Hi I’m witting this because for a long time I have read here and on Student Doctor Network Myths and disturbing half truths about the Caribbean option for Medical School.
Examples:
“If not good enough to get into a school in the USA then you should not be a Doctor”
This is really disturbing since many qualified people do not get into US schools, some have decent MCATS and poor GPA’s for one reason or another or some have good GPA’s and poor MCATS
Then some like me have very old grades and decided to take this route due to our age.
“Caribbean Grads cannot get residencies, it is difficult”
I can go on and on about the successful matches from the Caribbean, in fact primary care is not difficult at all to match in but the truth is Competitive Residencies are harder, a very few programs do not match FMG or IMG grads ( Very few)
“Education in the Caribbean is very subpar to the USA, you will not learn what you need to for the USMLE”
Again a myth, my professors are PHDs,and MD’s
they have taken the USMLE so they know what is on the test, my path professor practiced as a pathologist in Iran for years before teaching at my school, they will go to the USA later this year as an IMG into a residency now.
“The schools in the Caribbean have an extremly high attrition rate so they fail most out”
Yes people do fail out but its the students not the school, you have to study and attend classes to pass right?
“When you are accepted to a school in the USA it means you are a Doctor, the caribbean is a place for rejects and it means nothing”
I really did read this arrogant post once and have never forgot it, it seems some premeds believe this crap, we are not physicians until the DO or MD is earned, getting accepted is just the door opening you still have to step in then make it through, US students fail too.
SO I wanted to post this and say the Caribbean is not a first choice, the USA is but it is a decent way to earn an MD and practice medicine, there are some things that may be somewhat harder like Competitive residencies but not impossible all that matters is to do well and do well on the USMLE.
Good Luck to all and feel free to comment after reading these kinda things you can see I’ve had to read pretty ignorant comments in the past…
Bill In the Caribbean
A perfect example :
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Blah Blah Blah
MSIII
Just read this swipe on SDN, see this is not true, yes there are some programs that do not match FMG and IMG but not MOST! I do know this through research.
In all seriousness I would only trust what a PD says and tells me to my face. Otherwise it’s all just a bunch of hearsay.
Listen Bill I know this frustrates you but what does it matter. Premeds are the ones who make a big deal about the differences between DO & MD. Traditional and nontrad premeds make a big deal about a lot of things that in the scheme of things don’t matter a hill of beans.
You nor I are going to change these people. They will either grow up and accept things or they won’t. They are elitists and that is that. I was told 10 years ago by a Navy Captain I respected that I was too old at 24 to begin my quest for medical school. Being the young & dumb brainwashed sailor I put my dream on the backshelf.
People don’t know what they don’t know. They want to…have to believe that they are special by putting others down. It’s 1 of Cicero’s mistakes of man. Don’t let it get you down. Prove them wrong by your actions and don’t expose yourself to anymore of this stupidity. You are better than that. 
I honestly know you are right but I brought it up here cause I know that OPM is a Classy place and this can be discussed openly, I brought it up as an opened ended discussion because I somehow feel on the outside still even though I’m less then 2 months away from the end of Basic science and about to hit the USA for clinicals. It’s lonely in some ways because I did not go to a USA school, SDN is hostile and Value MD is too, where do you go to talk to people about anything? Here and one other place I know of.
Sorry if I upset anyone just thought exploring these kinda issues may be healthy , thought we could post the facts and what we know and do not know and learn together, some of the OPM people must be thinking Caribbean as a back up I would think? SO we could put to rest some of the things that are untrue and back up the true statements.
Anyway thats my reason (Maybe I just need a hug sometimes LOL)
Wait a second. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t telling you not to post but not to go to SDN looking for more crap. It’s kinda like having a sore in your mouth that you keep digging your tongue into…you know you shouldn’t but that sting kinda feels good. 
So that we keep the convo going…
While I know that the professors are PhD’s and MD’s are may in fact be incredible…what does it matter if you need a translator to understand and they’re teaching in english???
At times the english that is spoken may be a little broken but really for the most part it’s no worse than any professor in the USA with an Accent. I spent 2 weeks in NYC over Christmas (I’m from Atlanta) and gotta tell ya It was hard for me to understand a lot of people due to accents and some broken english, I understand the professors here better on a whole LOL…
So SDN is OPM’s sister site and you’re saying not to visit it?
How about being selective where you post? There are many helpful, informative people on SDN. The rest you can take care of with an ignore button.
