For those students who are well above 3.0 GPA why are you considering AUA? Did you do horrible on your MCAT's? If so, take it again. I was an AUA student and I had to face loan issues and I decided to come back to the states and take my MCAT's again. The quality of education is good but...the professors just teach what was on the shelf exams. The material is condensed but doable. If you really want to learn the material well because medicine is your calling it's not the place for you. There are many students who cheat just like any other schools however it happens more here.

I'm sure you're probably thinking...oh, you just had a bad experience there, trust me most of my friends now who are attending and attended will advice you to take your MCAT's again. Once you get to the island, you'll immediately have this gut feeling that you wished you studied harder for your exams and the MCAT lolz But you'll try though then once in a while you'll get a little crazy being surrounded by the same people everyday and it will get to you. Sometimes you'll feel as if you're warped back into your high school days when people just love to ** and spread rumors just as if most of the students had found a new freedom outside their parent's house. You'll notice that there's a lot of partying and no studying yet they have a copy of the shelf exam in their laptops and some notes by Dr. A from Anatomy that they think just by studying the slides would pass or probably read Vik's notes religiously.

You'll sit in the buses or in your cars looking around thinking...I need to get out of here soon and keep myself sane because these high school kids are driving you nuts. But you'll keep cool and make sure you steer yourself at the right direction or you'll get sucked up into thinking you need to be "cool" with your peers and party almost every weekend and get by. You'll be in your DPS class on a hot afternoon and Dr. E and Dr. W will yell at you because you don't know how to check for the parasternal heave lolz and he'll roll his eyes and tell you how AUA students don't know how to check vital signs and you'll either say to yourself, "I really want to be a good doctor and I should study more even though sometimes it feels like there's not enough time-so I respect that he says this to us", OR you'll say, "F* him he doesn't look like a doctor he looks like a dirty Antiguan anyway, he's so mean!".....So he'll grade your tests he'll either nod at you and asks you for your last name to make a mental picture of one of the better students or one of those students whom he knows is going to make a medical blunder sometime in his/her career and suffer a malpractice suit lolz

So you just have to be smart. Just because you got into a medical school in the Caribbean it doesn't stop there, you need to keep moving forward however for me, moving forward means learning the material well and being in a good environment to achieve it. I couldn't stand AUA, I felt as if I was just getting by. My grades shows clearly that I have studied my *** off and good works pays off however, our shelf exams clearly told me that most of the material that was presented to us was not a full spectrum and there are missing pages in the education thus I don't want to go through the entire cirriculum without having a full idea of the basic sciences and later when I take the USMLE I want to be well prepared.
I'd advice most of you to retake it and take it in the states because title IV loans and also the quality of the education.

I was in your shoes once, I was so excited to get into medical school no matter what but I learned it the hard way and you have to be strong and go with your heart not because it's the only school that accepted you or it's the only way. AUA is just like any other business out there and it's up to you to think if the tution and education are at par.
But obviously, I know what most of you are going to do which is to go ahead and get to the island....you'll see...trust me. Just remember, you're first reaction is usually the correct one. Take care guys!

P.S.-To my roommates who supposedly did not have the anatomy shelf exam I got an A verified by Dr. H. All those nights and mornings you guys drove me crazy by being noisy from goofing around paid off for me and when I needed your help just to show me that you guys had the exam because I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before, thanks...BRS was my bible and yours was the prior anatomy exam which I heard they changed this year lolz

I know you guys are taking the class again! LOLLLLLL!!!

Can anyone please verfify this info? I am applying for AUA Jan 2010 and I am scared after readingt this. I have a friend who is in his 3th year right now and he said that the school prepared him well for step 1. I know that AUA has a problem with loan right now, but I rather deal witht the loan and receive a best education that the school can provide other than I have to pay a hugh amount of money and don't get as much as education like SmoothObturator said here. Thanks for all inputs

OP is TROLL..... .

Agreed..is every class taught great..no..of course not. Are there classes that are taught well..yes. Do you have to study material that wasn't taught in the classroom..yes. Does everyone who does well on the shelf exams have a copy of the shelf? no..at least i've never had a copy...Also as i've progressed at AUA, my shelf scores have gone up significantly since med 1/2. In med 3 i started doing rapid review question banks and USMLE world questions. The more questions I do, the better my scores have become.

LOL What is there to verify? It is my opinion, you can take it or forget it. I attended AUA May 09 and lived in Five Islands, if one of you guys know this area it's near the Royal Antiguan Hotel. I wouldn't know this information unless if I knew the area.

You don't have to listen to my opinion and you can just see for yourself. I understand that before I attended AUA, I did a lot of research on the school and based on the brochures and the great advertising online I was sold. I was constantly going on the webpage just because I was so excited to start and I couldn't wait to get my life started. Sorry if I came forth this way however, I'm just a open minded student who wants a quality education. Medical school is a big investment. The commitment and the dedication is only best for those who have the heart to do so and I want nothing less than I'm capable of. My experience opened my eyes to what I was capable of, I knew that if I tried harder in my MCAT's I would have gotten the grade however, I was upset and I was angry at the fact that I was going to be set back one more year until I could be interviewed again in order to be considered at an U.S. medical school.

I'm not someone who is steering you away from your dreams anywhere however my goal was to give a biased opinion on the education, that's it. I wrote it the way I see it and experienced it. When I first took that cab to my housing I knew I was going to fight to stay here education wise and also mentally. I've met friends and they have said the same thing. We had our fun at St. John's eating at Australian Ice Cream or eating at Big Banana and just spending our post Anatomy exams at Hideway Bay so I'm just letting you know, for your sake to please check out the island before you come and walk around the school and speak with the students. That is the ONLY way you'll have a good outlook on the school. Last semester one of my friend's friend came down from Florida to check out the school and she asked so many questions about the school and went back and took her MCAT's.

Since I am now back in the states and finished the MCAT's, I can honestly say that while I was in Antigua there is no way someone has time to blog in valuemd on a regular basis if you were really into your studies unless it is like your main homepage and you see the new replies most of the time but most of the people in here are just students who HAVE NOT YET been in Antigua or been a student at AUA. I was farrrr too busy studying for Anatomy, DPS, and Histology every damn day to even have time to blog so keep this post in consideration. If this was not enough proof to show that I've been a student then I don't know what else.
So just keep in mind that this is not to scare you it is just my opinion just like everybody else in this forum. Goodluck!

Thanks SmoothObturator

Not reading that wall of text

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[X] Step 1 [X] Family Med [O] Surgery [ ] Internal Medicine

I am with you on that too, every time i read posts like this they scare the crap out of me and you never know who to believe and who's right and who's just complaining. I really hate this. I had an interview recently and I am waiting to hear back and this doesn't help.

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"In medicine, as in statecraft and propaganda, words are sometimes the most powerful drugs we can use"
Dr. Sara Murray

Wait if you attended only one semester then how did you get to stay outside of university housing.

one more question, if you had an A in anatomy how in the world you ended up with a 2.49 in Med 2. You must have done horrible in something else.