My route for my Dominican Licensure:

Submitted my transcripts and degrees for Undergraduate (B.S.) and Graduate (M.D.) and U.S. license (original) to UASD for co-validation.

Written and oral exam in:
OB/GYN
Pediatrics
Medicine
Surgery

Four week clinical clerkship (observer-ship) in each of the above 4 areas.

Did not have to do a pasentia because I was Board Certified Specialist

__________________
ERNEST C. HOLBROOK, M.D. FACS

I see the complaints by various posters as a cry for help from a intelligent person, who is feeling overwhelmed, as he/she is away from home, in a ENTIRELY NEW environment, and the handicap of NOT knowing the lingua of the place.

The saner response is to either help them with advise or not respond.

Has anyone gained by attacking these kids?
Its tragic, when venerable patriachs, who are a reservoir of patience and wisdom, start attacking kids going through the stress of culture shock due to displacement.

Everyone has a right to complain,more so the new inhabitants of this islad. But experienced residents, the one's who are now logging in with brand new IDs, can easily calm them down with the wealth of their knowledge and encouragement, instead of calling them idiots.

Imagine the irony, the students and teachers are now FIGHTING a war of words on a public forum, and over what?

Seniors need to befriend and calm the newbies, instead of getting ulcers and high BP!!If not, why post at all?

Wow....just checking...aren't we university students? Mature, educated, open-minded individuals who want to better themselves? So I don't understand why we have to baby certain individuals who find life hard in the big bad DR.
I did my pre-med in Canada....I was born and raised in Kenya(granted in an upper middle class home)....so i know a few things about culture shock! When I was a freshman ( one of among dozens of international students)...sure I felt scared...alone....being in a small town with not many people who looked like me was definitely something I had to get used to and of course the COLD!!. But the fact is I did get used it...yes we cried and were homesick for a couple of months...but you realize that you are there for a reason....and really all you have to do is get on it with it!!!
A fair majority of north american students have access to internet in their classrooms and in their homes....schools with great resources...basically a chance to see and learn about the world without ever leaving your backyard! So how can you tell me...that a 18 or 19 year old high school graduate...who has had the privilege of an education half the world can only dream of....not have some idea of what the DR is going to be like!
This seems like a trend though....during my pre-med years...I had many Canadian and American friends....super nice and genuine people. But alot of them had lived in a bubble since they could speak...many a time I got questions like..."Do you..like have a pet lion" or..." How do you guys get around...do you have cars?...and my all time favourite....I'm Kenyan...but she asks "Oh...you're from Africa right...I have a friend from South Africa...do you know him?"
Ignorance ladies and gentlemen.....it's a bad bad thing. And in my opinion, citizens of the richest continent on the planet should be the last people suffering from it!
So I think before Joe McIwannabeadoctorbutdidntmakethecut heads over here to enroll into a university on a small speck of land far far away from home....perhaps he should do his homework. There is a breadth of information about each and every country on this planet. I'm not talking about the facts on Wikipedia...but blogs by people who live there (both locals and foreigners)...look at their photos...ask them questions. Read articles from local newspapers and magazines...get a feel for what the people are about. THEN head over here for a week vacation and check every corner of the island! Once you enroll in the school....you are completely informed on the way of life here....the good...the bad and pica pollo 101!
The original post on this thread is so narrow minded and ignorant that it is scary to think that that person could be the only American/North American many people will meet. Really not the best ambassador for a country.
I feel insulted by that post (for the dominican people and myself)...how dare you come to a country as a visitor and proceed to paint it in the worst possible light. Who do you think you are? Sorry to break it to you...but you weren't invited! There was no golden ticket with the words "Please... rich american guy come to UNIBE" falling out of Hershey bars! You chose to come here. So stop making it sound like you got duped into buying a useless car...when you are the one who went to "Bob's really well-used cars...a real bargain!" to get it!
The world is a crazy random place...and yes things don't work as good in the developing world as they do back in the north...but you are talking about someone's home here! Give the facts only...we don't care about your friend's sister's neighbour's aunt who got jacked while using an ATM in the Acropolis mall!
Buddy...I'd like to live where you live...because apparently....no one gets robbed....women don't get raped, cars don't get jacked, people can prance around downtown draped in bling bling....and innocent people aren't murdered on their doorsteps.
But since there aren't any boats leaving the island to Neverneverland....I might just get back to studying for my neuroanatomy mid-term.

Cuidense

Sierra , you have a point.But your scenario is different from those born in the USA.Kenya is a beautiful country, but a very poor one at that.Its people have different thresholds of tolerance of chaos,crime and squalour.Its poverty moulds people to be different.
On the other hand, this experience of coming a from a poor country, and immigrating to a richer and better country like Canada,gives you a lot of edge, and perhaps the license to feel superior to US/Canadian natives, who do not have your exalted experience.

Afro-Canadian immigrants have a different experience than those born in North America.

But that should not be become a right to belittle some one elses experience or sound condescending when someone is suffering.

If you look at the facts, as a superior and intelligent Kenyan born, its a stepup for you, even in the DR.Life in the DR is better than Kenya!On the contrary, for the ignorant Canadian/American kids its not.And if they do complain about it, it does not make them bad,its just a initial reaction.Hopefully most of us ignorant and narrowminded US/Canadians will be able to come a distant second to your great medicine career.

