Website, Alumni, Update??

[The Man]

Is it just me or does our website need a news update or something.
On the front page maybe a small link to our facebook or twitter group etc
Recent Graduation pictures
News from matched grads or fellows
Latest medical breakthroughs/news
Alumni Magazine

We still have videos of old lecturers/students that left ages ago.

Sheesh i'm not asking for much.

[AmericanIMG]

just you i think. not sure if the facebook/twitter are official.
the photos/vid don't really need to change IMO...

[The Man]

just you i think. not sure if the facebook/twitter are official.
the photos/vid don't really need to change IMO...

The Facebook page is official, not sure about the twitter.

Maybe you're right, but an update news wise is never a bad thing.

I've worked for schools in the states and canada in the past as junior faculty and have children of my own so maybe I expect more than you do/did as a student. Little things like updating the news on a website are important because we don't have a booklet for every year like schools back home and thats what people who are not on the island see first.

All these things cost money and time but the payoff is even more students applying and more people coming back to your site.

[AmericanIMG]

The Facebook page is official, not sure about the twitter.

Maybe you're right, but an update news wise is never a bad thing.

I've worked for schools in the states and canada in the past as junior faculty and have children of my own so maybe I expect more than you do/did as a student. Little things like updating the news on a website are important because we don't have a booklet for every year like schools back home and thats what people who are not on the island see first.

All these things cost money and time but the payoff is even more students applying and more people coming back to your site.

comparing ANY carib school to a US/Canada school is a big mistake

[Knight007]

ha... just cuz a school is a US medical school doesnt guarantee they have the best
IT dept..... go surf the web and you will find medical school pages for students that
look like a 5th grader made them for his class project in 1996 .. lol

[ghost_rider]

i dont know what your deal is... "BIG MISTAKE" ????.... it's really starting to get irritating now. Do you ever see anyone NOT MAKING A MISTAKE except yourself?

for over 10K every 3 months, we should not ask school to :
1. make sure they have proper clinical sites for students
2. answer their email about clinical site questions
3. provide a list of available sites and possible be able to place us in electives or at least give us some guidance as to where the chances are highest
4. be truthfull and not give us a run around about the loans/losing sites etc.
5. send us updates on what's going on... should we expect the school to be alive in the next 1-2 years ( i dont see it going down but things sure are going that way ).

can they do any one of the above for the 10K we pay? maybe U.S/Canadian schools do all 5 of the above, i'm asking for just ONE of the 5. Is that a mistake as well? if so then you should give me 10K out of your pocket and i'll get you an MD guaranteed, just dont ask me when... and dont expect any good service from me either.

comparing ANY carib school to a US/Canada school is a big mistake

[Knight007]

ghostrider.. very funny but a weak argument..

1. Clinical sites: Every student eligible to rotate has a rotation
2. Answer Emails: maybe some emails go unanswered...I attended a prestigious
college... emails were not always answered... annoying but a petty issue
3. List of sites: its posted online and also updated list is on Angel and info is given
when you are ready to rotate.
4. Loans/Losing sites: loans are scarce and sites come and go... thats a fact for
ALL schools... US and Carib...affiliations dont last forever
5. Update about school's future: Deans and Pres. send out regular emails...
viability of school is not in question at any point... its going well on self pays
and thanks to DU affiliation,,that helps too.

[ghost_rider]

ghostrider.. very funny but a weak argument..

1. Clinical sites: Every student eligible to rotate has a rotation
2. Answer Emails: maybe some emails go unanswered...I attended a prestigious
college... emails were not always answered... annoying but a petty issue
3. List of sites: its posted online and also updated list is on Angel and info is given
when you are ready to rotate.
4. Loans/Losing sites: loans are scarce and sites come and go... thats a fact for ALL schools... US and Carib...affiliations dont last forever
5. Update about school's future: Deans and Pres. send out regular emails...viability of school is not in question at any point... its going well on self pays
and thanks to DU affiliation,,that helps too.

