Hi, I will tell you a little of my life first.
My grandfather and father were both physicians specializing
in interenal medicine. My grandmother and mother were both
nurses and my sister is still alive and is a nurse.
When my grandmother died, my grandfather decided to
donate all of his money to a church and live on a small
fixed income. I received a token $1 inheritance, even
though my grandfather was a millionaire owning a large
house, office building and horse ranch.
My mother soon after filed for divorce and my father filed
for bankruptcy. Sadly my father died of a heart attack
before the divorce and bankruptcy were final only a few
weeks before I was to enter my sophomore year at the
private college where my parents had attended.
This was way back in the 70īs and I was in a pilot program
to enter my fathers alma mater medical school in only 2
years. I could not obtain any student loans, as they said
my fathers probate was not finalized and did not know the
value of the estate and if I qualified.
The BMW I was driving was leased in my fathers name was
repossessed and was forced to buy an old VW. I went from
riches to rags in a few days.
I had good grades my freshman year, but with the depression
of my fathers death and when I had to work 2 jobs to support
myself and pay expensive tuition in my sophmore year, my
grades went down the drain.
Since I had competed all of the premed requirements, I then
decide that I would go to go a foreign medical school. This
was before many Caribbean medical schools even existed.
Many of my older surfer friends from California went to
Guadalahara, Mexico, but I wanted a European school.
So I worked and saved for a couple of years and went over to
Italy to study in Bologna where there were a lot of Americans
and it was much less expensive than Mexico.
But when I stopped to study Italian in Milan, I was caught up
in the John Travolta "Saturday Night Fever" disco days. Milan
was full of gorgeous young models from all over the world and
I ended up meeting the very wealthy socialite jet set and
ended up in a completely different career with trips to Monaco,
France, London, Spain, Germany, Switzerland etc.
I fianally came back to the US and became a Beverly Hills
businessman before finally retiring to Fortaleza, Brazil at the
age of 50. I traveled to more than 50 countries in my lifetime,
but Fortaleza is really a "Shangrila". I only wish I could have
made it here 20 years ago.
Fortaleza is a beautiful seaside resort city of 3 million people
in the northeast of Brazil. There are girls, girls, girls or boys,
boys, boys and no air and water pollution similar to California
back in the 60īs when I grew up. The cost of living and real
estate are about 20% of the US.
Its an exciting city with plenty to do every night of the week.
The problem may be that if you study medicine here you will
never complete school, as there are so many distractions just
like a had in Italy. Its nothing like being stuck on a third world
rock like a Caribbean school.
Now finally here is the information on the medical school:
UNIFOR is the largest private university in Fortaleza, Brazil with
a beautiful campus. It has about 15,000 students and is over 30
years old. The program is 6 years and there is no MCAT required,
and there is an easy entrance exam. The course is in Portugese
and English. The tuition is about $2,500 a semester and basically
anybody who can afford it gets in. Brazil is a very poor country
and this is considered a lot of money.
I decided to try and help some students apply and am not doing
this to earn money. I am simply retired and want to help lead
some student down the right path. I am divorced and my own
son is only 10 years old, but I hope he graduates from high
school at 16 and comes down here to study at UNIFOR. My son
could be a doctor at only 22 and I could save a fortune in tuition
on the years of university tuition in America.
You can come on a holiday and I can show you around. If you
want I can rent you an apartment which is much less expensive
than a hoteland you can cook in your kitchen. Book your airfare
with TAM airlines and buy their AIRPASS which is much cheaper
than buying domestic tickets here in Brazil.
Or if you want to apply now I need the following notarized
copies of your:
Birth certificate
Passport or driving license
High school diploma
High school transcripts
Of course if you have college/university transcripts or a
diploma, send those as well to see if I can obtain any
advanced standing for you.
Send the documents to my lawyer as follows as he will
have to translate the documents to Portugese and obtain
some stamps and government approval. I dont make a
penny, but the lawyer must be paid. His fee is $250 and
can be sent to him via Western Union or Moneygram.
Dr. Marcio Alexandre Carvalho
Rua Jaime Benevolo, 414 Centro
Fortaleza, Ceara
CEP: 60050-080
Brazil
My cellphone is on 24 hours at 55-85-8803-8528
Email:
alexanderarden@yahoo.com
I am really interested in trying to do this for high school
students so they dont waste a lot of time and money at
college. If anybody has any ideas on how I can reach
high school students directly it would be appreciated.
My goal is to have at least 25 American students start
together at UNIFOR.
All the best for you in whatever choice you make,
Alexander Arden