Valuemd

There are threads and posts valueMD a not so pretty picture of St. Matthew's University. There are some good and bad posts about bribery and scams. I am not too sure the credibility of the sources. I'm referring to the Vet school side of this.
What the reality of the situation, anyone who has been here?

Sorry if this is a little lengthy.
I'm really torn between continuing to pursue medicine or to change gears slightly and shoot for physical therapy school instead. I have had two unsuccessful cycles with med school applications, and I'm beginning to think that the degree of sacrifice that goes into becoming a doctor just isn't worth it for me anymore. I'm not one of those people who has their heart set on medicine and can't see themselves doing anything else. I think I would very much enjoy being a doctor, once I'm actually in that position, but I don't know if it makes sense to keep trying because I could likely be happy with several other careers. I have had to go to PT a few times over the past 5-6 years. The first time I went, I ended up really wanting to go to PT school but my dad (a physician) convinced me that I would be better suited for medical school. The idea that I could still focus on the muskuloskeletal system if I go into sports medicine, PMR, or ortho, was definitely appealing, and I would have more authority when it comes to the patient's recovery plan. However, it's difficult for me to remember if I let my dad persuade me to switch to medicine, or if I really weighed the two career options and made an informed decision. The fact that I'm completely fed up with the med school process and unsure if I'm willing to put in the sacrifice to become a doctor makes me think that it's the former. I also need to mention that I have been seeing a PT for the past two weeks for postural problems that I developed during a long depressive period in my life (my best friend killed himself), and I've been getting that same spark that I had when I first went to PT.
I have done a fair amount of both physician shadowing and hospital volunteering, so I know what it's like to be a doctor. I also grew up with my dad who was and is still a practicing physician. I've been a PT patient for around 100 hours total, so I have a good idea of what it's like to be a PT at least in an outpatient, high population clinic, but I need to do some exploring to see exactly the kinds of opportunities I would have if I went that route. AFAIK, PT is a pretty flexible career. Both careers seem to appeal pretty equally to me. There are definitely many things I like about each one. It's just difficult to know for certain how much I would enjoy each one relative to the amount of time and effort it would take for me to get there.
That brings me to my current situation. On a whim, I applied to an accredited Caribbean school a few weeks ago. They accepted me a couple weeks after my interview and are willing to give me a very sizable scholarship as long as I accept their offer by the end of this week. I know that most people have negative things to say about Caribbean medical schools (trust me I've done a lot of reading on the subject on premeddit/SDN/valuemd), but I'm confident enough in my academic ability to where I think I would still succeed somewhere like there. It's not a Big 3 school, but it's very close in reputation. I'm just not crazy at all about living thousands of miles away from any of my friends or family. I'm also very accustomed to the conveniences that I have here in the U.S. and I'm not sure if I'd be willing to give those up on top of all the challenges of getting through medical school. The best part is my dad, who was the one who suggested the school in the first place, has been putting an immense amount of pressure on me to take the acceptance and has become verbally aggressive (borderline abusive) in some ass-backwards attempt to get me to see things his way, which obviously doesn't make things easier.
Like I said before, there's a lot more to this story, but I wanted to hear Reddit's impression of my situation so far and see things from your perspective because what I'm lacking right now is more/better perspective. FWIW, I have a 3.8 GPA with >90% MCAT score. I think I wasn't accepted to any of the schools post interview because they weren't convinced that I wanted to become a doctor, but I can't know for sure since hardly any schools give that type of feedback.
TL;DR Interested in PT after being a patient. Switched to premed. Two unsuccessful cycles for US MD/DO but one acceptance to Caribbean school + scholarship. Hesitant to go there. Considering PT again especially after seeing physical therapist recently.
Edit: since this is a throwaway, I might as well tell you the school. It's AUA and they're giving me $80K to go there.
Edit 2: during my first cycle, I received an interview to my state school and to a school in California (where I was living at the time but not my home state). The second cycle, I received interviews at the same two schools plus a DO school in the Midwest.

