Does this "Mexican/US" School look familiar to VMD folks?

[Bubkas1]

Stay away from this school (?). You will receive nothing, and pay for nothing. BE SO VERY CAREFUL.

[lifeAgift]

Me thinks that some of these bogus joints are just making money off application fees and deposites.

Me also thinks that some desperate doc wannabes have fallen for some of these scammers and are probabaly to embarassed to tell and to caught up now with legit admission processes to follow up with some sort of BBB action.

[lswiltshire]

lifeAgift

I think you are correct!

This school is charging an application fee of US $ 250!

This is perhaps the worse but probably not the only one.

[ztruth]

If the students currently at this organization or anybody else interested want to establish the honesty of the individuals behind this serious school, just ask them to get out of that limited liability status. They will certainly become fully responsible for their organization to the limit of ALL their worth.

HONESTLY !

[jmaccormack]

I am a newspaper reporter in San Antonio Texas writing a sequel to my story of a couple of years back on the medical school in Nuevo Guerrero, Mexico. I would welcome contact from current or former students and staff to learn how it functions. Regards, John MacCormack 210-250-3251.

[weatherman]

Since you are fairly close to the border, why don't you just go down there and take a look around. That would be the ultimate test of what is going on down there.

Weatherman (aka Thundercloud)

[Experto]

ZTRUTH is pointing at something very important. This school is actually owned by a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), the name of which is found in the document posted on the English website that has to do with the use of a piece of land. Should the school fail (and its website has been offline for over a week now), the LLC assumes responsibility to the extent of the value of its assets; but the owners of the LLC do not have a personal responsibility and their personal wealth is not at risk.

[jmaccormack]

I went down on Monday and spent a few hours there. Sat in on a class. Learned a little about female hormone therapy. Talked to a few students, the professor and the new Mexican director. Wrote a story. Stay tuned.

[lswiltshire]

JBGDL NOW AND THEN- part 1

On Sunday 03/05/2006 the San Antonio Express-News published an article entitled A medical panacea or pipe dream? Doctor aims to open training school in remote area, by JM. I will cite the text of this article below in blue- THE THEN- , and my comments in red- THE NOW

NUEVO GUERRERO, Mexico -- Picking his way through the ruins of a long-defunct lakeside resort in this remote border town,Dr. L S can envision a modern, affordable medical school for Americans."It won't be long before there are kids splashing in the pool," S, 57, said last fall as he skirted an empty seagull-shaped pool near the banks of Falcon Lake.

We have since heard that this long-defunct lakeside resort is a guano farm unfit for medical education, and that the so called education occurs in a one door classroom in a Mexican middle school. We know that two years have since passed and that they aint no kids splashing in the pool. In fact there aint no lot of kids out there at all. Only some older type students following a dream.


A mere five minutes from Texas but more than an hour from the nearest modern hospital, the International Medical School of America is supposed to open in temporary quarters in July.


We know that IMSA – now called JBGDL, opened with 8 students and 2 teachers in July 2006, and was closed in less than 9 months. It started again a few months later in September 2007 with 8 students and 2 teachers, and almost a year later it still has 8 students and 2 teachers. This tells us that Americans are not rushing across the border to this oasis of blissful ignorance, and that the growth of this school despite massive injections of money has a growth rate of ZERO PERCENT!.

If all goes well, within three years, hundreds of American students taught by American faculty at a modern $5 million campus will earn medical degrees at a fraction of the cost in the United States.

Since two years have already passed, we need a major miracle here, don’t we? And I mean a major miracle. I mean we need one of the miracle Bible characters to reappear.

"This has taken almost 30 years to plan. The thing that is left is to see if we can recruit people who believe in this project as much as we do," S……. said.

Can you imagine planning something for 30 years, and still cant get it right after two years of implementation? What does this tell you prospective students. That someone does not know what they are doing. Aint it? Hmmmm? It suggests to me that sensible students would go to a school where there is growth represented by an increasing number of students and an appropriate curriculum based on the USMLE objectives.

Despite his optimism, doubts abound within mainstream medicine about "off-shore" medical schools in general and S in particular. Each year, more than half of the roughly 40,000 students who apply to American medical schools are rejected, creating a secondary market for American students determined to become doctors.In the past 30 years, dozens of "off-shore" medical schools have sprung up, many in the Caribbean, with about 1,500 American students enrolling each year.

Reasonable doubts abound within mainstream medicine about "off-shore" medical schools in general and S in particular, because these schools are generally very poor schools. IMSA/ JMGDL is particularly poorly run, and is by far the worse of the lot! IMSA/ JMGDL has taken the art of running a poor medical school and fine tuned it so that they have the worse offshore medical school of all time. They will win the blue ribbon at any county fair for bogus med schools. That is thier greatest achievement in thier two years of existence!

(As you can see I'm their main fan. I write about them sooooooooooo often).

Graduates of these schools face a battery of tests and requirements, beginning with the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, before they can practice medicine in the United States. Their pass-rates on tests are lower than students who study in the United States, and some schools are seen as little more than diploma mills. Officials at the Texas Board of Medical Examiners are keeping a wary eye on Sands' project."Once we get a graduate of that school, we'll address that issue," said J…W …., a spokeswoman. "There are border schools and established medical schools in Mexico. There's a big difference. If they just popped up, they'll get a different look."

