Draw a distinction between revealing St. Martinus as it is or in pointing out omissions and contradictions in the official or student presentation of the school, and inaccuracy. Misrepresentation is the unforgivable sin of this school. You would be wise to be accurate in your postings.

I would like to tell all of these people that are trash talking SMU that they need to sit down sister, cause someone lied to you! This seems to be a place where us homosexuals are forced to be the receivers. The material is given to us to chew, spit or swallow and then regurgitate.

I am applying for the fall 2005 and am really looking forward to the oportunity and assured that I am not the only new homosexual there!


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"The dog barks at the mailman, probably because it is your father." (Prophet Buster Hyman)

willtryanything and kkk are trolls, possibly the same person. One wants to make St. Martinus seem like a gay haven, the other only writes ugliness. It is pointless and a form of mental illness on the part of the writer(s). For those who want St. Martinus to survive, do this. Write what is true about the school. Not like glee club boosters, but simply the deficiencies that are obvious to everyone about faculty, staff, the library, the labs. It will be easy for me to dissect distortions from my vantage point, so don't do it. Extracurricular sporting events belie the statements about students being too busy to write on valuemd, for example. And anyone who reads the notes from other schools knows it takes little time to use valuemd, which is a valuable resource. If you misrepresent the problem, the owner will continue his actions. But if you reveal problems, he will be forced to make corrections. Be accurate. He can only make excuses in secret - reveal what he promises that does not come true. Also, do not use school computers to post here - the transnet server can be monitored. If you believe that your scholarship or loan means anything, you are forgetting that a diploma from St. Martinus will mean nothing if the school remains underfunded and the instruction continues as it is going. What you stand to lose are two or more years of your life wasted in studies that are not recognized anywhere. What you should do is, for example, keep track of faculty turnover, the state of the library, the availability of internet connections, crowding and inadequate equipment in anatomy and micro, one professor teaching multiple courses, noise in the courtyard, and so on.

For those anticipating attending this school, make sure you have a course catalog and the names of the professors who will teach them. There are five trimesters and a total of 17 classes - they should have a minimum of 17 instructors - call them on this. Also, make certain that if you choose St. Martinus you have a second choice that will accept transfer credits. Students who have transfered out have had to repeat term(s) because the accepting school would not.

transfer is a pain.

For ex, when you apply for anything (like ECFMG, licensing), you will need the paperwork from this school. What happens if this school meets the same fate as, say, Kigezi? You will be in for a quite a surprise??

has this forum become the new st. james forum?

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Please un-ban Preppystud, Woodbridge, Bob2k, and Rajpatel, they were the most elite members of valueMD...sbturner is my hero

The school does not realize that students, faculty and staff are human beings who do not want to be part of a organization that lies about itself. Physicians must practice honesty. People do not want to get up in the morning and think about the lies they will have to tell that day just to get a paycheck, or to keep their studies on track. And they know in their hearts that whoever keeps silent about the deceptive business practices inherent in this misleading web site is morally complicit in the act of fraud.

As a simple example, there is a "nursing" button on the front page. The page writer wishes to make it seem to the casual observer, or to a prospective med student, that there is more to this school than there truly is. This is the truth. There is no nursing program at St. Martinus, nor has there ever been, although they have advertised one for over two years now. They don't have any nursing faculty there, nor anyone qualified to train a nurse, nor a market for nurses, nor space to train them in. Like the "dentistry" or the "veterinary" buttons they used to have, the explanation will be that nursing is in the plans.

The new web page was an opportunity to come clean about St. Martinus. But they didn't. Instead, they have cut and pasted from the old web site, and inflated the school to make it seem that it is a complete University, when it is little more than a mere shell with inadequate faculty and facilities. Many of the pages contain outright lies about the nature of the school, as though the person who wrote it did not feel naturally comfortable telling the truth, when the truth itself wasn't bad. It just wasn't bright enough. Note a telling ommission - the chancellor has been removed from the web page - that's because they don't have a chancellor anymore. The operational head of the school is now the owner, who has no experience running a medical school, yet who has made hiring and curricular decisions that he is unqualified to make. He is a land developer, and given a choice between continuing the school or losing control of the much larger Otrabanda scheme, he would sink the school. Whether or not the rumor, that the existence of the school is tied to a promise to use some portion of the building for educational purposes, is true has never been established to my satisfaction. But if so, it would be important to know if promise was "in perpetuity" or if there was a time limit.

I give the school until wednesday next to take the web site down and not put it back up until it is an accurate description of St. Martinus, or I will reveal the deficiencies, one by one, and keep SMU, DOA at the top of the charts until noone who visits valuemd would seriously consider it as an option. All you have to do it tell the truth.

First of all I think that you are forgetting one important thing, and that is, that SMU’s administration knows very well who is best for the job. With that in mind you must understand that as with all medical schools, people will go and come. You sound sort of afraid and disillusioned, if I am wrong about that then ignore this line. But remember that Dr. Harris and his staff are looking out for their students (irrespective of all that you have been hearing). I know this to be a fact now after seeing all that they did during the hurricane, and also what they are doing now. I am a 4th semester student in the state of Maine, but I was once in Grand Cayman too and I could tell you that all you need to do is settle down and study hard, that’s why you are here, focus! Forget about all the small talk and get to work, and if you are working then work harder. Everything will work out fine.

Best of luck
SFP

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SFP

i 'd like to acknowledge the views posted and add that a determination to excel and a sense of respect(for others and self) are what you need to do good not only at school but any walk of life.
such constructive views are always appreciated.

thank you,
student

Wrong SMU?

"As a student here at st martinus, I was wondering who you are and what your interest was in the trivial inner workings of a beta version of a website. If something is wrong Im sure the tech department would be more than happy to correct it but an "ultimatum"?? isnt that a bit extreme? shall I take out my dueling pistols? A simple "I find your nursing tab misleading, perhaps you could remove it until there is a nursing course" would suffice; and on valuemed no less. I think you should stop assuming that the website is run by someone out to get you or any students out there. in conclusion, constructive criticism = yes, rude rambling ultimatums = no. thank you, for you time."

Jonathan Orton