Hey guys I found this old post on valuemd where a resident posted HY TB questions but without answers. I’m not sure about my answers. Let’s see what you guys think
Q-1 A 27-year old man gets a PPD skin test as he starts his medical residency. He is originally from India and has never been tested before. He has 12 mm of induration and a normal chest x-ray. He had BCG vaccination as a child and a booster at the age of 24. What should be your next step?
A. You apologize for doing the test and say, “Oops! People with previous BCG vaccination should not be PPD tested!”
B. Check three sputum acid-fast stains
C. Repeat the PPD the following year
D. Give him isoniazid and vitamin B6 for 9 months.
Q-2 A 38-year-old, HIV-positive woman finds out that someone at her workplace has tuberculosis. Her PPD at employee health is negative. Her chest x-ray is now normal, and her PPD last year was negative. What should you do next for her?
A. Nothing further is required
B. Repeat the PPD in 3 months
C. Start INH and stop in 3 months if the PPD is negative
D. Start INH for a full 9 months
E. Yearly chest x-rays
Q-3 A 77-year-old man comes to your office for a PPD reading. The patient recalls being told he was PPD-negative 30 years ago. The patient has a history of hypertension, ischemic bowel disease, and gastric cancer, and his medications are prednisone 20 mg daily, multivitamins, and losartan. The patient denies exposure to anyone with active tuberculosis and has lived in Queens, New York, his whole life. He is a retired stockbroker and now works in a homeless shelter. He denies drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco but admits to occasional prostitute relations. You measure an area of erythema of 18 mm and an induration of 11 mm. His chest x-ray is normal. What would your next course of action be?
A. Nothing further is necessary
B. INH for 6 months
C. INH for 9 months
D. Repeat the PPD in 1 year
E. Check three sputum acid-fast stains
Q-3 A 46-year-old man comes to the clinic with a fever, cough, and 20-lb weight loss over the past 10 weeks. The chest x-ray shows a right middle lobe infiltrate with ipsilateral hilar lymphadenopathy. The sputum acid-fast stain is positive. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). His medications are lamivudine, zidovudine, and ritonavir. His CD4 count is 224/μL with an undetectable viral load. The rate of isoniazid resistance is documented to be 6% in his community. Which regimen is the best while waiting for drug susceptibility?
A. INH, rifampin, and pyrazinamide for 2 months, followed by INH and rifampin for 4 months
B. INH, rifampin, and streptomycin for 6 months, and substitute nevirapin for lamivudine
C. INH, rifabutin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol for 6 months, and substitute efavirenz for ritonavir
D. INH, rifabutin, and pyrazinamide for 2 months, followed by INH and rifabutin for 4 months
E. Stop all HIV medications until the treatment for tuberculosis is complete

First, I'd like to say I'm not an expert on economics, the education system, or federal financial aid. I would like to state my opinion and I would like someone with a good argument and evidence to change my view.
Many for-profit schools across the country are marketed as quicker and easier routes to a job, profession, or trade. From what I have read, these schools are not accredited by an organization that is recognized by the majority of traditional American colleges and the credits are not transferable. The education you get from these colleges are mediocre at best, and they often lie about their credentials. Sources for the above statements:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/27/pf/college/devry-university-ftc/
http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/02/pf/college/for-profit-college-degree/
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/10/17/employers-shy-away-from-online-for-profit-graduates
It is my understanding that these schools are usually expensive, and often leave the unemployed graduate in crippling debt. Many of these students end up defaulting on their loans and destroying their whole lives over a false promise that the US government supports by granting them the means to obtain that education through loans.
Furthermore, and this is where I have some expertise, I believe that for-profit medical schools in the Caribbean, which market themselves as an alternative route for US citizens to become doctors, fall along these same lines. These schools accept thousands and thousands of applicants every year who did not have the credentials, grades, or ability to be accepted by a US medical school. The acceptance criteria are many standards of deviation lower when compared to those of US medical schools. These schools charge outrageous prices for the education, with the average debt from a Caribbean program being $300,000-$500,000. Each student is eligible to receive federal funding to attend these off-shore institutions. However, these schools are incredibly poor at placing their graduates into jobs as resident physicians. Only 33% of all the students who enter into an off-shore medical school makes it to graduation and obtains a position inside the US. The rest are left with a worthless degree and crippling debt they are never able to pay off. The US government currently pays for US citizens to attend these offshore scam schools (not just medical schools), and the schools can charge in tuition whatever they wish, because the government would fund them. Sources below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/nyregion/23caribbean.html
http://www.valuemd.com/american-university-caribbean-auc/243777-caribbean-medical-schools-longer-viable-option-md.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/second-chance-med-school.html?_r=0
I firmly believe that for-profit institutions and offshore medical schools are working only for their investors and consider the student nothing more than the product. We need to end US government financial support to students who choose to attend them. I don't care so much that they exist, but that US taxpayer dollars are paying for these scams to exist.
Change my view!