Graduates? I hope that this lady is not holding her breath. So far the school has taken two years and are yet to complete a poor attempt of the Basic Sciences in a Duke of Wellington paradigm. No one knows if there are either up or down. All we know is the curriculum aint American and it aint Mexican. All we know that two years gone and that these students aint ready to take step 1 yet. Do you think that you the prospective student should join these dreamers and waste two years and not yet be eligible to take the step one exam? And we have not yet considered the issue of attending an institution that is still NOT IMED listed!

As Ms J W said "There are border schools and established medical schools in Mexico. There's a big difference.” She is absolutely right there. JBGDL aint established period. The word from heaven itself is that even up there they cant figure out if JBGDL is a Mexican school, an American school or even a school at all!

But first, S…… must get the school up and running. He has a $1.5 million commitment from a group of investors in nearby Zapata where he works in an urgent care clinic.

Well after 2 years Twiddlededumb cant get the school either up or running despite spending more than that $1.5 million commitment from the group of investors in Zapata. You see Dean Daffy took his wife and children to the Cooks, then he sent two sets of teachers to the Cooks, and another teacher and his wife at about 5000$ airfare a pop. Then they spent a goodly sum of money in renting a hostel in the Cooks as they tried to set up a school there to get a charter, so that they could run the school in Texas through the back door, and really clean up by getting presumably stupid border living folk to support their school. Well the money went fast. They lost the charter from the Cooks, and the presumably stupid border living folk smarter than they think! (Read Prausnitz's account of Dean Daffy asking in the fall of 2006 how much money was available to run the school)

S---, twice disciplined by the Texas Board of Medical Examiners more than a decade ago, admits he's working under a tight schedule. He has yet to hire a teaching staff, arrange for student housing or nail down final agreements with American hospitals for the clinical portion of the curriculum. "It looks like, if things work out, we've got five of the six professors we'll need," S--- said.

It is noteworthy that after two years Twiddlededumb still has yet to hire adequate teaching staff, arrange for student housing or nail down final agreements with American hospitals for the clinical portion of the curriculum. It is noteworthy that after two years Twiddlededumb still cant get the six professors he thinks he needs after offering the highest pay levels in the industry, and advertising repeatedly. Oh well........maybe next year?


On the IMSA Web site (www.imsaonline.us) posted almost two weeks ago, S was offering a special price of $25,000 for the entire course of study to the first 50 students who qualify.After that, the price for the complete four-year academic program (packed into three calendar years) jumps to $39,000 -- about a fifth the cost of a four-year degree program in the United States. So far, numerous students have inquired, but none has plunked down a deposit.

Imagine that no one took up such a generous offer two years ago.Hmmmm
Guess what? They seem not to be in too much of a hurry to take it up now either.

One Corpus Christi man, however, is putting his house on the market and plans to be enrolled in Nuevo Guerrero in July. "I'm following a man with a dream, because I've got that dream," said J S E, 45, director of a nursing unit at Christus Spohn Hospital. "When I went off to college, I got caught up in the party scene. I thought I had ruined my chances to go to medical school," he said. "I thought I was too old, and I have a family with children." E said his dream was revived when he met S four years ago."Something inside me wants to be a doctor. My wife and I are considering relocating to McAllen. I've already given notice at work," he said.


Its one thing to have a dream, and another to follow a man with a dream, but it is yet another thing to follow a man that KNOWS what he is doing, or that EMPLOYS folk that know what they are doing, or that LISTEN TO THOSE THAT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL THAT SENT THE STUDENTS HOME AFTER EIGHT MONTHS TO STUDY ON THEIR OWN.I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL THAT DOES NOT KNOW WHETHER IT IS AN AMERICAN OR MEXICAN SCHOOL.

[lswiltshire]

JBGDL NOW AND THEN- part 2
Local and state Mexican officials enthusiastically back the school, hoping it will bring new life to this lightly populated stretch of the border. Nuevo Guerrero, a sleepy town of bougainvilleas and uncluttered streets, was born a half-century ago when the Rio Grande was dammed, flooding the historic original town. Besides providing land for the new campus, the city is making its civic center and high school available for S to hold classes until permanent facilities are available.However, the school won't be affiliated with any Mexican or U.S. medical school, nor does it have the blessing of the Mexican federal government.

It is noteworthy that JBGDL aint affiliated with any Mexican or U.S. medical school, nor does it have the blessing of the Mexican federal government. Wonder why?

By being right across the border, the school will allow students and their families to live and work in the United States while studying in Mexico. And, he says, the school will welcome students from the border region, traditionally underrepresented in U.S. medical schools.

One of them might be M---- T------ U-------, 29, a high school dance teacher in La Joya, who said she has gone to Nuevo Guerrero twice this year to check on progress and plans to return as a student."It's not your typical med school. It's a little faster and more intense," said U, who was born in Zapata and has a biology and psychology degree from the University of Texas-Pan Am in Edinburg. She is thinking of selling her house to pay the tuition. "It's pretty much in our laps. And if the whole program fails, it's something we tried and learned from. At my age, it's the only way I could go to medical school."

