IAU St Lucia- Behind the Scenes - THE TRUTH

[iaustudent]

v 3rd floor of a 3 storied building. Lower 2 floors belonging to a shopping mall
v 3 class rooms + 2 case study rooms + 2 restrooms
v 21 students
v 10 teachers
v 1 cadaver for the whole year for all students to work upon
v 90% of the governing body of the school belonging to the same family
v No affiliation with the New York Medical council
v Doctors with MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) degree teaching MD students
v 50% of the teachers whose name appear in the school website do not teach in the school
v Students with out Bachelors degree (The university will provide a custom Bachelors degree for those who do not have bachelors)
v Students with criminal background
v No Student Loan
v Special privileges to the son and daughter of the President. The Dean has in fact officially let President’s daughter go and start the Clinical Rotation though she has not cleared the basic sciences in reality.
v Board Exams being conducted for a mere formality. It doesn’t matter whether you clear these exams. It is the dean who decides to make you pass. Lot of incidents where the students cleared the board exams but got held back by the dean
v Money politics. More money you pay, the earlier you’ll complete the course
v Strict control on personal relationships. The school doesn’t allow you to date some one
v No doctor produced by the school yet
v No of students who left the school after starting the course greater than the no of students left behind.
v Photographs of fake medical drills in the school website
v Teachers putting positive articles about the school in www.valuemd.com (http://www.valuemd.com/) depicting themselves as highly satisfied students
v Currently running through financial crisis. Sales bids already started

This is the snap shot of the so called International American University, St. Lucia. And I’m an unfortunate student who joined this school with lot of hopes on pursuing a medical career. But right now I’m totally stuck. And I thought I’ll share it with the fellow student community the problems associated with this school. The mistake I made. I do not want any body else to jump into this ditch.

For more information, please visit my blog @ http://iau-***************.blogspot.com/ (http://iau-***************.blogspot.com/)

[dt]

Gee, that sucks...

Maybe you could transfer to Spartan?? (Is Spartan okay??)



v 3rd floor of a 3 storied building. Lower 2 floors belonging to a shopping mall
v 3 class rooms + 2 case study rooms + 2 restrooms
v 21 students
v 10 teachers
v 1 cadaver for the whole year for all students to work upon
v 90% of the governing body of the school belonging to the same family
v No affiliation with the New York Medical council
v Doctors with MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) degree teaching MD students
v 50% of the teachers whose name appear in the school website do not teach in the school
v Students with out Bachelors degree (The university will provide a custom Bachelors degree for those who do not have bachelors)
v Students with criminal background
v No Student Loan
v Special privileges to the son and daughter of the President. The Dean has in fact officially let President’s daughter go and start the Clinical Rotation though she has not cleared the basic sciences in reality.
v Board Exams being conducted for a mere formality. It doesn’t matter whether you clear these exams. It is the dean who decides to make you pass. Lot of incidents where the students cleared the board exams but got held back by the dean
v Money politics. More money you pay, the earlier you’ll complete the course
v Strict control on personal relationships. The school doesn’t allow you to date some one
v No doctor produced by the school yet
v No of students who left the school after starting the course greater than the no of students left behind.
v Photographs of fake medical drills in the school website
v Teachers putting positive articles about the school in www.valuemd.com (http://www.valuemd.com/) depicting themselves as highly satisfied students
v Currently running through financial crisis. Sales bids already started

This is the snap shot of the so called International American University, St. Lucia. And I’m an unfortunate student who joined this school with lot of hopes on pursuing a medical career. But right now I’m totally stuck. And I thought I’ll share it with the fellow student community the problems associated with this school. The mistake I made. I do not want any body else to jump into this ditch.

For more information, please visit my blog @ http://iau-***************.blogspot.com/ (http://iau-***************.blogspot.com/)

[iaustudent06]

3rd floor only? wrong! 3rd and part of 2nd! plus, this is a temporary facility. big deal.
21 students to 10 teachers? wow, such a bad ratio. would you rather have 500 to 1 like Ross after being bought out by Devry?
1 cadaver for the 9 anatomy students. did you know there's a female cadaver here also? your information is not that up to date, indicating lack of involvement or even presence.
Family owned business? Is that a bad thing? I'm sure they dont want to fail, it would affect their own children...
Some of our teachers are MBBS... Others are PhD, MD, etc. Not all teachers are here at all times, some are contracted here when that course starts.
The school does not give bachelor's degrees, they used to offer pre-med classes, which is also verified by board people before USMLE.
All students admitted have to clear background authorization to gain entry, as required by the country.
No loans? Even better, scholarships! You don't have to pay those back!
People who failed their last semester here were not simply allowed to pass, they had to repeat a review course somehow and will have to retake the exam. All requirements must met before Step 1, not clinicals. If you are in clinicals, you passed Step 1 in our school. No dean, president, or family can control that. Wrong information again.
People may have cleared boards, but had a failing average. In-house exams are 30%. So it is possible to pass NBME board by few points and still fail if the "mini-exams" average is quite low.
Money does not buy your education. There's 2 students right now who both paid in full, both failed one class.
Can't date? Who makes an argument about this? You sure it's the school and not other people who don't want to date you and just made that up?
It's hard to make a doctor in 3 years... but it shouldn't be too long since everyone but one passed USMLE!
Number of student who failed, and left, is more than those completed their education. Quality, not quantity makes the USMLE passing rate high.
There are extra, unused equipment in the building here (check the closet). The drill belongs to clinical medicine coordinator, Dr. Olusina Adesanya as far as I know.
Prove teachers post on here. If you want to make assumptions, everyone here thinks only failures and drop-outs go out of their way to post negative comments on here. I have not seen any specific teacher endorsed on this forum.
No financial crisis, this is not costing billions of dollars to run. We just expanded to later hours on top of that.
Making a blog about how life sucks does not help if you are stuck, why not make real suggestions on how to improve things? Or just leave, I'll even pay for it.

