Hello all,

I just returned home in Toronto from visiting Saba and St. Maarten.
I dont know everything there is to know about the islands and or the medical schools but I did get a lot of my own questions answered, so if anyone has any questions I will try to answer them.

Doc

Which do you prefer?

that is a very difficult question, one which i am still debating over in my head. But I will tell you the pro's and cons of each.

AUC: St. Maarten is very alive, loud and noisey. the people are nice but not as nice as in Saba. the city is sort of safe but nowhere near the safety level in Saba.
The city is more modern and the transition from canada or the usa to St. Maarten would be much easier than that to Saba.

Saba: Saba is a beutiful island where the people are extremely nice and everyone actually knows everyone else. there is not much to do there, unlike st maarten. the campus is beutiful yet, as you can tell by the pictures on the websites AUC is more modernized.

I think it all depends on what it takes to make you study. If you enjoy loud places with lots of casinos and clubs then AUC
but if you like peace and quiet and more relaxed studying environments than SABA.

Doc

AUC will allow practice in all 50 states. Saba will limit you, but not much. I think Saba cannot be licensed in CA, NM, TX, and maybe KS. If that doesn't matter to you, then it truly is a matter of personal preference. G

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DISCLAIMER: I have no financial stake in ValueMD, or any medical school.

Thanks for the insight.

The two schools that I am still debating are SABA and AUC. I am very satisfied that I will like either island, so it boils down to three things: Cost, Academics & Licensure.

Cost: SABA is a hands down winner of course. Both the school & housing areless expensive at SABA.

Academics: This one is still "fuzzy" in my mind. I've heard good & bad. Basically, I'm a self learning type of person. Give me a book and tell me what date the examis on and that's all I need. Of course, I'm still hoping to go somewhere where the teachers are good. I'm pretty sure AUC is good in this respect. On the other hand, people from SABA have told me that they think 80% of their profs are excellent and their scores on USMLE are very respectable, so I'm thinking SABA may be also good.

Licensure: AUC is a hands down winner of course. However, there are SABA licensed people in every state in which I consider moving. I do not have my heart set on any particular state. AUC wins here but the difference may not be important to me.

My experience so far with SABA has been excellent, they were quick to process everything, they were responsive, courteous and really a pleasure to deal with. When I was accepted, they sent a letter to the Dr.'s who wrote LORs for me thanking them for their time and inviting them to a Dean's tour of the university. I thought this was really classy.

AUC on the other hand has not been quite so good. They lost my transcripts and are very slow.

I still haven't decided where I want to go. Initially, my heart was set on AUC and SABA was a backup plan. However, I am slowly changing my mind and "may" go to SABA instead of AUC... Still undecided though...

This is my journey so far...

Merry New Year & Happy Christmas!

WantMD :-)

WantMD,
I agree 100% with DocSmile's assesment...My wife and I took a day trip to Saba recently and absoultely loved it (although we saw the med school, we didn't get a chance to look around or meet people ...maybe next time?). For me personally, the island is TOO laid back for my tastes (but then again, I am a city boy) but has an inherent charm all its own. Both schools will get you where you want to go and provide you with the necessary tools to be a successful physician. Congratualtions to you on doing all of your research/homework and not relegating your selection of medical schools to something as trivial as a postcard on the wall or a glossy photo brochure (sorry teratos & FLK...couldn't resist! ). Best of luck to you whereever you may end up pursuing your medical education...between Saba & SXM, I doubt you can make a "wrong" choice!

Aloha,

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Pathology
PGY-1.75

.............

Hi. This is a good thread with a decent side-by-side comparison of my two top choice schools: AUC and Saba.

One thing I would add is that AUC students are eligible for Federal Student Aid while those at Saba are not (I think, I've just started my research two days ago). However, the tuition difference is such that you will probably require the same amount of private loans to cover costs at either school.

The more I try to decide, the more I feel like flipping a coin and just being done with it. I am leaning toward AUC, though.

thanks
-dp

AUC does require 80% attendance of all classes, which is evaluated randomly throughout the semester. I believe 1st sem last term had a pretty strict attendance check regularly, but I am not sure about that.

...Yep. Attendance was checked routinely for practically every class on a "random" basis (they occasionally announced it! ). Most people attended anatomy while there were drastically less attendees for other classes (by the time we had a month left in biochem, I think we regularly had about 40 people out of a 125+ show up for lecture ). Still others filtered in during the breaks and signed the attendance sheets without actually attending. Oh well. The 80% attendance policy has something to do with federal loans (what exactly, I am not quite sure).

Aloha,

__________________
Pathology
PGY-1.75