former student
06-21-2003, 04:33 PM
Dear Readers,
It's been fun and exciting corresponding with all of you for the last two weeks or so. You have alot to think about inthe next few weeks or months regarding what school to choose to become an M.D. I do feel the top three
the restructured Ross, AUC and ST. Georges are your best bet, even if you have to wait a semester to get a placement. St. Matthews, St. Chris, and SABA may be good options as well. I don't know much about these schools, but I seldom hear about disatisfied or un happy students.
The rest of you that are going to attend Spartan in the near future, you will be living on a beautiful Island with wonderful hard working people, and you will most likely make life long friends with other students because of the small student body.
Unfortunately you picked a school of medicine where you will have one obstacle after another constantly. This will begin to wearr on you after awhile, because you still studying medicine and getting ready for the boards.
NOT BASH ON THE SCHOOL, BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S COMING
New Spartan students need to get ready for a total lack of support from you school. No formal housing department. you'll have to rely on a school driver, who is paid by landlords to bring them student. So you could be getting passed up on a more suitable place for you. So go early and check everything out yourself. Find other students for help.
School not known for supplying good food or having suitable meals for a international student body. Hired cooks are usually not trained to cook for mass people. They have been known to be housewives of the professors or women hired in the community.
Dean of the school: Very nice man, but very weak in the community. He has no pull with any officials in town, and is looked down on by the local medical society, especially officials from St. Judes hospital. Don't expect any help, if you have problems with a professor. HE WILL take the professors side. This Dean has been known to call students family's and report their activity and lifestyle on the Island. If this is an issue, then don't supply your family's phone number.
Most instructors are nice people, some have personal issues but try not to get to close to them. The falculty has been known to gossip about students in disrespective way's.
Safety: Be street smart. Don't walk home alone at night or take short cuts through open deserted fields, especially females. YOU MAY GET ROBBED. This is a third world country and people are desparate and poor, so be smartly.
The worst thing to happen to you clinically: That you will do a several weeks of clinicals, submitting grades and paper work, then to be told that you were not authorized for the rotation and you WILL NOT get credit. Beware of that. A major student complaint.
Have money saved, because it will take you 3-4 weeks to get your financial aid disbursment from the New Mexico office. After they had received it from the banks in 2-3 working day's. Why the long wait, they have no explaination.
Don't expect to hear form the school while your rotating unless you are in mexico. You will not be advised on what you should be doing for residency. For some reason, this info becomes excluded from the curriculum. So keep up with your own timelines.
There is NO graduation ceremonies or anything near of the kind. If you want a ceremony students will most likely have to arrang it themselves, just like the Spartan website (designed and maitained by a Spartan alumni on his own initiative) We wouldn't have one without him.
Other than that, take care of yourselves and good luck.
FORMER STUDENT
It's been fun and exciting corresponding with all of you for the last two weeks or so. You have alot to think about inthe next few weeks or months regarding what school to choose to become an M.D. I do feel the top three
the restructured Ross, AUC and ST. Georges are your best bet, even if you have to wait a semester to get a placement. St. Matthews, St. Chris, and SABA may be good options as well. I don't know much about these schools, but I seldom hear about disatisfied or un happy students.
The rest of you that are going to attend Spartan in the near future, you will be living on a beautiful Island with wonderful hard working people, and you will most likely make life long friends with other students because of the small student body.
Unfortunately you picked a school of medicine where you will have one obstacle after another constantly. This will begin to wearr on you after awhile, because you still studying medicine and getting ready for the boards.
NOT BASH ON THE SCHOOL, BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S COMING
New Spartan students need to get ready for a total lack of support from you school. No formal housing department. you'll have to rely on a school driver, who is paid by landlords to bring them student. So you could be getting passed up on a more suitable place for you. So go early and check everything out yourself. Find other students for help.
School not known for supplying good food or having suitable meals for a international student body. Hired cooks are usually not trained to cook for mass people. They have been known to be housewives of the professors or women hired in the community.
Dean of the school: Very nice man, but very weak in the community. He has no pull with any officials in town, and is looked down on by the local medical society, especially officials from St. Judes hospital. Don't expect any help, if you have problems with a professor. HE WILL take the professors side. This Dean has been known to call students family's and report their activity and lifestyle on the Island. If this is an issue, then don't supply your family's phone number.
Most instructors are nice people, some have personal issues but try not to get to close to them. The falculty has been known to gossip about students in disrespective way's.
Safety: Be street smart. Don't walk home alone at night or take short cuts through open deserted fields, especially females. YOU MAY GET ROBBED. This is a third world country and people are desparate and poor, so be smartly.
The worst thing to happen to you clinically: That you will do a several weeks of clinicals, submitting grades and paper work, then to be told that you were not authorized for the rotation and you WILL NOT get credit. Beware of that. A major student complaint.
Have money saved, because it will take you 3-4 weeks to get your financial aid disbursment from the New Mexico office. After they had received it from the banks in 2-3 working day's. Why the long wait, they have no explaination.
Don't expect to hear form the school while your rotating unless you are in mexico. You will not be advised on what you should be doing for residency. For some reason, this info becomes excluded from the curriculum. So keep up with your own timelines.
There is NO graduation ceremonies or anything near of the kind. If you want a ceremony students will most likely have to arrang it themselves, just like the Spartan website (designed and maitained by a Spartan alumni on his own initiative) We wouldn't have one without him.
Other than that, take care of yourselves and good luck.
FORMER STUDENT