well said c14elia...there is definitely hope, just because of the other schools are there. If not St. George then ross, saba, or AUC. Before I wasnt going to apply to any other schools but St. George but after reading all this has made me reconsider. I might as well send in my application to ross, saba, and AUC.

I am just gonna hope for the best with St. George but prepare for the worst by applying to all of the other schools.

maybe protein was over qualified. yeah that sounds ridiculous but i have had friends with whom that had happened. they had 35 on MCATs and great GPA...and they got rejected by some "low-level" US med schools because they simply know that the student is using them as back up and that the student will get into some other good med school. Kinda ridiculous but it happens all over the place.

Just a thought...

I'll email my admissions counselor and find out the deal for you all. Thank you for the support.
As I had alluded to in other posts I was at a cross-roads with what I would if accepted.
So I sat down and thought about it...
I'm only 24..why am I rushing to medical school? Many a pre-med has a deluded dream of what their life will be like once they become an MD and I'll enjoy it but I'm not in a rush. What will I say to myself when I'm 40? Probably..Gee I wished I enjoyed my twenties more and did more cool stuff rather than sitting in a library all night learning the difference between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. So I had decided to decline my acceptance. But when I got my rejection it was a low-blow.... I was rejected by a Caribbean school on top of not getting any interviews at US schools other than my state school.
Face it: SGU graduates are some of the best physicians but b/c of the whole international issue it has its share of problems.
And when you compare match lists DO schools do better. And with the way healthcare is going their emphasis on preventatitve medicine makes a lot of sense. A good percentage of the patients I see have metabolic syndrome...so out goes the Jenuvia and Lipitor etc. I'd love to sit down with patients and discuss other issues:
What's your diet like? What do you eat in a typical day. Do you exercise? Do you take fish oil? Fiber? Etc.
I haven't worked with DO's but I can imagine they'd be a bit more prone to doing that. And MD's view them the same..as my doc put it it's just a slight difference; MDs view things more neurally and DO's have a more bone-orientated viewpoint.

So that being said I by no means am saying that I am preferencing going DO over MD but whereas six months ago I said no to applying to DO schools I now regret it. There are other options. We had a patient come in a few weeks ago with mild hypertension. So instead of trying drugs she went to a naturopathic physician; cut down on the sodium..started exercising. Now her bp's perfect. I wish more patients were like that.
Here's the facts:
Caribbean schools are popping up all over the places. SGU has dramatically increased enrollment. This can be good or bad. And while SGU has never had clinical problems....it can happen. Look at Ross. The owners of SGU might decide to sell out one day. You really can't predict the future. And if that happens.. well what's your recourse? While SGU is the least likely place for it to happen in my mind it still could.
And I spoke to a few people that know Program Directors...and one fourth year at SGU. And it's true..you automatically lose some points from being an IMG and some big universities just won't look at your application (or so I was told by a 4th year). It should not be this way but it is.
So that being said if you're looking for Peds, FM, IM, you'll do great at SGU. Otherwise you'll have to jump through more hoops. I want to be a specialist. Many of you probably do too...but by the time we graduate many of will no longer want to be specialists b/c we'd rather just complete a 3 or 4 year residency and be done with it rather than spend 5-7. Otherwise a lot more US grads would not be entering those above mentioned residencies.
Also take into account that 4 or 5 new osteopathic schools opened; this is another 600 potential students to go into the match system along with the extra 300 from SGU..probably some UMHS...and the other new schools. This does not mean new residency spots will magically appear. That's controlled by the govt. And not to open a political debate or anything...there's no certainty in what will happen in regards to residency slots.
So all in all over 1000 new graduates will be going into the system possibly (or possibly less since half of DO's will take DO residencies or possibly more b/c of new Caribb schools).

And in the last year I've matured a lot. I know what my life will be like and I'm in no rush. So for now I need to work on restrengthing my application. I spoke with my pre-med advisor about retaking my MCAT and she said I'd just come across as an over-achiever. It's my lack of altruism, and volunteer work that was the problem. By getting a 31 even if my GPA is not great I've already demonstrated I have the mental intellect to pass my boards. Schools don't care so much about GPA..it's the MCAT. My source on that? A study or two and my pre-med advisor whom I was talking to on the phone tonight and knows dean of many a med school by first name. She's been doing it thirty years and is amazing. So I'll start doing that. I'll find some place to volunteer, and I'll get my EMT and become a paramedic and have something cool to do in my year off.
And if I don't an MD school; I'll get into a DO school hopefully.

So for someone that used to have his myspace logo: Doc Grenada..I've had a volte-face. Even Toper From The Rumors Were True transferred out of SGU to Drexel for many of the same reasons. Too bad he deleted half of his blogs on the matter...he's an amazing writer and kept me entertained many a night. I never laughed so hard before.
I wish you all the best of luck...but I think my original reasons for wanting to attend the Caribb (b.c. of it's nice campus, that I'll have fun, and ease of getting in, and clinicals in the UK) were incorrect. UK clinicals are probably amazing but supposedly not so good as helping you score a residency. I need to be focused on what will be best for my future..and med school sets you up for your residency. And I am concerned that my clinical experience will not be as good at SGU as it would be at a US school. Who knows..I could be wrong and SGU's could be better. Your residency sets you up for the next 40-50 years of your life.
I hope this answers some questions

best of luck to you

his stats don't make him overqualified for sgu. MCAT's well above the mean but GPA's below it.

No offense, but having a good MCAT score doesn't make you as golden the way Protein keeps hinting around. Yes, GPA does matter; a low GPA and a high MCAT score as I've been told and have read can be seen as not working hard in classes and then waking up for the MCAT or can also indicate that the knowledge was there, the motivation wasn't. Since this has come up several times, I felt the need to weigh in on what I've read and been told. Generally, students who attend school overseas don't always have the strongest MCAT scores, but that doesn't always correlate in low USMLE scores, as many who have taken the exams have scored highly and have gone on to competitive residencies. This is my opinion and I couldn't help but pick up the sharp tone in Protein's and other members' responses. Good luck to all applicants!

SGU does match quite well for residencies. Check out the link below. There are a bunch for Surgery & Anesthesiology and even a few for Ortho, Radiology, and Urology. So, to answer Protein's post, clearly SGU can pave a pathway to competitive residency programs... just look at the match lists.

SGU Residency Postings for 2007

Alumni - Academic Accomplishments - St. George’s University - Caribbean Medical & Veterinary School

yes,yes it does....

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Proteinpowda
With your stats, you are quite competitive for DO schools if you applied broadly. Just make sure that your application emphasizes on why you want to be an osteopath and have experiences that backs it up and that you are not applying there only for a back up. At times, that seems to be more important to DO schools than stats. Gluck on your application next year.

Hi Proteinpowda,
regarding your comment, "Also take into account that 4 or 5 new osteopathic schools opened; this is another 600 potential students to go into the match system along with the extra 300 from SGU..probably some UMHS...and the other new schools. This does not mean new residency spots will magically appear."
I think DO students do not go into the same match as MD students, I think they have their own match program with their own residencies open for DO students, if DO students want to apply for an MD residency then they have to take the USMLE in addition to the COMLEX.