i'm writing b/c i'm vacationing in aruba currently and was curious about their medical school. i gratuated from SGU, so I am also an IMG.

one nice thing about the aruba med schools is that aruba is a more devolped or closer to an american style of living than grenada. Although, life in grenada was not bad and very enjoyable.

however, in regards to the differnces when you graduate. unfortunately, there is a discimination for all IMGs when you apply for residency. chances are that you will be ranked below an osteopathic graduate as well regardless of your scores. i know for SGU and ROSS, there are a lot of alumni out there. this means that their colleagues will also be aware and respect these schools. this makes placemment in residency, fellowship, and future academic positions easier. if you underestimate this factor, you should not! it helped me obtain residency and fellowship positions. the other factor is that QUALITY clinical rotations in america are hard to come by. even for many osteopathic students, quality rotations are difficult b/c we rotate at many of the same institutions (that's how i met my wife, an osteopath). this is not to discourage anybody, but i had to go through this process blind and very scared. In the end i'm in a great place and thigs worked out well for myself and my colleagues. i would not let anybody tell you that you will not be a good physician if you go abroad, but if you can choose a school, pick a school with an established reputation

pulmdoc:

I appreciate your post very much. I completely understand what you are saying. I am glad to see things worked out well for you and your wife.

Well i am no expert but from what i come to understand about Residency is that it is entirely based on individual performance (how you do on USMLE steps). And as for clinicals, from my friends from US med school they say that all caribbean med schools are bad... So i guess it doesn't matter what caribbean school u go to cuz in the end its not a US med school.........

I am glad it has worked out for you. Schools who have reputation is mainly due to their age. With age, any school grows and so does its alumni numbers. To keep it short, it depends on how well motivated you can keep yourself, sometimes regardless of the school (so long as there are proper accreditation) and to be able to score well on the USMLE exams. There are many things you can do besides the board exams to make your residency profile more attractive. Having the name of the school (i.e. Caribbean ones) is not one of them.... I've got this info from several licensed doctors in the U.S., who happen to go through the caribbean system.

__________________
-Food for thought. Facts to quench the thirst.

i was shocked how a residency program compile their rank order list.

there are 2-3 tiers that most places use. the 1st tier is usally a rank order list for us grads. the second tier is usually for DO. the third tier is for IMG. most residency can rank up to 99 applicants in total.
the concern for most residency is their reputation and ability to attract future applicants. they are afraid of haing too many IMGs, even if they have better STEP scores.

it is an unfair system, but as an img attending residency with other us grads, i received more honors than they did. again, if you are determined and work hard, very little can stop you. a good doctor is not about scores, a lesson everyone learns during residency.

Oh, several years back when it was only one medical school on the island, people picked only one school and they attended only that school, right?

I was just wondering if they were able to get places in the US for their rotations and residency programmes..... If they were able to get places in the US for their rotations and residency programmes as at that time, how did it happen when the school did not even have alumni or the students did not have colleagues to assist them?

Thank you.

Hi there,
I visited one of the website links you provided and I saw something interesting. I quote "Accreditation Guidelines for New and Developing Schools" @ CAAM-HP

My questions are: Does that mean that CARICOM realises that there will always be new medical schools springing up and they are not against new and developing schools? On their website, they even have guidelines for new and developing schools. Are we saying that within the next 100 years, there should be no new medical schools on the island? It's not very clear to me. These schools you were referring to as "better ones" where not "better ones" several years ago (I mean when they were 6 or 5 months old), is that right?

Thank you.

Every school is a new school at one point. I currently know All Saints students that have scored high 80s and 90s on there step 1 and are in some good rotations.

anyone here from Asum Aruba that is a new comer to the school , I would like to hear from them , and can anyone tell me how to start a thead or topic .....I am interested in knowing about one school at a time , just have 3 choices and Aruba Asum is the foremost , I need to hear from the students there , everytime I get on a thread that has all saints .....the discussions eventually reveals its about Dominica regards