why are people in such a rush to get into medical school?

[docdonny]

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Out of curiosity I wonder what kind of services are available to caribbean students. Do they have things like academic counseling, psychological services, etc.?

Yes the better caribb. schools do. Whether of not students take advantage of this is another story

 

[docdonny]

I think most people would concede that.

I absolutely would concede that. I should have looked closer at the DO route, I admit that. It''s not like I was hung up over being an "MD" though

 

[ronaldo23]

I don't understand this risk assesment some people have. Sure, if you do an SMP you may drop another 40K, and if you apply two more cycles you still might not get in and drop another 5K. But if you go to a caribbean school, you may drop 200+K and flunk out, and then you are completely screwed. It's not uncommon to have 30-50% of first-year med students failing out. Considering SGU is the best of the best and still only 80% match into US residencies, it seems like doing an SMP/the lost income of 1-2 years is a far lesser risk than going to caribbean.

 

[docdonny]

I don't understand this risk assesment some people have. Sure, if you do an SMP you may drop another 40K, and if you apply two more cycles you still might not get in and drop another 5K. But if you go to a caribbean school, you may drop 200+K and flunk out, and then you are completely screwed. It's not uncommon to have 30-50% of first-year med students failing out. Considering SGU is the best of the best and still only 80% match into US residencies, it seems like doing an SMP/the lost income of 1-2 years is a far lesser risk than going to caribbean.

I hear what your saying and thats what I mean about knowing what kind of student you are. A lot of kids who come first semester fail out and should never have gone to medical school in the first place...under any circumstances. There are other students much like myself who are doing quite well and in a perfect world would have been accepted into a US school. YOu also cant look at the stats about 80% matching and take it a face value because a lot of factors go into that number. For example, some students are not even US citizens and need a visa to do a residency so they have another set of problems to worry about. It again really depends on what you want to do in medicine as well. If you wanna be a dermatologist or a a surgeon etc at a prestigious hospital then for goodness sake come to the Caribbean dont. But for the people (like myself) who want to go into a community IM program..i want to be a hospitalist I choose to go to Caribbean school than drop another 40k doing a SMP, retaking t he MCAT, shadowing, etc. If you look at the students at SGU who do well and study they match so it really all depends on who you are.

 

[docdonny]

it seems like doing an SMP/the lost income of 1-2 years is a far lesser risk than going to caribbean.

Also what do you mean be riskier? If your going to fail out at SGU it will be before you spend 200k going there. You will realize early on that this wont work out. Not saying theSMP route is a bad idea but I dont want to graduate medical school at 30 then start a residency that I dont finish until 35 and dont actually begin making money until im 40 in a speciality that makes less than others. Right now ill finish medical school at 26 and hopefully an IM residency by 30. Again really depends on what you wanna do when you look at how "risky" it is. Now supposed you do an SMP and dont get into med school. Your now down 45k and you have to go back to school to get a PhD if you want todo anything signifiant in science. You have to go get an MBA if you want to do anything significant in business so then you've wasted time and money.

 

[xSam]

Time is money.

 

[JmanDO]

A friend of mine has a stellar app, it's just that his MCAT is <30.
He's set on SGU next year and he said he'll do the first two years and then take his third year off to do work in an American hospital (instead of taking a year off after undergrad to reapply) and then pick things up-he says this is better because your shoes are already in the door and your year off is spent doing what you want to do (career-wise) and really shows res progs what you're passionate about (especially at the hospital you work with between your 3rd-4th year).

Does this make sense? I've been telling him not to rush and just up his score and he'd have a shot at a top tier but his culture says he can't and his logic doesn't sound bad actually.

 

[docdonny]

A friend of mine has a stellar app, it's just that his MCAT is <30.
He's set on SGU next year and he said he'll do the first two years and then take his third year off to do work in an American hospital (instead of taking a year off after undergrad to reapply) and then pick things up-he says this is better because your shoes are already in the door and your year off is spent doing what you want to do (career-wise) and really shows res progs what you're passionate about (especially at the hospital you work with between your 3rd-4th year).

Does this make sense? I've been telling him not to rush and just up his score and he'd have a shot at a top tier but his culture says he can't and his logic doesn't sound bad actually.

what do you mean his culture says he can't? well it depends on his loan situation. Usually, if you take a year off you would have to start paying on your loans. Also, I dont really see the point in that... why not just begin his cllinical rotations. He does know that his rotations in a US hospital. I dont see what he would be doing in this year off that would impress res progs over doing well on your rotations. Your not really qualified to do anything btw your 3rd and 4th year that a college grad is qualified to do.