1. i was not trying to be funny but i'm glad i could make you happy
2. Yea! sooner or later every student will have rotations. I never said that we dont have any rotations. but we are losing spots right and left and the cali diss list does not help when you go applying for electives and school does not give you any direction.
3. The list of sites is posted on website and you are correct in that. I think i'll apply to harward to see what happens...
4. correct again! US and Carib affiliations do not last for ever but how long is good? how do you lost a program when you dont even have another school trying to take your place? Well i guess that's the way business is done by carib school admins... sooner or later we'd have run down thru all the hospitals in U.S and everyone would have kicked us out because of the shady business dealings. I'm just glad i'll be done by that time.
5. About thos regular emails, i think you have been out of SMU for too long. I am not trying to Dis you, i know you are one of the respected members on the forum and your advice is always a good one and in good intentions just like American IMG. There are not regular emails from SMU Dean or Admin. if you want the access to my SMUONLINE account i'll send it to you so you can see for yourself how many "regular" email they have been sending us...

and again, i'm not asking for all of the above, i'm asking for one or maybe two for the chunk of money we pay.

[Dr Rich]

Facebook? Twitter? Does anybody have the links?

[AmericanIMG]

sites choose to disaffiliate w/ schools a LOT. it doesn't take another school to cause this to happen. if some sites want to focus on US students and get away from having international students, or whatever, they will drop a carib school. it happens ALL THE TIME. not sure why this is so hard to understand.
-
everything w/ carib schools is constantly shifting. that's how it is. how it's always been. the majors are now getting into a financial position where they can purchase slots and move students out, but schools like SMU can't. why can't SMU tell you what its going to be like in 1-2 years? how can anyone say what anything will be like in 1-2 years???
-
lastly, if SMU isn't doing it for you, there are many schools that would be happy to take your money.

[ghost_rider]

dont you like it when people run out of things to say, so they make comments that imply, " if you dont like it, leave"...

[The Man]

I know that you can't expect any caribbean school to be up to US or Canadian standards but I at least want to see them trying.

Look at Xavier (In Aruba) for instance. They are not as old as us, not as accredited as us. But they are doing the right things and most importantly they are trying to be better.

(1) They have increased their admissions seminars in the states and canada
(2) They have applied for CAAM-HP accrediatation, also on the verge of getting NYC
(3) They constanty update their website (News and layout). Does that mean that more stuff happens in Aruba or Xaviers than in SMU? I don't think so. It just means that they care more about the school

All the things above do not cost much money really. I think that SMU is still a good school BUT it can be better and we as students have a right to demand steady improvement not just be happy to get our MD and leave the island.

I want to be able to visit Grand Cayman in 30 years time and know that the school is still there and in a much better state than when we left it.

I want to be in a position in the future (20-30 years or so) where If someone asks me ''where did you get your MD?'' I can proudly say SMU knowing that the school still exists and is going strong

[nydoc70]

Sorry, Xavier (I and II) are not in the SMU league. CAAMHP has nothing to do with NYS approvals. Xavier I and II were borne out of the same peoople who brought the now defunct Atlanta, Ohio, and soon-to-close Oklahoma clinical sites. Follow that trail. Many cannot even get credit for clerkships completed at those sites. Think of the tiers. Top tier: Big 4 - SGU, Ross, AUC, Saba Second tier: SMU, MUA, AUA Third: Eustatius, UMHS, Spartan, Xavier (Aruba) Bottom tier: all the rest.

[MaxPower311]

Missed the point :lolup:

[AmericanIMG]

the site really needs to be better maintained, but i am sure it's last on the priority list w/ SMU right now.

[lacarthic]

The way things are going I don't think they have any priorities.

[ghost_rider]

The way things are going I don't think they have any priorities.

i really wish that Mr. M would put his degree from Harvard to use. If there was any good time to use that degree, then this would be it. I dont know how they managed to screw up this school from being close to becoming one of the top 5 to being almost thrown out of the race.

the site really needs to be better maintained, but i am sure it's last on the priority list w/ SMU right now.


finally we agree on something. SMU has a lot more important things that they need to fix before they get to the website. I would compare website problem as being cayman island on the world map... smaller than a "dot"


Sorry, Xavier (I and II) are not in the SMU league.
Think of the tiers.
Top tier: Big 4 - SGU, Ross, AUC, Saba
Second tier: SMU, MUA, AUA
Third: Eustatius, UMHS, Spartan, Xavier (Aruba)
Bottom tier: all the rest.

SMU WAS 2nd tier. Today you cannot say that it is considered so. i would put SMU at the bottom tier for several reasons, cali list and no loans being 2 of the many reasons.

