SABA vs. Eustatius ???

[cprice]

HI all,
I was recently accepted into both SABA and Sint Eustatius, and I am trying to decide which one would be the most beneficial to my endeavours. Both appear to be excellent intsitutions for medicine. If anyone has any insights I would greatly appreciate it.

My general impressions of the 2 schools are:
1. Eustatius seems to be extremely dedicated to their students, but they lack the experience, facilities, and reputation of some of the other schools.

2. SABA has the experience, facilities and reputation, but they are aloof to the concerns and difficulties individual students may encounter.

Thank You Much,
- CP

[Stiches]

I was considering Eus but then stumbled upon Saba. When I got my acceptance, I didn't even bother applying to Eus or any other schools for that matter. I actually know someone at Eus right now. He didn't like it very much because there wasn't much to do, but he's enjoying himself there now, probably because he's doing well in his courses. I don't think there's much to do here at Saba either, except study. So if you look at academics, the small class size and great board scores by its students make it one very tempting school to attend. Find out the match rates for Eus for 2003 and how many ppl scored 90th percentile on the steps, and compare those with Saba. Perhaps that should help as well.

That's my two cents. :D

I'm sure whichever school you choose will be the right school, as long as you work hard and EARN that MD!

[jguru2]

SABA

[markglt]

St. Eustatius
better basic sciences
better rotations

[hypergasdoc]

The answer is kind of obvious to an insider. Saba is a nicer island with beautiful scenery. The school also has brand new facilities.

The administration is far from aloof. They genuinely seem to care about the students. This is a departure from the attitude of most Caribbean schools. You have to do your part and co-operate with them also. If any students have problems with the administration, I guarantee it is because they (the student) have probably dropped the ball somewhere.

The other factors to consider are that Saba is less expensive (I think they still are, you will have to verify that) and that Saba got approval from NY in about a year and St. Eustatius had their application into NY about 6 months before Saba and still has not gotten approval.

Saba is also waiting on California to do a site inspection and Statia has yet to apply.

Take this info and do what you want with it but it is accurate. Statia does put out decent students too for I have done rotations with some of them.

Good luck.

[studentMD]

also statia has 6 semesters of clinicals (because there clinical semesters are 12 weeks and not 15) whereas sabe has 5 semesters (each 15 weeks) many ppl dont realize that..

so if tuition is a concern theres an extra semester of tuition at statia... for the same number of total weeks of clinicals (72)

[WantMD]

IMHO, Saba.

WantMD :-)

[Bamaguy(formerly RWL22)]

St. Eustatius
better basic sciences
better rotations

You have to be kidding. I don't know much about St. Eustatius but I think it's fairly new.

FWIW, I go to school with a guy down here who did a postdoc at Indiana U. which is a top 25 med school in the U.S. He said he saw no difference in the qulaity of education being given. Plus, SU is about to be approved in California.

[cprice]

thanks for the great feedback!