This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes don't change views! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!

Hi all!
premed (and honestly the entire premed population ranging from SDN to people still using hotmail and DSL internet) has needed a resource for many years that shows what going to a for-profit medical school in the Caribbean is really like. I want to preface this with something: anyone is entitled to make an informed decision and go to the Caribbean to get their MD. This post is meant to inform people as much as possible of what going to the Caribbean actually entails. After I do that if they still decide to go... good for them. All I can do is say my piece and let those that want to risk it to go. I will try to be unbiased but quick disclaimer: I am NOT a fan of these for-profit schools and so my post will inevitably be anti-Carib MD. So be it. Here's my disclaimer so don't bring it up. I'm already aware.
Moreover, this post will focus on attrition rates, match rates, debt, and eventually where graduates may end up. I am not going to comment on the actual medical education one may receive. Moreover, please be careful of what the Carib MD schools public themselves. They change their language on purpose.
Let's start at the beginning and progress.
What is a for profit Caribbean school? Are they legit MDs?
Actually yes, they are legit as in you get an MD that you may practice in the US with. Also this post is about offshore medical schools in the Caribbean, not the regional medical schools that are for Caribbean people meant to practice in the Caribbean. I have no opinion about these schools, only the ones made for US students to come back to the US.
Why would someone attend a Carib MD?
Because they cannot get into a US MD. Now whether they can get into a US DO is uncertain-- I have seen many people, including one of my friends, who was perfectly competitive for DO opt to go to a Carib MD chasing the MD. This is a massive mistake. More on this later.
There are 4 main Carib schools that people attend. Of them, the average GPA and MCAT is around a 3.2-3.4 and a 24-27. St. George's has a 3.4/27 average... scores that to me would seem to be competitive for DO. I'll compare DO versus Carib MD later.
St. George's is considered one of the top Carib MDs, how do they perform and match?
Well this is where it gets interesting. SGU has 5200 students enrolled, for an average of 1,300 students per year. Well that's odd, it states their starting class is in Fall 2016 is 952 which includes BOTH start dates as in 2009 each class started with around 430 students with the number increasing. Well that's a huge discrepancy... For whatever reason, there are a lot more "4 year MD students" in the program than those that start. It's widely known that a lot of what makes a Carib school really hard is they have insane checkpoints you must hit to even sit for USMLE or other benchmarks. It's obvious a significant portion of students are NOT hitting them and being held back to perform.
Ok so we have 952 entering students, but an average class size of 1300... Ok then. So if you had 950 extrapolated over 4 years you'd have 3,800 students but there's 5,200 overall students in a 4 YEAR PROGRAM. There are 1,400 students unaccounted for. That's 350 per class that's in purgatory. So out of 952 students, on average 350 of them are taking at least 1 extra year to get through the program.
Well how do they match? You'll hear SGU say they have the most US residency placements for the past 7 years combined. They sure do! They had over 860 residency placements in 2017. Ok so not too bad when you consider the 952 number. That's a 90% rate. Except that 29% of them find residency OUTSIDE of the match (as reported by them). So of the 860 students that matched, only 610 actually found residency in the match. In case you didn't know, you can match OUTSIDE of the match at unfilled programs. By large most of these programs are unfilled for a reason. They're in extremely undesirable locations in undesirable specialties. Applied gen surg and didn't match? You could SOAP into fam med. I don't know about you but my end goal in medical school isn't JUST matching, it's matching into a program I actually at least kind of want to be at.
I've actually glossed over a super important point... If 952 students enter, but each class has an average size of 1300, and only 610 match with another 250sh SOAPing, that's not looking so hot. However, the 952 entering students can't be a part of the students being held back just yet, so years 2-4 you have an average of 1,400 students per class. That's SIGNIFICANTLY more than the 952 that entered. That's scary. And that's of the students that are STILL there. That's not even considering the students that drop out or are dismissed before graduating.
