Which Caribbean School is the BEST? (cant decide even with research)

[DRDRWMD]

I would also go to all three schools and look at how many semesters are required to graduate. Multiply that by the cost per semester and see which school is the most expensive. Also keep in mind that it is cheaper to live on Dominica than St. Maarten. The cost of living is higher on Saint Maarten, but so is the standard of living. In the end, it may turn out to be a coin toss.

[Treese]

Thanks for the post

[Slaol_121]

http://www.valuemd.com/network54-arc...page-12-a.html

This link is to a general discussion of the schools back in 2003. Of course things have changed since then, but you can read a lot about the condition of the schools, etc...

[GoodAdvice]

cool...thanks for the link

I was looking at videos or Ross University and it doesnt look to bad. It looks pretty modern.

As of now im leaning more towards AUC but ill still apply to all 4 schools.

Do any of you know how long these schools generally take to get back to you about interviews and acceptances in the summer? Im assuming they get busy with the incoming August class but does that really cause them to take longer processing and reviewing your application if you plan to apply for Fall 2009?

[Kongakut]

Originally Posted by Slaol_121

SGU, while the most "prestigious" (if a Caribbean school can be that), is twice as expensive as AUC and Ross. Also, Ross and SGU have much larger class sizes than AUC, so I guess it depends on how you like your instructor:student ratio to be.

Ross and AUC are not equal second choices. Ross is on a much worse island which, according to 2008 Caribbean guidebooks, has no really good beaches and is more of a nature preserve (some students who live there don't even have hot water or dependable electricity!). If you are married or have a family, I would not go to Ross.

Crime is much higher on SGU's island. There is someone I know who went to SGU a few years back and his apartment was broken into by thugs and he was robbed at gunpoint. Students at SGU on this forum will deny that this is commonplace, but it does happen. I have never heard of this happening at AUC - though car theft and the occasional mugging of a drunk student who stumbles onto the Golf course at 2am does seem to be a regular occurrence....

In Summary:

Go to SGU if you do not have a family and don't mind living on a worse island. They seem to have the most money and have their act together about clinicals.

If location is important to you (like it is to me), AUC is your school.

SGU is not 2x as much as Ross. Its about $50,000 more after 4 years. However, the campus is a real campus, huge with all the amenities, the support services are good, the instruction is excellent, and you don't have issues with clinicals like Ross. So, you can graduate in 4 years and earn MD income instead of waiting around in 4th year trying to finish your cores. You also don't have to pay full tuition to repeat a course, like at Ross.

The incident you are referring to was on St. Vincent, not Grenada. SGU used to have 5/6th term on St. Vincent. Since crimes were happening against SGU students, the administration pulled us out of there. We now have 5th/6th term on Grenada because the administration was concerned about the students, listened to our concerns, and left St. Vincent.

I am in Grenada with my family, including 2 young children. The boys are on a soccer team, play at the beautiful beaches, have Grenadian friends and I have not once felt unsafe here. This place is beautiful and Grenadians are proud of SGU.

[AngryBaby]

Originally Posted by Kongakut

SGU is not 2x as much as Ross. Its about $50,000 more after 4 years. However, the campus is a real campus, huge with all the amenities, the support services are good, the instruction is excellent, and you don't have issues with clinicals like Ross. So, you can graduate in 4 years and earn MD income instead of waiting around in 4th year trying to finish your cores. You also don't have to pay full tuition to repeat a course, like at Ross.

The incident you are referring to was on St. Vincent, not Grenada. SGU used to have 5/6th term on St. Vincent. Since crimes were happening against SGU students, the administration pulled us out of there. We now have 5th/6th term on Grenada because the administration was concerned about the students, listened to our concerns, and left St. Vincent.

I am in Grenada with my family, including 2 young children. The boys are on a soccer team, play at the beautiful beaches, have Grenadian friends and I have not once felt unsafe here. This place is beautiful and Grenadians are proud of SGU.

Exactly. Slaol_121's post is yet another reason why one shouldn't assume to know facts about something which they haven't experienced. You're quite far off from the current situation, Slaol.

For the record, I too have my wife/4 yr old with me and we haven't had any problems and live off-campus as does Konga.

[Beachdoctor]

[quote=Slaol_121;780931]SGU, while the most "prestigious" (if a Caribbean school can be that), is twice as expensive as AUC and Ross. Also, Ross and SGU have much larger class sizes than AUC, so I guess it depends on how you like your instructor:student ratio to be.

