St. Christopher's College of Medicine New

New affiliation with St. Peter’s College in NJ

http://www.spc.edu/pr/press/0304/medschool.shtml
This is Cool!

Bill,
I heard about that!! Now, if they can just get more clinical rotations in the South I DO like sunshine.
Kathy

Florida will be opening up soon, end of year. Also Atlanta has everything in one city as well as Colorado, and somewhere in La.
That is a long way off. Focus on your class work first. everything else will fall into place by then.

Congrats to you all on your acceptance and one step closer to fulfilling the dream, but I have a question about St. Chris. It is a six-year program, yes? I don’t think I fully understand it…did you all complete the premed prereq. for the American medical schools? If so, will you need to complete them again at St. Chris.? I’m not sure I fully understand what happens during those additional 2 years - are they doing the equivalent of American premed prereq? If so, does St. Chris. accept you without these prereq?

I don’t quite understand your question, but what I think you are asking is do they need to repeat classes? No. If they have not done a formal BA then they’ll do one here. If so, then its like any other application.

I am not that up on the “European system” for medical education but it has always been my understanding that traditionally, European students enter ‘medical school’ straight from their secondary education rather than first earning a bachelor’s degree. I believe this is the model that St. Christopher’s 6-year program is based on. Note that there are SOME schools in the U.S. with combined BA/MD programs where students are guaranteed admission to the med school (usually they have to maintain a certain GPA) from the time they enter at age 18. In the States, that’s the exception - to do undergrad and med straight through at one place. In Europe, that’s the norm. If you don’t know at age 17 that you want to be a doctor, and thus enter the right school for your undergrad/medical education, you have missed the boat!
Anyway, St. Christopher’s has the regular four-year medical school program for those who already have a bachelor’s degree and prerequisites completed, and it has the six-year program for those who need the educational preparation prior to med school.

Well I mean if someone graduated with a BA but it was a liberal science BA. So they didn’t take all the premed prereq. that are requirement o American med schools - like Bio 1 & 2, Chem 1 & 2, Org. Chem 1 & 2, and Physics 1 & 2. Can they apply to St. Chris? If so, what is their application evaluation on? For example, I would assume they don’t take the MCAT if you haven’t covered those courses.

See the 4 year Reqs. But as far as the 6yr it is possible to be accepted and have advanced standing into the program so you may only have less than a who year to finish to qualify for the 1st yr of med school. Hope this helps.
Bill

There’s one more dimension to this school. For some of us that are attending we are selling our stuff ( in my case my home and cars) and moving over to England to live with our families
to attend medical school. Yes I’m attending premed at St. Christopher’s but once accepted into the 6 yr medical program and I do well thats it. I continue through the program till I’m an MD! What an opportunity! I’m willing to sacrafice for this. After 15+ years as an RN I want to be a Doc.

Bill, can you clarify a bit? If I am understanding right, the 4-year program is for those who’ve taken all the prereqs (and the MCAT?). Does the 6-year program involve 2 years of pre-med classes and then the 4-year M.D. program - is that right? So if you’re applying for the 6-year program you are NOT expected to have taken your prereqs (like organic) or the MCAT, but for the 4-year program you would be expected to have done those things? Sorry, I am being lazy by not going to the school website I know, but tell us what YOU needed to have in order to qualify to be accepted into the 6-year program - thanks!

Yes you are right, The 4 year you have to have finished the pre med and they like it if you have taken the MCAT but it is not a requirement. You can be part of the through the pre med or just out of high school for the 6 yr medical program. They turn down about 30% of who have applied so far but as popularity grows so will that number. Also the 6yr students advance on through to the 4yr program as long as the do well.


Bill.

Thanks everyone for the clarification. I probably could have tried to figure it out on St. Chris’s web site, but you all did the job. That’s why OPM is such an awesome place…It is so inspirational to have a place where you see all these great “non-traditional” pre-meds do it before you and succeed. Each one of you really does make it easier for those who follow you. Anyhow, congratulations to the St. Chris crew. That is so awesome - you will all fulfill your dreams and get to call London home for a time. How cosmopolitan of you! You will be neighbors with Madonna and Gweneth Paltrow - it’s the new New York City!

