sgusomcorruption

The more things change the more they remain the same

Unfortunately, it seems that Tameer has discontinued her website/blog for sometime now. It is a shame. The truth needs to be revealed.

Tameer, if you are reading this please reconsider. The people need to know.

“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me”

A valuemd(d0t)com Post Illustrating SGU’s Endemic and Overarching Corruption

This post by “Delanooch37” is highly relevant in revealing the endemic corruption present within the annals of SGUSOM.

I suggest that it be more widely read. It can be found here.

Copy of replies from Tameer Siddiqui’s SGU blog

Terrance McGill link

7/24/2015 22:52:52

This was a much needed post! Unfortunately, it is hard to obtain information such as this from the caribbean medical schools themeselves, so I’m sure it will be very valuable for many prospective medical students. I truly hope that all goes well for you moving forward!

Huncamunca

7/26/2015 12:42:48

Thank you for writing this. I too went to SGU with a high hopes and idealism and was stunned by the numbers of students who dropped out early or ended up getting dismissed over fractions of a point. 779 were admitted with me, and by term 2 there were only ~500 or so. There is no way the dropout rate at SGU is 6% or even 10%. While I have made great friends, I must say that if I had known what SGU was like before I got here I wouldn’t have chosen it. Everything said in this post is true, and possibly worse.

Arif khan

7/29/2015 21:57:54

I would say dropout rate at SGU is 60%. It is amazing that they lie and getting away. They never reveal the real dropout rate.

Adam

7/31/2015 01:46:31

Can you source that?

Adam

7/31/2015 02:24:10

I can second this. Around 150 of the 700-800 starting kids in my class either deceled or dropped medical school. Most party or fool around.

Mark

7/31/2015 03:37:29

I am on the campus for three years. What you are showing these numbers are not total numbers. I have been watching and counting white coats. When you see the seas of white coats you can easily see and count how many coming in and how many there are in term 5. This is not rocket science. I can tell the dropout rate is over 60%. These thugs will never release the real numbers. I would say over 60%.

Adam

7/31/2015 04:37:40

Mark if you so claim that 60% is the actual attrition rate, then cite your source. You counting white coats isn’t exactly more valid than the numbers SGU excretes out. So try again

7/26/2015 21:52:40

Solid post. Current term 5 and was in your physio class and I’ve got to say this was spot on. A big part of me choosing SGU was their rotations but little did I know how much of a struggle just getting through basic sciences would be.

Ryan

7/30/2015 17:53:47

I am considering SGU, and their stats are amazing, but you are saying totally different things. How can someone get real information about SGU?

7/30/2015 19:40:06

You can not. Dropout rate is extremely high. Most probably after spending $200,00, you will be kicked out.

Greg

7/30/2015 21:56:24

Ryan, look for a small school, which has good clinical rotation and good residency results. SGU is way too big and corrupt. Even though they have a very good clinical and residency results but it is for very few. You will have a very little chance to be with the top cream of the cream. I rather look for some other school who has good results for residency. SGU will try to sell you that they are the only one. Don’t buy that. There lot more good one honest in the market. Do some homework and stay away from SGU. Good Luck

7/31/2015 00:41:08

Ryan, I am at SGU. Not a good place. If you get selected, most likely you will be in 60%.

Ryan

7/31/2015 01:36:01

Y and j2 , I would like to see the SGU campus before deciding. What are your suggestions? How can I see the reality?

Adam

7/31/2015 01:45:44

It’s honestly pathetic for people to lash out their own anger and frustrstion by telling you “you won’t make it”. If you have a relatively good science foundation, use the appropriate resources that are abundantly available at the school, and can work with speed and drive…you WILL make it.

Can someone link me to the source where 60% is the number for attrition rate?

Ryan

7/31/2015 06:55:08

Hey Greg , can you give some example of small and honest schools?

Ryan

7/31/2015 08:51:08

Hi y, why can’t I get the information? And you seem like you have it, what is the difference between me and you. I am trying to make an eeducated decision and I need help

Gopal Rao

7/27/2015 22:15:04

I just kicked out of the school. I was at SGU over two years. Last two years they collected over $150,000 from me which I believe is a criminal act. I have decided do picketing outside the hotels of their information sesion in every single city throughout United States. These are thugs and getting away from this type of crime. They take over three times than suppose to take.

