Housing

[Princessaams]

Hi, :o I hope everyone is doing fine, i seem like a moron, posting two question within a couple of hours, but i'm just very curious about a lot of things. How is the housing for Spartans? I mean are most of the places close by, or far away?
How are the bathroom, and is there hot water? And the toilets, are they comfortable? These probably seem like dumb question, but i would still like to know. :oops:
Is the housing like separate apartments, with a living room, and etc, or is it more like a studio?
And are the students that you go to school with are they friendly?
Is there internet access on the island? Are there cell phone? My parents are really scared to let me go, so this would give them a lot of comfort.
Thanks for anyone readsing this. :!: :-flame

[Doc]

Hi Princess. Most students are on break right now, so you wont get much response right now. I can try to answer some of your questions, although I'm not sure about the comfortable toilet question :lol: .

There are many different types of apartments available depending on what you like and what you're willing to spend. There are many landlords that cater to the students around the school area, so many housing options are close to school. I'd say most apartments have separate living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. You get hot running water most of the time, with the exception of when the water or electricity goes out. The toilets seem similar to the ones in the states for the most part. I usually recommend a landlord named Playboy, but dont let the name scare you b/c he is a well-respected St. Lucian businessman. He has all types of places and works well with students.

Since the school is relatively small, everyone seems to know everyone else and this tends to produce a friendly atmosphere. There is internet access available from Cable & Wireless, which probably also has cell phones available, but you should confirm the latter. There is also a computer lab at school which has internet access available for students.

St. Lucia is a relatively nice island because it is geared towards tourists. But keep in mind that it is still a 3rd world country which means that you will be forced to live without some of the luxuries that we tend to take for granted back here in the great USA. Having said that, I think that you will find everything you need (but not necessarily everything you want) to live relatively comfortably for your 16 months on the island. The sooner you accept this, the easier your transition will be.

Dont worry about all the questions....we were all asking the same questions at some point. Best of luck![/quote]

[Princessaams]

Hi DOc, thanks for answering my question in detail. But my questions don't end. First of all are u a student at SHSU? And if so what do you think of it? If you're done, where did you do ur clinicals? And how did you set up for them? And how did you study for your USMLE? did you study during those 16 months, or did you cram at the end?
ANd now about the school. I am Muslim, so do they serve vegetarian food on campus? Without food, no nutrition, without nutrition no energy to study, and i have to study! And what are the classes like over there? Are they like high school, or college? Do the professor give notes, and then assign reading, or just outline the material for you?
HOW LONG ARE THE CLASSES? FROM MORNING UNTIL NIGHT? or what?
thanks
how often does the light go out over there? And are the taxis cheap? You don't have to answer all these question, just wanted a general view of a lot of things.
But thanks for putting in the time to answer my question.
:lol: need more people like you!

[Doc]

Princessaams:

Because of my role on this site, I will try to stay objective and therefore, will not typically give my opinions about different schools or speak publically about my personal info, so I will skip some of those questions. Besides, I think it is better for you and other prospectives to just collect objective information about different schools and then come up with your own conclusions. But I can tell you that I've already graduated b/c I think that most people already have that info. I would recommend studying for the USMLE from day 1 of med school, it is way too much material to cram! But unfortunately, many students choose the latter. If you do well in school and pass step 1, you will have a good chance of getting decent clinicals somewhere in the US. But many students choose to start before they pass, which means they choose to do their clinicals in Juarez, Mexico (no step 1 required to begin), while studying for the USMLE, and then move on to the US once they get their passing scores. Others might have connections and they choose to set up their own rotations, which the school will usually allow.

There are many muslim students there, so vegetarian meals should not be a problem....so you will not need to starve and will have plenty of energy to study :lol: . In fact, besides chicken, meat is hard to find in general around the E. Caribbean. But fruits and veggies are extremely cheap and extrodinarily fresh....without the pesticides! :D

When you ask about the class comparisons to high school or college, are you referring to size, difficulty, something else?? There are typically between 30 and 40 students per class....give or take. Some professors prefer handouts, but most like to teach from books. You will definitely do lots and lots of reading. Classes are definitely more demanding then anything you've probably experienced in high school or college. But the difficulty is more attributed to the volume than the conceptual difficulty....at least in my opinion. Classes are usually Mon to Fri from about 8 or 9 until 4 or 5, which can vary in different trimesters. There is a 10 minute break every hour and 1 hour break for lunch. There is a strict 80% mandatory attendance policy and the professors know you by name :shock: . The library is open from about 7 am to midnight I think.

Lights (electricity) dont go out too often, but it will happen, so you should probably take a good flashlight and purchase some candles over there. The water will go out more often, so it might be important to find a place that has a water reserve tank. A taxi and transport (bus) is really the same vehicle....but the taxi means you are the only passenger and the driver will take you wherever you want to go, and the transport means that you will ride with others and they will make frequent stops to drop people off within walking distance of their destination. Taxis can be expensive (like in the US), but transports are extremely cheap (less than 50 US cents from school to town).

