you talk like if you are a current student here. PLease dont misinform and make assumptions about something that you have no idea about. The statement above is completely wrong.

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From one of the speakers during Orientation, "There is nothing wrong with Mexico; it is JUST different"

This is what I would like to do to the "burros" of Megacable....

My only advice is that if you are thinking about attending and graduating from UAG/fifthpathway, remember that there is a real possibility that the 6-year route may be the only route, especially for new students.

Whatever decision is made by the AMA/USMLE, it may not return things back to normal.

I am wrong, ok, u need to do your homework on carrb school, some are more exp, some are about the same as UAG and a few are LESS EXPENSIVE, and when the FPP was alive, NYMC tuition was far more then most carrb schools and UAG students were paying their tuition, not UAG tuition, now that the program is going to disappear as of 2009, NYMC will still keep the FPP around for some strange reason and maybe they hope UAG grads will use it as an internship.

Caribbean and UAG come out to be about the same. If you take into consideration the two years of income that we will lose in comparison to caribbean school. The money equalizes.

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From one of the speakers during Orientation, "There is nothing wrong with Mexico; it is JUST different"

This is what I would like to do to the "burros" of Megacable....

ECFMG route= In Mexico is 4 years school, One year internado for which you will get about 60 dollars every two weeks then ONE year of Servicio social= 6 years

CS is easy specially after all the clinical rotations, internship you do! Besides CS and real practice have nothing in common! In real life you hardly ask any questions, you just request lab work!! Just get use to interviewing and examining in 15 mins and writing your note in 10 mins with probable diagnosis.

Unless UAG re-structures their program but if not it might be the same level of material like the Latino program. This program is focus on practicing medicine in Mexico.

yeah, i just don't see myself graduating with an md, and then being thrilled to take on the extra 2 years of unpaid, required clinical work. it just doesn't seem worth it.

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"The Dude abides."

It actually could be worth it in terms of unique clinical experience. However, the UAG seems unable to stop pissing off students before the first 2 years, much less 6 years. The good part of the last two years is that the UAG will have little to do with them, and you will be working more directly with hospitals and patients.

When you look at it in terms of pure time, 4 vs 6 does not seem like they can even compete. However, some would say that same about an MD vs MD/PhD. You have to look at the end result, and all the opportunities of each.

Many perople are in a hurrry to leave Mexico and go practice in the USA. However, the truth is, if I could still pay my loans, I would have no problem staying here in Mexico and practicing medicine. It is a good experience woking with Mexican patients. It may not be as bad as it sounds.

However, you must have your 7 & 8 grade transcripts and physical copy of high school diploma to qualify for the 6 year program.

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"You do not truly understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." Albert Einstein

As someone who went through the mexican program of internado and servicio social, and being from the international group, i hope i can lend some insight. God willing, in the next few months I will post a big email with the pros and cons of internado and servicio social and what things will be expected of you; but as of right now here is a little summary(because i dont really have the time in the next 2 months to do a full summary).

I have not taken CK or CS yet i am studying for them presently, and from the practice questions and the books i have i can give you the following conclusion: The rotations you do in the hospital will help somewhat for cK step 2(after all it's medicine) BUT the exam is in a format in which they ask you what is the next best step, the best treatment, the most accurate exam, etc. Your clinical rotations will not help you with those type of questions, because you are not taught to think in the manner the USMLE is testing; all lot of times reality is different than theory and there are so many ways they can ask you the questions, you will need to know what they want. Either way you will need to study real hard to pass it. I recommend doing Kaplan but that's my opinion.
-AS for CS it seems that the clinical exam skills you learn will help you for the exam; again you will need to study. Like i said standardized exams test differently than reality. Again i havent taken it; but this is info i have gathered from other friends from foreign schools that have taken it and passed and from what i have observed in the review books and my own studying.

