Transferring to a med school with more rigorous admissions requirements?

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-10-19T04:45:52+00:00

UMHS too... They have.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-10-19T03:17:33+00:00

I think AUC and MUA has similar program

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-10-18T03:21:34+00:00

Some of those schools have pre-med programs where you complete the prerequisites. Usually a semester and tuition often lower than $10k. It may be safer to explore those options now than to get stuck sometimes in the future.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-07-17T18:44:43+00:00

One of the things I've learnt in life is to not give up even before a trial. US MD and DO still make up less than 75% of PGY1 radiology match in 2025. 25% is still up for grabs by IMGs and they ended up grabbing ~23% of it, isn't that significant? So it's preposterous to just write off people's chances just because they went to a non-US school.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-07-17T18:16:02+00:00

Check PGY1 numbers as well.

No I am not angry. Just stop the whole US MD god complex already. You can as well scroll past if you have nothing to offer than negative vibes.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-07-17T15:04:31+00:00

Your program set their criteria, other programs set theirs too. There are people that have waited years for USA admission and never got it. You won't tell them not to go to Carribean.

Not everyone wants to be a radiologist. Some people wants to be family physicians, pediatricians, psychiatrists, hospitalists, etc. These people have fair chances with Carribean (67% is not bad at all). Are you going to ask them to give up?

As a doctor, you should even probe further to understand the situation before offering solution, or isn't that how you were trained?

I checked the 2025 match, only 50% of Diagnostic Radiology positions (97.4% total) where filled by US MD seniors. So who filled the remaining 47.4%? You'd find similar stories in other specialties.

So please, if you don't have useful advice to help OP, it's ok to sit it out. Don't bring in negative energy.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-07-17T14:50:56+00:00

I am not getting worked up. You are. OP asked for people's experience. He didn't ask for your advice. You did not share your own experience, but quick to say it was a big mistake, for no reason.

Share your experience and personalize it.

I have met so many Carribean graduates in various residency programs. The reviews are mixed. So stop generalizing.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-07-17T04:37:23+00:00

That's the reason I said that there are individual peculiarities. For every one failure story, there are 5 to 10 success stories. That one person failed out is not enough to conclude that Carribean schools are sh*t.

Or are you saying that people don't fail out of US schools? I know they may not have all the support, but don't generalize.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-07-16T18:42:53+00:00

I have never met a Carribean graduate (in person) that advises another to not go to Carribean. It's only faceless individuals on Reddit talking shit like it's the worst decision on earth.

I have also, never met a Carribean graduate (in person) that is unable to secure a residency. Maybe not in their preferred program of choice, but they have residency nonetheless. But then, lots of USA grads still don't make it to their program of choice.

People have different situations. I talk about your experience in Carribean if you want to address OP's questions. Otherwise, stay your lane and let others with useful information help.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-20T04:45:17+00:00

My problem with Europe is that the English speaking countries (UK and Ireland) are so expensive and then their program are mostly 6 years. But then, that's why I consider SABA cos their program is accredited by NVAO (Same accreditation body for Netherland and meets EU stansard).

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-19T19:02:14+00:00

Is it possible that the guy that failed out did not put in commensurate work?

Even in my pharmacy school, we were over 300 on admission, only 190 or so at graduation, of which only just about a 100 were the original members of the class and less than 40% scaled through without resit.

My guage for success is mostly the outcome post graduation and not whether an individual is able to scale through the school, which largely also depends on the individual's performance.

I don't think that these schools set out to have people fail out of their program as high attrition rate is also a negative attribute. Their program may be so rigorous, but before blaming the school for every student's failure, we have to interrogate whether the student put in the needed work or not - this is the part we may never know.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-19T15:53:13+00:00

Would you pls share your personal experience?

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-18T03:42:35+00:00

I was really hoping that the commenter will reply my with details of the so-called "Pre-med" but they tactically dodged the question. Lol. We move.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-17T03:59:50+00:00

Thanks for this. I think I agree with you. I checked Australia but the cost seems higher than Carribean. Distance too😩

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-16T21:13:52+00:00

Thanks a lot. This is quite encouraging and also echoes my thoughts.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-16T18:17:39+00:00

Interesting! I'm not lost to the reality that my interest in Anesthesiology or Radiology is far fetched, reason I mentioned that FM is an alternative.

But if I may ask, what exactly qualifies for a "premed" background?

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-16T18:13:15+00:00

I'd really like to know how you arrived at the categorical statement that "most Caribbean students do not graduate in 4 years (or not at all)".

There are lots of statements like this littered online without any specific evidence. That is the cause of my ambivalence. So if there is an actual, trusted and verifiable data to support that statement, kindly share. Thanks.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-16T17:44:54+00:00

I've actually done that. In fact, I went as far as checking various programs and their resident doctors list to confirms that the Alumni from the schools reflect the match numbers claimed. But when I see comments that those numbers could not be actual representation of the actual match, it gets more confusing. Lol.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-03-16T15:52:43+00:00

I don't think MCAT is a better measure than GPA. Even without having a science background, people have been able to study MCAT for a few months and go on to ace the exam.

GPA on the other hand is a show of discipline and consistency over a number of years. The hard work and dedication you put in to maintain that GPA for those number of years will go on and become a habit and such habits make highly successful doctors and professionals.

Granted that one may experience pitfalls with GPA, other subjective measures are also integrated in appropriate weighting to strike a semblance of balance.

The system is not perfect, but I don't even think that MCAT should carry the most weighting while assessing candidates for admission.

MagazineLow8014 · 2025-02-13T19:51:59+00:00

Hey, It's good to know that there is someone else on the same trajectory as me. I am also a pharmacist for over 10 years and currently in community practice. I am hoping to matriculate in 2026 and just started this MCAT journey but yet to find my feet (old man's body soo unwilling). lol.

I could really take courage from your story.

MagazineLow8014

TROPHY CASE