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| The caribbean way..."Don't worry, be happy" |
First semester is done! Only four more to go haha. Looking back it seems like it went by fast, let's hope the rest will be the same.
Looking forward to jumping on a flight home tomorrow morning. A little surreal to say I am heading home tomorrow... especially since I am typing this while sitting in the living room of my new apartment :). My new home for the next year. I moved in last night, unpacked this morning and spent the rest of the day hiking "The Ladder" down to the caribbean sea. Nothing better than to lie in the sun with the sound of waves crashing against the rocks. Although I have to admit it felt a little weird just sitting and enjoying the weather!
Class of January '11, congratulations!! To the incoming 1st semesters get ready for a fun ride. See you on the rock in 2 weeks
Class of January '11
Congrats on successfully completing your first semester!
ReplyDeleteBtw-I've enjoyed reading your posts and the wonderful pictures you've posted
Congratulation on finishing 1st semester of med school! I really enjoy reading your blog because like you, I'm also a student in Ontario and want to pursue a career in medicine. I am also looking to apply to Saba and was just wondering why you chose Saba over the other top 3 carib schools.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of Carib med schools, I was told that returning to Canada for residency and to practice as an IMG is an extremely difficult and troublesome process, while matching for residency is less difficult in the states for Canadian students. Based on your experience and from what you've heard from upper year students, do you know how difficult it is for Canadian Caribbean students to match into US residency spots? Let's say out of 10 students, how many will match successfully assuming that they passed their USMLE steps 1 and 2? Also, knowing these risks, what was your reasoning to still choose to go to Saba? I would love to hear your honest opinion on these questions as they will really help me decide if Carib is the right choice for me.
Lastly, what is the curriculum like at Saba? Aside from exams, are there assignments, papers/ essays, presentations, etc. (similar to Undergrad classes)?
Thank you sooooo much for starting this wonderful blog and I look forward in hearing back from you :)
Best Regards,
CY
@Zeinab: thank you for following :)
ReplyDelete@CY: Big question. Ultimately I went with a gut feeling and because one of my good friends was in 5th semester and he was happy with the school and their results. Saba is the smallest of the top 3 but we have a 98% pass rate on the USMLE Step 1 which is a great statistic as the Step 1 is possibly the most important test we would take. It is looked at for clinical placements as well as when applying for residencies. Matching to the US is not too bad. Most students that graduate from the basic sciences and do well in Clinicals match into a residency spot (some match in Canada as well but I would not come in thinking that I only want to apply to Canadian residencies because, realistically, it is hard to go to Canada directly). If you look at the most recent match list I think there were 8-10 students that matched in Canada (like plastic surgery at Toronto General Hospital I think).
In my opinion Saba has its positives and negatives. It does prepare you well for Step 1, there are no distractions, SMALL classes.. and so on. It is a way to get to where you want to go if you work at it and put in the time. Not easy, but doable. I can't tell you if Saba is right for you but I would definitely consider it.
As for the curriculum there are some presentations and "projects" included in some classes to split up the rote classroom learning however, it is mostly lecture style and based on the multiple choice tests. Compared to undergrad it is more focused on self motivation and self learning. The material is a lot and condensed in a short amount of time so you usually don't understand everything in class. I hope this helps! If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask. thanks for reading my blog :)