This thread started with news of a new affiliation for St. Christopher’s. (note that the affiliation was for undergrads of a New Jersey school, probably not a situation that would’ve benefited any/many OPMs, but anyway…) This week brings news that the affiliation agreement has been cancelled because of concerns that St. Christopher’s charter is not compatible with New Jersey’s licensing requirements. For the whole story, read here.
I am NOT posting this to stir things up like might happen on SDN, okay? I think on OPM we’ve done a good job of discussing the pros/cons of all sorts of different approaches to medical education, including offshore schools, and I know that will continue. I do think this is important information and people should be aware of these issues as they continue to play out.

I read the NJ newspaper article, very negative and biased. I hope all of those who have chosen the offshore route have researched the requirements for FMGs and the schools they have chosen to attend. I would like to point out that the article mentions the fact that the school is chartered in Senegal and the fact that the Luton location might not be compatible with getting licensed in the US. Due to a similar thread on another website recently, I emailed both the ECFMG and IMED, two agencies who oversee various aspects of recognizing offshore schools and getting FMGs licensed in the US. According to these agencies, St. Christophers is qualified via IMED, therefore its graduates can be licensed in the US. In addition, the physical location of the second school, in Luton, is not an issue. They only require that the school itself be on the IMED list. I made it very clear in my email to them that I had queried them regarding this matter due to negative emails from students of other offshore schools (as there is a lot of unfortunate mudslinging between these students) St. Chris is upfront in letting students know, that California, for example will not allow their graduates to practice. I would suggest to anyone that you decide the states you are interested in practicing in, and make sure of the requirements of their medical board. In a nutshell, St. Christopher’s, in comparison to most offshore schools located in the Caribbean, is quite new. They have a much smaller building, and yes, the article is correct, it is rented. Students do their dissection at Kings College in London. If you choose to go to the American College of the Caribbean, you will get a beautiful ocean view, 40 acre campus, etc. You will also pay the difference in tuition ($7500 vs $12,000 per 16 week term). If you have family, options for education are limited and NOT free. Some of the schools I checked, such as Sint Eustatias, had NO school for children past 6th grade on the island. Since I have kids, I chose an area compatible for my family. Once the issue of being able to practice and providing for my family were settled, I was fine. I doubt any affiliation with a foreign medical school will work out any time soon. The US system, with the AAMC and AACOM, is quite political, despite the fact that many FMGs also have taken the USMLE, which is the same indicator US med students are judged by. It all ends up being how well you score on the boards.

Thanks Kathy for clearing this up I was trying to find some of
info you have. I’m finding a core of 4 people (one of the 4 posted the article twice on SDN ) that keep attacking St. Chris. They are calling officials and harrassing them about the school. I have compiled info from abou 6 southern Boards of Med Lic req’s and find I will be eligible for LIC.

Being on the inside, what you don’t know about the article is that a certain fellow in Las Vegas is on some warpath against the school. The original article was positive which set him off on a schizophrenic pathway and he fed the reporter inaccurate information as well as made up information as well. In that same vein, the school thought the harrassment for SPC was too much and suspended the contract. TO wit, it is clear now that the NJ officials quoted have said on the record that they were misquoted and mentioned something like “Slander” to school officials. Its not like nothing like this has never happened before, but some young reporter I guess, thought he was getting a leg up toward the NYTimes and did a Jason Blair since the people involved have said they did not say those things AND they are falsely represented.
Except for one person…a large egg farmer in Las Vegas who has a serious mental health problem, Runs 40 web sites, and is looely connected with some mens group that as far as I have seen, is pro-pedophile. And I am not joking.
Ok, I had a free weekend and got caught up on all this…shoot me!

Joe,
Are you really serious about this? Some crackpot with too much time on his hands?
Kathy

as a heart attack.
Guy has insecurity issues. Well, he has more than that. He also has legal problems since the school is pursuing action against the guy from what I know.