Hello. I am a current HS senior looking for undergraduate options. I have taken the IBDP in my school and qualified as a NMSQT semi-finalist. I’ve narrowed down my college options to two choices: Saint George’s University in Grenada and University of South Florida in Tampa. SGU has a 5-year MD program that guarentees an MD after 5-years, but costs upwards of 350,000 dollars and has some demerits to it according to alumni. USF is a full-ride for me and has a 7-year conditional acceptance program which I qualify for. My parents are encouraging me to go to SGU because they think I can’t handle USF’s extracurriculars, but I am confident I can. I like USF more, but SGU also seems pretty viable as well. Either way, what are some of the pros and cons of both places, and what would you recommend?
Better go with the American medical school over a Carribean one…plus you have the full USF ride.
Right. Definitely would not go with a Caribbean med school if American one is an option. Especially if the Caribbean one costs more.
Thank you guys for your replies. However, would you mind giving some reasons? I would like to convince my family.
Going to a Caribbean medical school usually means that you did not qualify for a US medical school. What is their graduation rate? How do they do on residency matches?
Your family wants you to go Caribbean?
Currently I am still in highschool. However the SGU program is a 5-year undergrad+med school program. The residency matches are really good right now but nothing is competitive (mainly family medicine and internal medicine). Their graduation rate is nice but that’s not including students who they strongarm out of the school due to failure of classes. One of my biggest fears here is that I might end up with $300k+ debt and might not secure my MD. However my family’s fear is that I will go to America but won’t get into med school.
The big reason is that it’s easier to get matched to a residency from a reputable American medical school than it is from a Carribean/foreign one. I’m surprised that the money factor wasn’t mentioned. Better to go for a full ride in the US. Plus the licensing will be less of an issue.
You might get a better chance for internships/research at a US institution.
If you’re IB and NMSF, I can’t imagine that you can’t handle college coursework. Is there another reason why your parents are insisting on a Carribean medical school at full pay?
Honestly its that they think that I’m somewhat incapable of standing out in front of my peers with the “unique” extracurricular. Its getting harder to get into med school with the standard grades, research, shadowing, and ECs and they are convinced that I can’t do something unique that will land me a seat in med school.
@birdwatcher32 it’s not as if you are expected to find the cure for cancer as an undergrad. If you have the shadowing/clinical volunteering hours plus some research or internships, that should be sufficient as long as you keep up your grades.
I don’t understand the rationale of your parents. Carribean medical schools are a last resort. I would consider a reputable DO school in the US over any Carribean MD school.
@WayOutWestMom is the expert in these matters.
Are you an American citizen looking to practice medicine in the US?
And usually these BS-MD programs don’t expect much in ECs. Mostly that you meet the stats.
Plus, the Caribbean would always be there as a fall-back option.
I don’t understand why your parents are deadset on spending a ton of money on the fall-back option from the get-go.
Yes I am an American citizen. I studied HS abroad but am coming back. So in your opinion, working hard as an undergrad should be enough to get into med school, as long as I meet the requirements?
^ You’re already in that semi-guaranteed USF program, right? They lay out all the steps you need to get in to their med school on their website pretty explicitly.
Granted, you’d have to maintain a pretty high GPA, but I doubt the Caribbean would be easier.
OP, show your parents the article below and see if they still think a Carribean med school is a good idea:
http://www.idealmedicalcare.org/ugly-truth-caribbean-medical-schools/
You are already on a full ride and on your way to a great American medical school.
There are only downsides to not taking it.
First, considering your achievements, why would you pick a school ALL American med schools know as a school for rich screw ups (sorry to be blunt but everybody’s dancing around that item but your parents don’t seem to be aware of this and might not get the implicit message in the above posts).
Second, what you need for med school is to follow the path set out for you in your BS/MD program. Yes it’s hard, but you are smart and hard working as evidenced by your hs results.
Usually, the ECs aren’t the problem - and your being a bsmd scholar means you’ll have priority (along with honors students) on a lot of opportunities. You don’t need to stand out - you need to volunteer for populations out of your comfort zone, using different languages, at hospices, clinics, etc. It’s not rocket science. Dedication matters m, it’s not like for college.
With changes made to the matching process, it’s going to be near impossible for Carribean Med school graduates to match anywhere.
Giving up a full ride at a top bsmd program for a Carribean school makes no sense.
(By any chance were your parents raised in another culture, perhaps one where med school starts right after high school?)
@birdwatcher32
This is the most ridicules posting I have ever seen over 10 years on this premed board. IF you want trade off USF med school to exchange for a Caribbean med school to just “save” few years of learning, you should have your head checked.
First of all, you should WATCH YouTube for At least 24 hours and look over all the short comings of the Caribbean med schools.
Secondly, SGU and FSU do not even compare. As soon as you entered SGU, you immediately cut off 50-70% of your potential resident matching opportunities. Frankly, for a freshmen who enters SGU to the final matching, your chances could be as little as 25%, providing you can get through. While FSU, a full fledged US medical school, has a matching rate of around 95%.
Thirdly, your quality of residency is basically down the drain once you get into SGU, because 80% of the PDs won’t even look at SGU graduates.
SGU is a FOR PROFIT school, are you aware of it and do you know the impact of “FOR PROFIT” means?
The negatives can go on and on and on, I cannot even start listing more of them. OP, you should get rid of the idea to SGU and do your best at FSU with a full ride.
USF USF USF USF USF USF USF USF USF USF USF
Good god I cannot say it enough.
Even though the standards for the 7 year program are pretty high(and there’s no guarantee of admission to medical school)
https://www.usf.edu/honors/accelerated-programs/7-year-med-faqs.aspx
I stll can’t think of any circumstances under which attending an accelerated program at SGU beats a full ride at USF if you want to practice in the USA. Being free of debt for undergraduate is wonderful.
And not to cause family strife, but what are your parents thinking regarding the 300K+ in debt for SGU vs. a free ride at USF?
300K in debt for a Caribean for-profit school!!! That is, WAY more money for very low quality 
= bad, bad value.
It looks like the OP wants USF and has the academic chops to handle it. It’s the parents who need to have their heads examined.
Your parents are dead wrong about this. USF all the way.
Going to the Caribbean is a bad, bad, bad idea.
As for what you need to do to get into med school–
- good GPA and sGPA (3.7 was the median GPA for accepted students last year)
- good MCAT (512 was the median for accepted students last year)
- appropriate extracurriculars that include all of the following:
— long term community service with the less fortunate
— physician shadowing, esp with primary care specialties (aim for 50-100 hours total w/ several different doctors)
— long term clinical experience, either paid or volunteer, where you have direct patient contact
— leadership positions in your ECs
— lab bench or clinical research (a semester or two, or full time summer will do unless you’re aiming for research intensive med school or a MD/PhD) - be an effective communicator, both in speaking & writing
- be a well rounded person with interests outside of science & medicine
As mentioned above, you don’t need to have "outstanding"or “exceptional” ECs, you just need the basics.
(And if you want “exceptional” ECs–spend 3 years in the Peace Corp serving overseas or do a tour of active duty in the military. These always get a second look from adcomms–assuming you have all the rest in place.)