Oh, and a last question, if you think US/Canada are no different than the DR, why did you leave Kenya for us,the ignorant and complaining North Americas?By your logic,Its all the same isn't it?

Note-I am not dissing the DR,I feel indebted to UCE,DR helping me to become a MD and learn Spanish.Pls see my posts, I champion the DR . I am just defending the right of US/Canadians students to complain, because for them , the move to DR is palpably different and real.Their quality of life has taken a drastic hit suddenly, and none of the kids who are complaining, have once said, they will leave or bail out.That in itself , is commendable.Dont judge them by their first reactions.

I'm new to this forum and am surprised at the mean-spirited, sarcastic, condescending replies made by mature, professional, learned individuals who should know better. The O/P would clearly benefit from sincere, uncritical guidance. The venom,and attack mode immediately assumed by some
appears unnecessary.

You have presented and extremenly erudite evaluation of the situation and are to be congratulated for it.

I stated previously that I had the pleasure to visit 90 countries and some for extended periods of time. In each and every case adjustments had to be made by me and my companions. Sometimes very major adjustments. Things were done differently than they were back home. I think it helps a great deal to look upon your short term stay for you education in a foreign/strange country by accepting it as a great adventure. It can be, you know ,if you address it that way. Think of telling your grandchildren in Chicago that you used to walk in the back yard and pull a ripe banana right off the tree for breakfast.

Forget about the sun, the sand and the terrible inconveniences you have to endure. Just stay focused on your primary goal.....to get the ellusive M.D. degree. Not everyone does it. In fact 52% of FMG's never practice medicine. Why should you be in that group.

You are not a tourist, you are a medical student and hopefully a darn good one that will be focused and stay the course and make your dream come true. I keep saying it can be done....in fact, it is being done all the time, so something must be working. In closing let me say it does not take a genius to become a physician. If it did, we would have very few physicians. It takes some one who is willing to accept the vagaries of life, this disappointments of the school, the privation that is sometimes necessary and still able to come out on top a winner with a smile.

Of all my travels, I was not to see Kenya (or Tarzan) but your story of asking about your “pet lion” goes one better than my story. I lived in rural Appalachia and I mean rural (we had to pipe the sunshine in and the moonshine out). When we went to town the kids all stared at us and someone would finally exclaim…. “Look they are wearing shoes!”



Bottom line people. It can be done, it is being done. But it does not come easy for you must sacrifice a great deal. There is always a price to pay and I am not speaking of $$. In my case it came after a lot of blood, sweat and tears but I made it. And so can anyone of average intelligence.

__________________
ERNEST C. HOLBROOK, M.D. FACS

Dr Ernest, had you written this post, just after the OP had posted his 'Cry for Help',instead of the RANTs, things would have been better.

Thats exactly what the OP wanted to hear, that,Its OK, and It can be done.

I am sure the OP will do no less, and be just as good as the superior Kenyan and your great self.Also , the average American family, hardly gets vacation time, leave alone visit 90 countries.So your case is UNIQUE.Please dont extrapolate your experience unto NORMAL US kids.I can understand your DISLIKE of the new generation of AMERICAN kids vis-a-vis your RURAL upbringing.Please dont hate us, we are Americans like your great self.Dont hold our urban upbringing against us.I fail to fathom why immigrants and US born rural folks would hate genteel urban Americans.Are they jealous?If so, of what?Our pollution or our road rage or it it our high taxes?Or our simple every day imperfect American English?What forces a fellow American, to join hands with a foreigner who hates Americans/Canadians, but still unshamedy uses the material fruits of our economy and resources?Could it be a MASSIVE ego or is it a complex?Or could it be a reckless desire to win at all costs, even if it an argument against kids who are 3 times younger?

If only Dr Ernest knew that kids posting in the first week of their stay in the DR, find valuemd.com, the only venue to deal with their fears and frustations, all alone in their rooms, away from parents.They dont hate Dr Ernest or Unibe or UCE or the DR.They are scared.Does that scan Dr Ernest?THEY ARE SCARED!!

Once again I welcome all new American and other students to the DR.This forum is a great froum for information.There are some great posters here like IMGSURVIVOR,LOSACKMD,Dr Ernest,the moderator of this forum, whose good name escapes my memory now.

Nobody is perfect, and my argument against Dr Ernest is not personal, its in principal.I hate people piling on a scapegoat,I hate people judging others.But that does not stop me from acknowledging that I have benefited from the posts of all the 4 persons I named above.

In conclusion,DR is the the place where our future will take shape.This is where we will HAVE to SURVIVE, come what may!And , if we persevere, we will succeed!!

Adios!!

Allright anybody who disagrees with me is cordially invited to come camp out with me on the malecon in San Pedro for a night. If you live you can talk all you want. Seroiusly I will take you there. Send me a PM.

Ernest how are you makin fun of people who cant spell in english if you cant spell in spanish? I can spell in either well but that isnt an attacking point for me. Learning a medical degree in a second or third language is hard enough.

forgot a t after can..sorry