Now the actual match rate doesn't exist because SGU doesn't want you to know, but there's a HUGE disconnect between students who enter, students who actually are enrolled in the program, students who match, and students who SOAP into something. I would estimate SGU has around a 40-50% match rate and a 55-66% overall residency placement from students who start to students who actually end up in residency. In 2013 SGU had around a 66% match rate for US-IMGs. Not only are these numbers not good, they seem to be going down over the years as they increase class size and the match gets more competitive everyday. Whatever the exact numbers may be, we can all agree that 952 entering students average class size of 1400 in years 2-4 860 residency placements is not good. Not good at all.
And this is SGU , one of, if not the "top" carib MD program. It's BAD.
Remember, if you're in the 30-50% who don't match, you're looking at crushing debt and an inability to practice as a physician. Yikes. Other programs have way lower match/placement rates. The smaller programs outside of the Big 4 are so widely bad and have a match rate around 30%.
What are some other match rates? these are all from 2013
Ross has a match rate of 54% among US-IMGs.
Saba has a match rate of 58% among US-IMGs.
Antigua and Barbuda have two Carib MD schools that have a combined match rate of 46%.
The Cayman Islands have St. Matthew's medical school that has an impressive 31.8% match rate.
The medical schools of Saint Kitts and Nevis have a match rate of 45%.
Etc. etc. and etc. But remember, these are the match rates of those that actually applied to the match. Carib MD's have very high attrition rates. Some kick out 50% of their students before they even sit for USMLE Step 1.
Wow that's bad. Let's get some perspective
SGU has around a 50% match rate. US Seniors matching had a 50% match rate INTO THEIR FIRST CHOICE. That is such a massive discrepancy. A lot of people focus on the match % and the overall numbers that they completely neglect where these students are matching and in what fields. Not only that, but some of these schools are in the 30-40% range OVERALL. And remember... these students have most likely been taking out hundreds of thousands worth of loans.
Ok, so is DO a good alternative?
DOs have a 99% placement rate between ACGME and AOA residencies. source, source, and source. You tell me that's not better. It's around 80% MATCH RATE for ACGME residencies with another 6% being able to SOAP, which is what Carib MD's apply into, which is obviously way higher than the 50% match rate of IMG's overall and the 30% of students who need to SOAP into a residency resulting in around a 66% placement rate. It is not only a good alternative, it should be the only option if you cannot get into a US MD.
Still not convinced? Please read more here
Ok I used a lot of numbers here. But what about students experiences? Here's a nice little compilation I've made!
Read up on what a claimed 99% match rate means for Ross University.
Here is another version of this exact write up by Ryndo which is amazing.
Here are how IMGs are fairing getting interviews. Someone with a Step 1 in the 250s is applying family medicine from a Carib top 4 and only received 5 interviews. Imagine that..
Here is a famous blog by a Caribbean student. It's dramatic and he's a pretentious douchebag but it's worth a read.
This is another blog titled "Why SGU may not be for you".
Here's a discussion in medicalschool about going Caribbean. Here is Gonnif's advice from SDN.
At the end of the day it's up to us here at premed to give a warning and information and you as an individual to make an informed risk. Good luck to all that read this and still pursue it-- may you actually make it out.
As always, if anyone wants to add anything please let me know! I know my analysis is not perfect by any means, but the purpose of it is so show how frustratingly difficult it is to get any actual answers from these programs. It's like that for a reason. If anyone has any concrete evidence, numbers, etc please let me know. This will be added to the FAQ and sidebar soon once I get the kinks worked out.
Any comments or questions please post below!

With websites like scutwork and valuemd falling behind the times and rarely if ever being updated where is a neurotic 4th year supposed to go to get info on residency programs prior to interviewing? I know there is Freida and the programs own website but I am interested in what previous/current interns and residents have to say. Workload, actual hours in hospital, teaching quality, etc etc. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Is there a place where there you can find legitimate rankings for each program within a specific specialty for residency? All I can find are people's opinions on studentdoc, valuemd and other similar websites. Thanks.

I'm not talking about information that you find on wikipedia or valuemd! I need some real down to earth info about this school, in particular regarding its clinical rotations and USMLE pass rate.