Hey guys!
Thanks for doing a troll patrol (Ouuh I just made it up). The more i look at SJSM the more i like it. And BTW, MUA "doctor" I was a ROSS student in 2004, as well as being accepted to SABA and SMU. Yeah, those really "IVY league" carib schools. My sugguestion to you is stop kidding yourself with that supperiority complex of yours. You simply are likely to make it past basic science witout some really painful attitudinal adjustment...out there, in the "real" World. FMG is an FMG. yes, some are better known than others, but it's not always a good think . Trust me My former Rossies classmates keep me posted on what really goes on.
Please grow up, and good luck on your way to MD.

I would strongly disagree that any Caribbean school has a reputation close any state medical school. Consider the disparities in resources, as well as the quality of students and faculty. Having been involved with the US residency system for a number of years, I would say that is wishful thinking. Even though many Caribbean students complete rotations in the US, many PDs are aware of the difference(s) in training received. Even the applicants with high USMLE scores are frequently behind the curve.

I know of no one in US academic circles that would agree with your post.
The UWI grads that rotated with us have been quite good, the rest have been a mixed bag.

Great - thanks - then I will push them further down the chain then. Did you know what school(s) they were from?

At the end of the day, the school you got your MD from has little to do with what program in which you match. Know the difference between #1 in the MD class at Harvard and the last student in the class at St. James, NOTHING they are both MD's!!!! In the real world of medicine few people care where you went to school, did residency or fellowship. They want you to care for them and their problems, know what your doing and make them better.

Getting into a program is all about you. Sell youself, make contacts within the branch of medicine you wish to practice and work it. Now you may not get your first choice but you will find a program to take you. I still do not understand why so many of you act as if getting into a medical school or residency program is hard. Look at last years match numbers 49% of family practice matches are IMG's!!! 20% of Internal Medicine. Now surgery does not have very high #'s but you must consider few people want that lifestyle.

Why work yourself to death 120 hours per week in surgery when you could be in family practice at an urgent care clinic in a beach town where you work 3 days a week? Or you take night and weekend call for a family practice clinic? My sister's BF who is in FP made 225k last year working at an urgent care clinic 3 days a week in Gulf Shores, AL and taking night call @ Bay Medical 2 weeks a month. How much money do you really need?

Yea there is a DOGMA here on the forums that the top 4 are just as good, well they are not they are just behind the US schools, they are better then some European medschools as far as preparing you for the USA but the USA medical schools are top, as far as all of them well I will dissagree on that there are a few US schools that I do not consider better than SGU or ROSS but that is only a few.

My school and those like it are a step behind the top 4. I hope that my school catches up but for me it doesn't matter I'm here and it will give me what I need.

Now that I think about it - I was being nice to the schools I mentioned. But I also hear the same stuff from Morehouse students dissing Emory students on other forums. You can be hypercritical of any schooland its students.

MUA Dude, I feel like we are back in high school, so lets stop bashing other schools. truth of the matter is that no school (US or Caribbeans) are perfect and students who are attending Caribbean schools are not stupid or incompetent, but they are as intelligent as students attending med schools in US. One of the reasons that students go to Caribbean schools is that it is very competitive (not only in the sense of academic) and political (having the proper connection) to get into US med schools. and if I am not mistaking in the past 8-10 years there has not be a single new medical school built in US. As a result, you have several hundreds if not thousands of new grads who are extremely smart and are applying to med schools in US with only limited seats available, so what do you do with the rest of the students. Also most med schools only accept traditional students and don't care much about non-traditionals who have decided to come back to school and pursue a career in medicine. Caribbean schools will give everybody who is qualified a fair shot and it's up to you what you do with it. I am a non-traditional student, and I wasn't brought up in a rich family and will be the first MD in my family. I feel very proud to be part of SJSM and thankful for the opportunity, and I believe that you can get any residency that you want including surgery, cardiology and etc.., you just have to prove yourself. You may have to jump through some hoops to get it, but at the end who gives a damn what school you went to.. So, lets put this energy into working hard and making yourself and your school to be proud of your accomplishments, instead of putting other schools down...

It looks like this thread has been asleep for a while. Let's liven it up .Are any of you applying for match in the specialties :PM&R, neurology, psychiatry in 2007? What do you think are the chances of SJSM grads getting into those. I know PM&R had gotten quite competative in the past few years. Some ppl advise me against caribbean alltogether if I want to have a shot at it. I know neuro and psych are quite possible...for now that is. Of course, I realize that lots of it depends on your USMLE scores, and generally, who you know. But SJSM is not yet known out there. So what do you guys think the chances are for those residencies?

2007-2008 Residents of the Family Medicine Residency Program : Resurrection Health Care

John Szymczak, M.D.
St. James School of Medicine

Thanks for the input guys.