Thread: St George Charter Foundation

Hi everyone, i just recently got accepted into the charter foundation program at SGU for aug 2009 and wanted to know who else will be in the program with me, so i just wanted to start this thread for all of us who are going to be classmates in the Charter Foundation Program. hope to read some new replies soon and meet my fellow classmates, I am uber excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to begin. hope to hear from yall very soon

Originally Posted by pansitpinoy86

It's me again. Sorry about the delay! I've been very busy studying! I promise I'll get back as soon as I can!

oh it's ok... take your time.. studying is always top priority.... ...thxn u

Thanks Backachu! Your patience will indeed serve you well at SGU!

It has been brought to my attention by a good friend of mine that four people have already quit the program--before the first quiz! At this rate, we will have quite a handful dropping out by midterm week! :]

Well, I'm assuming that you're already aware of the criteria for the program. We have to finish the term with a GPA greater than 3.2 and successful completion of the PMSCE. Our class has already been here for about six weeks now, and midterms are a little over a week from now...

I consider myself the prototypical student. I go to every lecture, I actively engage in note-taking, and I spend considerable time with independent study. In my humble opinion, the course load is quite manageable. Most of the material presented in class has been a rigorous review of information presented during some of my undergraduate courses. Having said that, you do need to apply yourself everyday. But if you make a good habit of setting aside strict study hours, and continually review material, it isn't that difficult to make the cut.

As far as books go, you could probably get by just by class notes alone. The professors provide us with stapled pages before class (usually), and a great bulk of testable material is found within them. You may want to get the biochemistry and physiology books as resource materials (figures, pictures, and diagrams). But like a I said, you should be fine without them. If at all possible, try to purchase used books from former students in the program. The bookstore here, like almost all college bookstores, uses extortion! I bought all my books this way, and I saved a ton of money. If you want, I'll be happy to sell them to you, come January.

Our schedule isn't too bad, either. Two classes everyday (except Friday), with one in the morning, and the other in the evening. You'll have plenty of time to study, and probably even more time to just enjoy the island life. From what I've heard, this program is the best time to really explore the island. Because once first term medical school rolls around, time becomes precious and few.

One more thing I want to talk about: housing. They've put us into the Grand Anse Campus, which used to be a hotel, from what I've heard. It's about three miles away from the main campus, which is roughly a 10-15 minute drive on the bus. The living conditions here aren't that bad, but they are by no means great. I'll let you be the judge...

For the first few weeks, the second building (there are two) didn't have any hot water or internet access. Things are better now, but those first couple of weeks sucked! The rooms aren't very clean, but they're not very dirty either. Again, there is much gray room here. You can tell by looking around just how beat up the place is. There are air conditioners, but lately, the bugs have been a nagging problem. Security is solid, although some of my peers may beg to differ. The main bright spot here is that the dorms are literally feet away from the ocean. On a bright, sunny day, there's nothing like hitting the crystal clear beach!

I think I'll stop here for now. Just some of the basics regarding the program. If there's anything else you would like to know, I'll be happy to elaborate. Thanks!

thanks for sharing pansitpinoy86.

Pansi, Can you please post a picture of your room? And if not give dimensions and what comes included within the room (furniture, carpet, bathroom, kitchen)?
Also, do you have a roommate within the room? Or do you have your own room?
And how are you dealing with the bugs? Do you suggest bringing Raid from America, or do they have such things available at the store?
Do they have a maintenance service available on the Grand Anse? Such as for plumbing issues, bugs, electrical issues... etc?
And do they have a cleaning service available?

Also, I can't believe people dropped out before the first quiz! wow!

Thanks so much!

Cleaning is twice a week.

You share a room with another person. The room is quite large though. One wall is lined with a desk. There are 2 single beds, 2 chairs, a bookshelf, a minifridge, a sink, shower/bathtub and a toilet seat.

There is also a common kitchen and a common laundry facility outside of the 2 buildings.

Two study rooms on each floor of each building with wireless internet. The rooms have wired connections.

They have stuff like Raid here, but the more you bring from home the better IMO.

They have maintenance service but things run quite a bit slower than you might be used to (Our toilet was broken for well over 2 weeks before they fixed it). Hot water took about a month to come to building 2. Though lately they have been taking water from Grand Anse to True Blue so water pressure is very low (in building 2 at least).

