Dear friends,
I have been recently accepted to saba and some other schools and I am not going to start another "vs" thread. However, I would like to know from current and former saba students and grads what are the drawbacks and deficiencies they have encountered in the school?
What few things they would change in the school (academic, ancillary, loans, clinicals, step prep..etc) if they absolutely could. If they had to do saba again, would they?

Am not trying to dig out "bad stuff" about the school.. just trying to see if saba is really as good, mellow, small and fine school as the admin the few other students have pictured it as?

Thanks in advance!

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If you aint got it in your genes, sweat it out.

i really dislike the 'getting in and out of saba' aspect of all this. transportation out of saba is very unreliable and its a major headache. coming back is no joke either, esp. when you have your luggage and food with you...etc..there are so many variables that can screw up your trip here.
its unrealistic to demand or look for things like coffee shops, BK, mcdonalds, and theatres, etc - the island is very small and its not feasable. i also wish that the restaurants were open a bit late.
all the stores have jacked up their prices this year for some reason, even though more students are coming in, so i dont like that...
but besides those major complaints, saba is alright.

There are no laws on the island to protect you. If anything should happen, they would throw you off the island, at best. You cannot sue, you are powerless. It is completely savage

Downsides: Somewhat boring tiny island unless you are outdoorsy type, even then small and vertical. I mean VERTICAL, it's a mountain. Saba is like a small rural town in most respects regarding gossip, privacy. Very expensive to live there, costs 1.5x to 2x as much for stuff and utilities on island. Water rationing...whats in your rain water cistern is what you have, or pay ~$255 for 2,000 gallons. We got by, but not many long relaxing showers. No movie theater. No real beach. A few good restaurants, but pricey. Tiny grocery stores for food, not much variety but adequate for a person or a family. No book stores, have amazon ship you stuff. Get the address just right or it will be a long time if ever. No real shopping for clothing, shoes, etc, just small touristy shops. Sure, could use more loan options, this is well known.

Being far far away from North America makes basic sciences much harder in some respects - realize that most U.S. med students go to school in their home town or home state. They get holidays and summers off. Then they wash their cars and use all the water they want. U.S. students are spoon fed more than we are, I see it in rotations every day. They are the homers. That has both an up side and a down side, as you might imagine. In short, Saba is a nice place to visit for a day trip as the tourists do, a hard place to live for a long time unless you have very simple desires. High professor turnover for this reason.

Some of the Sabans seemed somewhat jaded about students - see us as rich kids that mess up their place and complain about the way life is. Most are very nice every day folks. Just do things their way with respect and all is smooth.

Being as I can't change the island, what would I change about the school? Better clinical preparation for students without mad clinical skillz already. One or two days over in the tiny A.M. Edwards clinic on island just doesn't cut it. Half the battle in rotations is adapting to the medical system, makes for a rough 3rd year. Ross honestly has a better clinical preparation by far, if you ever make it out of first semester there, as some do. Is wireless internet available all over campus yet? It wasn't when I left in December 2006. Mostly was only available in the library and at certain times of day.
Also, more research opportunities would be nice. There is the hyperbaric program, and the school has it's own hyperbaric chamber, but with limited teaching staff time progress is slow.

Upsides: Cheap Heineken on Saba. Marvelous sunsets. Beautiful scenery you see occasionally when not in class or studying. Safe island, very little crime at all. Great snorkeling and diving. Can catch free lobster certain places around the island. Go fishing. Chance to live in the Caribbean, visit St. Barth, St. Martin, all those cool places Americans dream about visiting and say "been there done that". Money and energy is your limiter there.

School in my experience has always done what they said they would do, when they said they would do it so far. I need paper work filled out, ask nicely and...boom, it's done. Professors are usually very good teachers, though teaching there more than 10 years is rare. Saba SOM attracts quality teachers, as it is a quality school. They have very high expectations for us, and so we fulfill that prophecy most of the time. You never have to be just a name or number to a professor here unless you want it that way, as classes are not huge. My class started with around 70 students and we left the island with around 50 in the class. Most left due to not liking the island, emergencies back at home, and so forth, and some of those picked up with a subsequent class. Few outright failed, as help is always available. You will make it if you work hard.

