the only choice is AUC,SGU,Ross and Saba for Caribbean schools. What I do know is I have read the California report and it isn't a highly negative document. It does state that the board felt the quality of education was good and the major issues they had were basically administrative as I posted before so I am hoping that in the near future when California revists the approval issue that SMU will pass and all these posting will be non issue.
Good luck to you in your future
If you look at what I wrote I said I had no regrets I didn't get on the propaganda bandwagon saying that I thought the school was great or any such statement. I think the school has done some good things in the short time it has been open and I think there are a lot of changes that can still be made to make it better. I have posted many places many different times stating that not every school is right for every person and that everyone should visit the schools and talk to a wide variety of students and faculty before making the choice of what school to attend. There is a lot more to the California issue than gets talked about anywhere on the boards so it is hard to say where that issue will end up so if California or any of the states that use California as a reference are important to you then the only choice is AUC,SGU,Ross and Saba for Caribbean schools. What I do know is I have read the California report and it isn't a highly negative document. It does state that the board felt the quality of education was good and the major issues they had were basically administrative as I posted before so I am hoping that in the near future when California revists the approval issue that SMU will pass and all these posting will be non issue.
Good luck to you in your future
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A couple of things: The Administration of the school is vital, most of the professors out there are fine or great. Most students are OK or great but the admin has great responsability to run the school properly and thats what California shows , that there is great pause in how admin runs the school.
You had posted that Texas is case by case, that is not true and gives hope to some unsuspecting student. The school is listed as Unapproved right on the Texas web site.
The adminisration of the former St. CHris also had major problems while the teaching was good, but those problems lead to bans and eventualy the school melted down.
That is what I worry about in this case, there is no one that can dispute this stuff, student or prospective student or grad, SMU has to prove itself by actions not defense.
I feel that my education is good also, but thats just a students perspective you have to learn the difference between emotions and facts, I feel is not a fact, a list that bans the school is fact.
Good luck to you. ( do not take this personally too many do)
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I have decided to lighten up, I may be too hard after watching friends have such a hard time with St. Chris. I think we all need to be careful of any Caribbean school, the Big 4 are much safer as far as that goes, please do not be so easily lead.
Pro..........
Pro..........
My opinion about being prepared has changed after yesterday's NBME exams we took. Those from my semester are unique in the fact that we had one bad prof get fired every semester for the last 3 that I know of for sure. So we knew we had a deficit to make up for but I think many didn't realize how big the problem was until yesterday.
I knew that in the past teachers had been fired for failing to do a good job in the classes they were teaching. I also know that the new professors that have been hired are great. I have talked to students in semester behind me to get an impression in how they feel they are being prepared after they have taken the shelf exams and most say that the new profs are doing a great job. My semester had a hard time with several very bad professors and if you look at pasts posts you will see have I have been very verbal about this but problems in the past do not have anything to do with what is going on right now. I think the school overall for a starting student is pretty good. You won't find a school that allows the students to have as much input as SMU does.
The schools is growing and with that comes growing pains and I think I happened to fall into that semester that had the worst of the growing pains so both posts are true with how I feel things are at the school. My semester is having a very hard time but the ones following should get better with each group that follows. Plus the Maimi program is brand new and again we are the guinea pig semester so we have a lot of hurdles here too.
All said Old Pro I am not posting to different views depending on where I am posting I am posting about how the school is doing now which I think is much better comapred to how my semester is affected by what happened in the past. I also don't think you are hard on the school I think you post what you feel and everyone is entitled to an opinion!! I am not fighting with you about any of this just giving another opinion/point of view!
Sorry for the confusion if there was any!!
Good luck to you
I knew that in the past teachers had been fired for failing to do a good job in the classes they were teaching. I also know that the new professors that have been hired are great. I have talked to students in semester behind me to get an impression in how they feel they are being prepared after they have taken the shelf exams and most say that the new profs are doing a great job. My semester had a hard time with several very bad professors and if you look at pasts posts you will see have I have been very verbal about this but problems in the past do not have anything to do with what is going on right now. I think the school overall for a starting student is pretty good. You won't find a school that allows the students to have as much input as SMU does.
The schools is growing and with that comes growing pains and I think I happened to fall into that semester that had the worst of the growing pains so both posts are true with how I feel things are at the school. My semester is having a very hard time but the ones following should get better with each group that follows. Plus the Maimi program is brand new and again we are the guinea pig semester so we have a lot of hurdles here too.
