This is kinda random but i think ross and sgu and maybe the other big two from the carib (can't remember what they are) should be considered valid medical schools because they definitely teach the same thing and have programs that mimic those in the US. The problem is that the students accepted from them have lower grades/MCAT right? WELL, we have to remember that being a doctor has nothing to do with any classes in undergrad. There are a few classes that help out for medschool and we know what those are but the bottom line is that you probably (i wouldn't know for sure because im not a doctor but this is just my common sense opinion) would NEVER look back to any undergrad coursework after becoming a doctor to come up with any sort of solution to a medical problem your facing. Granted, people that get into med school in the US probably deserved it with their hard work but we have to remember that some students coming into college had no direction, never applied themselves in school, and didn't know what they wanted to be (myself being one of them). There has to be a way for these students to still accomplish their dreams once they figure everything out even if they're grades to that point were low or whatever. I had a 2.7 for the first 70 credits of undergrad going for an accounting degree and then stepped it up the final two years to a 3.5 (still not knowing i would want to go into medicine) for a combined 2.9. Luckily for me i didn't go into a degree program that required the science classes for med school or i would've been screwed. Since doing the pre-med thing in fall 2007, i have a 3.9 gpa including all the required pre-med courses and a few others like anatomy, phys, genetics, cell bio, biochem, patho phys...even after all this, i probably will not make it into an MD program. Most MD programs will look at my overall GPA of 3.1 and not even look at anything else. The only reason it is so low is because i failed a number of classes my first year like "new student orientation, dance appreciation, math 0930 (-*- = +), humanities 1010, D in history and a number of C's from relatively easy classes. After looking at my upward grade trend years later I probably still won't get a chance even though i obviously didn't even try (2.7 GPA mentioned above is with grade replacement because i retook about 10 classes so it was really much lower than that). Im just saying that there has to be a way for students like me and sometimes the only alternative is a carib school. Im certain i can get into a DO here in the US because they practice grade replacement and all my bad grades were from so long ago, but what if i had taken all the science classes back when i had no direction?...I would've had to go the carib route and be considered inferior to any US doc even if i went through a better program and had better scores on all the major tests. I think the US should try to force out all non-US citizens from getting into residencies but leave room for the US born international graduates because most of them are every bit as smart and sophisticated as the US grads only they didn't get going on it until later on in they're college career. JUST MY OPINION.
