well said....almost everytime you have a conversation about where you go to school, people are interested. it is different from their experience, and they seem very interested....people always talk about how they love prague, blah blah blah

but, at the end of the day, they know the every last one of us went abroad because we did not get in. some schools have a clear advantage (sgu, ross, auc, ireland and australia) and the rest of us are lumped together. what makes the difference is whether you can get a license in the end.

believe me, the luton location of a dodgy senegalese school is not going to open any doors. and, beware of the potential issues with licensing that may come with this charter arrangement.

yeah, i can hear it now..."boy, i am so relieved that you go to an uproven school with a very short history that is chartered in senegal, yet located in luton. that is so much better than those carib students!"

if this conversation ever took place, they were simply trying to be polite. nobody is relieved that you are a st chris student instead of a carib student.

i have a feeling a lot of folks do ATTEND st chris for this reason. they think they are going to get away with saying they attended an english school....whatever. it may slip by a few folks, but at the end of the day, it only matters when the licensing boards evaluate it. and, if they say no, all those wonderful days in luton will have been for nada.

be smarter than this. go to a school based on more important things than whether you can impress folks by going to a psuedo-english/senegalese school vs. attending school in the carib.

yea of course, a foreign student is a foreign student? please, do you know what 'OXFORD UNIVERISTY' AND 'CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY' mean? they're just as prestigious as harvard university. just b/c you don't get into a us school and you go to the caribbean doesn't mean you get the same preference as a grad from a prestigious and established foreign school.......................foreign schools have 'tiers' and rankings also...........as in...........'a us student has preference above a foreign student'.............but then again, a st. george's or ross student has preference over a st. james or a windsor graduate...............

in that same hierarchy............the established schools in uk and other prestigious institutions around the world have preference over ANY caribbean school...........but st. chris does not b/c it's not a prestigous, established school......................

overall, usmle scores matter, but don't feed anybody ** over her about foreign being foreign............it's true up to a point, but the top schools in the world are RECOGNIZED by residency program advisors and recruiters

most us citizens dont go to oxford and cambridge for medical schools,
if u can get into oxford u shouldnt have a problem getting into a us school, those are the exceptions to the rule and im not referring to those schools

in the context of this discussion, im talking foreign in terms of caribbean students and everyone that falls into that similar umbrella including st chris, schools that exist for the sole purpose of educating americans outside of the US, "offshore medical schools", not schools that cater to the countries own population, i apologise for not being more clear..

as far as sgu and ross etc, they have their advantages (IE PROVEN AND CAN GET LICENSED) but from my experience on my interviews for anesthesia the name recognition factor didnt hold much weight, caribbean was caribbean... (thats what i meant by foreign is foreign, foreign)

i think the biggest issue is licensing, if u are an intelligent individual u can score well on teh boards and get a residency from any podunk school as long as it does not shut down in the process but getting licensed after you graduate and finish residency is what poses a problem and thats why u should chose a school wisely...(this is my opinion)..

Again, I don't want to confuse you but it is the opposite of what you said.
Currently, you can do most of your electives here and only a IM and Psych core. Believe me, if we could do all our cores here, most of us would do them in Maryland. Unfortunately, we have to move around a lot. Supposedly, some doctor at my hospital is working on expanding the clinical sites but that is just rumor.




They have been trying to get this program going for more than 2+ years.
It is still in progress.




I am unaware of the heating situation in Luton. If they are cold, they should wear a jacket in class.

__________________
St. Christopher's College of Medicine
Official Student Representative
stchrisrep@stchris.edu

LOL, I love how certain people try to tell ME how MY conversations with people go without having been there. That is just too funny.

Like it or not, caribb schools have a bad rep.. deserved or not. It is a fact and a well known one. Almost everyone who entered this avenue of medical education probably knew of it before they went to a caribb school and just chose to overcome it. Good for them and I know no matter where you go to school, you can become a great doc. But don't try to sell me the ** "all PDs know what we know and think of things the way I do". Its crap. PD's are people and they come with the same biases as everyone else. Doesn't mean anyone else went to a crappy school, but just be honest.

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary

agreed...but, PD's are not stupid people, right? so, how is attending a senegalese school in england going to overcome this bad rep???? simply because your school is not located in the carib, the PD's magically assume that it is somehow different?

please...people are not that stupid. they know that your school is in existence for the exact same reason as the carib schools, and that the same type of students go there....if you cannot see that a PD would know that, and most likely was just being polite...

i get the exact same comments about my school..."oh, gee...well, it is a good thing you aren't in the carib" or whatever. trust me when i say it means NOTHING....especially when your ERAS appliction will say ST. CHRIS...they will know you are an IMG, and they will not treat you any different.

to imply that there is some preferential treatment from PD's because your school is in england, or that there will be less bias is ludicrous and irresponsible.

Or how about the school FIX the problem rather than finding a way around it?

__________________
-z

I would appreciate it if my name isn't brought up for something that I have nothing to do. I don't think I bring people forward for stuff that they say. I mean no offense by this.

The other thing I want to add to all prospective students... Do your research. If there's one thing all of the students at SC tell pros students, is to do your research. Don't base your decisions by word of mouth. If you have to fly out here... DO IT!!! And the same applies to any other foreign med school i.e., SGU, ROSS, SABA, SMU, & AUC. And please don't listen to any of the skeptics! If you have questions about the school just write to us. I have no reason to lie to anyone. It's a long process and a lot of money involved. I'm not going to mislead anyone. But then again, I'm more than positive that some one is going to post about this... But in all actuality, I don't care what people say.
Do I like it here at SC? Absolutely! Is the educational system good here? Absolutely! The camaraderie between the majority of the students here is better than I thought of. But that's nor here nor there.

W/e, take care guys, be easy and keep on studying.

D

Of course, you are absolutely right. Note that I am NOT saying that PD's consider st chris the same thing as US schools by any means. Foriegn grads are foriegn grads and they are such, usually, because they could not gain admission to a US school. PD's know this and there are no illusions about it. But being a foriegn grad is bad enough without a caribb reputation (deserved or not).

If I had to do it over again, I would still not go caribb, I would either go to ireland, australia, or do what i have done. the only caribb school that I, personally, would consider would be SGU (again, note that this is my personal opinion!!).

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary