Help! Questions About UNIBE

[Ladoo]

I currently do not have all of the credits needed to enter UNIBE's Medical School, so I might be joining the pre-med level first.

1.) Do I have to do the whole 4 semester pre-med at UNIBE before I can enter its med school?...
...or can I just take the main(BIO, CHEM, OCHEM, PHYS, MATH) courses at UNIBE that I haven't yet completed, and enter its medical school once I am done?

2.) Are the classes at UNIBE only offered during a certain semester, or can I take any class any semester I want. Is it the same with the medical school program.

3.) I'm still not too sure, but the professors at UNIBE do teach in english, right???

[ojmdc]

Have you read any of the previous posts? I suggest you do, there are various posts here that will answer your questions in detail. My brief answer to your question is as follows:

If you haven't completed a bachelor's degree and or 90 university level credits containing at least 1 year of orgo with lab, one year of physics with lab, 12 credits of biology with lab, college math (starting at precalculus) to total 8 credits, and a year of inorganic chemistry with lab. If you have a bachelors that doesn't include all these courses you will have to start in the premed program and take the courses which you haven't completed of those I just listed IN ADDITION to those courses you will most likely have to take all or most of the following courses before you can enter into the medical program.
1st Semester
Spanish I
Environment Science
Orientation
Introduction to Sociology
Sport & Culture
2nd Semester
Spanish II
Universal History
Cellular Biology
Basic English
3rd Semester
Dominican History
General Psychology
Introduction to Computers
Scientific Methodology
Spanish III
4th Semester
Spanish IV
Leadership/ Modernization
Biophysics
Technical Medical Spanish
Human Relations
Introduction to Anatomy & Physiology



I say 'might' because it all depends on which other courses you've taken at the university level. It's possible that you might have taken some classes that could count toward these credits, though getting those credits transferred can be tricky business at any unviersity in the DR. The moral of this story is to finish your bachelor's degree and be sure that it includes all of the pre-med courses. Alternatively take all of those pre-med courses by themselves, so long as you have them all complete with a C or higher you should be all right and able to enter directly into the medical program. Otherwise you'll be paying $4,000 per semester for classes you could have taken back home at your local community college for 30 bucks a credit. My advice is to finish the pre-med and not take any of it here in the Dr if at all possible, at least not at 4K per semester, at cheaper, spanish schools it might be worth your while to complete the pre-med here. And yes, UNIBE teaches pre-med and basic sciences in english, presumably the lecture portion of your clinical years will also be in english, but the hospitals where you'll do your rotations are Dominican hospitals and you'll have to speak the language fluently enough to communicate with your patients and other doctors. So because the program is marketed as being an english program, you'll not be able to complete it without speaking pretty fluent spanish. take care, hope this helps, Again, read the other posts on here, I go on ad naseum on most of these topics and other frequent posters have a lot to say that you might find useful. God Bless.
Ozzie.

[ojmdc]

I mention in my reply taht you can opt to simply complete those premed courses I listed there. Well, if you don't have a bachelors degree, the 90 credits you'll have to have completed before you can enter into the medical program must include the courses I listed as well as other filler courses distributed as follows:

Social Sciences and Humanities

Subject
Credits
Social Studies
8 Credits
Psychology
3 Credits
Languages
6 credits
Introduction to Computers
3 credits
Research Methods
3 Credits

This is all stuff straight off UNIBE's website so I'm not pulling this outta thin air. In any case, the moral still applies, finish your degree in the states. It's likely that it will be cheaper than completing premed here if you're attending a public university. Otherwise, as you can see by the complicated tiers of pre-reqs they impose on prospective medical students, you'll more likely than not end up taking a couple of semesters or more (8 months) of classes which any american medical school would laugh at as pre-med requirements. Take care and God Bless.
Ozzie.

[Ladoo]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately I have one more question that I'm still confused about. Here's my situation, I hope u can help:

I have done about two years at my unversity, which includes most of the premed courses. These are the ones I have done:

8 credits of Biology with lab
8 credits of General Chemistry with lab
8 credits of Math(Calculus I & Calculus II)
4 credits of Organic Chemistry I
6 credits of English

The only ones I have left for premed requirements are:

8 credits of Physics I & II with lab
4 credits of Organic Chemistry II with lab

I thought all together these courses are the only ones I need to enter UNIBE's med school program. Do I have to have a bachelor's degree to enter med school at UNIBE, or do I have to do 4 semesters premed at UNIBE, or can I complete the remaining courses(Physics & Ochemistry) in the states or at UNIBE, and enter med school at UNIBE?

