I have been wanting to post for a very long time about the real truth about SMU so I decided now is a very good time to do it. About myself I am currently a 4th Semester Student attending SMU, I have been doing decently well in my classes so I am not a disgruntled student who failed a class.


I am going to give it to you straight about SMU.

1. I def. regret coming to SMU and if I had to do it all over again I would have gone to AUC, or SGU. When looking for a medical school dont mess around go with what is time proven.

2. APPLYING...No one gets rejected from SMU. As far as I know they pretty much accept everyone who has a pulse. When the 3rd semester class came in they were at 160 and the school was def. not ready for this class size, they were and are pretty much sitting on top of each other. The school took down a wall two weeks before school started to help hold that many students.

3. UNSTABLE PROFS...In four semesters i have seen a revolving door with profs. Almost every class has a different prof since I have been here that is not a good sign, the dean of basic sciences even hired his own friends as professors.

4. ALCOHOLIC PROFS...The Histo/Embryo prof was fired in dec for academic fraud (he told students this) because he was changing scan tron grades but the school rehired him because they could not hire someone else. HE IS STILL HERE and a raging alcoholic

5. I AM NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING READY FOR THE USMLE!! I do not feel that the curriculum is enough to get you through the USMLE, you will have to pretty much have to take a course on your own and pray to God you pass.

6. KAPLAN....Good idea to make all semesters pay for the course and getting an early start......Bad Idea when you are teaching from it (i.e physiology last term)

7. MAINE/CAYMAN ISSUE enough said there...you can read the other forum for more on this

8. NO CURVE POLICY....first off let me say that the reaosn I came to SMU was that they were not all about failing students and being cut throat about having students move on(no i was not looking for an easy med school, but one that was fair) but SMU has cut out all curves completely so basically if a class is doing bad take for instance the 2nd term students whose avg was 60 on the firtst midterm, or the 3rd terms whose path exam had a 59 avg, or all of the students in Maine. This means the majority of students failed I dont think this is the students fault something is going on. The reasons curves exist is to make the exam fair and equal for students, if the avg was 59 and and the fact that the school doesn't care is damn scary!! More money for them when you stay an extra sem. It is quite apparent that SMU is trying to weed out after they accepted everyone who applied and now they are deep enough within the program that they cant quit or go somewhere else.

9. FINANCIAL AID....First the school finds a shady loan company from India tells us we can apply for it and when students start to realize that it seems a little suspicious the school says they are going to invistigate AFTER they have told us it is ok.....now we have a pretty good loan program ONLY BECAUSE A STUDENT CALLED AND TOLD SMU ABOUT IT. WTH is the admin doing in Oviedo that is there job.

10. TEST QUESTIONS...SMU has repeatedly told us that the exam questions will be "USMLE STYLE QUESTIONS" the last time i checked "ALL OF THE FOLLOWING...EXCEPT" was not a USMLE style question. The exams are full of mistakes and spelling errors that makes it seem like the exams were written last minute. THIS IS A MEDICAL SCHOOL!!

11. CALIFORNIA...I dont even know where to start on this, although I am disappointed with the result as I am sure so are the people from California attending our school but WHY ARE YOU DOING SMU PRESENTATIONS IN A STATE WE ARE NOT APPROVED IN. On top of that the admin has told us nothing about what they are doing regarding the situation, SHADY!!!! This affects all students at SMU come on give us a nibble.

12. CHANGING POLICY...SMU is always trying to try new things every semester, trying to make themselves more like the BIG 3, SMU YOU ARE NOT SGU, AUC or ROSS!!! Dont try to be them the reason people came here is because we wanted something better (inidiviualized attention, small classes) you have none of these anymore. You are trying to make it tougher here and I applaud the effort but when you make a change it should effect the incoming class not everyone. I am now a 4th sem and every time I come back there is a new change, we are tired of this constant changing. ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY TAKE IT EASY!!!

13. CLINICALS.....I have no idea what is going on with this...where are they? what can I do where? Where can I do all cores? Why are we losing clinicals spots? will there be enough clinical spots for me? COME ON GIVE US SOME INFO, IF 5th SEMS DONT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON HOW IS ANYONE ELSE!!

14. INFORMATION....TELL YOUR STUDENTS WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! WE ARE CUSTOMERS AND HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!!!!


AS A CONSUMER I WOULD NOT GO TO SMU BECAUSE YOU DO NOT GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. I KNOW I DID NOT GET INTO AN AMERICAN SCHOOL AND I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BE IN THE CARIBBEAN BUT SMU IS NOT SGU IT IS NOT ROSS AND IT IS NOT AUC, THEY ARE ACCREDITED IN MORE STATES, HAVE HIGHER USMLE SCORES, AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET BIG CLASSES AT SMU WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT THAN THOSE SCHOOLS IN ADDITION TO NOT BEING ACCREDITED IN 3-4 STATES.

