Hello,

As most of you know on this forum, I am currently in my clinical rotations at a US hospital through Spartan. Currently I am in Pediatrics, and I was lucky enough to be able to set up the rotation in a hospital that normally only has US medical students along with interns and residents. I am the only foreign student in the pediatrics department at the present time. The other members of my pediatric rotation group are 5 other US medical students in their third year. All have passed USMLE Step 1 and all had the same complaints about the exam, "man it was sooo hard", "it was hella crazy" etc. Also, not to sound egotistical by any means, but all 5 of them are DUMB! They dont know a thing!!! They are constantly getting ripped apart by the residents and attending! I on the other hand am doing quite well in the rotation, not only because I study SOMETIMES, but mostly because of that one pediatrics class that I took at Spartan. The peds prof at Spartan was HORRIBLE, he could not teach worth crap, but his tests were soooo hard that you had to study your *** off in order to pass the exam. That knowledge that I gained is what is keeping me afloat in this rotation. I have not once been scorned by the residents or attendings (not because they take pitty on me for being a foreign student----actually I dont think they know that Im a foreign student!). Anyways, the point is that I clearly know way more than these US students, not to say that all caribbean students know more that US students but arguing amongst ourselves about what school is better than what is just STUPID. Clearly from this example it is the student who makes the school, not the school making the student. My next rotation will also be with US students only so I will update you guys on how well they know their stuff. I have never rotated with such slackers, and mentally challenged individuals in any of my previous rotations and all the previous rotations were with ROSS, SABA, and SPARTAN students!

currentstudent

That's wonderful
Thank you for keeping us informed on what you are doing out there

Spartan is second on my list, and all what you wrote here is really helpful to many of us.
Thanks and God bless you
Maybe I should move spartan to the first place that low tuition and good students are pluses +++++++++++

Excellent!!!

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

Are u kidding? Maybe you should read the other 10 posts for every post like this one. The ones that say 3rd and 4th year students have so much trouble finding clinical rotations and the Spartan admin. not helping anyone.

Maybe you should just cross out this choice on your list and include the big 3 and Saba into ur decision. What is your 1st choice anyway?

be wary of buying into the self-serviing "man aren't all US students idiots!" balm. Think about it. There are good and bad students everywhere. There are strengths that one tends to see from one group over another. But anyone who can manage to convince themself that the whole thing is inverted and really its the us student afterall who are really weak, well frankly I'm astounded at the mental gymnastics. Its like the chiropractors and podiatrists and naturopaths who believe somehow they are the one's truely privvy to real medicine outside of the "conventional med" loop. Accept reality. If the chiro/pods/naturos/IMGs have some strength or fund of knowledge that comes from their relative unique experience, fine great. But dont' try to reconstuct all of reality to put you in a more favorable light. Aside from being a lie, it wears your credibility rather thin.

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

Let's put this into perspective. Currentstudent is a consummate defender of everything Spartan. He posted a complete thread on this site dedicated to the fact that he passed Step 1 (and never revealed his/her score). What is the pass rate for US students? Isn't it ridiculously HIGH? And don't they usually pass with ridiculously HIGH scores? It is an accomplishment to pass a board exam, yes, but this feat must be virtually insurmountable for Spartan students, since it was necessary to post it on the internet for all to see. Kirst has said something to the effect that Currentstudent is one of about 60 or so students to have passed that she knows of who passed Step 1 on the first go round. Believe me, that would never happen at a US school.

Another reality check; it doesn't matter what US students know or don't know in clinicals. They will still get priority over you with most residency programs.

"it wears your credibility pretty thin"( biggest piece of garbage i have read yet)
Wow so credibility is a big thing on these boards (lol), thats y most of you talk and have mad info on islands and schools you have never been to. Oh mindprobee you guys are just bashing current student for no reason, we all understand where he/she is coming from so dont even try to make it seem like he was trying to say that he was smarter than all American students. From what i even got from the post he was trying to give all Foreign students credit. And dont try to get smart about his score, so what if he does not wanna reveal his score to anyone? How would you know if anyone is telling the truth about their score anyway? So what if current student told you he got a 75 or 99, would you be more pleased? Wow the hating on these boards has blown up to another level, am really starting to wonder if some of these nerds are employed by other schools (scary) lol

well let's see you make it to a residency at Johns-Hopkins, in Radiology-Oncology. coming from someone of this caliber gives more credence to her words than most people on this forum.

i think you missed the point of her post.

The first on my list is St.Matthews....
But recently Spartan has been receiving some good props from admitted students and those who used to be attending.
It's really hard to decide around...

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

I was gonna go to saba but since am paying out of pocket dude i had no choice, hey do whats best for you. I figured that you cant really go off what you hear on the boards cos some people simply hate on some schools so you cant really tell who is being genuine, i suggest visiting the schools you have in mind and checking it out yourself man. Its worth the investment, i know st math.. does not have Cali either but on the other hand not everyone cares about Cali, i know i dont. But its worth the trip, st Math.. looks like a pretty nice school from what i see. They have what looks like an all American faculty, not like that really matters for basics( AT KU all my biology and genetics classes were taught by asians anyway and that was in the states) so am not really big into where your teacher went to school. If you know ur stuff and can teach i dont care if you went to school in Bombay St Mat... definitely looks fresher i wont even lie to you man but its double the cost

Its not true that we have to set up our own rotations. The school sets them in the hospitals they work with it. If you have your own hookup for a hospital, you can set it up yourself.