doctor2007
08-20-2004, 10:28 PM
I wanted to share with everyone my 1st semester experience as Saba, since I believe it may help perspective students with their transition into medical school at SUSOM. Plain and simple, medical school is hard – long hours of lectures, few hours of study and unlimited amounts of information to grasp. The good news is - 1st semester is nothing like medical school. Well you are in medical school, you will have to study large amount of information and you do only have 15 weeks, but every day you have from 3pm until 11pm to study. That mean you have 8 hours of study time. More than enough to study Anatomy, Histology and Embryology.
Just a little about the island. I like it. It’s small and very humid. It’s nothing like Paradise, but its enough to get us through the 20 months of Basic Sciences. The Bottom has 3 restaurants where students eat – Galaxy, Family Deli and a Chinese Place. The town also has a shopping place called “My Store”. It has pretty much all the necessary foods. Ok, if you are picky about any brands, you may consider bringing it down with you or have it shipped down here. The store provides free delivery of groceries to your dorm or apartment. It is especially helpful to get your H2O delivered since the water is boxed and very heavy.
The Mathew’s Dorm is a great place for 1st Semesters. We are very lucky to attend a school that provides that kind of comfort. I say comfort because you will soon realize after a few days of Anatomy lab that it is very helpful to have a Dorm nearby where you can go change in between courses and take showers after lab. Also it is very affordable. Each semester is $1500.00 which comes down to $400.00 per month. Now the thing about it is that this includes electricity and water. Now some things to watch for is that hot water is only turned on in the morning and in the evening. The people at the dorm will set the time slots they want the hot water turned on. For example, last semesters we had our hot water turned on between 6-9 and 5-8. It worked out perfectly for everyone at the dorm. Another thing to watch for is that the dorm can get pretty loud. That’s why our class put a plan in place where the weekend before the exam, we would have quiet time during the entire weekend. During this period, nobody was allowed to make noise within the hallways. It worked out well for everyone.
Alright, now - the University itself. The school is very beautiful. It is well maintained and very clean (including the bathrooms, cafeteria, etc.) Saba has 5 classrooms, 1 Anatomy Lab, Liberty, Testing Center, Weight Room, Hyperbaric Center and Cafeteria. The classrooms have enough space for about 60 students. Each classroom has a computer, projector and a number of TVs. Furthermore, each classroom has many outlets where students can plug in their adaptors for their computers. The Histology room also contains the microscope for the Histology Lab. Students will be given 1 microscope at the beginning of the semester. It is each student responsibility to safeguard the microscope or you will pay a heavy fee if it is damaged, lost, etc.
Last but no least – 1st Semester courses. For Anatomy get your hands on Baby Moore – do not waste your money on Big Moore book. You won’t be using it at all. You don’t have the time. On the other hand, Baby Moore does a great job and is sufficient for 1st Semester and USMLE. You must get NETTER’s ATLAS. Knowing Netter will make you an excellent student. My advise is to study the Atlas all the time. Know the structures first and than learn the theory. Many students have tried to bit the system, by learning the theory first and than the structures (Lab). Some might have succeeded, but most didn’t. My advise is to study the structures first, spend many hours in the lab (outside the classroom) and than learn the theory. For Histology on the other hand, you have to study the theory first and than the Lab. I recommend only one book for Histology - DiFiore’s Atlas of Histology: With Functional Correlations. It’s all you need. For Embryology – don’t get the book. To many pages, you don’t have time to read it and way to much information. Therefore get the BRS for Embryology. Also get the BRS for Anatomy and Histology. You probably won’t read BRS for Histology now until 3rd Semester when you do Genetics, but it’s helpful from time to time. For 1st semester and from what I’ve heard for all semesters you must have a computer. Many professors uses PowerPoint slides – you will be able to get the slides at the beginning of each lecture. In addition – you must buy a USB Memory Stick, preferable a 256 MB one. It will make things a lot easier. Each class lecture is usually 2 hours with 5-10 minute brake every hour. 1st Semester will start at 8 AM every morning. Lunch is 30 minutes around 12 PM. First 4 Exams are computer based. The computer program is basically a copy of the USMLE format. Very user friendly. We have 72 seconds (just like at USMLE) to answer each question. Exam day is usually every 3rd Tuesday for 1st Semesters and exams start at 8 AM. The final exam is paper-based with scantron. The exam formats work out great and I haven’t heard one complain. Of course – Final is cumulative, but weighs the same as every other exam. As a result, every class has 5 exams with 20% making each exam.
I want to leave you with one advise. Get ready for what is ahead mentally. You must really want to become a physician. There are no shortcuts from here on. Getting a chance to go to Caribbean medical school is a second chance. Don’t blow it. You will start with a class of probably 60 students. 1 or 2 will drop out because they just can’t take it. Many will drop one course to make it easier for themselves. But in the end, if you study hard every day (don’t cram, it doesn’t work in the long run) you will be fine. Take medical school a semester at a time. Don’t worry about 2nd Semester until after the final exam. Note – don’t get bogged down in “oh, 2nd semester is so hard. Biochemistry is impossible, etc.” It doesn’t help anyone to worry about these things until you are there and have to go through it yourself. Also, don’t get into the politics of things. Many students will say things like “oh, Saba is never gone be approved by California, or it isn’t approved by this or that state.” The bottom line is it doesn’t matter. So what if some state won’t approve Saba. The whole idea is that you are getting a chance to practice medicine. Another thing is – grades. You’ll hear some talk about how important it is to get straight A’s (4.0 gpa). Not true. What you need to do is study hard enough to score high on the USMLE. You know something, if you study for USMLE, I mean study hard for USMLE – by default I promise you a B in each of your medical courses. But don’t go there and try to be competitive, because it’s not worth it. You are all in the same boat and are there for the same reason. Beat each other up on USMLE if you want to play hard. There is where it counts.
