So I've read hundreds of posts (if that's what they're called - please enlighten me if my terminology is outdated or mistaken), finally registered on the forum and I'd like to pose the following hypothetical...

Let's assume one is accepted to all of the major Caribbean programs (i.e. SGU, AUC, Ross, and Saba - apologies if I left any deserving out of this list); then let us also assume this individual is not influenced by 'reputation' arguments unless they have immediate applicability to residency placement advantages; and lastly, assume this is an older matriculating student that already has substantial debt from undergrad, grad school, etc.

Question then is this...what is the potential advantage (and I really am curious) to incurring an additinoal 100K in debt more for SGU as compared to somewhere such as Saba?

Thanks for the help.

no potential advantages what so ever.

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Shhhhhh........

thanks Jaywalk81. is it really that 'cut and dry'? Just work hard, get good grades, letters of rec, score well on the USMLE steps, etc. and that's it? granted I'm sure lifestyle is much better on some islands than others (which of course can't be discounted)...

well, as far as i know and heard from alumni and physicians i know personally, yea.

granted some schools may have a better well status and rep than others. but if you really know your stuff and did well during rotations and also on step 1, then noone will really care which school you came from.

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Shhhhhh........

also keep in mind that some schools may have a better and/or more educational resources than others to help you acheive and to learn your materials.
sure med school is also comes with self learning but if it is all 100% self learning and can be self taught, then none of us would need to attend a med school and just self teach ourselves and then take the USMLEs. so i feel good teaching can lead to good learning

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Shhhhhh........

good point. thanks again.

also you forgot to mention that there are some things that no matter how well you do in school can't change. for example SGU's clinical rotation sites are all ACMGE approved, thus after completing SGU you can get licensed to practice in any state you want. But if you go to lets say Ross only some of their clinical rotation are ACMGE approved, thus you either have to wait in line to rotate at those places or simply do a rotation at a non ACMGE approved hospital and thus will not be able to get licensed no matter how well you do on your boards in states like Texas and California, maybe even other states. Also to save any consiberable amount of money you will have to attend a school like SABA, and to be honest I don't know how many ACMGE approved rotation sites they have but I am sure it's a lot less then an old big school like ROSS. So if you want to be limited to practice in certain states then pick a cheap school bust your butt studying and become a doc...

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SGU-SOM, Class of 2010
Due to the high volume of private messages, I can only answer questions that are posted in a forum. Private messages will be ignored.

Thanks RussianJoo. I looked into the issue further. Don't quote me on this, but it appears although it may be theoretically possible to arrange all green book core rotations at Saba, it doesn't seem to be at all the standard.

I knew there had to be a legitimate reason for the large tuition discrepancy between schools aside from the typical fanfare.

Useful info...I researched this topic further and found this http://www.valuemd.com/ross-universi...bgyn+rotations

Not justifiable.