[ojmdc]

with the classes you listed you would need to complete the orgo and physics IN ADDITION to completing all the other classe I listed. In other words, if, in addition to the pre-med courses you will have taken (after you finish taking orgo2 and physics) you haven't also taken all the other classes that comprise the UNIBE pre0med curriculum then you will have to take the remaining courses at UNIBE before you can enter into the medical program. Some classes can be squeezed into a medical semester such as spanish or university orienation, even dominican history. However, if you are missing many of those courses, as would be the case for the average science major, then you're gonna have to take a semester or two or three to complete the remaining courses before UNIBE will let you begin with basic sciences. The way around this is to have a bachelors degree. If you have a bachelors degree that includes the core science pre-med courses then it doesn't matter which other classes you took to complete your degree so long as you have a bachelors of science, a BA won't cut it, or at the very least you'll have to do some hard bargaining with the people at admissions to get it to count.

Given that it doesn't sound like you're close to a bachelor's or probably even interested in pursuing one at this stage of the game, I would opt for the 90 credit option. I would be sure that, in addition to the premedical core science courses, I have on my transcript classes that fit this bill...
Subject
Credits
Social Studies
8 Credits
Psychology
3 Credits
Languages
6 credits
Introduction to Computers
3 credits
Research Methods
3 Credits

Chances are you've completed at least a couple of those in your college years so far. You should be able to polish off the rest in a semester and a summer or a couple of semesters, maybe less depending on how many you've already completed. Try not to take softball classes, make them somewhat upper level, don't give the admissions people any excuse to make you take all THEIR pre0med classes. Because remember, if they so choose, fro lack of any one of those credits mentioned above, they can make you have to fullfill all of these credits before they let you into basic sciences...
1st Semester
Spanish I
Environment Science
Orientation
Mathematics I
Introduction to Sociology
Sport & Culture
General Biology
2nd Semester
Spanish II
Mathematics II
Universal History
Cellular Biology
General Chemistry I
Basic Physics I
Basic English
3rd Semester
Dominican History
General Psychology
General Chemistry II
Basic Physics II
Introduction to Computers
Scientific Methodology
Spanish III
4th Semester
Spanish IV
Leadership/ Modernization
Organic Chemistry
Biophysics
Technical Medical Spanish
Human Relations
Introduction to Anatomy & Physiology


Always keep in mind when dealing with anything DR that no one is looking out for your interests. When it comes to universities down here, as a foreigner, they're only looking at your dollars. They're big sticklers with their pre-med requirements down here, they want you to be a paying student as long as possible. Lemme know if there's anything else I might be able to answer for you. Take care and don't lose heart, it's not all so hard as it seems, and, if it comes to it, taking a couple of semesters of softball classes isnt' all that bad in the scheme of things, not when you're this close to the equator. Take care and God Bless.
Ozzie .

[skull]

Hi Ozzie,

Correct me if I am wrong, but according to UNIBE's catalog, you only need to take one semester of Orgo (semester 4), while they require 2 courses if you do not take it at UNIBE..Sounds hypocritical, and again brings about the idea of "milking the cow!"

I totally agree with you, that students should finish all th epre-reqs in the states, not b/c of financial considerations, but also for academic ones.

[ojmdc]

Well, here's the deal. If you've already taken orgo you know that it does take an entire 12 months or so to teach all of it. Even in that length of time most students have wish they had longer it's such a tedious subject. At both UNIBE and INTEC, the schools plan to cover what takes an american university 12 months in only four months (or three months in the case of INTEC) The syllabus and course description for orgo at INTEC in cludes ALL of the subject matter that is included in a year of orgo at an american university. This is why UNIBE demands that you complete a year of orgo if it's taken outside their program. Their orgo is SO good that it takes every major ameican university twice as long to teach the same subject matter. Again, as you said, Milking the Cow. It's ridiculous to think this is even remotely possible to teach all that subject matter effectively in such a short semester. It's only possible if either only prodigies pass the course or it's the weakest review course of organic chemistry EVER. I'm guessing it's the latter. In that case taking orgo at UNIBE or INTEC might be a lot more agreeable than taking it at an american university where they teach you real orgo in all its splendor. Contrary to what pre-med requirements might suggest the amount of orgo you "need" for biochem and subsequent courses you get in the first semester of orgo and anything else you need is covered right there as part of the curriculum of biochem. In light of that, it's no big deal to take an anemic survey course of ochem. But if you're gonna opt that route then, unfortunately, the penance you pay is the litany of other fluff courses UNIBE includes as part of their pre-med curriculum. So again, the moral still remains; Take your pre-meds in the states. Take care and Gob Bless.
Ozzie