As for internado and servicio social: I really liked both(i'll get into the details in a later email as i said), but dont think it's all roses and picket fences.
*INternado is tough. You are basically a free slave of the hospital. Most hospitals will have you working ABC guardias which means you will work 7-3pm 2 days, then the third day you will work 7-3 and from 3-7 next day you are up(probably the majority or whole night in your guardia) and then from 7-3pm again to your regular rotation. So basically to not confuse everyone: Every third day your are on call at the hospital and you dont get off until your regular mon-fri rotations are over. if you're lucky it falls on friday or sat of the week and you get out at 8am(cuz there are no morning rotations on the weekends). You can learn a lot but it depends on you; just like the rotations in 5,6,7,8th semester. You have to try and get your spanish down.or you will have a lot of difficulty. I think i learned a lot but that;s because i worked hard and was constantly pestering everyone to teach me how to put in iv catethers or to help in a procedure or whatever. Also you get paid about 400 and something pesos every 2 weeks with bonuses in december and the end of the year. Also this goes by another 50pesos when you join servicio social.
YOu have to pay for internado and servicio social;remember that also
Serivicio social is a lot more laid back than internado but if you jacked around in internado you're in trouble. Why? cuz you are basically the doctor in charge in some rural area. So you examine, treat and refer your patients. Your like a gp/family practioner. So if you are not on the ball when you leave internado you better get on it quickly. The places you go can be a town of 100-200 people with you as the only doctor or it can be a cabazera where you are there with a director and maybe another doctor who already has his titulo. So it depends. In some places you might have to do some things on your own, that you might never have done in internado but you have no choice. Cuz the nearest hospital is too far away. Also in serviicio social you live in the clinic, unless you are in unidad movil which is moving clinic; there you might just do guardias when you come back from going around the hard to get to places in the sierra or whatever.
AS for how you choose your spots for internado and servicio social: it depends on your class ranking. The thing that is bad is that you are lumped into the latino class and it seems that they have better grades cuz of the icb classes(it seems i could be wrong). So depeneding where you are on the list you choose the spots that are leftover. The GDl spots go to the top students; so whoever tells you grades dont matter are full of you know what; which i learned the hard way. Also, for internado it might not be bad to go sinaloa or michoacan or somewhere but for serviciio you dont want to be near the bottom. Why? because its SEcretaria salud that gives the spots to UAG or to UdG and sometimes the places that are available aren't the safest places; especially for the ladies(not being sexist being real). When i was at the sorteo or whatever they call it for servicio there was like 50 or more spots in los altos of jalisco. Places like maria de los angeles. A lot of these places you have to go by avioneta(mini plane) and you stay there for 3 weeks and then you come back for a week. However, if there is a rainstorm or whatever you can get stuck out there for a long time. Also, for girls, imagine you're out there with the huicholes by yourself; some of them don't speak spanish and they have a different culture, so you better be careful. It's common knowledge that girls in any town, not just los altos should never open the door to a couple of guys in the middle of the night; unless they bring their wives with them, or if they are in a big town, and you can get the police to chaperone them (but in some towns you got watch out for the poli too) Why i am telling you this? Cuz you never know when some degenerate wants to come to your clinica and is just inventing some sickness cuz he wants to meet the pretty new doctor. This is real this is not bad mouthing(like i said ; i enjoyed my experience and i actually liked the school better after doing internado and servicio); i am just trying to give everyone the true perspective. I am just summarizing what i have seen personally and what my companeras have told me. If you have really good grades or palancas(connections) you might be able to get into a plaza de vinculacion(like a research fellowship with no guardias and in GDL) but dont count on it.
Also for all those who think you can do internado or servicio in the U.S. dont count on it unless some rules change. From what the school told me they have only allowed maybe a couple people to do it and that the people would have problems with their titulo,etc. That's what they told me so I just stayed my 2 years in Mexico. Like i said it was hard but i think i learned a lot and in terms of medicine i think the experience was invaluable. I think it made me a better doctor and i think those 2 years were the best 2 years i had at UAG. I think that is where everything came together i started understanding how medicine really works in the REAL world and not in textbooks and classrooms. However, from a personal stand point it did cause me some problems in my life but that is different for everyone.
After servicio you must take the examen profesional at some point to get your titulo. it consists of 2 days. One day is practical and one day is written(the written has some good questions but also the typical uag how much is the distance of synaptic cleft questions,etc). You pay a load of money for the examen profesional; in my later post i'll put how much. to take the USMLE it doesnt matter if you are in internado,servicio, before or after. You just go to the office where paty sandoval is and talk the lady in charge of the usmle exams. She'll explain the procedure to you. Basically everything is online but you will need to give here some printable froms off the website to have signed by the dean(form 183 or 186 something like that).
So this is what i could summarize for right now; like i said i will write a post later with all the details. And again I(yes me) enjoyed both internado and servicio social. So i am not slandering the process or trying to make the school look bad, if it seems that way... i am just giving all the information so people can make an educated decision about what would be good for them. Every person is different and your age, background, what you feel about the school, what you learned, etc. will make a difference in what you take from the process.
If anyone has any questions before i post the big one in the next couple of months, just write me a private message cuz i dont really join too much but if you pm me then maybe i'll see it and get back to you.
HOpe this helps
laters

Amazing A, that was a great post. Don't Wait Too Long before you post again.

Do you think there is a better chance of getting into plaza de vinculacion if you have a couple second author papers in American Journals. Is there a way to get that information to them.

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It supposed to help if you have done research; also the quicker you apply for vinculacion in the year you are going to enter servicio social, the better it is. There are some requirements for vinculacion and you write a letter why you want it and then a committee reviews your application. Although research should help, just don't get your hopes up too much; i had done some research and had some papers but it didnt seem to help. It seemed most of the people had connections(palancas). However, i know of another international student that was able to get hospital carmen for internado although he had been out of school like me for a while, and was lower on the segunda lista(if you are coming back after a break from school they put you on a second list; you pick after everyone else on primera lista) and he picked a spot and then talked to the admin and was able to stay in GDL(take it this is for internado; but what i am saying is maybe if you talk to admin or know someone you can get a good spot) - so i think in internado if you take the exams for the private hospitals and have a good relation with the admin you might be able to get in somewhere in gdl if you're not high on the list. However for servicio, other than connections, there doesnt seem to be a guarantee to get a plaza de vinculacion. But it should help that you have research; but I recommend you try and get in good with somebody in admin. The guy in charge right now of servicio social is mario ruiz(if you need his email i will look for it - he can also tell you about vinculacion but i would worry about that when you are like in 8th semester and are going to go to internado, or if you are out of school and are planning to come back); for internado it's dr. cardona. Dr. Barbosa was the guy in charge of everything related to internado and servicio(the head honcho ) but he got really sick and i dont know who replaced him.
I probably will post a super detailed post about 1-2 months max from now about internado and servicio but at least a month from now. Anymore quesitons feel free to pm or post it here and i'll get back to you. Hope this helps.
p.s. If they do cancel 5th pathway ...what will be interesting to see if they lump everyone together or try to make a different sorteo for international group; like different spots for international students. My opinion is that they will lump everyone together because the guyz in charge of internado, servicio social are the secretaria salud and so everyone comes under their blanket juridisction. So I dont see them giving "special" spots for internatinals; but you never know - i guess it depends on how the school handles it.