i think that basketball is a racially biased sport.

later
yoda

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Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket...

Never argue with an idoit, people watching will have trouble tell you apart



As a general rule, the better it felt when you said it, the more trouble it's going to get you into.

Thank God hockey isn't!

What justification can there be for "taking a conventional look at the statistics, and throwing it/them out the widow?"

for such a view to be justified, what you're saying here is that either the methods used to do the analysis were flawed (too small a sample size, etc.) or that for some reason a whole subset of your sampled poulation was somehow included mistakenly. I don't think either is the case. Again, I would encourage people to examine the ECFMG Step 1 data for USIMGs. Now compare that to the various school's claims for the percentage of students passing the first time.

As DrB pointed out in an earlier post, if some schools have 80%+ Step 1 pass rates, then there must be others with pass rates not much above 0% to create an overall pass rate of around 50%. And, this ignores entirely the numbers regrading people who START at various schools vs people who actually make it through to licensure.

Certainly "throwing the statistics out the window" will be a poor way to make patient care decisions based upon research data!

Listen... everyone has to take the test. I dont care if your MCAT, GPA, or you mom says you will do well. It all comes down to how well you've prepared and the fire in your heart to do well. All the statistics are for is to give a good indicator to people in an admissions committee as to whether or not you should even have a chance to take these tests. They have to use something otherwise they would let EVERYONE in and the pass rates would go down, because, not everyone can cut in med school or Step I. Plus, if you follow this logic... if most of the people start to fail step I from the school we....
A. lose our department of education accreditation
B. lose MORE of our private funding due to students unable to pay back loans without a job
C. lose a lot of respect in the clinical community back in the states for showing no standards of admission.

Just my opinion,
Nagy

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Combined Med-Peds residency at Michigan State University/KCMS - everyone should take a look at this program, I am SOOO glad I did. More questions, send a message.

...Winners don't even realize they are in a race... they just like to run.

for such a view to be justified, what you're saying here is that either the methods used to do the analysis were flawed (too small a sample size, etc.) or that for some reason a whole subset of your sampled poulation was somehow included mistakenly


I don't think you understand my point. I'm saying the caribbean students shouldn't be evaluated based on US Med school entrance statistics because almost all of us are below average statistics wise behind matriculating US med students, however, somehow, almost 1000 doctors are graduated each year combined from St. George, Ross, Auc, Saba, etc. So those very statistics must not be accounting for something. In addition, I don't even remember you discussing USIMG statistics much in this thread. Only US statistics.

In addition Floater, you make a comment that people always get angry when they hear that MCAT is associate with USLME score and a statistical relationship is found year after year. Well, when a study is performed on a sample of US med school students, and some of these med students sampled scored a 40 while some others scored between 25-30, well isn't it obvious the guy with a 40 will probably ace the USMLE. While the students who scored between 25-30 may do well but not as well and there may be a statistically significant difference. I mean if someone scores a 40 aren't they essentially a genious. Another reason why I dislike statistics. They tell me what I already know.

I discussed USIMGs in my first post to this topic, now on page 2 of the thread.

Evaluating Carib students by U.S. standards is exactly what SHOULD be done, because come time for residency applications, you can bet Residency Program directors will be doing precisely that.

Your final comments support precisely what I've been saying: the statistics ARE a fairly valid tool for a large population. In the case of USIMGs, it is USIMG's as a whole. Go back a re-read the last sentence in my first post.

You are, of course, free to believe whatever you wish.

Evaluating Carib students by U.S. standards is exactly what SHOULD be done, because come time for residency applications, you can bet Residency Program directors will be doing precisely that.
if that were truely the case then wouldn't carib students who do well on the USMLE be able to attain residencies in derm and plastics? That certainly ain't the truth

Your final comments support precisely what I've been saying: the statistics ARE a fairly valid tool for a large population. In the case of USIMGs, it is USIMG's as a whole. Go back a re-read the last sentence in my first post.
My final comments don't support one thing you say

The MCAT is MCRAP

At best, it has become a test of how well you can pay to prepare for a test.

I took the MCAT with no prep; I just figured that either I knew the material, or I do not. I have a strong background in English (native speaker, former English as a Second Language teacher). I hardly survived Organic Chemistry.

I took the test. The “verbal” section looked like something a stoned 6-year-old wrote. The “Biological” section was mostly Organic Chemistry. I did not take the review of how to decipher the Verbal section “according to their rules” and so I scored slightly below average on a subject in which I am very strong. I guessed on the “bio/O-Chem” section and did outstanding. If you measured my ability to save your life on the accuracy of the bio section, you would be dead.

The MCAT is a joke. I am not complaining; I did well.

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"You do not truly understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein

I thought the USMLE was much easier and I enjoyed taking it.

I thought that the MCAT was by far the WORST standardized test ever (and unlike what marty thinks I am a Caribbean Med Student with a GOOD MCAT score- it was my UG GPA that sucked( but good enough Grad school GPA to get into DO school)- AND I too picked off shore MD over US DO- but thats another thread- lesson is marty- don't Assume- you now what that makes you and me!).
I thought the USMLE, while i didn't particularly enjoy it- was much more relavant than the jumble that is the MCAT.

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