Three reasons why Spartan is better than the Big 3 and a bonus:

1- Student to Teacher ratio: When one visits any of the Big 3, everything looks big, big rooms, microphones, etc... But bigger is not always better. There are, anywhere from 150 to 200 students in each class!!! On the other hand, the average class size at Spartan is somwhere around 35. You are arm-length away from your teacher. Easier to make relationships and learn more.

2- Island of St. Lucia: It is a nice, affordable, developed but not an over-developed island. Blows Grenada and Dominica away. St. Martin too expensive, average of 1000$ per person for an apartment. I paid less that 500$ for a two bedroom and a maid in St. Lucia, made one of the bedrooms my office.

3- Low Tuition: You can pay up to 12,000$ per semester for the Big 3. I did my rotations at some of the exact same hospitals as the Big 3. Same attendings, same rotations, same exact education but paid 1/4 the price. I believe that the current Spartan Tuition is about 3,500$ per semester. Times a total of 10 semesters, that equals 35,000$. Multiply 12,000 times 10 semesters: 120,000$. Big difference!!! As I said: Bigger is not always better.

Bonus: Spartan Grad., Nobel Peace Prize, Doctors Without Borders, 1999
(Good news for Spartan!!! Good news for all Carib. Med. Schools)

With Spartan campus expansion,inviting Hon.prime minster to officially open the new building among prominent local doctors,adding board review 5th trimester,cirruculm revision to meet the changes,having 2 alumni revieved extrordinary awards,the Dr who was invited to Oslo to share the Nobel peace prize and the CEO/administrator who voted the BEST in healthcare leader will prove Spartan not only prepare physicians but true leaders[proven records],I believe Spartan offers much more than other newer no proven records schools[licensed physicians in 45-46 States] but Bigger campus still better because that what US site visitors like to see,when I was involved in reviewing schools and sat on the Middle-East Medical board,4 things we considered priority:labs,library,faculty,and quality clinicals,I believe Spartan meets all of the above now.

So, does Spartan have any plans to erase any of their existing black marks like the Stafford loan situation, disapproval in California, getting approval in New York, making the results of the exit exams available, improving the internet availability, etc?

If so, what are the timeframes?

you have got to be kidding....

the most important things a school can give you:

1. a history of excellent USMLE results (as an average of all students, not simply a select few high scores)
2. a history of excellent residency placements (again, as a rule, not a few good placements and a lot of "other")
3. the ability to be licensed without restriction in all 50 states.

call me crazy, but i could care less about a spartan grad being a member of an organization that got a nobel prize, or the size of classes, or the cheap fees...all of that is pretty worthless if the above conditions are not met.

1) teacher:student ratio you learn 99.999999999999% of material outside class on your own so teacher ratio is worthless specially if they don't speak english then you can't hide and be absent

2) if the school is doing its job then you shouldn't have all the time in the world to enjoy the island. that is why my main reason for coming to auc was bogus i picked it b/c of location. now i see the err of my ways and i could have done just as well at ross or sgu since desks and books look the same in all three locations

3) again another reason i picked auc over sgu that was bogus. a doctor makes over 136,000 per year for 50 years of practice do you seriously think you will miss $1600 per month for ten years? what do you get in excange for tuition, and lower ratio:

"1. a history of excellent USMLE results (as an average of all students, not simply a select few high scores)
2. a history of excellent residency placements (again, as a rule, not a few good placements and a lot of "other")
3. the ability to be licensed without restriction in all 50 states."

spartan is definetely a good option in the end but as per reasons stated abouve it doesn't rank in my top 4.

1)US MD and DO
2) AUC,Ross,SGU
3) australia, israel
4) Europe
5) ireland
6)saba, spartan
7) get a PhD and fail all medical students
8) kigezi, SC
9)St luke just make sure you don't apply for a license before you work
10)IUHS and chiropractic
11)ND

__________________
OBGYN PGY II
I see light at the end of the tunnel!!!...wait a minute its just another freakin tunnel!

1) teacher:student ratio you learn 99.999999999999% of material outside class on your own so teacher ratio is worthless specially if they don't speak english then you can't hide and be absent

- disagree- teaching is important. for the best of the class it probably doesnt matter. for the middle it bumps them up and for the lower, probably saves their butt.


as for this list
"
1)US MD and DO
2) AUC,Ross,SGU
3) australia, israel
4) Europe
5) ireland
6)saba, spartan
7) get a PhD and fail all medical students
8) kigezi, SC
9)St luke just make sure you don't apply for a license before you work
10)IUHS and chiropractic
11)ND"

make no mistake: DO and IMG (the better schools) are neck in neck. Check the residency lists. Every PD knows a DO failed to get into the US med schools. Id bump up ireland with australia and israel- no comment on the rest.

__________________
Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

why i said it was my ranking as i did not want to go to europe etc and be that much further from home. i'm not a very auditory person so everything i learn i learn from books outside class. i use the lectures as a guideline to show me what i need but there is too much material to learn in class even if you are one of the lucky few who memorize by listening.

__________________
OBGYN PGY II
I see light at the end of the tunnel!!!...wait a minute its just another freakin tunnel!

why i said it was my ranking as i did not want to go to europe etc and be that much further from home. i'm not a very auditory person so everything i learn i learn from books outside class. i use the lectures as a guideline to show me what i need but there is too much material to learn in class even if you are one of the lucky few who memorize by listening.

__________________
OBGYN PGY II
I see light at the end of the tunnel!!!...wait a minute its just another freakin tunnel!

neilc and dt are right on the mark. shockandawe, sorry, but you don't seem to see the big picture when it comes to medical education. Tuition should have no part in your decision making, as someone else said, what's a few thousand after practicing for 50 years. spartan's teaching, while mostly non-existant, is at best sub-par. Frankly the low teach/student ratio was a hinderance to me as in some classes I would have to listen to the prof and wasn't allowed to do my own studying instead.

St. Lucia is a "nice" island, but nothing in comparison to St. Maartin or neighbouring Saba. Living conditions are basically third world and night life was almost non-existant. None of this is important as the focus should be on studying.

The most important things are USMLE pass rate, quality of clinical rotations and eventual residency placement. Everything else is just icing on the cake so to speak.

Probably the easiest way for Spartan to regain some ground is to improve their "customer service" attitude. For example, get that internet access and reliability up, allow students to review their exit exam results, be honest about the Stafford loan status, etc...

All these do not need to take much money, but do show a change of mentality. And it will take a few months to show the results.

'Tis better than sprouting off about how well a few grads are doing. These are a few out of how many? 2000+?

Is Spartan able to convince their "Nobel Peace Prize" alumni to be a visiting prof? Will he show up at the grand opening of the new building?