I think I answered most of your questions. You don't need to thank me....just remember to do the same for others when you are in the position to answer questions....which I'm sure you will be soon enough :wink: . Best of luck!

[Princessaams]

:) Yes you did answer my question, and thanks. I was referring to the way most teachers like to teach when i talked about high school and college. And you said some of them like teaching from handouts and others from textbooks, do they assign readings or just give you chapters. And everyone has been scaring us about the quantity of work we'll have to be doing. Can you give me an example of how much will be required. Like how many chapters a week will we be reading? And also do they give review for the USMLE's? Well i'll be graduating with a diploma in my hand in exactly three weeks so hooray :-rainbow :-jump :-sunny
Can i ask also ask what kind of work will we be doing in the clinicals portion of med school?
Thats all for right now.

[Doc]

Hi Princess. Congrats on your upcoming graduation :flag:

The profs that use handouts will basically just expect you to know them inside out since they are usually high yield. The ones that use texts will assign chapters usually given on a syllabus on the first day of class, but will only go over the main concepts during class....lots and lots of chapters during a relatively short time. How much? Well, just imagine how much reading it would take to occupy most of the time in your day....its more than that :shock: ! In reality, its more than you can read, but you just need to learn to be selective and focus on the important points. But it is up to the individual to manage their study schedule to prepare for the upcoming exams. I would usually try to skim the upcoming chapters the night before a class, then I would take notes during class with an idea of the material from the skimming. That night after the class, I would read over the notes and then thoroughly go over the chapters from that day's lecture, making sure to underline or highlight important facts and other important concepts that the prof mentioned. After that you can just study your high yield info over and over until the exam. The important thing is to stay on top of things and not get behind. It is nearly impossible to cram at the medical school level.

As far as your clinicals question, a clinical student basically does most of what the residents do....but they dont get paid :? . Depending on your rotation, you will be doing things like interviewing and examining patients, collecting and analyzing patient info from their charts, coming up with possible disagnosis, suggesting treatments and medications, presenting all this info to your preceptor, etc. During surgery, you will likely assist with the actual procedures; during OB, you will likely assist with deliveries and prenatal exams; during radiology you will learn to interpret x-rays, MRIs, CTs, etc. It really depends on the rotation, but you get the idea.

Hope this helped answer your questions. Good luck!

[Princessaams]

Yeah i'm really happy about being done with graduation. I had another question, do you know what Spartan's USMLE pass rate is for Step 1? I mean someone on this website or somewhere else said it was 22%, but i don't think so. SO can you tell me, or do you know where anyone else I could go find out, about SHSU or any other school.
Thanks, and also how early before should i go down to St. Lucia before school starts. Lets say classes start on Sept 1, should i go by the 27th or earlier? :fight: :lol:

[Doc]

Yeah i'm really happy about being done with graduation. I had another question, do you know what Spartan's USMLE pass rate is for Step 1? I mean someone on this website or somewhere else said it was 22%, but i don't think so. SO can you tell me, or do you know where anyone else I could go find out, about SHSU or any other school.
Thanks, and also how early before should i go down to St. Lucia before school starts. Lets say classes start on Sept 1, should i go by the 27th or earlier? :fight: :lol:

Princessaams:

No one can tell you what the pass rate is for Spartan b/c it has never been collected. Until this year, they have not made any effort to collect this data from students. So in reality, not even the school knows the real number. So anyone who "claims" to know the pass rate has absolutely no factual basis for their claims. Having said that, I wouldn't expect it to be very high b/c most Spartan students choose to start clinicals before taking step 1 and try to study for it during clinicals without taking a review course. My advice is to start studying for it from day 1 and then take time off right after basic sciences for review. Then take step 1 and move on.

As far as other schools' pass rates, some collect this information from students and will announce their claims to the public. Unfortunately, there is no official way to verify the specific claims of any particular foreign schools. But the overall total FMG pass rate is traditionally somewhere in the mid 60's as compared to the mid 90's for US med schools. This general info can be found on the USMLE website.

As far as your arrival date, I think that you should get there about a week early to obtain decent housing, set up your telephone and bank accounts, and get adjusted to the new lifestyle. You can also use any extra time to tour and enjoy the island. Once classes starts, you should only be concerned with school and should not have any unneccessary stresses to deal with. Good luck.

[atraktm]

No school anywhere will prepare you for board exams and experience taught me not to get distracted with statistics and pass rates ,in my case for example I did my basic sciences at Spartan and after less than 2 years in basic sciences I prepared and passed the ECFMG and in my fellowship I attended top intensive care program yet I had to take the board exam twice and I was considered excellent fellow.The purpose of pass rate statistics is for recruitment and public relations only,I believe you should study from day 1 for the board,focus on your dreams,and if you pass your USMLE and did well in your clerkships doors will open wide to US mainstream medicine.
Also I like to mention that most of the negative comments I read on the previous forum about Spartan were not true[we were 20 in my class and over 13 passed],3 intensivist from spartan practicing here in this area in Florida.