Guest asadraza5367 Posted December 23, 2002 Report Share Posted December 23, 2002 Website on: Caribbean Medical Schools www.CaribbeanMedicine.com complete with info, forums and much more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4rd14c Posted January 30, 2003 Report Share Posted January 30, 2003 Anyone on this board that has gone to a Caribbean school? (Or considering it?) It seems like a scary process considering the money involved... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted January 31, 2003 Report Share Posted January 31, 2003 We've got a couple folks who are current med students there. Perhaps they'll have insights to share with you. I'm not well-versed on the Caribbean med schools, but if you go to one where you can do your clinical rotations in the US (and therefore only the first two years off-shore), that should definitely help make the connections you need when you apply to residencies. I'm going to move this out of the General Premed forum into the International Med school's forum... Ian UBC, Med 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guess whoz Bizzak Posted January 31, 2003 Report Share Posted January 31, 2003 Yeah, it is somewhat of a scary process, cause everything rests in your hands. Most Caribbean schools, but particularly St. George's in Grenada and the one in Dominican Republic, are training grounds for the USMLE's. You are well preped in the basic medical sciences, and all of your exams and what not are totally geared towards passing the boards. Once that is done, the schools get you into clerkship positions in the states where you make your contacts, and are at par with other American clerks.The fight for competitive residency positions is tough, but it has been done. I have a friend in NY right now doing OBS/GYN, and another who went to Grenada and has completed ER medicine in Chicago now. You really have to be motivated thougfh and bust your buns, cause there are some hoops that you have to jump through. In terms of the $$$. yeah, it is quite an investment, but no more than going to an American school like Tufts or private schools as such. They provide various scholarships/loans, so if you have decent stats, and really show need to them, they will oblige you. One of my buddies got something like 40% reduction in tuition ~17,000 USD per year. That makes it a whole lot more affordable I tell ya! Anyway, if medicine is what you want to do, and the die don't roll your way here in Canada or the US, and you feel you are out of time, the Caribbean is not a bad option, and is worth the process. Just my opinions of course. ~JZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cradlecrotch Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 I'm currently a second semester student at Ross University in Dominica (not the Dominican Rep). The school here is solid, with good facilities and modern equipment...case in point, the school just bought a VERY expensive (like tens of thousands of dollars) patient simulator. The program is quite traditional, with a solid grounding in the basic sciences before hitting clinicals in any one of 28 hospitals across the US. It's a purely US curriculum, all our profs have experience teaching at US or Canadian schools. Actually we have a lot of profs from Canada. It's only 16 months on the island, with the rest being done in the US. Doing clinicals in the states puts you at a special advantage, not only because of the US experience, but because of the contacts that can be made at that time. Landing an American residency is a snap for a non-US citizen with decent USMLE scores, and after completing that you are no longer considered an IMG (int'l med grad) by the Royal College....this entitles you to come back to Canada. I applied 3 times to Mac, and decided to move on with my dreams rather than banging my head against the wall year after year. So far my GPA here is a perfect 4.0, so my gain is Mac's (and Canada's) loss. Although the idea of coming back to Canada appeals to me, I'm afraid I might get used to the American paycheque....anyway, we'll see. I recommend considering the Caribbean route over Ireland etc...you will be in a better position to get a US residency. If you have any specific questions, just fire away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4rd14c Posted February 17, 2003 Report Share Posted February 17, 2003 Intuitively this sounds correct to me as well. If you are doing rotations in the US, you are bound to find someplace where you can fit in and will have way more contacts on your side. If applying from Irealand than you are doing everything remotely or from scratch. However, I suspect that Irish school grads can still obtain positions within the states. It would be interesting to hear some statistics regarding this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nica7 Posted March 10, 2003 Report Share Posted March 10, 2003 Hey cradlecrotch, Congrats for doing so well at school! Just a few questions- how easy (or hard) is it going to be for you to get a residency in the US and how long will you have to wait until after you finish your 4 years? Do you know of any canadians who have gone through this process and what are their stories. Thanks alot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cradlecrotch Posted March 23, 2003 Report Share Posted March 23, 2003 Getting a residency (for us Canadians) is assured with decent USMLE Step 1 scores...the only hurdle is finding a hospital that will sponsor you for a visa to do residency. This is very possible and Canadian grads from various Caribbean schools do it every year successfully. It will, however, reduce some of your options in terms of where you do your residency. After your 4 yrs of med school (or 3 yrs, 4 mos here at Ross), you can apply for the very next match, just like at a domestic school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest asadraza5367 Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 the site is updated http://www.caribbeanmedicine.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest premed81 Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 Hi everyone, I was wondering if someone could give me an idea of what tuition and other expenses add up to per year by going to med in the Carribean. It's been peaking my interest, but I am just collecting info first. Thanks a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MacMD Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Here's another way of looking at your chances of succeeding in a foreign medical school: if you can't get into an Canadian or US school because your grades were low in your first few yrs of undergrad or decided on meds late etc but got solid marks after making the decision to go to meds school than your chances are ok. If you busted your balls all the way through undergrad and still no dice on the grades than you really want to think about your chances of doing well in a foreign med school. As it's been said elsewhere, if you aren't cutting it, you are on your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smithie Posted May 17, 2006 Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Hey cradlecrotch, I am just curious. I have been seriously considering applying to carribean schools, Ross in particular even though I would have to leave my wife for 3.5 years or so. You have said the school is nice and the chances of coming back to Canada are decent, but what about life in Dominica? If I am going to an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean away from all my family and friends, I will obviously want to work my ass off and do well to justify going, but I will also need some down time.... and where better to have down time than at the ocean. Are there many activities to do? Snorkelling, surfing, other organized sports, etc? Just curious. