Finding ways to pay for college...

[Scarlet Fire]

Normally I am not a proponent of Caribbean schools. I would not go to one to save money. But I would see them as a good option if, as a result of working your way through college, your grades suffered to the point where you couldn't get into an American medical school, yet you had decent MCAT scores (IE: you're definitely smart enough for it, but maybe you got a D in calculus due to bad circumstances).

You won't really save time with a Caribbean school (though you will save money), but I would see it as a very good backup.

As far as the (lesser) quality education, as much as I'd like to say there is a difference, it doesn't matter that much. And this is coming from a US medical student. In fact my primary care doctor is an international graduate.

Here's a few points/counterpoints:

1. Lower admission standards: this means that your classmates will be a bit dumber, and you can expect that the graduates won't perform as well as US graduates on standardized exams and such.

- This does not necessarily apply to you

2. Your pre-clinical (first two) years are in the Caribbean, and one could argue that the education isn't as high quality as in the USA.

- However, the first two years are really not that important: anything you need to learn you can learn in a book. Any Caribbean student can buy the books I've bought. To some extent you MAY miss out on little pearls of wisdom that I can get in a US preclinical program, but most of that can and will be learned in rotations (3rd/4th).

3. Clinical years are at lesser institutions

- For the most part, there is some truth to this: a Caribbean school rotates at less prestigious hospitals. But this is not always a bad thing! You're still being taught by US physicians in a US hospital.

4. Stigma: Caribbean students don't get into good residency programs

- The numbers do bear this out. But keep in mind that Caribbean students - because they scored lower on the MCAT, and so on - achieve lower board scores. Some Caribbean students do match at highly competitive residency programs that I probably wouldn't get accepted into. You will always be more competitive coming from a US school, but most residency avenues are still open to you coming from the Caribbean. Internal medicine, psych, neuro, PM+R, pediatrics, etc. are all fields you can get into. Dermatology, specialized surgery (plastics, optho, ENT, uro, etc), and others will be much more difficult though. Other fields like anaesthesiology, general surgery, and pathology are maybes - you can get in, but you will have to work for it.

5. You will not be as well trained a physician coming from a Caribbean school:

- I've heard this rumor before but it's not entirely true. Just about everything you need to know for residency can be learned if you put your mind to it: in books, in rotations, in journals, etc. Once you get in, that stuff you learned about glycoloysis and PAS stains doesn't matter that much anymore either.

6. Less prestige/respect amongst your colleagues:

- There is some truth to this, but remember that in medicine, the most important thing is your last step. For example, no one cares where a doctor went to college. Hardly anyone even cares about where he went to medical school. What's most important is: where did he get the training that he's currently using? If he's a dermatologist, where did he do his derm residency? If he's an invasive cardiologist, where did he study invasive cardiology? For an invasive cardiologist, for example, you're much more interested in where he did his radialist/invasive training than where he did cardiology. Where he did his internal medicine training is just about irrelevant, let alone where he went to medical school. As an international graduate you will probably not do well in attaining a prestige political position like head of the AMA, surgeon general, etc. But most other doctors will respect you if you do good work, and received good training after medical school. Like I said, my own doctor went to the Caribbean, and he's great.



Overall, I agree that you should try to get into a US school if at all possible. I wouldn't go to el Caribbe to save money. In fact I wouldn't even go to save a year. But if it were a matter of not being able to get loans for a US school and having to put it off for 5 years, or simply not ever being able to get into a US school, a Caribbean school is an option.

I guess I'll have to take your word for all of this then, seeing as you've got the experience to back it up. However, if I find myself in a position where I graduate with say, a 3.4 GPA, then I'd rather take a year to go get my master's degree, study my ass off for the MCAT, then try again, than attend a Caribbean school. This is actually what one of the people I work with at my internships just did. It means he's going to be going to medical school a little later than most people, but it's entirely possible to do so (and medical schools like to see people with master's degrees, apparently).

 

[Scarlet Fire]

If you're in your first year of school, then you're still an undergraduate, correct? A lot of undergraduate courses are taught by graduate students, which in my opinion is a big rip off. You pay tuition for leaders in their field, not some graduate student. This is why, I find that in a lot of ways a Junior College or Community College is the way to go for the first couple of years. Get all your undergraduate work done in a JC. It's considerably cheaper (WAY cheaper), and you get actual professors teaching your classes. Then when you're ready, and you've declared a major, apply for grants, loans, and scholarships to complete your coursework for your degree. From what I can tell, you could do your next year at a JC, save a little money, spend some time lining up your ducks before you jump back into it.

This is something I really wanted to look into, but like I said earlier, there are two major problems with it. First, NEU won't take the credits. They want my money, and bad. The only credits they'll take from an outside university are from classes they don't offer themselves. And even then, it's going to be a pain to make them take those. Second, medical schools don't like it. They'll see my whole transcript, and when they see "community college," they're going to be unhappy. It sucks, but it's the reality of the situation.

And, oddly enough, all of my classes were taught by actual professors, many of which have written books on their respective subjects and have some very impressive credentials to their names. As much as we're kinda making NEU out to be an over-priced piece of crap (well... I won't argue the overpriced bit), it's still a fantastic school, which is one of the main reasons I'd like to stay here if at all possible.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

This is something I really wanted to look into, but like I said earlier, there are two major problems with it. First, NEU won't take the credits. They want my money, and bad. The only credits they'll take from an outside university are from classes they don't offer themselves. And even then, it's going to be a pain to make them take those. Second, medical schools don't like it. They'll see my whole transcript, and when they see "community college," they're going to be unhappy. It sucks, but it's the reality of the situation.

The whole thing about medical schools not liking a community college on your transcript is a farce. I have two friends. One is currently an interventional radiologist who interned at John Hopkins. He did a year in a JC. Another one of my buddies is a Pediatrician in private practice. He took some courses in a JC to save money. Everything worked out fine for them. In fact, there might be an argument for the opposite. It shows that you really really wanted your degree and worked hard to get it. What about transferring to a school that accepts JC credits? You're not obliged to return to the school that you started out. I have a buddy that really like a certain professor. He started out doing two and half years in a JC, and was then accepted into UCLA. He wound up getting his degree from Cal State Long Beach. Granted he wasn't a med student though.

My point is, I understand the concern regarding your transcript, but I think you're putting a little bit too much weight into this concern. People have to transfer all the time. It's life. Yours is a legitimate reason for transfer. This should not put up a red flag at all, even if they look beyond your GPA, coursework, and MCAT scores, which (most don't) they're looking at things like extra curricular stuff (volunteer work, clubs, and organizations you're involved in), more than the schools involved (unless they're some kind of online degree in a mail kind of place - which in your case they're not).

It's worth looking into. Good luck. Hope everything works out for you

 

[Alcyon]

Good christ come to Canada! McGill is an excellent school where many of my West coast friends have moved to attend, and Canada is always hiring doctors. Even if you move back to the states after for med school, if you can save money in your undergrad then Canada rules.