I don't think that anyone would argue that choosing a medical school is a multi-objective problem; however, finances are one important dimension. One can always add other things to the analysis (this book has a simple methodology for incorporating nonquantative methods into an analysis: Amazon.com: Strategic Decision Making: Multiobjective Decision Analysis with Spreadsheets: Craig W. Kirkwood: Books) but I wanted to keep it simple. Often, a financial analysis is a good starting point. Feel free to add to it.

I did the above analysis because I was interested in the financial question of whether SGU is worth the cost relative to Saba. I don't think there is any strong evidence that the education at SGU is better at Saba; however, people often point to SGU's better match rate as a reason why an education at SGU might be worth 100k more than Saba. A nonprimary care career pays more and if SGU improved your chances of obtaining that goal, it would be worth the cost. It would be hard to justify the cost of SGU if you were certain you wanted to go into primary care. Overall, I think Saba is still a good bargain. In particular, Saba is a very good choice for someone who is pretty sure they want to go into a primary care field. People do change their minds but the value of SGU declines in proportion to a person's likelihood of choosing primary care.

The SGU clinical site deal had no impact on the numbers used for this analysis.

UAG is not so bad if you compare % going into non primary care.

SGU 292+132=424........132/424=31% placing into non primary care.
SABA 101+26=127........26/127=20% matching into non primary care.
UAG 29+12=41..........12/41=29% matching into non primary care
sure, take out obgyn, thats still 24% 2007 values yeld a 26% non primary placing. 2006=26%

and i think UAG is still cheaper.

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"Dont try this at home, I'm a professional..."

I have been with this forum for 5 years and I have not made statements that I have no experence about it. I don't make any comments about the caribs schools because I only know what I see and hear from my friends but it doesn't give me the authority to make an intelligent analysis. I think your analysis is typical of the mentality that if it is not done in the US, it must be not as good. Ask the students out of Social Service and Internado how much clinical experience they have. The success of Carib. schools has nothing to do in how competent they are as educators but a lot to do with Marketing. Ask all the students that are not given the chance to take the USMLE. You may have a good point that they should have never been accepted in Medical school but if that person is you or one of your family member, I am sure you would have a different opinion besides NBME should test people only when they finish school. They are thinking very hard about adopting this model because isn't fare for schools to take 400-500 hundred students when they know they will not be allowed to take the USMLE.

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Moderator - UAG Forum

Make this decision for your self. Go to Guadalajara, visit the school and IMMS hospitals and talk to practicing doctors in the US. I would recommend to you to visit the 3 major carib. schools to see if you can live 2 years in a small island. The carib school is a great choice if you don't want to live in a 3rd world nation. I would also check some of the carib school hospitals in New York and Chicago. I would not take the advice from anyone without doing my homework first.

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Moderator - UAG Forum

WOW!!!!! Do I have to say anything else? There are great doctors all over the world. I am shocked you actually posted something so absurd. Mexico, Brazil, India and Cuba (I hate Castro) have great doctors.

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Moderator - UAG Forum

you are taking brendab out of context though- i don't think she is saying that there aren't great doctors made outside of the US, but to be competitive for a US RESIDENCY position, UCE does make a difference and the applicant that has UCE will have an edge over one that does not.

this was posted in the main medical forum and i don't understand why it was moved to the UAG forum, since it is not a discussion of just UAG's merits, but her comments were based on the OP looking at various schools, carib and non-carib alike looking to eventually practice in the US.

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Sorry, I didn't take her comments out of context.

"I think there is an ethical angle as well. As a future doctor, you have a responsibility to obtain the best training you can. Ask yourself, "Would my future patients benefit more if I got clinical training in Mexico or the US?"


she very clearly wrote that by going through training in Mexico, you are inferior to any person going through training in the US which is absurd!!!! She never wrote anything about chances of getting into residency. The US have some of the best medical schools and hospitals but also have teaching hospitals worst than any IMSS hospital in Guadalajara.

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Moderator - UAG Forum

You will notice that I did not answer the question. If you read further in the next few posts .......

"I don't know the answer to the question I posed. Most people will tell you that the clinical learning you do in medical school is minor relative to what you learn as a resident. Thus, at the end of the day, it may not make much difference where you get your med school clinical experience. Still, I think it an important question and I would seek advice from some people who have attended UAG and then gone on to a US residency. They would be able to help you evaluate the tradeoffs."

Lack of USCE is a disadvantage even if you went to Cambridge. It is a requirement at many programs and generally listed as desireable.

The U.S. has some of the best medical school in the world.
Top Ten in fact.

The problem is that only 10 schools are in that top ten.

What about the worst ten in the US?

What about the Lower 50%.
Good God what are they teaching the students!

Sorry to say the same thing that all the other schools are teaching. How do I get my students enough information so that they pass the USMLE and don't kill anyone in the process.

To imagine that there is some incremental heirarchy where students from Princeton are the best doctors in the nation is silly. As silly as thinking that all the students from Michigan State University are all waiting their trials as future Kervorkians

Each doctor is their own person. And a doctor that can pass the board and communicates well with mexican natives will be welcome in many programs in many states.

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It may be unfortunate but people pay attention to hierarchies. The USN&WR report ranking issues are best sellers! Same with the Business Week MBA program ranking issue.

Clearly, where you went to school is not everything. But, at the end of the day, people do make judgements and in a competitive environment (e.g., the match) these things do have an influence. People's sensitivity to this topic illustrates the point.