[MaxPower311]

And that wasn't what The Man was saying regardless. It wasn't a comparison btwn Xavier and SMU as a school. It was a comparision of what effort they are putting into trying to improve. And Xavier wins, sorry.

[jackets5]

ghostrider.. very funny but a weak argument..

1. Clinical sites: Every student eligible to rotate has a rotation
2. Answer Emails: maybe some emails go unanswered...I attended a prestigious
college... emails were not always answered... annoying but a petty issue
3. List of sites: its posted online and also updated list is on Angel and info is given
when you are ready to rotate.
4. Loans/Losing sites: loans are scarce and sites come and go... thats a fact for
ALL schools... US and Carib...affiliations dont last forever
5. Update about school's future: Deans and Pres. send out regular emails...
viability of school is not in question at any point... its going well on self pays
and thanks to DU affiliation,,that helps too.

Would like to disagree with you that every eligible student has a rotation. Two of my best friends just passed Step 1 and were told that they will not have a GREEN rotation to do for approximately 6 months

[ghost_rider]

And that wasn't what The Man was saying regardless. It wasn't a comparison btwn Xavier and SMU as a school. It was a comparision of what effort they are putting into trying to improve. And Xavier wins, sorry.

i did write all of that in my post but deleted it because it was getting too long. I was going to write that St. E and UMHS at least have loans. Xaviar and spartan are trying to get better... SMU has neither of the above. makes me feel like the guy on "no funds" thread about smu going under may just be correct. You know! Rumors on this forum are true more often true than not.

[The Man]

I'm worried but I don't think the school is going under (yet). I think the problems such as lack of loans, no website updates, no new Cali plans, no CAAM-HP plans and most importantly no reassurances from school officials are because they just do not care about what we think as long as the MD factory is still working and people are still paying.

I think its time we heard something from the school officials. On the AUA board they have 2-3 officials answering student questions and shutting down rumours, UMHS board have school officials as well, so does MUA's.
Why don't our officials (SMU) answer some of these questions.

1) Why do we not have loans, but St Eustatius, UMHS and MUA do??
2) What the **** is happening with Cali and getting us off that dissaproved list?????
3) Why does it seem that nothing happens on our website (no real updates, no fresh layout, why do we still have Dr V (now UMHS) still on our welcome video?
4) How can one company be allowed to own 3 schools SABA, SMU and MUA all owned by the same company. (It seems like they're selling 3 products...Saba (First class), MUA aka Saba lite and SMU (Coach class), meaning that maybe they like the fact that they have 3 very different schools.

Where are the school officials???
(Oh I forgot, the MD factory is still working):mad:

[ghost_rider]

I'm worried but I don't think the school is going under (yet). I think the problems such as lack of loans, no website updates, no new Cali plans, no CAAM-HP plans and most importantly no reassurances from school officials are because they just do not care about what we think as long as the MD factory is still working and people are still paying.

I think its time we heard something from the school officials. On the AUA board they have 2-3 officials answering student questions and shutting down rumours, UMHS board have school officials as well, so does MUA's.
Why don't our officials (SMU) answer some of these questions.

1) Why do we not have loans, but St Eustatius, UMHS and MUA do??
2) What the **** is happening with Cali and getting us off that dissaproved list?????
3) Why does it seem that nothing happens on our website (no real updates, no fresh layout, why do we still have Dr V (now UMHS) still on our welcome video?
4) How can one company be allowed to own 3 schools SABA, SMU and MUA all owned by the same company. (It seems like they're selling 3 products...Saba (First class), MUA aka Saba lite and SMU (Coach class), meaning that maybe they like the fact that they have 3 very different schools.

Where are the school officials???
(Oh I forgot, the MD factory is still working):mad:

It's like Toyota, lexus and scion.... or Inifinit and nissan.... or honda and acura... but you know what the difference is... even their low quality cars are doing better than SMU... because SMU is an american brand..and you know whats happening to GMC and FORD these days...

[MaxPower311]

Great analogy :clapover:

[The Man]

MUA have a new website. Its a real improvement on the last one. Hopefully ours will follow?

Medical University of the Americas - home (http://mua.edu/~muaedu/mua/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=15)

[Dr Rich]

Yes, we need is all the admin energy focused in building a new website, that's should be their priority! :rolleyes: