Thread: My visit to Spartan Health Sciences University

Hello,

My son is a student at American University School of Medicine (AUA). I am a practicing radiologist at UCLA. I graduated from St.George's School of Medicine in the early 80s. Before my husband (retired trauma surgeon who graduated from Spartan), my son, and I decided what school my son would attend we visited the major caribbean schools (SGU, Ross, Spartan, Saba, AUC, AUA, and St.Matthews). We were happy with all the schools we visited. We spent a few days on each island, attending classes, meeting with administration, etc.. The time my husband and I spent at Spartan was very satisfying. My husband graduated many years ago from Spartan Health Sciences University and he was quite satisfied with the improvments the school has made. As I posted in the AUA forum, Spartan was very similar to Saba School of Medicine with respect to facilities, administration, etc.. The majority of what is written on all these forums is hogwash in my opinion! My husband and I visited Spartan for two days and we were happy with the way things were conducted. We met with both deans of the school and a few faculty members and they all were very knowledgable persons who taught their subjects well. What I would like to say is that you can indeed come out of Spartan and succeed. Yes, times are changing but I believe Spartan will be around for many years longer. My husband, a retired trauma surgeon, is considering taking a teaching position at Spartan for part of the year. Spartan has been around for many years, and it will continue to graduate doctors for many more. We considered sending our son to Spartan however, he was insistant on attending AUA as many of his friends are in attendence there. If my younger daughter were to want to attend Spartan I would be totally supportive. As for California issues. I sat on the Medical Board of California for a few years and I know that Spartan was not approved for licensure by the state of California. From what I saw however, I do believe Spartan could apply and gain approval by California in the near future. Like I said earlier, Saba and Spartan are very similar. They look the same, the students looked the same, the classes were conducted in the same manner, and we were satisfied with both schools. If Saba can receive approval by California, then Spartan should be able to as well. When we spoke with Spartan administration they clearly stated that seeking California approval is in their "not so distant" future. I am confident that Spartan will receive California approval in the next few years. I have sat on the Medical Board of California so I would strongly advise alumni and students to not worry-Spartan will be around for a long time and students will be able to practice in the majority of states without a problem. My husband was the best trauma surgeon at his hospital, and in our old community! Several of his friends (Spartan and Ross graduates) are also doing very well and continue to make priceless contributions to medicine through their service. Bottom line is DO NOT WORRY!

Thank You,


AUAparent

I appreciate your time, your post, your story and your optimism.

Nice to see positive messages.However Spartan needs to start with easier missions before they talk about CA and that is NY approvals,to me all carribean schools are the same,a basic science campus and using US hospitals,the difference is who is after recognitions and approvals,I hate to say it but Spartan or any other unapproved schools can stay around for a long time but they are losing more and more states every year and I feel sad for young people gambling with their careers and building up loans that might not be able to pay in the future.Spartan been around since 1980,never ever recieved a single recognition [NY,FL,NJ,CA]and that is sad,very sad.

"Bottom line is DO NOT WORRY"

you can take step 1,2,3 and still not be able to work, which is unfair and sucks b/c after all this coupled with the doc shortage i thinbk its criminal to bar someone whos proven themselves but the only thing to worry about is 200k in debt and the rest of your life....

Just when I thought we had made some headway discussing the realities of Spartan we have a setback...

Originally Posted by auaparent

Hello,

My son is a student at American University School of Medicine (AUA). I am a practicing radiologist at UCLA. I graduated from St.George's School of Medicine in the early 80s. Before my husband (retired trauma surgeon who graduated from Spartan), my son, and I decided what school my son would attend we visited the major caribbean schools (SGU, Ross, Spartan, Saba, AUC, AUA, and St.Matthews). We were happy with all the schools we visited. We spent a few days on each island, attending classes, meeting with administration, etc.. The time my husband and I spent at Spartan was very satisfying. My husband graduated many years ago from Spartan Health Sciences University and he was quite satisfied with the improvments the school has made. As I posted in the AUA forum, Spartan was very similar to Saba School of Medicine with respect to facilities, administration, etc.. The majority of what is written on all these forums is hogwash in my opinion! My husband and I visited Spartan for two days and we were happy with the way things were conducted. We met with both deans of the school and a few faculty members and they all were very knowledgable persons who taught their subjects well. What I would like to say is that you can indeed come out of Spartan and succeed. Yes, times are changing but I believe Spartan will be around for many years longer. My husband, a retired trauma surgeon, is considering taking a teaching position at Spartan for part of the year. Spartan has been around for many years, and it will continue to graduate doctors for many more. We considered sending our son to Spartan however, he was insistant on attending AUA as many of his friends are in attendence there. If my younger daughter were to want to attend Spartan I would be totally supportive. As for California issues. I sat on the Medical Board of California for a few years and I know that Spartan was not approved for licensure by the state of California. From what I saw however, I do believe Spartan could apply and gain approval by California in the near future. Like I said earlier, Saba and Spartan are very similar. They look the same, the students looked the same, the classes were conducted in the same manner, and we were satisfied with both schools. If Saba can receive approval by California, then Spartan should be able to as well. When we spoke with Spartan administration they clearly stated that seeking California approval is in their "not so distant" future. I am confident that Spartan will receive California approval in the next few years. I have sat on the Medical Board of California so I would strongly advise alumni and students to not worry-Spartan will be around for a long time and students will be able to practice in the majority of states without a problem. My husband was the best trauma surgeon at his hospital, and in our old community! Several of his friends (Spartan and Ross graduates) are also doing very well and continue to make priceless contributions to medicine through their service. Bottom line is DO NOT WORRY!

Thank You,


AUAparent

Personally as a patient I wouldn't attend any clinic or radiology suite in which a Spartan grad was sitting in.

Truth be told foreign medical schools should only teach students that are willing to provide a significant amount of time in treating their countries patients. It seems very unethical for these schools to take advantage of lost souls who have to resort these schools and then not return some of their graditute to the country they trained in.

I agree with a post I read here in the past:
any carribean school that generating millions especially the larger schools must build their own university teaching hospitals on the islands to serve the host countries...........................

"and then not return some of their graditute to the country they trained in"

i paid gratitute everytime i overpaid for every last thing on the island. if the govt wanted help most students wold be willing to help out in the hospitals there etc but they don't, at least in sxm, they made it very difficult to even donate time at local clinics. these govts seem more interetsted in the revenues we generated than any sort of help we could provide...beleive me i tried for 4 semesters to allow the hospital to allow us to volunteer and every single time they wanted outlandish amounts of money for "volunteering"......

AUC really doesn't have much to do with St. Maarten. They won't let students even set foot in the hospital. St. Maarten does benefit from AUC. The money that comes in from the US for food, cars, fuel taxes, housing etc. is appreciable, and can only help the economy of a country whose income is mostly from tourism. I don't feel an debt of gratitude to St. Maarten. I think it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. G

Originally Posted by teratos

I don't feel an debt of gratitude to St. Maarten. I think it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. G

Why is it that rich "brats" from the US have such an eltist attitude. The fact that a host country took you in when your own country didn't consider you "good enough" is important. The vast majority of the medical world would happily offer help to underserviced/poor nations...especially considering what they have done for you. The mutually benefical arrangement was between the US profiteers and yourself...not the poor common person selling bananas on the street. If you consider yourself a doctor...you need some major ethical backbones. Personally, I'm glad you will return to the US and not continue in this cycle of capitalistic parasitic relationship. We need to stand up to these schools and have them offer more to there host country than just underwaged jobs.