As I'm sure you know, WHO recognitition means nothing since they do no
screening. We asked the British government whether this was a UK school or
a Senegalese school and to our surprise they told us that the school had
requested exemption from the British college approval laws on grounds that
it was a U.S. (New Jersey) school. Since it has no legal authority to issue
degrees from or in New Jersey and does not appear on the list of Senegalese
colleges to which we have access (dates to about 2002), we have doubts about
where it is really authorized.

We recently received some information from the school and need to review it
next week. That may clear up the situation.


Alan L. Contreras
Administrator, Office of Degree Authorization
Oregon Student Assistance Commission
1500 Valley River Drive No. 100
Eugene OR 97401
(541) 687-7452 fax (541) 687-7419
alan.L.contreras@state.or.us
Information: http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda

Messages to and from this e-mail address may be available to the public
under Oregon law.




-----Original Message-----

Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 6:06 AM
To: alan.l.contreras@state.or.us
Subject: St. Christopher's College of Medicine


Where have you received your information about this college? I went to
the Australian web site and nothing is stated. Also the UK has allowed
students from the school to sit for the PLAB. Other students are
currently in residency programs in different states in the US. They have
passed step 1 and 2 of the USMLE. The school is recognized by WHO and is
chartered in Senegal.
This school did close down in the past and was reorganized-reopened in 2000.
Please let me know why it is unapproved.


Soooooo, WHO means nothing but in the requirement for IMED schools it states that they MUST BE WHO listed! What kind of crap is this? Also Oregon uses Austrialia as the authority on this matter???!!!!! What a load of Bull.

Well Just my two cents.

So it is a NJ school that NJ won't license? More complex than most.....az skeptic

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

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http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

So, let me get this straight --
When Oregon requested information from UK about St. Chris, it was told by UK that SC tried to get UK accreditation exemption by claiming to be an US (New Jersey) school? What was that all about? And why can't SC be found in Senegal's directory of colleges that dates to 2002?

As for WHO listing -- it's basically a "phone book" service. Nothing more. It lists medical schools reported by each country without checking up on it to see if the school is indeed accredited by that country. IMED listing is basically the WHO listing being duplicated. This is why many state boards are not taking "WHO listing" or "ECFMG eligbility" at face value and are demending more documentations and passing more stringent requirements for IMG's. Yes, every state I know of requires IMG's to have ECFMG certificates to be licensed. But NO state I know of will license IMG's based SOLELY on the fact that they have ECFMG certificate because we know that ECFMG is nothing more than a secretarial service at this time with absolutely no power in accreditation review.

P

__________________
Jean Luc Picard
Academic Hospitalist/Assist. Professor of Medicine, Star Fleet Medical, Earth, United Federation of Planets
Borg-Certified... Resistance is Futile.

In Glock, We Trust... Everyone Else... Keep Your Hands Where I Can See Them.

http://www.odmp.org/search.php?searc...=2001&cause=27
http://www.nypdangels.com/wtc.htm
http://www.hampsteadnh.us/police/A%2...ica%20Died.htm
http://longmontpolice.com/MEMORIAM.HTM

Scary stuff. G

__________________
AUC Class of '99
Bored certified
I may be a jerk, but I'm a Jedi jerk like my father.

Some say I look like Buzz Lightyear....
(They're right)

DISCLAIMER: I have no financial stake in ValueMD, or any medical school.

Senegal does not have a directory of schools. The only directories I have found on the internet are all by third parties. Senegal web site http://www.gouv.sn/
I can't believe how many people have believed what they read on third party web sites.
this web site claims to list IMED schools but is based in NY and China?
Seems fishy, I think schools must pay a fee to belong?
A lot of information that is discussed here is 3rd party and half-truths.
I still find St. Chris to be a new school trying to do the right things. This school is not an English med school. I'm tired of reading it is not listed with the GMAC. A school has to be approved by the GMAC and to do that it would have to apply for that approval, it has not. The GMAC has stated another school in London is not eligible for the plab but did not mention St. Chris.
What they don't know it exists? I find that impossible since there are some grads that have applied to sit for the plab. I guess in a month I will need to remind all of you about the inconsistent way posts are placed here.

i believe that st christophers does have recognition...people have sat for usmles in the past from this school,,there are people doing clinicals in the usa from this school, and there r ppl doing residency, who graduated from this school.... www.mdparadise.com if st chris was not recognized all these things would never happen.

OOPS! I meant GMC not GMAC! Was so steamed at the time.............

a sailor was walking down the street and noticed an old friend who was missing a leg,an arm, and an eye. He said "My gosh, you look terrible."