2 people dropped due to family issues, 1 got really sick, 1 got into DO.

Average for the 1st two evaluations was 88 (abnormal psych) and 86(anatomy), so I don't think its too difficult to get a 3.2 (though I suspect our recent biochem average was a lot lower, but they did not post it). I think if things continue this way a very large % of people from FTM should move onto MD in Jan.

I have not bought any books and seem to be doing fine till now. Most of the stuff (like stated before) is just review.

A note on Grand Anse: its quite damp in quite a few of the rooms so mold grows pretty easily. They will come clean it for you (eventually) and that takes care of it for a little while=/

You can get better housing for cheaper off-campus, but you lose the benefit of living close to so many other people in your program. Also, most off-campus rent will not include electricity, so you have to be a bit stringy with the AC. Also living next to the beach is always nice

I'll try and get some pictures up for every to see soon...

we have a common kitchen - it's outside and very dirty. stove and oven require a match. if you cook late you'll see rats running around my room has mold in it. you can smell it when you walk in. put in a work order but nothing happened. needed a shower head so put in a work order for that but then decided to jack one from a study room. after a month maintenance came regarding the shower head. moral of the story - if you decide to enter ftm come first day.... pick a room you like (you can change your rooms by talking to the RA - someone decided to take my room).... also we lacked furniture so we took them from the other rooms. bring over a brita water filter jug with at least 1 additional filter or buy one on the island (probably 5-7x more expensive here) as the water fountain is still dirty. the other option is to buy bottled water lecture is decent. most lectures are video recorded but takes a week for it to be online so pretty much if you don't want to fall behind then go to class. most lecturers have accents and some have heavy accents. as mentioned you can get by without books but you still have to put in the effort class time, as mentioned, is spread out (a morning class at 8 or 9am with 2nd class at 5:30 pm) and the work load is below average and all exams are multiple choice. booze is cheap. if you like partying and getting high (that's right) then this is the place. the grand anse dorms is expensive than what you can get by living off campus but we have a lot of security walking around. student theft is non-existent. walking distance to the market and local eateries (for those who can't cook) is a plus as pansit said we didn't have hot water and internet for 2.5 weeks. it seemed that the school needed to take in a bunch of FTMers for financial reasons and stuck us in a run down building that was supposed to be demolished. waiting for the bus sucks. they come pretty much as scheduled but sometimes we can't find a seat cleaning ladies suck. they come 2x per week and do a half assed job. we have carpet and they still use a broom. when they mop our bathroom they drag the mop on the carpet on their way out... no wonder we have mold everything on the island except for booze and tobacco costs more 2-9x more you pay taxes for stuff shipped over. if you're a girl you pay less. this is supposed to be the rainy/hurricane season but it's been sunny/hot almost every day. the one big positive is that we live right on the beach. a lot of us participate in morning jogs or afternoon swims.... or even late night strolls while drunk

Originally Posted by pansitpinoy86

It has been brought to my attention by a good friend of mine that four people have already quit the program--before the first quiz! At this rate, we will have quite a handful dropping out by midterm week! :]

was i that good friend? </br>

Pansi, Can you please post a picture of your room? And if not give dimensions and what comes included within the room (furniture, carpet, bathroom, kitchen)?
Also, do you have a roommate within the room? Or do you have your own room?
And how are you dealing with the bugs? Do you suggest bringing Raid from America, or do they have such things available at the store?
Do they have a maintenance service available on the Grand Anse? Such as for plumbing issues, bugs, electrical issues... etc?
And do they have a cleaning service available?

Also, I can't believe people dropped out before the first quiz! wow!

-bflooring is random. rooms can have either carpet, wood, or tile. i prefer tile but currently stuck with moldy carpet. </br>
- you're assigned a same sex roomate. check my pm for ore info </br>
- bugs is not a huge problem. i don't know anybody who bought bug sprays. the hardware store across the street will have them if you need it. i'd save the weight for cookware/clothes </br>
- maintenance is by filling a request online or by flagging down a cleaning lady and telling them your problem. be nice or they won't help you. </br>
- plumbing issues.... our toilet has a flush leak and they haven't fixed it since day 1. both of us have learned to ignore the noise and we don't feel bad about the large amount of water being wasted. </br>