I HAVE ALWAYS STOOD BEHIND SMU BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, THERE ARE STILL SOME VERY GOOD ELEMENTS (J.T. from the Florida office, S.D. I.T. guy, profs Dr. A, Dr. V. Dr. N, new buildings and dorms,excellent location, great students, a dual degree program) AT THIS SCHOOL AND IT HAS GREAT POTENTIAL, BUT LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS THEY ARE THE ONES WHO REFLECT YOUR SUCCESS TO OTHER FUTURE STUDENTS. THE SUCCESS OF THE STUDENTS IS THE SUCCESS OF THE SCHOOL. WE ARE YOUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY!!

If you are thinking about attending SMU do your research if it is the right match for you then come here, but realize it is still a work in progress. THIS IS ONLY MY OPNION and I am sure I have opened up myself to a barage of replies but read EVERYTHING b4 you decide I may have missed some stuff but all of it is TRUE (as far as I know)! I am getting off my soapbox now but be cautious. have been wanting to post for a very long time about the real truth about SMU so I decided now is a very good time to do it. About myself I am currently a 4th Semester Student attending SMU, I have been doing decently well in my classes so I am not a disgruntled student who failed a class.

If you feel so strongly about not liking SMU, I suggest you transfer. Harboring all those frustrations against your school can be counter productive, and hinder your studies, I know because I felt the same way you did, but for Ross. Given all you stated, I would chose SMU over Ross anytime. I am being prepared for the boards, and the quality of education is great. Just b/c certain professors don't behave accordingly should not reflect on the school, the same situation (alcholic) with a professor occurred at Ross.

Juni

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Juni

I have to side with Juni on this one. I felt that way about my undergrad university at times. That kind of thinking really bogged me down in my studies. I mean, don't be misserable, make a change.

As for the alcoholic prof you're speaking of, I honestly don't know if that's true or not. However, I'm not going to say one way or the other unless it alters his/her teaching. I've heard rumors, but people also say they saw Elvis in a shopping mall.

Just wanted to throw that in...best of luck to the original poster! Take care.

skidoc42

__________________
Chem: Univ. of Pittsburgh
St. Matthew's Univ. School of Medicine:
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"When I'm done here and my time has past, I wish they bury me face down...so my critics can kiss my a**" ~The Legendary Coach Bobby Knight

My suggestion to you would be to pack your bags and leave. Why would you stay in a place for so long if your so miserable? Your paying for your education yet your saying that your not getting what you put in. Think about it for a moment....... You've been there for 4 semester and have wanted to post for sometime now (yet this is your 1st post of any sort). So are you saying that you've felt this way for 4 semesters? If so that's almost crazy to even mention seeing that you are still in the same place. I would suggest that you transfer as soon as you can and head to one of the other cribb. schools. Seems that you have taken a big likeing too SGU so why not just go there?

__________________
St. Matthews University
School of Medicine

Dear Caymaniac,

1) Be very thankful, indeed that SMU gave the chance to enter the highly
competitive field of medicine.

2) Juni is right, you should transfer if you harbor such feelings.
Not good for your own mental health.

3) Judging from your post...its obvious you wont be able to transfer
anywhere.
..................WHY?
4) Because you feel you are not ready for Step 1.
Which translates into ..that you screwed up your classes.
"decently well" means you barely passed.

5) Now you are accusing professors of nepotism.
Just because somebody is "friends" with someone, doesnt exclude
them from being hired... although what you said is your opinion
and NOT a fact.

6) You did NOT name a single class where a Professor was not
qualified to teach!!! I will give you some facts about other schools .. like SGU
and you will be horrified that in one BIG school...the Anatomy teacher
has a Degree in BOTANY !!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
SMU has Surgeons and MD's, PhD.'s in their fields teaching classes.

7) School would never Fire then Hire back someone.
What you say is VERY absurd.

8 ) Alcoholic prof's....again...this is nothing but rumors and hearsay...
I have hillarious stories about drunk professors from SGU, ROSS
if you want to know.

9) you are NOT ready for the USMLE... take a guess.. WHY ?
Let me point you back to your "decently well"...or in other words
barely passing grades.

10) As for Maine...school is making a change for the better by
having only ICM in 5th Term.

11) As for curves...MOST schools have that policy...but I do believe
that a question gets dropped if 80% get it wrong. Others can elaborate on this.

12) The school looked into that "shady" loan company and rejected it
after doing the detective work. We have the NEW Xpress Loans now because this Loan Product is NEW. IT JUST started !!!!!

13) Yes there are USMLE style questions and SHELF Exams !!!!!!!
Some questions might be of different style because professors
like to ingrain the knowledge in you head using educational techniques
which you wouln't know of since you are only a student !!

