SGU is NOT easy to get into, but admission is probably not as hard as 90 percent of allopathic schools. SGU's problems stem from being too costly, out of the nation, FMG etc. The school campus itself is first-rate. I actually toured the school and it's very modern and hi-fi.

My impression is, and Stephew please correct me if I am wrong, that SGU takes into account the entire package of a person, probably much more so than US schools do. THey are willing to bend on a mediocre MCAT score if the grades are good and vice versa. Plus SGU is more welcoming to "alternative" students - people who are older, have other kinds of backgrounds, are married with children etc.

mustfa, that sgu is IMG (not fmg btw) and "out of the nation" is the whole reason for its existence. its for people who fail to get into a us allopathic school. And for the most part, so is DO. Spare me the minority who actually chose the do pathway for its philosphy though yes they do exist.most go because they dont get into the us and most wind up practicing the same stuff as MDs.

It is modern and hi fi at sgu. more than lots of us schools. this is a nice thing but itsnt the most improtant thing. I think musta you need to approach sgu from the assumption that of course its an alternative to a uS allo school. take it from there and its a very strong alternative. so are many Do schools. but please please take the proper starting point and work from the facts, not deduction.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

very true. basically they are looking for people who bottom line can pass their boards. meaning if you for whatever reason havin things in the CV that make them feel its likely that you wont, they will either not accept you or accept you with condition if they feel your problems are remedial (ie might do well with tutilage etc). So a weak gpa that gets better in time is assuring or medicore MCats but strong gpa. dedication to the field and character issues also come into play.

Dont get me wrong; its a moeny making operation. but (and here is the bottom line) they do give a damn about what they do and giving a good product (ie a good education) and - and not all schools do this- they take care that they select people who can likely get licensed so folks dont waste time and money just to find out they cant pass the usmle.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

I have to confirm this. One application year at Cornell, the projected yield for a class was greater than expected. For a class of 104 seats, if Cornell accepts about 115-125 people...they will get a yield filling their 104 spots. Cornell expects to "lose" some accepted applicants to other schools, whether by reputation (Harvard Med, Johns Hopkins, etc), by location (a Cali resident staying at Cali) or by personal preference (a Duke undergrad wanting to stay at Duke for Med school).

In any case, the yield for one year was too great so they started offering some people free housing...and when not enough people took that, they started offering 1 year tuition. Even then, they still have something like 1 or 2 extra people for the number of seats....a more manageable number.

The question is: would you sit out a year for 1 year of free tuition? Some people who were young enough and had plans or places to go probably would. But others, from a financial standpoint, knew that 1 year of tuition pales to 1 year of salary as an attending in the back-end of a career.

Having said all this, and getting back to point...a seat at SGU is nothing to scoff at. Short of US/Canadian schools and a very select few other foreign schools (Russell Group, Group of Eight)...SGU is the place to go. For a US citizen, it is clearly a preferred choice.

what are russel group or group of 8?

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

European and Austrailian versions of the Ivy League. Places like Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Sydney....

They arent exactly for US citizens but those foreign schools are excellent. Many say that an Oxford or Cambridge education is on par with that of Harvard or Yale.

In any case, the medical school system in the US is very different and that is why I say SGU is a preferred choice for US citizens. But if a more global approach were taken...there are many other, truly great Universities of the world that Americans are unaware of. Possibly because the products of these great Universities dont necessarily want to come to the US...rather, they become leaders within their own countries and systems of medical society. They suffer no stigma at home...rather there is an association of prestige with them...much like there is an association of prestige with Harvard Med grads. Whether this is earned by performance...is another story altogether. In general, it is clear though, that Harvard Med grads suffer no stigma when applying to US residencies.

I am far from a program director, but if you had to pick ONE non-LCME school, ie foreign school, to give no stigma to...to be treated equally with all US candidates...and I HAD to make a choice with grades and boards and interview all in check...it would probably be an applicant from Oxford.

Similarly, if I were a program director in the UK...and I had to choose an applicant from anywhere else in the world...it would probably be one from Harvard Med and not from SGU or Ross. Whether this is right or wrong is debatable....but we all know that traditions and prestige run deep, especially in medicine.

who's disagreeing with you? It's still a problem though because it's out of the country.

but there is a difference between an IMG and a FMG! please do your research! or at least widen your research beside just on DO schools

musta, yes its out of the country. that's the whole point of it. its out of the country for people who fail to get into medical school IN the country if you get into a us allopathic school, without question go there. if you mean that physically being outside of the us (as oppoosed to DO school) is a downside for you, i apologize for not getting the point sooner. but this is not as big a sticking point for others.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.