For the longest time I wanted to write about my experiences in the Carib. It is just after being accepted at a D.O. program that I can finally write about my experience. Last January I started Saba University. I flew out of the NY Metro area to St Maarten. I had a 2:30 connecting flight to Saba where I was to be picked up by my landlord. I arrived from NY at 2pm to learn that my flight to Saba had been delayed. At 530pm Winair cancelled the flight for the day due to high winds. Well they did not give me any hotel/motel vouchers and said goodluck on finding a place. Well lucky for me I hooked up with a couple of Saba third termers. Five of them in all. We split a hotel room which was $500 in total for the night. I spent my first night as a medical student sleeping on a half of couch while three of the students went out and got drunk. They drank all night until the flight at 7am. What a nightmare. It wasn't until I got to the island the next day that I realized why they did what they did. Well I got on the 7am flight the next day out of St Maarten and arrived on Saba. My orientation started at 12pm. I hitched a ride to my off campus place in Windwardside. My landlady was so nice. I would recommend her to anyone. Her place is the best place on Saba. She even cooked me breakfast upon arrival. It was then when I thougth things were looking up. Well it didn't take long to change. After my nap of 2 hours when I went to go to orientation there was no bus. I hitched again. Come to find out they were having trouble finding people to drive the bus. At SGU they hire bus drivers. Not at Saba, students if willing drive buses. No ride to say the least. Orientation took about 1.5 hours then a pizza party. Pretty good pizza actually. Met some people, and it was cool. Wasn't impressed with their gym which was the size of a closet and the basketball court was one of those Huffy pop ups that you buy at Walmart for $75 or so. I also found out it could take two additional days to get all of my luggage. Luckily I packet a tooth brush and change of clothes. It did take two additional days to get my luggage. My first day of class went well. Since I have a vast amount of education and clinical experience I found the first day easy. I did find out on the first day that the banks are only open during school hours making it impossible to do banking (now have ATM on island however). So far I had no money, no clothes and no ride. It wasn't until the end of the second day that I had it with Saba. During anatomy lab we were dissecting and couldn't wash our hands at the end because the water was cut off. I thought it was just a problem in the lab until i went into the bathroom at the school and saw turds floating in all the toilets and no water. Hitched a ride at the end of the day and got home 2 hrs after class. Went to the foodstore to find no bread, no fruit, no vegetables. I finally had my luggage which i never unpacked because the next day I packed my toothbrush and change of clothes (bad BO by then) and got out of there. I paid my landlady for the entire semester because that is the decent thing to do and withdrew from the school. Day 3 i was out of there. Not before winair charged me an arm and a leg for overweight baggage on my return to St Maarten. To make a long story short I flew back home. My six figure job gone and feeling depressed. That didn't last long. I registered for the MCAT's and got to work. I studied day and night and received a lackluster score of 22. With a 3.6 GPA and 12 years of medical experience I crossed my fingers. Today I am admitted to DO school and thank god. I just want to say in closing I admire all of the students who are able to stick it out on Saba. They trully deserve the MD because they endure much greater hardships then US students. I take my hat off to all of those at Saba. To all incoming students. Do yourselves a favor and visit first. Saba is not for everyone. You have to make sure you will be comfortable there or you will end up heading home like me. I wish everyone at Saba good luck and this is just a recap of my experience, not meant at all to bash the school or its students.
My last post forever-LOL


CJK

that sounds very crazy ....

WOW! But, good for you! You didn't give up and you were not afraid to do what will ultimately make you happy and successful.

Thanks for the insight and best of luck!

Holy crap!!
I thought I was in a horror movie
You should see how I leant forward, closer to the plasma screen, heart beating like shreck's pendulum to read that story.

GOD blessed you with all that it was then...maybe there is no more blessing left for me
Damn! damn! Damn!

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Something that bothers you, just flush it off and wipe the remaining patiently. RS-Stanislas

Salutations "CJK":

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at Saba. I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. Good luck in your current journey towards obtaining a D.O.

To any prospective students: Remember, despite all obstacles that one must endure, if one has the diligence and motivation, one certainly can succeed. Saba is not a school for everyone, but then again, what Caribbean school is? We are all here on (what I like to think of anyways) a journey that will test our work ethic, patience, and tolerance in a new environment. We are constantly being tested on our ability to endure a different atmosphere. I happen to don't mind being on Saba, mainly because I feel that I have adjusted to the "island life." Are there certain things I want that is not here? Yes. Are there certain services that I wish existed? Yes. The point is, remember that everywhere you go you will be faced with obstacles. It all depends on how you deal with them. This is not meant to offend CJK because I wish him/her good luck in the future. CJK made some great points. If you are unsure about living in Saba, come and visit the island first. Talk with the students and get a feel for the living conditions. If you can stick with it, you will be done within 20 months. So keep your goal in mind. Well, good luck and if any of you have any questions about Saba, simply ask me. I'll be more than pleased to answer them. Ciao.

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"To achieve success, you must first define success."

Let me take a harsher stand here. Someone who lasted two days in medical school and then ran home has no place in medicine. I only wish that more whiny babies packed up and left us. Those of us who are serious about learning the practice of medicine are only annoyed and distracted by these little princes and princesses who come here for god knows what reason, probably because mommy and daddy are physicians and insist that their spoiled children become physicians, too. American and Canadian medical schools know that these tots will never, never pass basic sciences or the USMLE and so we get stuck with them down here. Saba and other IMG schools offer serious students, most of us non-traditional, a chance to come here and study and excel and thank god every day that we were given a chance to realize our dream. But clouding that opportunity are these immature brats who I guess Gardner needs to meet overhead costs. As I said, the serious and mature students have to just put up with them until they flunk out or run home to mommy. Please, please, if you think you can't hack it in a tropical paradise where the faculty and administration do everything they can to make us good doctors, don't come to Saba or any other IMG school. The rest of us are too determined, too focused and too busy to have to bother with you.

am i missing something?..... the OP said that they were older and had a six figure job. how is that running back to mommy and daddy?

experienced....... i can understand your frustration about certain types of people, but i would strongly discourage you to putting the OP in that stereotype.

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Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

Salutations "Experienced":

Hey buddy, don't be too harsh on CJK. Some people can't adjust to the island life and thus it becomes difficult for them to focus on their education. Perhaps the way things are on Saba was distracting for them and interfered with their learning. In either case, we are all different and thus have different tolerance level. He/she got accepted into a D.O school, so the potential is there. It was simply the environment that hindered CJK. That's fine, since not everyone is expected to be able to move to a new place and adjust. In either case, let's just wish CJK the best. Ciao.

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"To achieve success, you must first define success."

Three days?

Six-figure salary?

Floating turds?

Some people just prefer to be called Mr. instead of Dr.

I must say that CJK's post on Saba story is very misleading, to say the least.

For example,a grocery store in The Bottom located within walking distance from the campus called MY Store, carrys practically everything that one would wish to buy. They do carry fresh as well frogen vegetables, varieties of fruits, meats, dairy products, etc. There are atleast two other stores that I have visited in Windward side that also carry a lot of stuffs. Depending on where you live, water supply may or may not be an issue. And it is not as bad as one might be led to believe from CJK's post.

Those who are considering Saba, I suggest you read other posts from the students who have actually lived on the island for longer than just two days!.

Saba is increasingly becoming a desirable place to study. Just look at the USMLE results and residency matches. Also read the California boards report. and better yet visit the Island. As far as I am concerned it is a beautiful island and a great place to study medicine at an affordable price.

dd