[IAUStudent006]

My experiene here has been positive to say the least. I don't agree with all the IAU-bashing that has been goin on here, but here is what I have noticed in the time that I have been at IAU:
I have a degree from a major US University, and I have seen the teachers and students come together and work towards achieving the goals that they have set forward for themselves. The low student-to-faculty ratio has been very instrumental in allowing the students access to teachers who know about the subjects that they teach. I have gained a greater appreciation for the smaller class sizes while being here. Teachers are almost always available and student-teacher interaction is high. I have learned a great deal in the past 6 months, and I hope to learn more. There are more students on the way (from Texas A&M and So. Missouri), so the school will definitely increase in size as time goes on. The school will also grow to accomodate the new students, and I look forward to watching this process take place. Any place you go, you are going to have issues and problems (I mean, lets face it, not everyone gets along with each other). So whether you choose a school like Ross or here, there will be issues abound. I am not ashamed to be here, nor do I think bashing this school for whatever reason helps anyone (especially not yourself). I am leaving my contact information here for anyone who wants to contact me, please feel free to. I will give you honest opinions about the school and what my experiences have been, both at US and abroad schools.

vkhare@iau.edu.lc
or
sghori@iau.edu.lc

[IAUinsider]

Well, looking back on the past history of this university and the character and qualities of the students that have either attended OR that have graduated and are currently in clinical rotations OR that have passed USMLE1 and awaiting their rotations OR that have left/failed-out-those that have succeeded have little to complain about. Whereas, those students who fall at the bottom of the ladder and are regretting the choices that they committed while in school and have nothing else better than to place the blame for their failure in school, rather on themselves (if you paid attention while in Behavioral Science-this mechanism is called-Projection, "Right Sir?!").

Everywhere you look, whether it's this school or another one listed under 'Caribbean Medical Schools' you will find many people/student/faculty/etc that have something to say about their own school or another school-positively or negatively. Again-take interest and inquire as to why a particular person is writing in favor/not in favor of a particular institution. The details that are implied in this post are outdate and incorrect to which you can see in the above posts...take heed to everything that you read...Don’t believe everything that is written...find out for yourself...It's your life-your decision where you decide to go-AND ULTIMATELY-what you set forth as your goals while in school...

[dt]

Making a blog about how life sucks does not help if you are stuck, why not make real suggestions on how to improve things? Or just leave, I'll even pay for it.


Hey, draw up the contract (make it simple, need not be complicated). Dont forget to put, say, $30,000 USD into a legal trust in fulfillment of the contract. Or, better yet, send me the cash, I'll hold it for him/her till the contract is signed -- I'll only charge a 5% handling fee.

[dt]

My experiene here has been positive to say the least. I don't agree with all the IAU-bashing that has been goin on here, but here is what I have noticed in the time that I have been at IAU:
I have a degree from a major US University, and I have seen the teachers and students come together and work towards achieving the goals that they have set forward for themselves. The low student-to-faculty ratio has been very instrumental in allowing the students access to teachers who know about the subjects that they teach. I have gained a greater appreciation for the smaller class sizes while being here. Teachers are almost always available and student-teacher interaction is high. I have learned a great deal in the past 6 months, and I hope to learn more. There are more students on the way (from Texas A&M and So. Missouri), so the school will definitely increase in size as time goes on. The school will also grow to accomodate the new students, and I look forward to watching this process take place. Any place you go, you are going to have issues and problems (I mean, lets face it, not everyone gets along with each other). So whether you choose a school like Ross or here, there will be issues abound. I am not ashamed to be here, nor do I think bashing this school for whatever reason helps anyone (especially not yourself). I am leaving my contact information here for anyone who wants to contact me, please feel free to. I will give you honest opinions about the school and what my experiences have been, both at US and abroad schools.

vkhare@iau.edu.lc
or
sghori@iau.edu.lc



Sorry, just felt the urge to ask...