I don’t think that I read Bill’s post as such, but to take the SDN with a grain of salt. The majority of the posters are traditional (read young and for some, very immature), while the OPM is for the nontrads that while not very old (haha!), and know that they don’t know everything.
Bill, to be honest, before starting to look at OPM, I didn’t give much thought to Caribbean schools due to ignorance. I do have to agree with you that anyplace in the US, you can have difficulties understanding some of the professors with foreign or thick accents.
I would love to hear more about your experiences.
Thank you for opening up this disccussion!
Krisss17
- megboo Said:
Is that really what I said?
- croooz Said:
Yes but Bill understanding people on the street is not the same as trying to understand a professor who is preparing you to become a physician…is it?
I’ll play devils advocate then…
How does a physician who is taught and trained in foreign medicine then train US students at carib schools able to equate to a US professor? Iran? Last I checked we aren’t importing nor exporting Iranian scholars?
So basically how can you say you are receiving the same or even adequate training if you have nothing to base it on except the accomplishments of your professor? Now if you said this professor were Harvard trained and is now teaching on the islands then that’s a different story.
Before people lose their minds in defense of Bill I’m playing DEVILS ADVOCATE and my posts are to get a dialogue going.
This is the part I think people are too closed minded on, that the USA is the only place that practices modern medicine, to be honest the world is not what it was 25 years ago and the advances in computers and technology have changed the world. Also sometimes the Docs trained in the other countries have not lost touch with more natural ways to Diagnose disease without the computer tech.
Yes they have the tech and use it, like Sonography for Diagnosing abd bleeds and such.
I think the stories you see on TV are made for TV and really do not show the real life, Physicians are at times even better trained then some US students, really, how do you think break throughs happen in other countries, maybe not on the scale of the USA but they still happen.
I admit I thought the way many do now, so when I came I thought I was years ahead any Foreign Doc since I had been an RN for 17 years, truth is I could smell pretty easily if they did not know things, well they have blown me away with what they do know and this has been an eye opening experience they know just as much as any US Doc and I have a deserved respect for most of the Docs I have been taught by.
They do not just repeat the PPT they know the PPT and open for discussion.
Thank you for a good discussion
- croooz Said:
I'll play devils advocate then....
So basically how can you say you are receiving the same or even adequate training if you have nothing to base it on except the accomplishments of your professor? Now if you said this professor were Harvard trained and is now teaching on the islands then that's a different story.
Before people lose their minds in defense of Bill I'm playing DEVILS ADVOCATE and my posts are to get a dialogue going.
Easy one I have good friend in medical school in Ohio and we compared notes, funny how we were learning the same blocks just about using the same books and same kind of tests.
This is only material though and they go to the hospital more often, I didn't really worry about this part since I'm a RN the last 17 years (19 counting the time in Medschool)
ALso there is a professor from Yale (Not Harvard) and two others from US UNI's why are they here? I have no idea really maybe the Caribbean lure?
I'm not trying to get anyone to dump the US for the Caribbean but what I do want is for people to learn that it is not as bad as believed and a option for different people (Yeah Like Me)
BTW today is my Bday and I went to school LOL
- megboo Said:
How about being selective where you post? There are many helpful, informative people on SDN. The rest you can take care of with an ignore button.
Yes I agree I go there to at times read what others think.
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This is really disturbing since many qualified people do not get into US schools, some have decent MCATS and poor GPA's for one reason or another or some have good GPA's and poor MCATS
Then some like me have very old grades and decided to take this route due to our age.
this one here is posted in the nontrads area an it disturbs me cause it can be read as Foreign docs are not "good enough for this person" I think anyone can be an awesome doc no matter USA or Foreign. it's kinda scary these people are going into Medicine.
Ahhhh I don’t use TV to base my opinion. I’ve been overseas and had to assist our physician from literally physically restraining a Korean nurse from injecting a US Marine with a head injury with morphine. Thing damn near turned into an international incident because we had to post an armed guard after we wrestled the syringe from her hand. The US doc and Korean docs (plural) had to have a meeting to prove why morphine was contraindicated…
I believe one can be taught up to US standards. I mean let’s not be all PC and state the reality that US basically sets the standards. It’s a lot of this that gets mistakenly passed down as US dominance and supremacy. This then translates into only US grads are deserving of practicing medicine in the US in order that the system doesn’t implode from foreign voodoo medicine.