Just a little about the island. I like it. It’s small and very humid. It’s nothing like Paradise, but its enough to get us through the 20 months of Basic Sciences. The Bottom has 3 restaurants where students eat – Galaxy, Family Deli and a Chinese Place. The town also has a shopping place called “My Store”. It has pretty much all the necessary foods. Ok, if you are picky about any brands, you may consider bringing it down with you or have it shipped down here. The store provides free delivery of groceries to your dorm or apartment. It is especially helpful to get your H2O delivered since the water is boxed and very heavy.
The Mathew’s Dorm is a great place for 1st Semesters. We are very lucky to attend a school that provides that kind of comfort. I say comfort because you will soon realize after a few days of Anatomy lab that it is very helpful to have a Dorm nearby where you can go change in between courses and take showers after lab. Also it is very affordable. Each semester is $1500.00 which comes down to $400.00 per month. Now the thing about it is that this includes electricity and water. Now some things to watch for is that hot water is only turned on in the morning and in the evening. The people at the dorm will set the time slots they want the hot water turned on. For example, last semesters we had our hot water turned on between 6-9 and 5-8. It worked out perfectly for everyone at the dorm. Another thing to watch for is that the dorm can get pretty loud. That’s why our class put a plan in place where the weekend before the exam, we would have quiet time during the entire weekend. During this period, nobody was allowed to make noise within the hallways. It worked out well for everyone.
Alright, now - the University itself. The school is very beautiful. It is well maintained and very clean (including the bathrooms, cafeteria, etc.) Saba has 5 classrooms, 1 Anatomy Lab, Liberty, Testing Center, Weight Room, Hyperbaric Center and Cafeteria. The classrooms have enough space for about 60 students. Each classroom has a computer, projector and a number of TVs. Furthermore, each classroom has many outlets where students can plug in their adaptors for their computers. The Histology room also contains the microscope for the Histology Lab. Students will be given 1 microscope at the beginning of the semester. It is each student responsibility to safeguard the microscope or you will pay a heavy fee if it is damaged, lost, etc.
Last but no least – 1st Semester courses. For Anatomy get your hands on Baby Moore – do not waste your money on Big Moore book. You won’t be using it at all. You don’t have the time. On the other hand, Baby Moore does a great job and is sufficient for 1st Semester and USMLE. You must get NETTER’s ATLAS. Knowing Netter will make you an excellent student. My advise is to study the Atlas all the time. Know the structures first and than learn the theory. Many students have tried to bit the system, by learning the theory first and than the structures (Lab). Some might have succeeded, but most didn’t. My advise is to study the structures first, spend many hours in the lab (outside the classroom) and than learn the theory. For Histology on the other hand, you have to study the theory first and than the Lab. I recommend only one book for Histology - DiFiore’s Atlas of Histology: With Functional Correlations. It’s all you need. For Embryology – don’t get the book. To many pages, you don’t have time to read it and way to much information. Therefore get the BRS for Embryology. Also get the BRS for Anatomy and Histology. You probably won’t read BRS for Histology now until 3rd Semester when you do Genetics, but it’s helpful from time to time. For 1st semester and from what I’ve heard for all semesters you must have a computer. Many professors uses PowerPoint slides – you will be able to get the slides at the beginning of each lecture. In addition – you must buy a USB Memory Stick, preferable a 256 MB one. It will make things a lot easier. Each class lecture is usually 2 hours with 5-10 minute brake every hour. 1st Semester will start at 8 AM every morning. Lunch is 30 minutes around 12 PM. First 4 Exams are computer based. The computer program is basically a copy of the USMLE format. Very user friendly. We have 72 seconds (just like at USMLE) to answer each question. Exam day is usually every 3rd Tuesday for 1st Semesters and exams start at 8 AM. The final exam is paper-based with scantron. The exam formats work out great and I haven’t heard one complain. Of course – Final is cumulative, but weighs the same as every other exam. As a result, every class has 5 exams with 20% making each exam.
I want to leave you with one advise. Get ready for what is ahead mentally. You must really want to become a physician. There are no shortcuts from here on. Getting a chance to go to Caribbean medical school is a second chance. Don’t blow it. You will start with a class of probably 60 students. 1 or 2 will drop out because they just can’t take it. Many will drop one course to make it easier for themselves. But in the end, if you study hard every day (don’t cram, it doesn’t work in the long run) you will be fine. Take medical school a semester at a time. Don’t worry about 2nd Semester until after the final exam. Note – don’t get bogged down in “oh, 2nd semester is so hard. Biochemistry is impossible, etc.” It doesn’t help anyone to worry about these things until you are there and have to go through it yourself. Also, don’t get into the politics of things. Many students will say things like “oh, Saba is never gone be approved by California, or it isn’t approved by this or that state.” The bottom line is it doesn’t matter. So what if some state won’t approve Saba. The whole idea is that you are getting a chance to practice medicine. Another thing is – grades. You’ll hear some talk about how important it is to get straight A’s (4.0 gpa). Not true. What you need to do is study hard enough to score high on the USMLE. You know something, if you study for USMLE, I mean study hard for USMLE – by default I promise you a B in each of your medical courses. But don’t go there and try to be competitive, because it’s not worth it. You are all in the same boat and are there for the same reason. Beat each other up on USMLE if you want to play hard. There is where it counts.