It seems that M---- T------ U------- attended the first day of classes, and departed henceforth, and in haste! One hope she didn’t sell her house as planned. It would be so nice to hear why she didn’t return after the first day at classes.


Miss U, you were right "It's not your typical med school. You sure got that right. About it being a little faster and more intense, I remember well learning in primary school the AXIOM .................MORE HASTE LESS SPEED. And in Grammar school the same bromide in Latin FESTINA LENTE! They were in such haste that after two years they still aint reach where they ought to have been in one year!

To be listed as a medical school by the World Health Organization and other entities, a medical school must have governmental or state sponsorship.S obtained his charter from the government of the Cook Islands, a tiny sprinkle of atolls halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii with a population of only 21,000. This odd arrangement, coupled with his lack of a track record as an educator, has heightened skepticism among outsiders.

Well that odd arrangement soon came to an abrupt end when the government of the Cook Islands were well informed about the very low rank of SPSOM/IMSA/JBGDL in the hierarchy of offshore schools..... interalia.

"Here you have someone with no background and qualifications in medical training opening a medical school in a small border town in Mexico chartered through the Cook Islands," said Dr. B B of the National Council Against Health Fraud, a watchdog group based in Boston. "Is that going to be an acceptable training ground for physicians? It sounds more like a joke." And for every reputable school like St. George's University on the Caribbean island of Grenada, many others are failing their mission, B said.

Well B is certainly correct. Most of the Caribbean offshore schools are failing their mission in my opinion. And yes, IMSA/JBGDL is certainly not an acceptable training ground for physicians. It is more than a joke.

These guys have proven B to be correct. Persons with no background and qualifications in medical training can not open a proper medical school. IMSA/JBGDL has proved this in the the two years of its existence. . IMSA/JBGDL is absolutely the worse example of all the offshore medical schools I have seen. And I have seen Ross at its primitive beginning in 79, and SGU at its lowest ebb, when it had to transfer temporarily from Grenada in late 1983 at the time of the American intervention into Grenada.


S said he sought a charter from the Cook Islands after being rebuffed by all 11 Mexican medical schools he had approached looking for a partner.

One wonders why 11 Mexican medical schools rebuffed S. Seems it is not as easy to fool the Mexicans as it is to fool desperate Americans seeking to get into medical school.

To get the charter for Mexico, he must also establish a school in the Cook Islands -- so the Nuevo Guerrero school will be a branch of the South Pacific School of Medicine, a smaller campus he now is opening on Rarotonga, the capital. It will focus on training missionaries who want to become doctors. Cook Island government officials confirmed by e-mail that S holds a charter to open a school there and a branch in Mexico, but declined further comment.

Since then the Cook Government has revoked this charter.
It is note worthy that at NO TIME in the existence was any effort to train missionaries who want to become doctors at the South Pacific School of Medicine branch.


Even his consultant, a well-known medical educator in San Antonio, acknowledges the strangeness of the arrangement."It's a very bizarre way of putting together a medical school," said Dr. M B, 65, an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and at the University of Texas Health Science Center. B, nevertheless, supports "I believe in what he's trying to do. I think there's a high probability he'll succeed. It depends on the money," said B, the former dean of two medical schools in Monterrey.

It only took a few months for this eminent consultant, and well-known medical educator to realize the strangeness of the arrangement and how very bizarre was the way in which Twiddlededee and Twiddlededum were putting together a medical school. This eminent consultant soon got an education that he was unprepared for and resigned. He learned that instead of a high probability of success, Twiddlededee and Twiddlededum were unfit to run a medical school, money or no money.

B said that if the school in Nuevo Guerrero proves viable within a few years, S might shed his link with the Cook Islands by finding a Mexican sponsor.

You see these guys were seeking to use the Cook Islands only for the purpose of getting a charter , but they got cut off at the pass, as they say in the “cowboy”/western movies.

There are other wrinkles that may be cause for concern.In his business prospectus, S acknowledges a felony conviction for mail fraud in 1992 that put him on a 10-year probation by the Texas Board of Medical Examiners.He said the case arose when a friend borrowed his son's car and sold it, but told him it had been stolen, convincing him to file a false insurance claim.S did not serve any jail time, nor did he lose his medical license.Three years earlier, S was disciplined for prescribing the wrong medications for an obese patient.He said that thus far, neither issue has interfered with his pursuit of a long-held dream.

I aint in that one boh. That is for wunnah to judge. But I know from my short experience with both Tdum * Tdee that neither of them can be trusted. They just do not keep thier word.

“It’s going to be a good medical school, not some sham above a pizzeria,”

Man that scam is worse than a sham above a pizzeria. It certainly is not a medical school--- and most certainly not a good medical school. I know what a good medical school is like, because I attended one.

S said. “Our credibility will come with time.”

Yeah Right? At the end of the millennium?


It should be interesting to read the two year report straight from Nuevo Guerrero by JM.