All said Old Pro I am not posting to different views depending on where I am posting I am posting about how the school is doing now which I think is much better comapred to how my semester is affected by what happened in the past. I also don't think you are hard on the school I think you post what you feel and everyone is entitled to an opinion!! I am not fighting with you about any of this just giving another opinion/point of view!
Sorry for the confusion if there was any!!
Good luck to you
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I'm a 4th semester at SMU, and I hate SMU! I am applying now to transfer to AUA or Sint Eustatius. They regulate what you say on valuecrap, and the moderators help them ban people from that site. You are not allowed to express yourself on that "open public forum" because the carib schools pay valuemcrap. The president of SMU asked me repeatedly not to post on valuemcrap. What the heck is this guy talking to me about an "open public forum" for anyway. It is none of SMU's business what I post. I will post whatever I want whenever I want. I am an American, and I have the right to freedom of speech. SMU will take action against you if you do not do what they tell you. They became very nasty with me, when I continued to post, and I feel they certainly did what they could to get me banned from valumcrap. I never have liked the owner, president or some of the admisitration of SMU. They are extremely misleading in my opinion. Most of the classmates I have talked with do not like SMU and do not trust it. I have heard quite a few students are leaving, or are going to leave after step 1. This is nothing unusual; look at how few people they actually graduate. They have been around for a long time. People say they are a young school. Bull! They were at another location, and now they have been on cayman for years. They still produce very few residents or practicing physcians. Look at their residency stats. Notice something. They never post the position, name, specialty and year together. That is because they are sooo deceptive. They have nothing worth posting. Look at how all the other legitimate med schools post their residency positions. You know exactloy who did what and when. SMU is so crooked. I would not trust them as far as I could throw them. Most of my classmates do not say anything because they do not want to get into trouble with the school. I hate SMU, and I could care less. Kick me out, they will be doing me a huge favor!
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THIS KID HAS BEEN POSTING ALL OVER,,,WARNING YOU COULD BE SUED BASED ON THESE POSTINGS FOR DEFAMATION AND SLANDER JUST HELPING YOU AND YOUR PARENTS AVOID A LOT OF ANGUISH AND FINANCIAL PAINS I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT YOURE GETTING YOURSELF INTO,,,TAKE CARE
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WOW really? So no opinions?
A
asif7083
WOW really? So no opinions?
I guess not.
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Two words: public forum. We have the right to express our opinions. Please sue me. Until then, I will continue to bash SMU. Have a nice day.
hi. I just got accepted to SMU. I'm concerned as far as rotations, residencies, and even practice in the U.S. is going to be like. I know that SMU is fully accredited but I am concerned about practice. Can you practice in every state except for California? What about Texas?
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Teee...
I don't know if you're aware of this but SGU offers clinical rotations in the UK as well as the US. Also, unlike SMU, grads from SGU can practice in all 50 states. So if you go to SGU, you can have your cake and eat it too.
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dont you guys have anything better to do than talk about SMU when you dont even go there? ....geez why dont you use all this time that you waste finding links to medical boards and study for your step exam...just my 2 cents
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Don't you have anything better to do than criticize how the rest of us spend our time? Why don't you go use all this time that you waste criticizing the rest of us and study for your Step exam?
People come on this forum asking for advice. Some of us might not go to SMU, but from forums like value MD, we run across info on it that might be useful. We just share that info with the people asking for advice.
Oh, and by the way, I already passed my Step exam.
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Old Pro, AUA??? I acutally know people who goes to school there and trying to get out because of difficulties with residency placements. Did you see AUA's match list? It's not as long as SMUs.
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Being a grad from SMU I have thought about this topic a little. The states mentioned could actually be practiced in if one were in the military; not the greatest of options, but you could practice in Cali if in the Navy, for instance, as long as you have a license from some US state. Again, maybe not for everyone, but there are ways around it. I don't know if the USPHS would be similar, or the VA, but those may be options to consider.
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Hi djsmooth. I inquired about joining the military's medical scholarship program and they still require you to be a US medical student/graduate. This has nothing to do with the Cali issue, but it's difficult to join the army if they know that your are not a medical student from the "big four," even if you're a US citizen. I guess what you mean by joining the army is that before you got into med school?