Ross and AUC are not equal second choices. Ross is on a much worse island which, according to 2008 Caribbean guidebooks, has no really good beaches and is more of a nature preserve (some students who live there don't even have hot water or dependable electricity!). If you are married or have a family, I would not go to Ross.

Crime is much higher on SGU's island. There is someone I know who went to SGU a few years back and his apartment was broken into by thugs and he was robbed at gunpoint. Students at SGU on this forum will deny that this is commonplace, but it does happen. I have never heard of this happening at AUC - though car theft and the occasional mugging of a drunk student who stumbles onto the Golf course at 2am does seem to be a regular occurrence....

In Summary:

Go to SGU if you do not have a family and don't mind living on a worse island. They seem to have the most money and have their act together about clinicals.

If location is important to you (like it is to me), AUC is your school.[/quo;te]



Sloal : I'm looking into a fall admission in Asum Aruba , not the other Asusm , for family etc ,visiting there or staying there , I figured that would be an ideal choice , and ofcourse the mon ey is right , they have their ususal accredtition etc in place and I have not heard anything too terrible about them either , whats your take on that regards

[Slaol_121]

Sloal : I'm looking into a fall admission in Asum Aruba , not the other Asusm , for family etc ,visiting there or staying there , I figured that would be an ideal choice , and ofcourse the mon ey is right , they have their ususal accredtition etc in place and I have not heard anything too terrible about them either , whats your take on that regards

I am not trying to ignite the "my caribbean school is better than your caribbean school" circular argument...

To those SGU students... I will admit that I am only commenting on what I have read from the majority of posters on this site.

I was not saying that SGU was not on a nice island, just that the vast majority of people prefer Sint Maarten to the others.

As to the story about the armed robbery, I am not sure if it was on St. Vincent or not - this was a few years ago. I will have to ask my friend about the exact island.

BeachDoctor, I must apologize and say that someone else will have to answer your question. I have not done a lot of research or reading on that particular school. Aruba is a very nice island and, according to most sources, is safe for a caribbean island.

[whatupdoc???]

Hey GA, I don't think anyone has answered your question so I'll give it a stab. I am a college senior and applied to a bunch of US allo's and only to SGU as far as carib schools go and I had my application done end of september, invited for interview in mid-october or so, had my interview around Thanksgiving time (because the Dr. I was assigned to went on vacation haha), then got accepted in February probably because my app was only somewhat competitive, and also because of the incoming January class.

From what I know about applying to SGU, when they're busy with an incoming class, they really are busy with that class. However, I wish I had applied to other schools like ross, AUC w/e because it really does expedite the process if you have an acceptance from those schools, and are still waiting on SGU (and vice versa)*

SGU was the only school I applied to primarily because of the ease of transition from basic sciences to clinical years.... specifically the 100 million they've spent for the next 10 years reserving spots in NYC hospitals...

I have some reservations about the class size but I think it'll be ok

Originally Posted by GoodAdvice

Do any of you know how long these schools generally take to get back to you about interviews and acceptances in the summer? Im assuming they get busy with the incoming August class but does that really cause them to take longer processing and reviewing your application if you plan to apply for Fall 2009?

[BrendaB_MD]

I don't think you can go too far wrong when selecting from the CA approved schools. All are established schools with a good track record and will enable you to become a physician in the US. There is no data that shows that one school provides better education than another. Similarly, there is no convincing data that show that one school has better residency placements. It is impossible to say whether a given student would do better by going to one school vs. another. Thus, among this group, it is reasonable to make tradeoffs between location, cost, etc.

These tradeoffs are personal preferences and no one can really assess them for you. Saba is the bargain of the group (about $100k) less than SGU. AUC has the best developed island. Ross is dominated by another school on most criteria (location, cost, academics) but some people seem to thrive there. Overall, you need to assess what factors will help you to succeed. Some people need creature comforts. Some people need a small class size. For others, costs are critical. You need to assess your own needs and choose accordingly.

There are hardly any differences between the schools' preclinical curriculum. They all use the same standard texts and the curriculum is delivered by lecture and organized by discipline (vs system). Most of the schools have large classes. Thus, because the schools are so similar, I doubt that the choice of school will have much of an impact on your learning. For example, there is no evidence showing a "school effect" on USMLE scores. A good student will do well independent of the school they choose.

The clinical years are a bit of a differentiator -- at least with respect to the availability of clinical sites. I don't know whether the quality education varies significantly between schools. Some sites service several schools so I doubt that one could say, for example, that teaching is better at school X sites relative to school Y sites. SGU students seem to complain the least about their clinical years and Ross students are often delayed due to availability of sites. A year delay can easily cost you 50k -- which erases Ross' sole advantage.