Ganesh Reddy

7/27/2015 22:23:57

These four thugs are commiting crime against humanity. They have devastated life of many families. New York Times article does not give a correct picture. I urge the suffering families to write to New York Times. Recently they sold the school but still have lots of influence. In my dictionary these four thugs are criminals.

7/30/2015 17:45:07

Who are the 4 thugs you are referring ?

Huncamunca

7/30/2015 22:19:57

The “4 thugs” may be the founders, but the majority of ownership now lies with unnamed non-US investors. I’ve wondered if they are the root of the changes at SGU and that they may have little understanding of Western ethics.Hard to know because it is all secret.

Asma Khan

7/27/2015 22:26:45

Wonderful Blog. Can US Congress do something to put these four con artists behind bar?

Sarah G

8/24/2015 03:50:27

Asma, if you do enough digging through congressional hearings you will be able to find out that many of the unscrupulous actions taken by the school have been authorized by congress. Just go to the appropriate .gov website and do a search for the university.

Raja Hasan

7/28/2015 04:25:25

Excellent article. SGU is hell on earth. They all lie. Never give correct picture. My dahghter just got dismissed after almost 2 years on the island. Over 60% of the admitted students quit (dismissed). They are con srtists and getting away from many years. Please write to New York Times and Washington Post and US Senate. I know they can not do anything but still it is good to let as many people as possible.

Asma Khan

7/28/2015 23:12:41

On SGU web page “More than 820 US residencies in 2015” This may be true statement but don’t say out of 3000 and don’t say what happened to 2180 students and their families. You said it right” They are in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt not to mention emotionally devastated, lost, depressed and confused.” You also said it right “it is unjust, immoral and unethical.” I add borderline Criminal.

7/29/2015 03:14:15

Very good blog. I was at SGU in MD program too. I got dismissed. I am a teacher in a very good university in U.S. I talked to few physicians here in USA. They told me that, this school was never like this before. Greediness did it.

Adam

7/30/2015 05:32:51

The problem with your “cream of the crop” theory is that students who apply to Carribbean schools don’t have strong numbers to begin with and otherwise wouldn’t get in had these schools carried out their admission process like U.S. medical schools.

Not to say SGU isn’t greedy, because they are, but the school simultaneously represents a reset button for everyone including the student with a 2.2 undergraduate GPA or the “B” average student who only had those “close but no cigar” numbers for U.S schools. It gives everyone a fair chance to redeem themselves for whatever mistakes or difficulties they may have experienced during their college days when grades really did matter.

As for the residency selection process, I’m glad they weed out people because I don’t want anybody to just represent my university. I want someone who learned from their mistakes or poor studying habits in college and learned how to be self-sufficient afterwards. I knew coming in that the education and its policies as a whole at SGU wasn’t going to be amazing or worthwhile but at the same time I was smart enough to know I had no other option. Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to the last resort.

Arif khan

7/30/2015 11:51:56

Adam, You are dead wrong. You tell me, how are you going to find the real dropout rate. What type of research?

Bee

7/30/2015 06:26:44

Even if SGU students were “beggers” (which I don’t think they are) they still deserve to be treated honestly and with dignity. I have been wondering how long it would take SGU marketers to find this post and start countering it.

Adam

7/30/2015 08:44:41

Well wait a little longer because I’m a student here, not one of their promo guys 😉

SGU and other Caribbean schools are first and foremost businesses and like any business they need to exploit the consumer’s disadvantage or condition to get their money. They can put the foot bill at any price they want. It’s your responsibility to know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s not deception; it’s lack of research and as the author stated getting to “ask the right questions”.

7/30/2015 12:11:28

What type of research I should do to find out 60% dropout rate.

Adam

7/30/2015 13:58:50

Y, probably the same mysterious sources that gave you the 60% number.

Knowing the exact number versus someone like me telling you a crap load of people drop out of each class gives you relatively the same information and warning about attrition rate.

7/30/2015 19:45:44

Adam, It is a very high level gambling. Why don’t they give the real dropout rate? Why lie? Why cheat innocent people?

Greg

7/30/2015 22:41:53

Adam, Honestly this is cheating and robbing innocent people. Enrolling way too many and kick 60% out the door. Be honest!

