Thinking of Medical school in the Caribbean? Think again says NY.

Originally, I was going to post a series of interesting news about medical students in Canada. Indeed, during my search I came across at least a couple of  things I wanted to discuss with you. That was until I came across a really relevant article in the NY Times. As I have written previously about the Caribbean schools - even that little guide stirred some debate in the comments. It seems everything is changing these days - MCAT requirements and autobiographical sketches being dropped in favor of other methods of selection (more on that in a later article), MCAT itself being in the process of being changed, MMI's replacing the traditional interviews, emphasis in medical schools switching from specialist medicine to general practice... Well, now the New York state schools are getting on board of the anti-Caribbean train (somehow, I am not surprised). Read the article and let me know what you think in the comments section:

  1. Do you think Caribbean graduates are less competent? If so, why?
  2. Should the Caribbean continue to supply U.S. with doctors? If not, where would you realistically get the difference?
  Medical Schools in Region Fight Caribbean Flow

For a generation, medical schools in the Caribbean have attracted thousands of American students to their tiny island havens by promising that during their third and fourth years, the students would get crucial training in United States hospitals, especially in New York State. [more after the jump]

Poll: How far are you really willing to move for medschool




3 things every medical school is looking for in an applicant

When you apply to medical school, the majority of you will consider it a success if you get admitted regardless of where you will have to spend the next four years. Sure, a small proportion will actually have to (ehm-ehm) make a choice, an even smaller group will be so set on a specific school that they will actually refuse an acceptance from anywhere else, a minute bunch will not even apply country-wide. For the rest of us, admissions will indeed be a victory, because any Canadian university grants the same MD degree that will allow you to work anywhere in North America and then some.

Keeping that in mind, you have to understand that admissions committees, aka the people that will ruin your life, aka the people that will make you wet your pants from joy are considering many more candidates than they can accept. Obvious? Great!

How Modality Inc sticks you in the...


This will be my take on 3 apps from the Modality Inc factory of junk: Rohen's Photographic Anatomy Flash Cards, Clemente's Anatomy Flash Cards and Moore's Clinical Anatomy Flash Cards.

Disclaimer: I can only talk about Rohen's cards and Netter's Flash Cards, but since the previews (on the maker website/iTunes app store) are similar and the maker is one and the same, I will assume homogeneity between the three apps.

It is outraging to me how unbelievably unprofessional Modality had become. At the hefty price of 24.99 - a third of the cost of the FULL textbook (Moore, Clemente, Rohen or even Netter) - you get about 5% content of the physical volumes. With blatant mistakes. Conducive to learning, as my teachers would put it. My gripes:

- Mislabeled structures. Ex: Mislabeled penile urethra and corpus cavernosum. What if I wanted to learn ahead and would actually memorize this?
- Lack of structures: Whereas Rohen the book (which I own) has on average 20-40 labels per diagram, this piece of app has 2-3. The images are often 40-70% of the complete image in the hard-copy - this makes it sometimes very hard to figure out where you are, since you are missing key landmarks (a testimony that the program was created by programmers, not medical professionals). I have a good feeling that had they put the full image, we would be able to figure out a way to navigate it with the iPhone gestures. For that price I would appreciate to have at least 10-12 labels. Remember: this is not a 5$ app.
- Lack of details: no information on the structures at the 'back of the card'
- No landscape, really??!!

Conclusion: The trio of apps from Modality Inc. is not worth your money. It will not save you time by making your heavy books portable, rather it will give you an illusion of knowledge. I can only recommend the Netter's Flash cards, which were produced - at least so it feels - by a completely different team, in the times when apps were not mass-stamped to reach economies of scale, but created to advance knowledge and produce more qualified med students.

Couldn't resist

http://s1.b3ta.com/host/creative/1279/1264637379/blutack.jpg


Some meaningful posts coming soon. I couldn't resist this one, especially in light of recent problems with not even a year old piece of equipment from Apple. Thank God for 1 year warranties.

Poll: What is (was) your plan B?





The *Other* category had the following answers:
  • Become a science teacher
  • Military
  • I would apply to pharmacy/graduate studies and apply med again each year
  • Public Health (ideally for the WHO)
  • Computer science

So you like the beach? (or how to get into the Caribbean medical schools)


First and foremost, Happy New 2010 Year!

I know that I had specifically said that this website would be concerned only with Canadian medical school application and student experience, but let us face it - some less fortunate folks will not be able to get in. No matter what candidate, regardless of their merit, despite their MCAT scores, GPA's and  - the odds of getting in are never 100% (if you don't believe me, read this post by P.L.). As my recent poll showed (link coming soon), some will keep reapplying, but there are only so many times you can waste your money and time. Some will go into research, some will go into public health or choose a related medical career. Nobody, however, at least among the 61 people who responded, said they will try the Caribbean schools. I never considered the option myself, but I feel now that the more choices you have, the more freedom you end up with. Coincidentally, I found an interesting post about the Caribbean medical school applications by Asad Raza, a Toronto undegrad graduate who studied at one of the Caribbean schools.