Thread: Southwestern University (Philippines) vs Ross University (Dominica)

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If you have the money or willing to take loans, then choose one of the top 4 Caribbean schools (Ross,SGU,AUC,Saba). Their match list is also impressive even in competitive fields if you have a high USMLE.

A few comments and updates:

1) Advantage #6 in favor of Ross is no longer valid. I've confirmed that SWU students are ELIGIBLE for Teri loans, the same ones you borrow if you go to a Carribean school, SABA in particular.

2) The difficulty of getting CORE rotations for SWU students has been understated. It lies not only in securing such rotations with US hospitals, but also with getting SWU to CREDIT these rotations. Since one can become a doctor in the Philippines after just 1 PGY internship, there is a heavy emphasis here on hands-on experience. You are expected to perform many procedures during core rotations as a filipino student. In the US, however, for legal reasons, and for reason of longer PGY training, the emphasis is more on observation. In short: in the past, there had been cases of american SWU students that had to repeat their core rotations in the Philippines. Hence, until things change, ONLY ELECTIVE ROTATIONS IN THE US ARE VIABLE FOR SWU MEDICAL STUDENTS.

3) Since filipino schools do not keep match lists or accurate statistics about their US graduates, the comparison between filipino schools and carribean schools on that basis is not valid. By the same token, since Carribean schools will limit their students eligibility to take the USMLE by their shelf exam passing rates to artificially boost their test passing scores, while PI schools will basically just sign the permission papers, the comparison in passing scores would be equally meaningless. What WOULD be interesting is a comparison between Carribean and PI alumni - what they are doing, how much they are making, what specialties they practice in. I wonder if any scientific comparison has been made in this regard.

If you're satisfied with primary care (IM, FP, Peds) then where you go to school does not matter much. I've had extensive contacts with different Filipino doctors group and I noticed that those who got into competitive fields where graduates during the 60's, 70's and 80's. Among recent grads (after 1990), I can count them in my hands those in Surgical fields. There where some who where able to get into Anesthesia lately. It's getting very competitive lately.

do you know of the recent Phil grads, what were their USMLE 1 scores like?

Originally Posted by Locutusofborg

do you know of the recent Phil grads, what were their USMLE 1 scores like?

This again is a tricky question to answer as I know a lot of people from schools like UP and UST with high USMLE scores (high 90's). But then these are very good students and you can find the same type of students in the Caribbean. The problem is most of them will not risk applying in non-primary care specialties as it is costly for them and they are just happy to be able to get into residency in the US.

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Originally Posted by Locutusofborg

do you know of the recent Phil grads, what were their USMLE 1 scores like?

I've heard from a family friend, a Filipino doctor, that there were two recent graduates who had two digit scores in the low 80s. They're not exactly fresh from medical school though; they completed their internship year in the philippines and then waited a full year to prepare for and take the exams. One of them is a PGY-1 psychiatry resident in TN and the other is in a transitional year residency.

A good student and a smart test-taker can be found ANYWHERE. It's a matter of preparation and innate ability. You can find all kinds of scores from IMG', FMG's and even American grads. I got low 80's and I got into a good University based primary care program. Talking about high scores and actually DOING it are 2 different things. Just do your best and apply widely.