I could not agree more with Derek. At the end you get out of it as much as you put in. Well said, and well taken.

I personally found it extremely insulting and disgraceful that some of the foreign students at UNIBE/UTESA would openly and blatantly make degrading comments about the country, hospital, residents, attendings while at the same time not make the effort to learn the language, do any work, while not even having the most basic knowledge about a patient's pathology or therapy. The least they could have done (out of common decency) is to do their bashing in private. It is unfortunately a few rotten apples that spoil the bunch.

On the other hand, I have worked with a few foreign students from those schools who have been nothing short of excellent. They would consistently put in long hours on the wards and be very sharp academically. It was a pleasure working with them.

Lastly, the students in the Spanish program at UNIBE were for the most part great to work with. Granted they are mostly Dominicans or from Puerto Rico/Cuba/Latin America; but as a whole, out of all the UNIBE students I worked with they seemed the most knowledgeable, bright, and willing to learn.

As far as "El Pequeno's" comments are concerned, he does make a very valid point. I did some asking around as to who these alumni were that got into the hospitals in Philli and Florida. According to my sources, if we are thinking about the same people, and odds are that we are, we should make the following observations:

1. These alumni were all in the Spanish Program, not the English

2. These alumni are all Dominican

3. Three of these alumni transfered into UNIBE from another school in Santo Domingo.

4. One of these four alumni is not from UNIBE, she attended and graduated from a different medical school in Santo Domingo.

5. They are extremely bright students, and by extremely bright I mean gifted. The non-UNIBE graduate graduated from here medical school Magna Cum Laude, Top of her Class, and got over 95 in both of her boards.

6. They all put in a lot of hard work while in medical school.

That's my 2 cents.