Are you related in any way to the President? A distant cousin, twice removed, maybe??

[iau_student_06]

I don’t need to list the reasons why iaustudent is wrong because that has already been done by several other students. Maybe if iaustudent had not failed there board exams and most other classes they wouldn't be so "stuck". Personally going out every night and pursing”extra curricular" activities does not build the backbone for a strong medical education. All that will lead to is vasovagal syncope.

But in all seriousness this school is new with problems just like any other school starting up. However they've handled the potholes along the way with class and a school with strong foundations, like the ones from which this school is built upon, will manufacture some great doctors in the near future...

[dt]

Hey! What the...


What with the "iau" "student" "6" similar IDs??

Dont you know it is now 2007. Try "iaustudent07", "iaustudent 007", etc...

[IAUinsider]

Um...ah...well...some of us go by the year that we started...sorry for huge confusion

[HowellJolly]

Hey Now!
So we are new and struggling school with an impressive student/teacher ratio? That sounds about right.
Sure we have problems, but why is there a sudden increase in apparent insider information about how bad the school is?
Does it have anything to do with the sudden decrease in the student population because of the now strictly enforced "two strikes, and you're out" basic science course policy?
Is our school so bad because they keep your money, though they dont give you credit for a course, which you completed and managed to fail all by yourself?.
If folks just like you and me are out there, looking for a second chance at a medical degree, lets let them hear from someone whe put in their best effort, so they can see what they can do. Sure, its good to know the negative points of the school, but lets be accurate about to what extent those negative points really affect our education.
Oh, and Im just curious, which of the other 21 male students did you want to date? Because I, for one, am not interested in any of them.

[AUCMD2006]

Um...ah...well...some of us go by the year that we started...sorry for huge confusion


it was a subtle way to say that all of you are the same poster...hey with nearly identical ID's and very few posts close apart saying the same thing it s likely the same person trying to put a positive spin on this.

every new school will have growing pains no doubt but some things lately are a real concern fort prospective students and would be a good idea to take them seriously and check them out, if they are all lies and exaggerations by former students its one thing but if they have some merit then beware. i would like to know more about repeating a course in the US that was failed on island....sounds like a medical education on US soil..a little outside the charter isn't it?

[IAUStudent006]

I didn't particularly enjoy your comment "dt", none the less I'm just not going to dignify it with a response. We are all different students posting here, its just so happens that we all started the same year. Most of the posts came around the same time because we all read the post after a class, hence the sudden influx of messages.

[IAUSTUDENT023]

Some students fail, some pass it is all depending on each persons dedication to the profession. Students who fail I beleive should comment on how the school could improve to make them do better. Negative comments about the school is of no use to you or the school, especially if they are false.

Just to mention about the statement that people pay more to get done with school. If I am not mistaken, IAU does not give a graduate certificate unless you pass USMLE 1, what is the use of paying more and passing classes here if you can't pass USMLE 1 and get a certificate from the school.

[lolalala]

I understand that you are concerned about other students who may apply to this school, but you have to be considerate of students who are already here. I understand that you may have a difference of opinion. Every school has its own set of rules and regulations. I see that you are frustrated with some of them. Please be considerate. If you had a bad experience or two then maybe it's a good that you have a change of scenery now, but why dwell on the past? Why not have students decide for themselves and what they themselves see. Basically, let the results speak for themselves.

[iaustudent06]

LOL dt, you are pretty funny. But I guess posting over 2000 times helps out.

By the way, the names given for email on the posts should indicate no family relationship.

No CREDIT is given for other courses taken anywhere else that I know of, still have to pass the same NBME boards taken here.

BTW, it is 3 classrooms, 4 case study room, 1 library, 1 computer lab, 2 lounges, 2 administration offices, 4 hallways, 10 teacher offices, 1 pysio lab, 1 anatomy lab, 1 bio/path lab, and 4 restrooms to be exact. Sorry, don't have time for light bulb check since we all have exams on Monday.

[HowellJolly]

You forgot the study area, convenience store, and lunch room, complete with microwave, and refrigerator... and my coffee mug should still be floating around there somewhere...

And about the cadaver, he or she stays in our anatomy lab for exactly 9 months, and there are two cadavers, which come roughly 4 months apart, at the availability of the company which leases them to us. So there may be one or two cadavers at a given time. I suppose that I was lucky enough to have five people in my lab group, and two cadavers to learn from. Was your anatomy class so much worse because you had to lean over a bit more to see something.

The time you spent in coming up with issues about the school, and this blog about it, wouldn't it be better spent, if not getting your facts straight, then moving forward with whatever plans you have in life, since an MD from IAU is now not among them.

Right!

[brownsuga]

It is nice to see the positive responses and the negative comments to understand the different points of view. Also, it is about time more pictures were put up. Honestly, I was surprised to notice non-brown people!