Alrighty now…what about the only reason Step pass rates are so high with carib grads is you guys have months to study? There is also the belief that the only reason carib grads do well is they are only taught how to pass the exams and not the entirety of medicine…? 
- croooz Said:
I believe one can be taught up to US standards. I mean let's not be all PC and state the reality that US basically sets the standards. It's a lot of this that gets mistakenly passed down as US dominance and supremacy. This then translates into only US grads are deserving of practicing medicine in the US in order that the system doesn't implode from foreign voodoo medicine.
Alrighty now...what about the only reason Step pass rates are so high with carib grads is you guys have months to study? There is also the belief that the only reason carib grads do well is they are only taught how to pass the exams and not the entirety of medicine....?
Yeah I hear ya! And yes there are bad docs everywhere, just that the Caribbean is modeled after the US and we are taught US standards but that is my school and I really do believe thats true for the others like SGU, AUC, ROSS and Saba, the big 4 as well as SJSM ( My school) MUA Nevis and AUA. the rest? I really do not know if they do the right things I just know students fail out at my school and thats a good thing! Failing is not negative it tells someone they have a choice either learn or do something else! Caribbean is just an opened door it is up to each student if they make it through or washout.
I was not making a statement about you personally before just in general, not many people have lived outside the country like us ( I spent a year in the UK and now 1.5 years here )
My father ran a radiology dept. for 35 years in a large Midwestern teaching hospital. One of the applicants to his residency program, an American, graduated from a Mexican medical school where they had to take exams in Spanish. Anyway he decided to take a chance–wouldn’t someone who was this desperate to become a doctor have a certain amount of drive? And indeed this fellow was a great resident and went on to become one of the state’s most prominent radiologists and is still practicing today.
It just shows that prejudice has no place in this field; great doctors come from everywhere, and mediocre ones as well. I believe that greatness is something you are born with or acquire on your own; it’s not something you derive from the program you attended and in fact some might argue that it’s an inverse relationship.
I am not going to go that far because it would obviously be ridiculous to go around arguing that Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Wash U put out mediocre physicians while Guadelajara, SJU, and Ross’s put out top notch practitioners, just as it’s unfair to argue the opposite, even though the general public probably believes that a “Harvard doctor” is going to be better than a “Mississippi State doctor” and so forth. As I understand it, and as Bill points out, they teach generally the same medicine at every medical school that follows the U.S. model and it’s really up to the individual to make of it what he or she can.
That’s one of the things that draws me to medicine; despite the fact that it seems like a regimented and pre-programmed career path, in fact it’s all what you make of it and you will be as good as you try to be, within whatever limits you were born with–memory, stamina intuitive abilities.
Yeah of course I agree with you Terry and this is my point of the whole post, its to open the mind and discussion, I do not think it’s easier and to go to the Caribbean or any school outside the USA should not be to “Study in another country” Abroad do that in undrgrad, for medicine it should only be done because of circumstances that get you to that point and then work hard and you will succeed, the ones who do not do it to themselves as they have all along.
- megboo Said:
How about being selective where you post? There are many helpful, informative people on SDN. The rest you can take care of with an ignore button.
Whats funny Is I just spent time on the NONTRAD forum and a poster claims to have failed out of 2 CC's and another poster is telling them to hide that and Lie to get accpeted into medschool later. that and many more are expamples of the crude that is posted on SDN I'm almost ashamed to ever tell anybody I post there. SOme of these people who are premeds are scary at times............................
Scary? That’s the reality. I’ve been in class with premeds who used their mom’s info to apply and take classes at a CC before taking the class at the university. There are tons of “secrets” I was made aware of that people use. Scary? No, I would say disappointing. Total lack of integrity. Yet these same kids were in rallies at the college and DC proclaiming the lies and dishonesty of the Bush administration.
The other irony is the condescending view these upstanding 
kids take on DO and carib MDs… 
Yes, oldpro, I’m familiar with that thread as I’ve posted in it, too. You know as well as I that that poster is dead wrong, and the 50+ posts from other SDNers telling the OP they’re wrong backs that up.
I’ve had my grrrrs with both SDN and OPM, but I still think both are worth visiting because the good outweighs the bad. Plus, that poster is one of THOUSANDS, and the regular non-trads have the good sense to know what’s right and wrong.
Are you going to keep posting on SDN with the embarrassment it brings? 