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDCY Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Hello people, It's been many years since I've posted on this board. Well, I offically graduated from St. George's University just a couple weeks ago in New York. It was a blast but somewhat long as there was over 450 medicine grads. For me, it was a tough decision to leave Canada as well but I got over it. I thought that by leaving for Grenada, that my opportunity to come back to Canada was very low to zero. For me personally, I studied my butt off and I graduated with Cum Laude and did well on USMLE step 1, 2 CK, CS and I passed the MCCEE and MCCQE part I exams already and am studying to take USMLE step 3 in about a month. During the past four years, the medical board of Canada along with the some provinces have finally put into place some plans to tap into the Canadians who are went abroad to study medicine. What I am referring to is the Ontario and Alberta's IMG programs that they have started recently. These programs specifically target Canadians who are IMGs who want to return back to these provinces. I am not well acquainted with the Ontario one but I am currently applying for the Alberta International Medical Graduate (AIMG) program along with my US residency application. I'd like to point out one of the advantages already mentioned above to going the Caribbean school route. Unlike going to school in the UK, Australia or other locations, the US exposure we get in our 3rd and 4th year in the US hospitals where we do nearly, if not all, our rotations and electives is a valuable advantage if you are doing residency in the US. For example of the benefit of this, I did my internal medicine core and sub-internship at a hospital in California. They liked me and I liked their program and I would have been offered the pre-match residency spot if I wanted to be on a J1 visa. However, I backed off from the US match this year because I wanted to get the H1B visa if I was going to do a US residency (the H1B visa would require me to take one year off in order to qualify for it). Even with the minor setback, this hospital and I are keeping in very close contact to explore the option of doing a residency there with a H1B visa. I would be their very first Canadian resident on a H1B visa. This is uncharted territory for this residency program and I definitely think that without my exposure to them during my 3rd and 4th year, I would not have even the slightest chance of doing residency there. On another note, in my class this year there was over 30 fellow Canadians who graduated and I know of two who managed to get back into Canada in this year doing family practice in Ontario and out on the East Coast. For those who stayed in the US, I know of several who got into categorical surgery (which was a very tough and competetive specialty to get into this year in the US) among others. From my class, there was one who matched into ENT and one who pre-matched into opthalmology! There are many other people as well who matched into very good university programs. Anyway, I'm glad that I went to St. George's University and was afforded the opportunity to prove myself that I could become an excellent physician. Now, I'm hopefully going to be able to return to Alberta to do my post-graduate training. If Alberta doesn't pan out, I know I will get into a residency in the U.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Hey wow! This is definitely a blast from the past. Congratulations!!! Having an H1B visa will definitely open up a lot of options for you as far as staying in the US to practise, should you wish to. One definite advantage is the ability to moonlight, which you lose on the J1 visa. This is definitely not inconsequential, as moonlighting can often add tens of thousands to your annual salary. Thanks for keeping in touch. I'd love to hear how things turn out for you. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dopetown Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 MDCY, why did you have to wait a year for the H1B visa? Is this the case with all applicants? They have to wait a year after med school to be eligible for an H1B visa? Also, if you don't mind me asking, how well did you do on your boards? Did you have to study all night and day to score well enough to match in the US? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smileydoc Posted August 16, 2006 Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 would there be any carribean schools that anyone would suggest avoiding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prabhleen_a Posted February 8, 2007 Report Share Posted February 8, 2007 Hi I was wonderin if there is any 6 yr OR 5 YR MD program at Ross? I'm currently a second semester student at Ross University in Dominica (not the Dominican Rep). The school here is solid, with good facilities and modern equipment...case in point, the school just bought a VERY expensive (like tens of thousands of dollars) patient simulator. The program is quite traditional, with a solid grounding in the basic sciences before hitting clinicals in any one of 28 hospitals across the US. It's a purely US curriculum, all our profs have experience teaching at US or Canadian schools. Actually we have a lot of profs from Canada. It's only 16 months on the island, with the rest being done in the US. Doing clinicals in the states puts you at a special advantage, not only because of the US experience, but because of the contacts that can be made at that time. Landing an American residency is a snap for a non-US citizen with decent USMLE scores, and after completing that you are no longer considered an IMG (int'l med grad) by the Royal College....this entitles you to come back to Canada. I applied 3 times to Mac, and decided to move on with my dreams rather than banging my head against the wall year after year. So far my GPA here is a perfect 4.0, so my gain is Mac's (and Canada's) loss. Although the idea of coming back to Canada appeals to me, I'm afraid I might get used to the American paycheque....anyway, we'll see. I recommend considering the Caribbean route over Ireland etc...you will be in a better position to get a US residency. If you have any specific questions, just fire away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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