Maybe I've misread your posts, but this one seems to contradict statements you made in previous ones. Owing that the first may have been made in anger and you have at least had the decency to return to defend your rants, tell us more. You allege that all students are passed, yet another student has reported that failing grades have been issued. You say that you aren't allowed to transfer, yet state that you are in the process of doing that. You inferred that a professor left disgruntled, then you say it was for money. Maybe there's an element of truth in each thing, but you have to accept that these inconsistencies do make it difficult to accept your allegations at face value.

Today is May 28, 2004. You protest that a student who has only been there two weeks does not know what is going on. Well, were you Pre-Med and now in Basic Sciences or are you just starting on the island, too? If you were Pre-Med last year and you "knew" things were bad, why are you still there and why did you wait until a month into the Basic Science program to try to transfer? Something isn't right here.

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Life is sexually transmitted.

Students are passed and yes you can get failing marks. You can fail the exams but everything is curved. Even with the curve people fail but they change the grades to pass everyone. What it comes down to is that the school is pretty new and the need students to pass b/c a number of rotation spots are secured for every semester but if no one is there to fill these spots they are lost. **** can't afford to lose these spots b/c his method of getting them are asking people's parents who are MD's to get him spots. And again I know this for a fact a number of people i know have told me their parents were asked to do this. They have yet to fail anyone and that's the truth. As for me transferring...I'm am no idiot and I never signed the contract. Most people unknowingly did though. Dr. **** is disgruntled and left for that reason but i know that the money is better there too. Those are 2 statements i made, I never meant to contradict myself. I have previously stated that I have been going to this school for 9 months. Hence why i have have a knowledge of what happens here and the schools past. As to why I have waited to so long to transfer b/c i too was naive and kept believing that the school would improve and after 9 months I have dealt with the same B.S., I am tired of it. After being here so long and seeing virtually no progress and in some cases regression I choose to get a better education somewhere else. As to the comment "something isn't right here" I told you that it's up to you whether you believe me or not. Like i said before in the end I know the truth. I have no ties to Xavier, i gain nothing from anything i have said, and I am a REAL student here. All i intend to do is pass on the knowledge that i have acquired in my experience here.

All credit to you for returning to add to your comments. Sitting in Florida and having never stepped foot on Bonaire leaves me in no position to credibly challenge your comments; however, I am not quite sure what your issues are yet.

On the issue of clinical rotations--if a student's parents were in a position to assist the school in obtaining another clinical rotation then I see nothing wrong with requesting their assistance.

The issue of grades is not making sense to me. The USMLE is the key, so fudging grades does not make any sense and passing students who can't pass the USMLE is self-defeating. Unless you think they're putting money into the school for appearances-sake and the short-run, passing students so they can fail the USMLE and reflect poorly on the school is illogical. Like I said earlier, there may be some truth to the issue, but you could be right for the wrong reasons (such as an instructor trying to retain a job by looking good). This is the kind of issue that I would think the school would like to address if it was presented to them (assuming that it has not). If the issue has been discussed, what was the school's response?

Personnel turn-overs and the issues involved really are difficult to assess even when both sides have been heard. Unless there is something flagrantly evident, the nuances of relationships, politics and economics can always be misconstrued by outside parties. I do not think a fair judgement can be made based on a dissolved relationship, but a fairly credible judgement can be made on the sustained relationships.

But rather than ask you to defend yourself point by point, let's ask you to explain your statement regarding a better education. Since that is the objective of just about every person who posts here, I think we'd like to hear your thoughts about the education you have received and why you think it is inferior. Please be as specific as you can, as you will have many readers.

Again, thanks for coming back and sharing with us.

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Life is sexually transmitted.

Let me address clinical rotations the problem is there are no guaranteed spots it what 's available at what time. The school itself is not affiliated with any particular hospital. We do not have greenbook standard rotations. No one thinks that going to medical school is an easy task. Coming here though that attitude prevails due to the fact that everyone is passed regardless if the have actually learned or passed any examine. I have told you one reason for people being passed i.e. filling rotation spots. It is alittle known fact that the first graduating class from this school graduated people who had 25% in some classes. That fact is from a former prof. The faculty were told to pass them b/c the rotation spots needed to be filled and the students with low averages were told they had to pass step1 to be in rotations while the others went straight into rotations. I know for a fact though that some people with low averages went straight into rotations and the individual hospitals kicked them out due to lack of knowledge. You are right it is illogical but i have learned that this school does not run on logic per se. As for the education it is by far substandard. Having taken college coursework the classes here are pretty light if you have class. the course work is not challenging. Pre med is a joke . classes are rarely given. Many profs don't show up to class and there is a lack of faculty teaching. Many profs teach multiple subjects and do not get paid for the extra course load i.e. another reason Dr. Gil left. Dr. Gil was by far one of the best profs this school has had and it is a shame we are losing him. IF you don't pay your profs they tend not to stay leading to a lack of faculty. The MD classes aren't as bad but the program is very short and most material can not be taught in the alotted time. People leaving here feel a serious deficiency in their education. Also it is pathetic when a medical school gets excited to cut up a dog b/c we dont' have cadavers. I have done basic animal dissection in high school and in college, I am not paying to go to medical school to cut up a dog. When we arrived here we were told this was b/c the school is on catholic church property and wese not allowed cadavers but we now know that the real reason is lack of funds. They don't have the funds to create a facility with refrigeration units and equipment for cadavers. The lack of cadavers is a major issue for the students studying here. Although some may disagree but an adam's cd is no real substitute for the real thing and is this regard our anatomical education is lacking. Besides this we have no labs. How does one learn microbiology and histology with a lack of labs? We have been promised equipment and labs but those items have yet to be furnished. It has come to the point where the school administrator is forced to teach b/c of the lack of faculty. He doesn't want to teach and has even stated this isn't in his contract. Any student who is going through the premed program and MD program has been told that it is possible they will have licensing problems due to lack of premed course work here. They are making up independant study and various other course for students to take on their own time so they won't have problems. I know the school has denounced the website www.aaimg.com but the description it gives about the deficiences of St. james is pretty accurate. The best thing for any one interested in St james and can afford to do so is visit here and talk to the students. As I have said before After I secure my acceptances to others schools Anyone is welcome to call or email me personally and have no problems helping anyone out. Like i said before all my intention is to inform people unlike the way I was. And also as I have said before i can't force you to believe what i say but I am writing the truth it is your choice as to whether you believe the truth.

