hi everyone,
am from toronto canada, I be coming to allsaints in dominica in september. anyone from toronto going to dominica in september? need roomate

you're making a mistake. I hope everything works out for you but what a risk you're taking. See if anyone from Ross wants a room mate. Many of the 5th semesters try to find housing in Roseau. Go to the classified section and post your request.

Please before coming here, Understand what you getting your self into. This school is not stable, is not a place for you to come thinking you want to be a doctor. Most of the students here are leaving, some for Loan problems, some for the fact that school is not Accred, Some for the fact that the school doesnt have Greenbook, and please dont believe any student they give you to talk too.

ANd of course, when you are preparing for step 1: Make sure you do QBANK, and know it well. Most people dilligently read books, but your performance on board examinations is incumbent upon two variables. Firstly how well you know the material, and secondly, what is your competency level with the medium through which the information is tested. The best way to get good at anything is practice, and this includes taking a multiple choice test. As such, do plenty of questions. My mantra to students I tutor for USMLE's is to do 100-150 questions a day, especially as you come closer to your exam.

When I started med school, scores like 220 were considered very solid. There are many components to a residency application, but board scores play a significant role. Of course, recommendation letters, a strong personal statement, and a strong overall application are also important. As a canadian, you will be severely limited with respect to the amount of programs you can apply to, because of Visa issues.
As canadians, we can obtain primarily two types of visas, first, a J1 visa, and secondly an H1-B visa.
A J1 visa is more widely available, many fellowship programs sponsor it, and is quite easily obtainable, provided you pass the MCCEE (Medical Council of Canada Evaluation Exam).
Caveat though: A j1 CANNOT be converted to a green card or any other type of visa, (from what i know, anyway), and there is a mandatory home residency requirement upon completion of your training. To better understand this, think of the pretense under which the visa is issued. You, Joe M.D, are obtaining this "training visa" for the purpose of obtaining skills that you intend to use in your home country. Therefore, upon completion of training, you may find yourself in the frustrating situation of returning home for a period of 2 years or so. There is a way out of this, and its called a J1-Waiver, which can be obtained if you agree to work in an underserviced area, and these opportunities DO exist. Be cogniscent of the fact that J1 waivers recognise the predicament these M.D's are in, so do not expect a great salary or benefits package while you're putting in your J1 waiver time, but at least you'll be able to apply for permanent status.
H1-B Visa: Even more limited than J1, very few programs sponsor it (relatively), and not many programs offer H1 fellowships. However, H1 visas can be changed to permanent status, ie, a green card. In some respects, it has therefore become the "holy grail" of foreign grad visas, and this is the one that, in a perfect world, you would want to obtain.
THe difficulties: You must have ECFMG certification, and have passed step 3 before residency starts, since these are requisite requirements of an H1-B professional vissa. Therefore, you need to finish in january at the latest, to allow turnover time for paperwork, ECFMG certification, applying for and taking step 3, and processing of an H1 visa. But, if possible, this would be the one to get.

Clinicals and Greenbook status: I get asked this question plenty, and unfortunately I dont have concrete answers. Generally speaking, Greenbook means that a particular clinical rotation is at a site that has residents in that department. For example: IF you do Internal Medicine at a hospital, and it has a residency program in internal medicine, that would be a greenbook rotation. Certain states, (New york, i believe), require that ALL your rotations be greenbook. Recognise that it is difficult to do all greenbook rotations, and some are very difficult to obtain, for example pediatrics. If you insist on all greenbook for every rotation, be prepared to spend time waiting between rotations, and consider if its even necessary to do all greenbook. FOr the most part, its not. Having said that, MUA does a good job of accomodating your particular needs with respect to clinicals. For the most part though, greenbook rotations, I find, are topics of hot discussion and debate on forums, mostly among people who have yet to set foot on a medical campus. Concentrate on passing basic science and step 1, and the pieces will fall into place, and as evidence, look at the amount of residents put out by carribean institutions. A majority of them dont have all greenbook rotations under their belt.

Matching for residency: Difficult as a foreign graduate, more difficult as a foreign graduate who requires a visa. If you're canadian, have your stuff in order, take step 2 by the LATEST august, since it affects the number of interviews you will receive, and I speak here from personal experience. Take the time to familiarize yourself with those programs sponsoring visas, and those known for being IMG friendly (google will get you all the information you need). And remember, board scores, reco letters, and a strong personal statement are key to landing interviews. It is entirely possible to prematch, and for the foreseeable future, I dont see that changing. It is difficult and nigh impossible to land certain residencies, since there does exist a pecking order with respect to medical graduates, but for the most part you should be able to get a good residency, provided you are realistic about your goals and position yourself properly.

Hope that helped guys, any further questions, please let me know
yk

You work for the school. Dont ever do this again on this site, is not right, dotn ever lie. when you write so strong, you cant just not know what sates require greenbook.


Also hueller one very important thing, as i read on this forum, is that as CANADIANS we need a J-1 visa or H1-B visa. in order to get these Visa we need a Residency License.

Also You said only NY requires it. As Dr.D said from the meeting in school.
OK, MI, AR, AL, AK, CA, NV, LA, CO, DE, GA, MA, SD, SC, UTAH, KY, KS, PI, RI, OR, TX, IN, ID, VT, NJ, FL, AR, DC, Nebraska, Masschusete [didnt know the acronym, sorry for the spelling]

So in Total 30 states. that leaves some like 20 states and only 10% of all residency positions.

Hueller get your facts straight first. The competition for Residency in desies eyes brings lies on this forum, but in this school you and MAGEN-MD from St.James wore doing this.

Regarding finding a roommate for the September session, you can ask the administration for other prospective students starting in September and see if any of them are interested in sharing a place. You can also wait until you come down to the campus and meet with other students on orientation day and go through the housing file that they have in the office. The housing file is not the most updated resource but it does give students an idea of who to speak to for a place nearby. Lastly, if you've got your username and password for the All Saints University SOM forum on our actual website you cna try posting a request on there, unfortunately not many students post on that but its another option.

Let me know if you need anymore info.