Help!! St George University of London? Or take my chances at US school?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hello, my name is Krista and I'm a pre-medical student at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. I am writing this in hopes that fellow pre-med students will be able to help me with a major decision I am faced with...</p>

<p>Much like everyone else on this forum, I REALLY want to be an MD. Unfortunately, I had a really rough first two years of school. As a result, I anticipate that I will graduate with a 3.2 GPA (I'm graduating next spring). I am a biology major and do well in bio classes. However, I'm terrible at chemistry. I have just barely gotten by in my inorganic chem classes with C letter grades. I do have strong extra-curriculars and letters of recommendation. I have not taken the MCAT yet, but given my poor status in chemistry I doubt I wills score in the 30s. All the practice exams I have done have put me around a 27. Next year, I will have to take my Organic chemistry sequence.</p>

<p>I've done a lot of research on the St. George University of London international program. The program awards you a MBBS (UK equivalent to an MD) in four years. The first two years are spent studying in London and the last two are spent doing clinical rotations in Washington DC and preparing for the USMLE. I've contacted the school as well as looked into accreditation and such and it seems to be a really good program for somebody in my position. Admissions into this program require that you have at least a 3.0 GPA, a bachelors of science, and an MCAT score of 24. As long as you meet those minimum requirements, you are automatically granted an interview. From that point on, acceptance is granted based on the interview, your personal statement, and letters of recommendation. After speaking to the advisors at the school, I feel like I have a pretty good shot at getting accepted into this program.</p>

<p>My dilemma is this...</p>

<p>Does it look like I have a chance at getting accepted into a U.S school? Should I take advantage of this SGUL program and apply this fall? Or should I wait and see if I can get accepted into a state school?</p>

<p>If I apply for a US school, I will not be able to apply until next fall because I have yet to take my organic chemistry sequence. If I apply for the SGUL program and get accepted, I don't have to take organic chem and instead can take more higher level biology classes. If I do this, I have a chance at graduating with a higher GPA. If I take organic chemistry, I risk ruining my GPA even more. I fear that if organic chem brings my GPA any lower, I wont even get accepted into a graduate school of any kind..</p>

<p>I understand that a US school is always a better option than going over seas, but what would you do in my position? I really want to be an MD. If I don't, I have no idea what I would do instead.. Nothing else interests me.. Although it is a very important medical profession, I am not interested in DO either..</p>

<p>Please help!</p>

2

<p>Before you decide on studying medicine overseas, please read this article in JAMA.</p>

<p><a href=“http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1475200#qundefined”>http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1475200#qundefined&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>(Drat! It’s behind a paywall. It used to be open access….)</p>

<p>Basically, the point is that sometime in the near future (as soon as 2015), there will be enough US medical grads to fill every single US residency spot available. IMGs are going to have an increasingly difficult time matching into US residencies. This situation will only be exacerbated by the impending unification of MD and DO matches. </p>

<p>(A unification agreement has been reached and DOs and MDs will participate in a single residency match starting as soon as 2015. </p>

<p><a href=“American Osteopathic Association | AOA”>American Osteopathic Association | AOA; )</p>

<p>Realistically, if you want to practice medicine in the US, you should consider all US options first–including DO programs, SMPs (assuming your MCAT>28 and you GPA/sGPA remains >3.0), or perhaps other healthcare professions (CNP or PA). </p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>Here are a few questions you need to ask w/r/t the St. George program:</p>

<p>1) How many US students have completed the program within the past 3 years? How many enrolled initially?</p>

<p>2) What were the USMLE scores of the US students? (Ask for detailed numbers–average, mean, SD, not a just a vague range.)</p>

<p>3) What percentage of US students passed the USMLE Step1 on their first try? What percentage passed Step 2 CS on their first try? Passed Step CK on their first try?</p>

<p>4) Where have US St. George students who have graduated within the past 3 tears matched? What specialties? (Again, ask for specifics.)</p>

<p>Unless you can get clear and convincing answers from the St. George representative, don’t go there. </p>

3

<p>MD>DO>>>>foreign MD. Each one of those “>” represents a 10% change in your chance of getting a residency. I’m on my phone or I would link you to it but look at charting outcomes in the match 2011. Other than a major disciplinary violation or failing a licensing exam there is nothing as damaging to your chances of getting into residency as getting your MD overseas. This is in contrast to DO where instead of a 90-95% chance of matching like a US MD you have ~85% chance of matching (foreign MD is 40-45%). In fact, I just saw recently that US MDs who fail to match and have to do it again still have a better chance of getting a residency spot than a foreign MD.</p>

<p>If you really want to be a physician in the US and you can’t get into a US MD school you absolutely must think DO.</p>

4

<p>Just chiming in to agree with the above posters. You might note that WOWM is a mom of a med student and a future med student, IWBB is a med student, and I too am a med student. </p>

<p>Knowing what I do now about med school and residency, in no way would I ever recommend anyone I care about to go to school overseas. My first reaction to hearing of people I know going overseas for med school is some mix of anger and annoyance because it is clear that they do not understand the implications of that decision, and I think it is sad to watch them potentially throw away a HUGE investment of time, money, and energy should they not match.</p>

<p>Deciding what specialty you want to pursue is exciting. Applying for residency should be exciting, but really, it’s pretty intimidating and kind of dreadful. It is clear that the environment is very competitive, especially for good programs in any specialty (even traditionally less competitive specialties have quite competitive programs). I believe I am in a fine position in terms of my candidacy for my desired field, but there is still some anxiety about where I will match when I graduate. I absolutely cannot imagine the dread of applying with the knowledge that there is a painfully high likelihood that I will not match to any program at all. </p>

<p>Please do yourself a huge favor and collect all the data WOWM recommended. Don’t dismiss the data with the assumption that you will be the lucky one who will be the one to match; while you are likely a wonderful, bright, smart person, should you go to med school, you will be facing increasingly stiff competition from similarly wonderful, bright, smart people. </p>

<p>If I were in your shoes, in no way would I consider going abroad for medical school. I would choose US MD, US DO, or an alternative medical career before considering medical school abroad. I might even go so far to say that anyone who enthusiastically recommends med school abroad as a viable alternative to US med schools probably knows very little about the current state of medical education (at the med school and residency level) and would be very cautious about following their advice.</p>

5

<p>Have you looked into PA programs?</p>

<p>If your MCAT scores are not high, the GPA and MCAT will not make it easy to get into medical programs.</p>

<p>What do your school advisors and department advisors say? They know you. Maybe they can give you direction.</p>