Top Caribbean Schools?

[LabMonster]

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From what I understand SGU and Ross are the big dogs, is that right?

My grades suck 2.77 BCPM and 3.07 GPA, decent MCAT 33Q, and I really don't want to burn another year before school doing an SMP - SO I am seriously considering these schools.

Is there a ranking of Caribbean schools somewhere?

 

[drmikey]

From what I understand SGU and Ross are the big dogs, is that right?

My grades suck 2.77 BCPM and 3.07 GPA, decent MCAT 33Q, and I really don't want to burn another year before school doing an SMP - SO I am seriously considering these schools.

Is there a ranking of Caribbean schools somewhere?

Nobody can tell you if you'll be admitted or not. I've known people who got into sgu with below 2.5 gpa, so the only way to find out if you'll get in is to apply. If you're looking for a ranking of caribbean schools, everyone will give you a different answer and it's going to be biased in a way. Some people think that Ross is horrible because they have problems with administration, setting up clinicals, and the location of the school. However, I just read somewhere that Ross graduated over 500 people this year. This should be your first clue that if you work hard you'll achieve succeess in the end. I have also visited Ross and it's definately not a pleasant place to live, but you're only there for about 16 months, and if you're serious about your education the island won't affect you that much. So in my opinion, sgu>ross>auc>saba. Some other schools to consider are st.matthews, mua-nevis, and maybe aua. But, these last three schools are still fairly new and I think it will probably take a few more years to see if it will become as well established as the first four schools listed.

And you're right, your grades do suck. Your mcat score is good, and I think you should go back to school for one more year taking 20 credits/semester (science classes). If you do really well in these classes you might have a good chance to get accepted into a u.s. school. The 20 cr semesters will also prepare you very well for medical school, and improve your time management.

 

[LabMonster]

Nobody can tell you if you'll be admitted or not. I've known people who got into sgu with below 2.5 gpa, so the only way to find out if you'll get in is to apply. If you're looking for a ranking of caribbean schools, everyone will give you a different answer and it's going to be biased in a way. Some people think that Ross is horrible because they have problems with administration, setting up clinicals, and the location of the school. However, I just read somewhere that Ross graduated over 500 people this year. This should be your first clue that if you work hard you'll achieve succeess in the end. I have also visited Ross and it's definately not a pleasant place to live, but you're only there for about 16 months, and if you're serious about your education the island won't affect you that much. So in my opinion, sgu>ross>auc>saba. Some other schools to consider are st.matthews, mua-nevis, and maybe aua. But, these last three schools are still fairly new and I think it will probably take a few more years to see if it will become as well established as the first four schools listed.

And you're right, your grades do suck. Your mcat score is good, and I think you should go back to school for one more year taking 20 credits/semester (science classes). If you do really well in these classes you might have a good chance to get accepted into a u.s. school. The 20 cr semesters will also prepare you very well for medical school, and improve your time management.

I'm sorry, time management? WTF

 

[FutureDocDO]

From what I understand SGU and Ross are the big dogs, is that right?

My grades suck 2.77 BCPM and 3.07 GPA, decent MCAT 33Q, and I really don't want to burn another year before school doing an SMP - SO I am seriously considering these schools.

Is there a ranking of Caribbean schools somewhere?

You could apply to DO schools. Unless, DO is out of the question for you.

 

[LabMonster]

You could apply to DO schools. Unless, DO is out of the question for you.

It's not out of the question - but I'm not sure how committed I am to the philosophy.

 

[RAD11]

I have the same issue. My pre-med advisor has been telling me to consider DO schools but I'm also not sure if I believe in the whole philosophy of "treating the whole person" and that is why I am also considering Caribbean schools.

 

[drmikey]

I'm sorry, time management? WTF

I don't know you so I don't know why your gpa is low. Are you not trying, are the courses to difficult for you, not enough time to study and prepare? There has to be some reason as to why your science gpa is so low, and whatever the reason is/are you need to fix it before you start medical school. In medical school one of the keys to succeess is good time management. I've seen a lot of people fail because they couldn't handle the amount of material there was to learn.

