Many of you, potential students, are probably wondering what it would be like to pack up and move for school. I can't tell you what you would experience, but I will share a few of my observations so far.

I am a new student to IAU. I have been on the island for 4 weeks now. My initial impression was very depressing. I had heard stories about how nice the island was, and how fun it was going to be. Unfortunately, the people I had spoken to, regarding the island, were people who never left the resorts they stayed at.

The beaches I have seen are not white sandy beaches litered with toursits. Instead, the majority of the beaches I have seen are covered in trash. The water is nice and warm though. You won't have much time to go to the beach anyway.

The locals are generally rude. They show some politeness, but if you give a bum some money, they will find you everyday and you will have to give them more. Sometimes they like to find you in the store and put stuff on the register so you hava to pay for it.

I lost count of how many times I have been cut off in line. It happens at the store, it happens at a restraunt, it happens pretty much everywhere. You can be standing there, waiting your turn, and they just walk in front of you like they own the place. The exception is a restraunt called "scooby's". The owners are extremely nice, and will deliver to you no problem. The food is great too.

So far the school is the one thing that is keeping me sane. I spend so much time on campus, that I do not have to deal with the locals. Our classes begin at 8am. They made a big deal about attendance and punctuation, but most of the instructors are late. The instructors are as expected.

Our physiology class is, by far, the best. Dr. A** is easy to understand and very approachable. He doesn't hide the fact that his test questions are going to be hard. He expects you to learn the information and gives you more than enough help to do so. If I fail this class, its my own fault.

Biochemistry is on the same level, but the instructor has a heavy accent. He is nice enough, and aware that he can be difficult to understand at times. Just ask him to repeat and he will. His lectures are to the point, and follow the book well. From what I have heard, the lippincott biochem review book is all you really need. I recomend purchasing the BRS (board review) book as well.

Embryology.... this class has proven to be the easiest and hardest at the same time. The lectures have been very scattered, and the instructor reads directly from the text. There have been no powerpoint lectures to date, and I have found it difficult to follow. I do not hold it against the instructor, as no one will speak to her directly about the class. Instead, we just complain to each other and do it on our own. Most of my time is spent reading the book, and the "high yeild" book. I recomend purchasing the high yeild book. The BRS for embryo is good for questions, but you are really going to need the high yeild if you want to retain the information.

Doctoring 1 is great. The instructor seems a bit confrontational, but he has to be. The whole idea of becoming a Dr. is to be able to respond accordingly to any given scenario. I've heard mixed reviews of the class. People have told me to read the book, and others have said everything you need to know is in the lecture notes. I read both, because extra information can never hurt. This class is a "sleeper" so don't neglect to study for it!

Clinics- The clinics are great. I love Dr. A*******. He has a special sense of humor, and if you mess up, he will defiantely let you know... every time he sees you. So don't mess up! The clinics are held in either Vieux Fort, or Laborie. I have only been to the Laborie clinic as of now. It is definately 3rd world feel. It is hot, humid, and there will be no AC. You must be accustomed to standing for a long period of time. You must also dress professionally (but no tie required). Your labcoat must be clean, and pressed. I had originally asked what the dress code for school was, and I was told that shorts and t-shirts would be ok. so that is all I brought with me. This however is not the case! You really should invest in some wrinkle free dress pants, and shirts. Short sleeve is recomended. Bring some polo shirts too. You can't were those at the clinics, but you will wear them to class everyday. It's hot, so get some stuff that breathes. I have already seen 3 students pass out while in the doctors office at clinic.

The clinics are the best part of the week. You get to meet the nice locals. They are very polite, and well mannered. Please return the favor. I have already seen my first tumor, and heard my first irregular heart beat. Four years of hands on education is priceless! I cannot stress this enough.

Case studies- The senior students said it was too easy, and voiced their opinion to the administration. The Dean ripped us a new one today in class. He asked why no one has started our presentations yet, and we replied "we have a test on monday". Apparently this is not a viable excuse. It kind of gave me a negative impression, and a feeling like they want us to fail, but then again it seems like they just want to make it hard so we actually have to apply ourselves. They have made it clear that we are expected to avoid food, and sleep, so we can complete the work load and study. It's too early to tell, but feel free to ask for updates.

So do I regret my choice to come here? Personally, I'd have to say no. I like a challenge. I like the 4 years of hands on. I really like the friendly instructors, and their willingness to be available 24hours a day. The island life is sub-par, but I didn't come here to party so it doesn't bother me at all. I like it here so far. I would definately recomend this school to my friends. Any questions?

