General question for students of all schools, but more specific.....St. Chris:

What was the motivating factor for picking your school or maybe a combination of factors?

1.) Price

2.) Loans

3.) Prestige

4.) Forced by Parent

5.) Name Brand Recognition

Why are you asking this in this particular forum? Aren't our reasons the same as everyone elses at other schools? Ask yourself that same question and you'll have your answer... None of these save maybe the first are really any good...and if the answer is any of the latter 3, then I'm sorry for you.

Most people go there because they either didnt or are afraid they wont get into a U.S. school. Then when choosing between living in a 3rd world country (like the carribean) or a place like the U.K., which has a lifestyle comparable to our own, most choose schools like st. chris. The situation in the carribean has improved though over the years from what ive heard from a lifestyle point of view (running water, phoneline, internet, fast food). But you have to remember that in those places the law is still corrupt and so you are not as well protected as in the U.K.... and people dont look at you like the new naive foreigner to exploit.

Loans and price is the next big thing as well as cost of living. In the carribean for example you have to put down a $1000 dollar deposit to get a phone line. In england things are comparably priced to here (if you are from a big city like chicago or NY)... you can pay your bills over the net.... essentially you can get almost anything that you can get here (except kool-aid.. for some reason)

Prestige and Name brand is useless. No one cares once you come back to the states. It depends how hard you work. Most programs would take a doctor who works hard and went to St. Whoever than an average student from yale... and lot of them actually do. More and more programs are choosing foreign grads over american grads because they are greatful to work and work hard. Programs are starting to notice that there needs to be a serious attitude adjustment of american medical grads who want everything served on a silver plater... and expect special treatment because they are 'a doctor'. American grads are in some cases less well trained because they are allowed to never attend lectures if they choose ...and because of legal reasons in the US some never even touch a patient until they get into residency. For this reason some of the central american and carribean schools train better grads because in those countries you dont have to worry about litigation.... i've heard of some students who did an appendectomy by themselves their 4th year of medical school.... there are even some 3rd year surgery residents here in the U.S. that havent done that. As far as the UK... they are more like the U.S. .... when i was there we were able to see and examine pts but as more countries slowly become as litigation trigger happy as the U.S. ... this might change and would probably change in the U.K. many years before it would in the carib and central and south america.

The factors you should consider is where you want to practice as some schools have advantages in certain states with licensure (mainly money and politics). Then i would consider the lifestyle and cost of living of the country where you would be going to school. Then i would worry about the price since most are about the same.

Dont worry about the name or prestige..... this is the real world... you are what you practice. You should have seen some of the idiots i rotated with... some from ivy league schools like yale (although yale never had a good medical program).

............... of course if you can get into Hopkins thats another story... then you have pretty much bought your retirement ticket.... but 99% percent of the medical world is not... so welcome to the club of working hard at what you do to make a living.

.....any other questions? thoughts?

__________________
....Life in the key of Eb

where you go to school does matter, in some cases. for example, if you graduate from some schools, you can never work in some states. some schools have yet to have very many licensed grads, so you cannot be sure how the states will recieve the application for licensure. some schools have a vast alumni network, and have had lots of successful residents, which certainly makes it easier.

all that being said, if you go to one of the more established and reputable schools, it matters a lot less where you went. if you go to one of the newer schools, your school will certainly matter and be a limiting factor.

To an extent. If you practice after residency with a license in any state for 5-10 years you can get licensed anywhere.

And most of these restrictions are falling because states simply cannot meet their quota for primary care docs. For example Texas which had blindly adopted california's policies for many years changed its laws last year to basically allow anyone to do a residency there as long as they met the core rotation curriculum which as just about the same for all of the off-shore us schools. Wyoming recently changed its law which didnt allow foreign grads to be licenced until after their residency to being able to apply during their 2nd year after step 3.

Competency is based on the individual ...not where you went to school.. and the laws are starting to reflect this... because when someone sues you they dont sue the school they sue you... whether you went U of texas or St. matts.

As failures in the american medical education system start revealing themselves... going to a U.S. med school may not be an automatic 'in' by itself.

__________________
....Life in the key of Eb

my point being that the laws are trending towards being more lax

__________________
....Life in the key of Eb

first of all, getting a license somewhere does not guarantee you a license anywhere. colorado, oregon, indiana, texas, PA and CA come to mind as toughies.

second of all, as far as residency in texas....for starters, a st chris grad was recently denied a training license in texas. do a search on this forum and you will find it discussed. and, texas law for residency is much easier than it is for permanent licensure. basically, they will let almost anyone be a resident there, but your SCHOOL (not you as an individual) has to be substantially equivilent to a texas school in order to get a license.

True.. but you'd be surprised what a couple of thousand and a good lawyer (there are tons of ads for these guys in JAMA etc) can do as far as getting licensed once you have a good record of practice elsewhere.

As far as the equivalency... as to date... none of the off shore schools are on texas' approved list... not even ross or george... but I know for a fact of a cardiologist practicing in dallas who went to ross and a St. Matts grad that is an internist in El Paso

Eventually if you work hard enough at something it will get done... it may take several appeals and some money... but all of these things are on a case by case basis... no one simply throws out your application because you went to a certain med school.

__________________
....Life in the key of Eb

that seems to me like a lot of extra work that the established schools can help you avoid. and, with your method, there is at least an equal chance of getting ruled against with a lawyer.

i 100% disagree. with the FSMB meeting to discuss offshore schools, states looking at and using the CA list i think that increased regulation is in the future. i would love to see some evidence that backs up your opinion.