Thread: If you have any questions feel free to ask

hey future medical students,

I just finish my second semester in Spartan and really love it here. I am preparing for my break and have plenty of time to help future students. If you have any questions, feel free to post on this thread or PM me. I will do my best to help every body.

~good luck

hey cutelilMD,

I know you aren't in clinical rotations yet, but do you know anything about how long is the wait for them? Is there much of a time gap between each one? Do you know what cities they are in and do you have to move around much? Thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by 2BNMD

hey cutelilMD,

I know you aren't in clinical rotations yet, but do you know anything about how long is the wait for them? Is there much of a time gap between each one? Do you know what cities they are in and do you have to move around much? Thanks for your help.

hey there

from what I've heard, there is no wait, you can start immediately. As for rotation spots, it really depends on your USMLE score. The rotations I've heard are in Chicago, New York, Miami, and Maryland. I heard they are adding more sites in the future. As for moving around, it really depends where you at. If you are in chicago you can do all your rotations there. IF you are in NEw york, you can only do a certain number of weeks.

let me know if you have other questions

Hello, My name is Mang and I am currently attending St James SOM, MD2. I am interested in transferring from SJSM to Spartan for the September class but I wanted to get in contact with people that actually went and gone through the experience to get a better feedback. I havent used this site in a while so I am relearning how to browse through it all. I tried messaging random people on fb but only found crickets in the background.. lol

I wanted to know:

Immigration:::: (its $400 here in SJSM)
How much are the immigration fees? Here in the Netherland Antillies the immigration fees were not announced until I actually got on the island.. I wasnt really excited to hear that so I want to prepare for it when I switch over.

Education::: (we have the same classes offered, only different classes per semester, a few extras at Spartan)
In terms of curriculum, do you have to use outside sources to learn and study or are most of the material presented good enough for school examinations. I understand that USMLE studying requires more that just school material but just for the sake of preparing for the school exams alone. Are the professors helpful? How do you think your whole class rate all the professors as a whole from 1-10, 10 being the best. Please be truthful. Im really having a rough time here SJSM so I want better options not similar.

Living::::
How is the island life there in terms of price of daily living, food, and other expenses? Can you give me a rough estimate of how much someone who doesnt eat out often and conserves electricity would spend monthly? Whats the realistic prices of living per month, not whats advertised on the website.

Transportation::::
I read there are public transportation provided by the school but are they all week or just on school days as well as are they only during class begin/end times? How much are new and used cars? -are they ridiculously expensive all around due to inflation?

Island life:::: (It's almost been a year and I'm still having trouble adapting to Dutch living)
Is the lifestyle similar to the way it is back home (USA) or completely different?

Seasonal Attire::: (here in Bonaire, we only have summer all year round)
Does the word seasons exist in St Lucia? If so how cold/hot does it get.

Are there anything else I am forgetting to ask, please inform me so ASAP.
Thanks Alot!
-Mang

Hey there Mang,

sorry for the lack of response, I been dreading over exams, but thank god it's over so I'm taking a break this weekend, so let's get started on answering your questions.

I don't know the fees for immigration so you should contact the school.
As for education, I know very well. The professors teach from power points, so if you know the power points front to back, you are pretty much guarantee passing the class. I recommend using class time to take excellent lecture notes that include stuff the professor said and stuff in the power points. Your notes should be thorough to the point that you only study off your notes during exam week, trust me that's the way to study, cuz the powerpoints can be very overwhelming. My philosophy about the professor is that their job is to deliver the information and our job is to find a way to absorb it, so I don't really have a rating for them. I find that they are very dedicated and do whatever they can to help the students, and this is the main thing that I like about them. I'm going to be honest with you, a lot of students make the mistakes of using the professor as their source which leads to alot of negativity. The professors should not be your only source in learning the material. If you don't understand what is presented on the powerpoint, then u should read that section from a text book and learn it, that is why I recommend ppl to utilize class time to rewrite the info on the powerpoint in ur own words. If you can't rewrite in ur own words, it means you don't understand it, so you have to put a question mark next to that topic and find a way to understand. Overall, I just know that if i take good notes in class, I will past. As for studying for the steps, I'm not there yet so I have no experience. I just know that foreign medical students love kaplan and US medical students love first aid, so pick your choice. But once I get to the steps, I will let everyone here know my experience.