angrymedstudent, I only have one word for you.... PARAGRAPHS!!!!

hehe

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary

lol sorry about that I just have a million thoughts going through my head and just jot them down as they come so I don't forget

I am transfering out!! This School sucks!! Seriously..Take my Advise.... Go to Saint James before school starts and Check out the campus and talk to the students there indivually and hear their opinions about the school... I know you might not agree with some of the recents students opinions on this board and think we are lying...which is why i think you guys should seriously spend the money and check out the school...The education is very very bad....i mean i dont really care about the facility.. but the organization and the teachers are terrible.. especially when all the good ones have left...


I know that someone took pictures of the school.. please post them up and show how terrible it is..

id like to start of by saying i am an actual student of st james and i have been readign the posts on this forum and those on the st james forum as well...and one thing i would like to point out is that the people who are raving about this school are those who have been here for merely 4 weeks or those who have never actually attended this school.
the only people who speak the truth about this school are angry med student and displeased med student.
Before the rest of you, whom seem to be undieing devotes to st james reply to my posts accusing me of being a "spy" or accuse me of flailing, take a minute to think that not everything is a conspiracy and there are actualy people out there who dont want others to make the same mistake they have.

so its up to you if u want to come to st james...
but at least come see the island of bonaire before you make a life altering decision.

It's all context, isn't it?

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Life is sexually transmitted.

as displeased med student said all the real professors have left.
The list of professors on the st james site is not accurate and up to date.
http://www.sjsm.org/faculty.php <- go to this page and you will see that under bonaire campus there are 12 professors listed. 7 of these 12 professors have and actual MD, and 2 of the professors are not even affiliated with the school anymore i.e Vladimir K. Berezovskii, MD. and Gil Apacible, MD
Robert Van der Veen, MD. is another professor who is listed, but let me inform you that he doesn't even teach any classes.
so now out of the 12 professors listed you only have 9 professors teaching a condensed course load to 6 different semeseters of students.
Out of these 9 professors one of the professors ,Waheed Oshungboye, MD. is teaching both on the St.james campus aswell as on the St. xavier campus.
so technically out of the 7 MD's only three are left.
and Surprise ***** Ras, MD. is not only a professor but also housing coordinator and ADMINISTRATOR. let me explain how it is not even part of *****'s contract to teach.
So there you are sitting in your chair crossing your fingers that the remaining two MD's are such profound teachers that they will be able to carry the weight of the whole faculty on their shoulders..sorry to disapoint you but they both are very difficult to understand when they teach due their accents
As for the rest of the professors let me assure you that if you ever want to get in contact with them just venture down to the bars during happy hour and they'll be there all 7 days of the week.
on another note let me give you fair warning that if you ever venture on to the st james campus dont be fooled into thinking that Tony Xidis, Ph.D. is the one man show of st james..it just apears to be that way
because the man wanders around the campus aimlessly it makes me wonder if his students really are learning anything the kids seem to be on break more than learning chemsitry or whatever ** course he seems to be teaching...seems so to me pre med consists of ten minutes of ** sessions for a day, there fore giving the professors a early end to their day so they can go prepare for their binge drinking later that night.
As for the MD courses its a shame that we had to loose one of the best professors Gil Apacible, MD. due to **** being just to cheap to pay the professors for actually teaching.. in my opinion fire the baloney professors and use the money to pay those who actually have somethign to contribute to the school. I'm sure Mr. Cornelis Jasperse, MS. is a great pre med professor but having him teach genetics in the basic sciences program was just a big joke i would have prefered a professor with a basic knowledge of the genetics
seriously theirs even more glitches with the st james faculty but in truth theirs just not enough space on this forum to enlighten you all
so just choose wisely