Okay, I have had both my interviews with the only two schools in the Caribbean I would consider, St. George’s and Ross.
I went through some of the old posts and see a lack of love for the Caribbean schools in general and I am wondering why. The same percentage of students entering pass step 1, they seem to have a high match percentage, clinicals are done alongside students fromUS institutions in the states, and it seems much of the stigma has started to dissipate as the schools have started to produce better quality physicians. What am I missing here? Although I would prefer to go to a US school, they have their perfect candidate that I don’t fit at 44 regardless of my heavy resume and sometimes I think in spite of it. So what’s the issue with Caribbean schools TODAY, not 10+ years ago?
Look at page 14/15 of this document:
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2015_final.pdf
Only about 53% of US IMGs got matched into a residency program. Compare that to 94% of US MD graduates. That’s a HUGE difference. It seems pretty risky to me spending 4 years and $250k+ for a 50% chance at landing a job here in the US.
You should look into California Northstate - its a for-profit MD program that works similarly to the Carib schools (lower stats and requirements for entry) BUT you won’t be considered a foreign grad. While you’ll still have to overcome the lack of opportunities that come with a school like Northstate, you’ve already overcome the foreign barrier which opens more doors and gets you closer to that residency Match.
Also, I can’t quite find it, but there’s a blog floating around SDN that is called like “my million dollar mistake” or something and its a graduate of either SGU or Ross who couldn’t match and hasn’t matched after several tries and is now $300k in debt with no job prospect. Really puts it into perspective. Make sure you get both sides of the story. The schools advertise the successful candidates that match but fail to tell the equally possible stories of those who can’t.
Yeah I am wary of what the schools try to sell. And anyone who doesn’t do well, should not get a residency match regardless of whether they are from a Carib or US school. Here are the stats that I am looking at.
SGU USMLE 1st pass 93%, Residency match first try 90%
Ross USMLE 1st pass 92% Residency match first try 88%
I want to dig in a little more on the stats from original sources, but haven’t had the chance to do this yet.
You can’t paint all Carib schools with a broad brush I think. And certainly cannot look at just the IMG stats since they include a whole lot of different cases that are not representative. I think they offer good options especially for primary care which the US schools simply are not meeting. I also do not lend much credence to whining little kids that make up the SDN. When I mentored students applying to medical school 10 years ago, I was against the Caribbean schools because they really did not have equivalent pass rates, or match rates. Now things are quite different it seems. It appears that both of those problems have been solved and both of these schools have actually arranged cooperation agreements with various clinical centers in the states. So I think this changes the situation quite a bit. I also can’t help to notice the OPM conference has booths for both of these schools, and then says in the same breath not to even consider them. I prefer to look at the data.
I do personally know a couple of students that have gone to Ross and SGU. Both were able to get matched the first time around in their first choice of specialty. Both did well on their step. And both said that the key is making sure you are focused and dedicated, because you cannot go to these schools and screw up then expect a residency. I think this is the big difference from US schools; only really good doctors are accepted into residency from Carib schools, while they will still accept those who did poorly in the US for a match.
In my particular case, I see an issue with US schools because I am qualified to be faculty at their school, not a student. GPA and MCAT scores are above their average, so are LoR, along with a 20 year research career top-flight senior and first author pubs, patents and have started and run BioPharma companies. So, my feeling is that no matter how much I put on paper why I am doing this, they will not get it unless I meet with them face to face, which a number are not doing.
Just out of curiosity, have you been rejected this cycle or still waiting to hear anything? This whole process takes what feels like forever, so give it time to work itself out before you commit to a school that might not be your first choice, whether it be Carib or US schools.
@Kennymac wrote:
Just out of curiosity, have you been rejected this cycle or still waiting to hear anything? This whole process takes what feels like forever, so give it time to work itself out before you commit to a school that might not be your first choice, whether it be Carib or US schools.
Only UW has outright rejected me. I plan on waiting to see how things play out, just am willing to give SGU and Ross a chance due to their stats. The process is quite long, and it’s easy to get discouraged when you hear nothing for months.
How many schools did you apply to? Were they only MD or were they DO as well?
@gabelerman wrote:
How many schools did you apply to? Were they only MD or were they DO as well?
20 including 5 DO and the 2 Caribbean.
I know doctors who have graduated from SGU and done really well for themselves. But I see that as a different time, different circumstances and think that the Caribbean option is actually worse than it was 10 years ago. My concerns include the high attrition rate (up to 8%, or about 100 students a year in years 1 AND 2) and the looming residency crisis. Even if the medical education is adequate, I simply believe more of those limited residencies will go to US grads.
I’m not sure about this, but I’d also want to know if everyone is allowed to take the STEP exam. Some schools don’t allow certain students to until they’re ready – good in practice, but skews the numbers.
Bottom line, I wouldn’t want to spend 4 years terrified that I went into this much debt and gave this much of myself to medical school and then have a higher potential not to match.