If everything else on your application is good and you can explain your low gpa, then you might have a good chance at a DO school. But you should do some research on DO schools, and then determine if that's the right choice for you.

 

[berkeleyboy]

I don't know you so I don't know why your gpa is low. Are you not trying, are the courses to difficult for you, not enough time to study and prepare? There has to be some reason as to why your science gpa is so low, and whatever the reason is/are you need to fix it before you start medical school. In medical school one of the keys to succeess is good time management. I've seen a lot of people fail because they couldn't handle the amount of material there was to learn.

If everything else on your application is good and you can explain your low gpa, then you might have a good chance at a DO school. But you should do some research on DO schools, and then determine if that's the right choice for you.

My undergrad gpa sucked too. AMCAS sci was like 2.6-2.7 and my overall was like a 3.0. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I didn't care about going to med school until my 4th year of college. By that time, my gpa was shot and there was nothing I could do. Just like this guy, my mcat was okay, 30P. Obviously this guy doesn't have a problem taking tests with a mcat of 33. When he prolly sits down and applies himself, he'll be good to go in med school.

 

[Learfan]

From what I understand SGU and Ross are the big dogs, is that right?

My grades suck 2.77 BCPM and 3.07 GPA, decent MCAT 33Q, and I really don't want to burn another year before school doing an SMP - SO I am seriously considering these schools.

Is there a ranking of Caribbean schools somewhere?

The big dogs in no particular order are St George, AUC and Ross in the first category with regard to quality of education, Saba in a second category and all of the other schools highly questionable. One can debate the order of the first three endlessly to no good effect. Just beware that living is relatively easy on Grenada (St George) and Sint Maarten (AUC) and relatively harder on Dominica (Ross). The first two islands are developed to a greater degree and offer more of the amenities that someone who has lived in the United States is likely to take for granted. Saba is on a very sparsely developed island and it appears to be quite dull. All of these places are expensive to live since many things must be imported. If you go to a school other than these four, you are taking on additional risk since residency program directors may be less familiar with them and be less willing to offer you a position.

If you would like more information, PM me.

 

[LabMonster]

I don't know you so I don't know why your gpa is low. Are you not trying, are the courses to difficult for you, not enough time to study and prepare? There has to be some reason as to why your science gpa is so low, and whatever the reason is/are you need to fix it before you start medical school. In medical school one of the keys to succeess is good time management. I've seen a lot of people fail because they couldn't handle the amount of material there was to learn.

If everything else on your application is good and you can explain your low gpa, then you might have a good chance at a DO school. But you should do some research on DO schools, and then determine if that's the right choice for you.

My Sophomore and Junior years before I transferred killed my GPA. Rather, I killed my GPA while I was concurrently killing brain cells. This was in 1995 and 1996.

Anyway, the last 6 semesters are fine - >3.5. Post bacc work completing physics and organic chem while working 60 hours a week is 3.79.

Thanks for the input all - my wife put the kibash on Caribbean schools - she thinks I should kleep the dream of US allo alive - I agree.

 

[dmitrinyr]

LabMonster,

As previous people mentioned, you did well on the mcat and that shows that you are a good enough test taker and if you apply yourself that you should do fine in medical school. Your grades aren't good but definitely not as bad as I've seen in caribbean medical schools. Grades in undergrad don't necessarily tell anything about the applicant and one has to examine the reason for those grades to really grasp the full potential of the applicant. A good friend of mine here in SGU had a horrible gpa in college (lower than yours) and did just as well as you on the mcat and now is getting A's in almost every class. So it's really all about applying yourself and the ammount of effort that you put into it.


Personally I think that SGU would take you with your numbers. I'd take you with your numbers. They just want to see that you can pass USMLE when you take it. That is what they care about. So they'd see your mcat score and your grades and probably say what I said, the "kid needs to apply himself and he'll probably be fine". Basically i think you have a good shot at getting into the top caribbean schools.

I hope this helped. If you have any questions about SGU feel free to PM me. I don't know everything but I will finish term 3 in two weeks and know a little about the "game".

good luck.