14) as for Cali... you are worried why SMU is recruiting there?
SIMPLE ANSWER: People want to move out and live somewhere else.
You dont have to worry about the Cali students because IF
they are going to SMU they ALREADY know they wont practice in Cali.

15) Change??? Change is GOOD! And for the Better.
Other Schools I hear complaints that change takes FOREVER.
YOu seem to be complaining that that the school is going in the
right direction Too fast... (since you applaud the effort) ..LOL

16) As for Clinicals.. you are in 4th Term right now.
You will Get them,,,but I were you,,I would try to study harder
for STep 1 and try to do better than decent !
Rumors about clinical spots abound for every school on ValueMD.

17) Information???? You gotta be kidding ME!! Seriously !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I sent 5 EMAILS yesterday to SMU... different people in different
departments....and they all replied within ONE hour !!
Not to Mention that 4 or 5 different SMU officials answer questions on
this board alone.

Also..I guess you missed the CHAT sessions held regularly for Cayman
and Maine students. Plus you can call them anytime...they ALWAYS
pick up !

18 ) Again... If you decided to go with SMU..or probably you got lucky
and SMU picked you... you shouldn't be complaining about what you
already knew about Cali. before you enrolled.
You lost your credibility there!

Thats makes it sound more and more like Disgruntled Student Syndrome !
DSS...cool..i just coined a term..LOL
... if you are at SMU...then hit your books...and try to do good in your classes !

Knight007

I sent an email to Dr. Th, and received a rapid response. I never had a problem in obtaining information from the school. Maybe clinicals, but that was resolved recently, hence I posted all the green rotations. I find the staff here to be professional, and courteous. I have never been in the dark as to any info that I needed to find out. Trust me, after one semester at Ross you'll be running back to SMU (unless you are bent on getting Cali).

Juni

__________________
Juni

Hey Guys

Just a quick tid-bit on the Anatomy Prof. with a Botany degree here at SGU. I'm not going to get into the SMU debate because I don't know anything about the school. Dr. R does in fact have a Botany degree. He also only does about 3, 50 min. lectures out of the entire term on reading X-rays. I'm not sure what makes him qualified to give the lectures, but what I can tell you is he does a great job. Reading X-Rays is not that hard anyway, perhaps that is why he gets the chance to do it. The main thing I wanted people to know is there is no such thing as "THE ANATOMY PROF." here at SGU. We have 6 different profs. in Anatomy alone (as well as a couple of visiting profs.) that all lecture according to their area of expertise. You can rest assured that all of these folks are more than qualified to teach the topics they speak of. I just wanted to set that straight.

take care

edved100
3rd term SGU

Couldn't say it better Knight,

It seems that this dude/dudettte wants everything in a silver platter, or been spoon fed all his life.

If you are not USMLE prepare is your fault, not the school. How are you preparing for test?

I can honestly say that I feel extremely bless to be part of the SMU community. I could not imagine something better.

__________________
I can do all things through Christ who strenghten me"

To defend the Histo/Embryo teacher from any false rumors. He is a very accomplished physician, who graduated from the University of Michigan and He really knows the information. I want people to know that I am CURRENTLY in his class. From my own opinion and 1st hand experience (and maybe skidoc can back me up on any of my opinions) is that he is a good teacher. He really cares about our class. He does not want anyone to fail. He sets office hours and begs people to come. He begs the class to set study sessions on the weekend so that he can come teach. In addition to the weekly tutorials that are already in place. He is very approachable. and never intimidating. I'm not trying to say that he is perfect but he REALLY wants every one to pass USMLE. This is the honest truth.

As far as the Curve, I want prospective students to know that in the classes there are no curves. But the exams are fair. I never had a exam so far that I thought there was no way in He-- that students could not pass the exam. and if the class feels that a question was unfair or not clearly written then the professors MAY take out that question. Our class averages in just about all our class is well above 70%. But you have to do the work don't rely on a curve in order for you to pass the class. This is medical school.

As far as the USMLE books that were given to us, I don't read the Kaplan chapters but I practice Anatomy review questions from Kaplan and so far there is nothing that's on the Kaplan questions that our anatomy professor or histo/embryo teacher have not discussed b4 or that I am not able to pick up and read from my text book.

The school is not perfect, I'm not saying that at all but I will say that the school is REALLY trying to give students the material to pass. Do not come here if you want to be spoon fed or expecting a curve to pass you on to the next semester.

just because someone is unhappy with a school doesnt mean people should jump on him to leave. some of his points are valid.....i cant say if its true bc im not at smu.....but some of the things seem to be valid points that need to be addressed. no school is perfect, no student is perfect

__________________
Med-Peds PGY1

official member of the VMD useless crew

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