Well said, however, to clarify the notion of 'case studies'...make it a note that our program-which sets us apart from all the Caribbean Medical Schools-is our Case Studies Program. And, coming from a senior student, Case is where the heart of most of your knowledge is going to be built from, later to be fortified. That being said, if case studies were to be a 'breeze' what would be the point? By undertaking your goal to become a physician, you must start from day 1 and learn to be able to handle the work load that comes with it and be able to handle what life throws at you, regardless of whether a test is up and coming. What this is doing is preparing your for you future-perhaps in an ER setting, where you find yourself juggling between several patients when your shift is supposed to end-so take it from those that have been where you have been and thought the same way when we came...do what you came here for and work for it to the same intensity that you want it. The old adage goes best here: what you put into something, is what you're going to get out of it...Good luck!

__________________

I applaud you for your honesty and interest in getting the truth out there. No school is perfect, and getting the information out there to help bring about change is a necessity.

As IAUinsider stated; Case Study is the crux of our school - and in time - you'll learn how we all have about how it can supplement your classes.

As for the teachers and the classes - those are issues that will have to be dealt with by administration. However, I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the majority of your education so far, and that hopefully things will on get better from here on out.

As senior students, our goal is to make sure that younger students are better off than when we were. We want you to be better prepared when you get into more of the "medical" courses. Your experiences down here will be invaluable to you and if you use them properly, you'll surely succeed.

Keep up the good work and I'm sure we'll be hearing more of you on ValueMD soon enough.

Yes, most of that stuff was true, when I was on the island. The truth is it still is hard when you come back... from learning brand new things at kaplan you thought should have been covered in basic science, dealing with the housing issues from hospital locations, higher cost of living compared to the island, but view these distractions as a question - how bad do you want to be a doctor?

Step one will basically ask you this 350 times.

__________________
UTA '05 BSN-RN [Wyckoff Vent-floor]
Step One [X]IAU's first 90+
Successful Transfer [?]

Greenbook rotations? Click here for Sree's post
State Approvals? Click here
IAU Forum Moderator

That was very helpful. How do you compare IAU with Spartan and which school is better and why?
How many faculty members are there at IAU and how often do you go to clinics while attending basic science?

I'm not really sure how spartan is. My entire opinion is based off what I hear from the other students, and the few spartan students I have met. The school itself is across the street from a heinekin/guiness brewery. I've heard that they don't have the case based study, nor do they have the clinics in town. So you are automatically losing out on the extra hands on training, and the case studies.

Their school is located outside of the main town. The facilities look old, but relatively well maintained. I have not been inside them. They have been around for a while, but have been banned from a few states.

I think the key difference is the case studies and clinics that IAU offers. A typical week at spartan would include lectures and most likely a few lab classes. My week is much more involved. We have the lectures, and the labs, as any medical school would. However, we also add the clinics and cases as more classes.

Lectures + Labs + clinical rotations (us based)= typical school (spartan)

Lectures + Labs + clinics + case study + Kaplan review + Intro to clinical medicine + Clinical Rotations (US based) = IAU

We also take the US board exams. The same exams the US schools give out. Yeah, IAU is alot more work, but as someone previously stated "how bad do you want to be a doctor"? Although, from what I hear the spartan kids do throw nice parties.

I'll try to elaborate on tuesdays (case study presentation) festivities. I'll also try to post my thoughts on the exams since this will be the first of many to come.

Thanks a lot for your very informative reply. So the major advantage is tha hands-on clinical experience and case-based study.

I hope you won't mind asking a couple of more questions.

How often do you go for clinics and where are the clinics located?

From which trimester do you start case-based study and how often the classes are held for case-study?

Thanks in advance.

Clinics are done once a week - the class is broken down into groups and sent to different clinic sites each week. On top of that - the entire school holds clinic sessions on certain weekends through out the year where they go to towns in St. Lucia and provide screenings for Diabetes and Hypertension as well as other health problems.

The weekday clinics are held in two locations - Laborie and Vieux Fort. They are done with the help of Dr.'s on the island and students work with the staff at each clinics to practice basic patient care.

Classes for case study are held approximately 3 times a week - although it does vary from semester to semester based on the number of students that are in each class. Each semester has its own case study sessions and you start case study from Semester 1.

About case study; it gives students the potential to learn a lot of information on specific topics. If you learn something well enough to teach it to your peers, it will stay with you for a long time. I am in my fourth semester now and I can still recall information from my first two case study presentations...

my 2cents

Everyone that attends IAU for the first time feels overwhelmed a bit by case. It’s a natural feeling because when you first get here, you have no idea what to expect from case. Throw in the fact that the amount of material they expect you to learn in a short period of time (a week) seems quite daunting. However as the week do progress and the semesters roll by, you realize that the glue that holds together that big chunk of knowledge (aka what you learn in the first two years of med school) is ingrained because of case. Applying what you learn with case makes retention much easier on the students. While it might not seem that way at first, everyone always changes there minds later on....


just my four cents....