Most clinical rotations are great in my limited experience and in talking with classmates they say the same. Saba is cheapest of the top tier Caribbean schools. Yeah, i know it's Caribbean school, but quality still matters, it's your dollar, your future. I rotate with U.S. med school students and am very competitive all day and all night. Nice step 1 score, too. I thank Saba for providing the solid framework within which hard work pays off. How well you do is limited only by how hard you work, not by the school. So far I've never felt that the school was in my way, can't say that about all schools I've attended.

In my own situation, if I had a chance to do things again, I'd probably apply to a DO school or to a US allopathic school somewhere, as it's just easier, though it would have taken longer to graduate. For myself, I applied only to Saba, as a somewhat older student who wanted to get his life moving, though the road is harder. I am grateful and appreciative of the opportunity Saba has provided, not disappointed at all. I am learning much.

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PGY-1 Psychiatry

hey - i heard so many good things about SABA and all these good comments made me really excited and feel comfortable to begin at SABA in May 2008. But the drawbacks such as made by wolfvgang22 and other negative comments i heard from other posts sometimes make me rethink about the choices that I am making and make me very depresesed not being to decide for myself...it is very frustrating...but somehow i gotta learn to deal with it and make the right decision for myself.... SABA seems like an amazing place to go to school and get high quality education but no place is perfect. I am getting really nervous to get started in SABA and I strongly pray to GOD everyday to help me be stronger... I apologize for rambling but i am kinda of feeling down and I wanted to share with you and everyone else.

thank you

First off, thanks a LOT wolf for your detailed input.
I started this thread because I could'nt find any negatives about saba, but then I know there is no perfect school. Sometimes reading just the "good" about the school tends to make students very excited and rather unprepared for certain hardships they are going to have to deal with.
That is the very purpose of this thread: to achieve better adaptation to the island along with being prepared for what is factually ahead of them.

From what I have learned about saba, the positives tremendously outweighs the negatives. However, the drawbacks should not be overlooked.

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If you aint got it in your genes, sweat it out.

That's exactly right. If you see obstacles or hardships coming you can plan around them. Also, I gave only my personal opinions.
I have many classmates who would disagree with some of my complaints and call me a cry-baby about shopping or food or whatever. Two things med students are good at: complaining and then mocking those who complain about the same thing later on. I'm terrific at it.

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PGY-1 Psychiatry

As always, whicked insightful post wolfgang. Good luck in cardiology, it was my favourite floor as a nursing student.

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An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
-Mohandas Gandhi

hey wolfvgang22! i am sure I will act like a crybaby too sometimes complaining about nothing but nonsense! lol - i went through many posts on this website and i find all your posts to be very concise, very very very helpful, and really teaches someone who is ignornant about SABA such as myself many things about this school -positives and negatives but MORE positives.

I came across this post on pg 26 (i think) about how you said that it is more important to study hard and pass the USMLE with honors than trying so hard to act cool around your classmates - I CAN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE ON THIS ONE!!!!! it still surprises me how immature students can be EVEN IN MED SCHOOL! I can't believe people act like high school students and play popularity contest in med schoool! i thought as you get older, u r supposed to become more wiser but it's not true for all people... I think i will HATE the fact that some studnets at SABA might act like high school kids but i gotta to learn to deal with them - do u mind sharing some suggestions on how to avoid these people?? any advice will be great!

i just want to say that i wish i had a chance to meet you when i start this may 2008, but i guess that's not gonna be possible since you are doing your clinicals (right?) - i always felt that it is very important to be surrounded by positive people such as yourself in order to be motivated and acquire good qualities! i think i am rambling again sorry about that! i just felt like I want to share this with you! u really r a good inspiration!

^ ...........