helpfulgrad
05-09-2006, 10:50 PM
First of all, I will preface this by saying that I am a Caribbean grad and forever will be. I understand the "growing pains" associated with opening a new medical school and the stigma of being the newest kid on the block. I envision that it must have also been difficult even for students at my alma mater (SGU) when the school had just opened back in the day.
There are a few issues I'd like to raise:
St. Kitt's and Nevis are very small islands (I have been there, I know). One concern (red flag) that immediately comes to mind is the fact that this tiny island nation already has THREE medical schools (MUA, Windsor, International university of health sciences) and now, with St. Theresa's, FOUR. I don't know about others, but in my opinion, I really question the motive of a government granting approval to so many medical schools for such a small country. Entire states in the US only have one medical school compared to the four on this island. It really boils down to money in my opinion.
There has been so much talk in the media about the number of "offshore" schools popping up and pumping out students with MD degrees and state boards are keeping a watchful eye. State boards obviously have no power to deny a school from starting up but they do have the ultimate power in denying its graduates from practicing. It will be interesting to see when graduates start applying for licences what the success rate will be. Any potential student of a new school should keep this in mind.
I would like to point out the lesson learnt from the likes of St. Christopher's (Luton), Kigezi, Grace etc. I would recommend to any potential med student assessing your options, to think long and hard about your decision. Remember St. Christopher's! St. Theresa has posted images of their charter letter etc on their website, but if you are considering going here, I would call the government directly and find out if they have an agreement with the school. Be a skeptic and be smart about decisions even if you have the money to waste.
I would be very wary of a school that seems so secretive. It makes very little sense to me that hospitals would ask a school not to disclose an affiliation. Furthermore, why would one have to apply to your school or your clinical program to get that type of information? Every other school I know of is proud of their affiliations and where their students can rotate. In fact, it is a selling point. The fact that the administration is not forthcoming with this type of information is also quite worrying.
I believe that a school can set its own admission standards whatever they may be. Thus, I cannot comment negatively on the admission standards of this school. Furthermore, I do understand that it is a business and the school reserves the right to admitt students who can pay for their education. I am worried though when money BECOMES the admission standard.
My advice as a caribbean grad and a practicing physician in the US is to be wary of this and any other startups. There are a number of established schools in the caribbean and I would opt for one of those prior to a brand new school. If meeting admission standards is a problem, I recommend you work on your stats and retry prior to applying to a new startup. If you have no other options, then be very wary and do your homework before you invest the time and money.
Good luck!
There are a few issues I'd like to raise:
St. Kitt's and Nevis are very small islands (I have been there, I know). One concern (red flag) that immediately comes to mind is the fact that this tiny island nation already has THREE medical schools (MUA, Windsor, International university of health sciences) and now, with St. Theresa's, FOUR. I don't know about others, but in my opinion, I really question the motive of a government granting approval to so many medical schools for such a small country. Entire states in the US only have one medical school compared to the four on this island. It really boils down to money in my opinion.
There has been so much talk in the media about the number of "offshore" schools popping up and pumping out students with MD degrees and state boards are keeping a watchful eye. State boards obviously have no power to deny a school from starting up but they do have the ultimate power in denying its graduates from practicing. It will be interesting to see when graduates start applying for licences what the success rate will be. Any potential student of a new school should keep this in mind.
I would like to point out the lesson learnt from the likes of St. Christopher's (Luton), Kigezi, Grace etc. I would recommend to any potential med student assessing your options, to think long and hard about your decision. Remember St. Christopher's! St. Theresa has posted images of their charter letter etc on their website, but if you are considering going here, I would call the government directly and find out if they have an agreement with the school. Be a skeptic and be smart about decisions even if you have the money to waste.
I would be very wary of a school that seems so secretive. It makes very little sense to me that hospitals would ask a school not to disclose an affiliation. Furthermore, why would one have to apply to your school or your clinical program to get that type of information? Every other school I know of is proud of their affiliations and where their students can rotate. In fact, it is a selling point. The fact that the administration is not forthcoming with this type of information is also quite worrying.
I believe that a school can set its own admission standards whatever they may be. Thus, I cannot comment negatively on the admission standards of this school. Furthermore, I do understand that it is a business and the school reserves the right to admitt students who can pay for their education. I am worried though when money BECOMES the admission standard.
My advice as a caribbean grad and a practicing physician in the US is to be wary of this and any other startups. There are a number of established schools in the caribbean and I would opt for one of those prior to a brand new school. If meeting admission standards is a problem, I recommend you work on your stats and retry prior to applying to a new startup. If you have no other options, then be very wary and do your homework before you invest the time and money.
Good luck!