As for living expenses it all depends on you. I think st. lucia is one of the cheapest island 1 US dollar equals to 2.67 st. lucian dollars
if you want to save money and don't mind living in a crappy place, the cheapest will be about $300 US per month. If you want to live somewhere equivalent to a US apartment/studio it will be around $600 US per month. Therefore I say the range would be in US dollars $300-$600. As for electricity it really depends on how often you use it. For me, I use my air condition like crazy and I leave my tv on, use the computer alot, cook all the time, etc... This month my electricity bill came up to be about $400 st. lucian dollars which translate to about $150 US dollars.

Here is the st. lucia conversion
$1 USD=$2.67 EC
FOr someone who wants to save money, I can easily help you calculate that.
This is the cost per month in st. lucian dollars
apartment: $800
if you go to groceries twice per month: $400
electricity: $200
Total: $1400 (st. lucian), $524 (US)

This is how much I pay per month because I'm a big spender
apartment: $1600
electricity bill: $400
groceries twice per month: $400

total: $2400 (st. lucian dollars) $900 (in US)

as for transportation, it's so freaken convenient. Public transportation is about $1.50 EC (st. Lucian). The school has their own public transportation that occurs during school days Monday-friday. Alot of students love studying in the library so the school bus will take them home around 8:00PM and 12:00am, I believe these are the schedule, but if you do go to spartan double check in case they change it . The school bus is for free cuz they know students are poor. If you want to go all out and get a taxi or personal driver, they usually charge $20 EC.

The island life isn't pretty bad once you get use to it. I have to say the island has a certain charm to it
The first time I came, I was like ***, this is like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, then later on I begin to appreciate every aspect of the island. The fact that the locals are very nice and helpful. Sometimes I would walk around exhausted after an exam, and some of the locals will come up and ask "hey there, are you ok??" or if sometimes I feel very happy just walking around, the locals will smile and ask how I'm doing today. It's these little things that make the island very charming. I'm going to be honest, the lifestyle is so much different than the US, it's something that will take time to get use to. A lot of students feel that coming to the island makes them appreciate the things back in US that they take for granted.

The word season does not occur is St. Lucia, it's summer all year, however, the rain is so pleasant and romantic

Well I think I answered majority of your questions, let me know if you need anything else

good luck with everything
~cutie

Thanks for the info! I will be transferring over after this semester ends and will start there as MD3 next semester. Everything you told me sounds alot better than the island I'm currently on as well as the school.

-Mang

How many semesters do you actually spend on the island? I just read a thread, and there was a 2006 graduate said that he only spend 4 semesters. I tried to look up at the website, but the websites doesn't say clearly and not even what classes are taught at what semesters...

Originally Posted by steel heart

How many semesters do you actually spend on the island? I just read a thread, and there was a 2006 graduate said that he only spend 4 semesters. I tried to look up at the website, but the websites doesn't say clearly and not even what classes are taught at what semesters...

Hey, it is 5 semesters in St. Lucia. I recently transferred from another school and doing my 3rd semester here.
Classes are as follows by Semester:This is the basic list.. there may be new classes added in each semester for incoming semesters. The list of classes will be given in your welcoming package. If you call admissions, I'm sure they will provide you with that information as well.

1- Physiology, Embryology, Anatomy, Histology
2- Public Health, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Medical Ethics Writing, Neuroanatomy
3- Pharmacology, General Pathology, Behavioral Science
4- ICM, Doctor/Patient, Systemic Pathology
5- ICM, Review Courses for steps