Oh, no, says his damaged friend. I lost my leg in the battle off of Spain but it doesn't bother me at all. I lost my eye in the battle near France but it hasn't been much of a bother. My arm got caught off in a fight in London. But all in all, things are good. He then rolled on down the street on his board, oblivious that others thought that things were wrong.

Indeed it is one's frame of mind as to how you handle the problems. Who knows the future? You have seen everything that non-administration people know about the potential problems of St. Chris. You've paid your money, you takes your chances. You've thrown your lot in with those who know of the problems but choose to feel they aren't major. Disregard all you don't like to hear or read and straight ahead, sailor.

Az Skeptic

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

To all potential SC students!

For the those that are new to this forum, and for those who have been here for a while now, please, don't let any of what is posted up in this forum alert you. If you feel that SC can't offer much, or that you'll regret your decisions later, just simply go elsewhere. I don't know how someone or a certain number of people can sit around all day in front of a computer and research things and post articles up on the web for a living. Yeah, they say this, they say that. Don't believe any of it. The best thing to do is to trust your and follow your heart. Don't base your decisions SOLEY on what is posted up on this forum by students (that don't attend SC) and people who have apparently made SC the center of their worlds, and believe they are predicting what will happen to SC and it's students. Again, if you feel that this isn't the place for you, then by all means don't go for it. No one is putting a gun to your heads forcing you to attend SC. But DON'T kill yourselves believing these people.
Now we even have people talking about IMED and WHO as if they know what they do... C'mon.
Azskeptic, with all the respect in the world, your post really don't bother me at all, in fact I appreciate you taking the time of your so busy life to post and research articles on SC. But please, don't assume you know exactly what stand for in the future of SC. In fact, I encourage you to continue doing what your doing, besides let's be real, no one in this forum will make you change your mind or get you to stop what you're doing right? But YES, you've been so very helpful to everyone, especially those students who were considering attending SC.

Whuds, RELAX, remember what we've talked about. Don't worry! The school is new, it's has it's flaws, but it's moving on up. Whoever wants to argue this point by all means go for it, I could really care less.
And BTS, you're a good person at heart and in every single aspect. You've donated so much information and time of your busy schedule to students like myself and others, I would like to say one thing though. Don't kill yourself replying to every little negative thing people post up about SC. Focus on your studies, like MTT.
If student's want to attend SC, they'll conduct the correct amount of research like I did, and find out that .... it's all good!

I hope I didn't offend anyone in this forum, and if so my apologies.

Best wishes to everyone, and for other med students and practicing physicians that visit this forum, FOCUS on what's important and not on this forum.

Best Regards,

D

Problem is, up until actual licensure time, the US medical education system relies on ECFMG to act as the "gate keeper" for foreign students/graduates. Of course SC students can take USMLE, receive ECFMG certificates, do US clinicals, and even go onto residency. All these activities require a mere LISTING of SC with WHO (or IMED, same thing). ECFMG is merely a secretarial services at this time to check the listings of foreign medical schools (and charges an arm and a leg to do this simple task). ECFMG does NOT accredit any foreign medical schools. It's NOT an accreditation body by any means. So yes, SC folks get to go as far as residency without much problems -- big deal. The real test comes in licensure time. NO STATES in the US will license an IMG base solely on their ECFMG certificate. There are plenty of IMG"s who have ECFMG certs and are residency trained, yet unable to obtain license. Each state has set its own rules BEYOND what ECFMG requires for an "ECFMG cert" in order to screen IMG's. Yes, every state wants IMG's to have ECFMG cert before licensure, but none of them will issue you a license by you waving your ECFMG cert. States like California and Texas have more or less stated that ECFMG cert is meaningless. Yes, they still want you to have it, but it's basically useless as a credential of your foreign medical education when they review your application.

This is what makes the Oregon thing worrisome for SC. It's the final licensing step that SC is having trouble with in more and more states. Being able to do residency does not mean being eligible for licensure. If SC folks can't see this, some of them will be in for a rude awakening.
I hope all works out for the best for SC folks. But there are some real problems that are coming their way and SC folks seems to be in denial...

P

__________________
Jean Luc Picard
Academic Hospitalist/Assist. Professor of Medicine, Star Fleet Medical, Earth, United Federation of Planets
Borg-Certified... Resistance is Futile.

In Glock, We Trust... Everyone Else... Keep Your Hands Where I Can See Them.

http://www.odmp.org/search.php?searc...=2001&cause=27
http://www.nypdangels.com/wtc.htm
http://www.hampsteadnh.us/police/A%2...ica%20Died.htm
http://longmontpolice.com/MEMORIAM.HTM