Adam

7/31/2015 01:37:58

Again, it depends upon how badly you want to do medicine. Either reapply year after year for the US acceptance or take the risk and get your life started at SGU.

I am however in no way defending SGU because their strict dismissal policy is disgusting but it is naive to think all advertisment you see in life is 100% valid without any twist of information. Businesses are not required to be ethical like us doctors.

7/31/2015 08:25:43

Adam; would you mind providing an email? You seem like the only objective on this comments

Heero

10/12/2015 20:43:18

man that is the realest statement I have heard all day…

Mark

7/31/2015 05:33:00

Adam, your numbers 700-800 are way off. The real number is over 1,500. Dropout rate is over 60%. I am working on it. I will give you approximate year by year enrollment and the final number of graduates. Again this will be approximate. Real numbers have to come from SGU.

Adam

7/31/2015 05:48:30

I’m referring to my own starting class in which we started with 800 or so kids and ended up with around 600 in Term 2. What we also have to include are the students who deceled in Term 2 as well.

Anywho, whine all you want. Whether it’s 20% or 75%, if you work your ass off and know how to be self-sufficient like adults should be like, you’ll get to the end.

Mark

7/31/2015 06:33:31

Adam, Most of them working their ass off. Very few reaching to the end. These hard working kids coming from all around the world to study. They are not coming to fool around. It’s not them. It’s the unfair system. They got sucked in.

Adam

7/31/2015 08:07:07

The kid who sat next to you in the lecture hall that made it through the first two years has the same exact chance as you to get through it. Don’t play the victim card and blame the system no matter how greedy or unethical it is. You get over life’s humps by working through it not by asking for easy routes and friendly honest people.

Granted the university is a dishonest system, it doesn’t mean you have to be naive to think it was gonna be a walk in the park. With 800 kids in the class, OF COURSE you are competing with them as well as the thousands of applicants in the U.S. Be real.

Mark

7/31/2015 08:27:55

Adam, I am real. You are not. We are lucky that we are in 40%. Good luck for you so you can stay in 40%.

Ryan

7/31/2015 08:47:14

If you are real , back your claim and put your source , I like to see it

7/31/2015 19:46:46

Ryan, Do some research before you make your decision. SGU may not be for you. Read this and other blogs.

7/31/2015 22:16:42

In American school, getting in is difficult. Once you get in, most probably you will graduate. Here at SGU, if you get in, most probably you will not graduate with 40%.

Adam

8/1/2015 01:08:01

Where is this 60% coming from ?! Cite your sources!

Ryan

8/1/2015 01:32:35

Can you suggest some blogs to me? I have been doing a lot of research but most blogs say really positive things for SGU, even the Kevin Ly’s blog (Tameer recommended) tells good things about SGU. So far, Tameer’s last blog is the only one to state negative side of SGU and that is why I am interested to see if what she stated are real facts or not.

Ryan

8/1/2015 01:46:49

Adam

8/1/2015 02:22:20

Blogs are helpful and must be taken with a heavy pinch of salt. I would suggest finding a human being to discuss your options. In that way, your questions and concerns are directly answered.

8/1/2015 01:48:38

Adam, You tell me the number. I will go with that.

Adam

8/1/2015 02:20:17

I don’t have a number because I really don’t know the actual attrition rate. It amazes me how posters criticize SGU for false advertisement when they are pulling out random percentages based on “what they have seen”!

All I will say is that a fair good heavy # of students drop and because either: (1)they failed a class because they had poor use of time and thought they were on vacation (2) were too pampered in America and couldn’t handle 3rd world or (3) had a legitimate, unfortunate family situation. Blaming anyone else but yourself for your failure is pathetic no matter how hard or annoying people make the road for you.

Ryan

8/1/2015 03:15:57

Great point on blogs, but I tried to find real student to talk to , however I am not successful to find someone to talk to. I would appreciate if you could help me,

8/1/2015 03:27:12

Adam, I don’t like your kiss …. Approach. I met more sad than happy people from SGU. Anyway thanks.

Adam

8/1/2015 04:49:36

LOL. EVERYONE gets sad when they have to go six months at a time thousands of miles away home from family, home food, and the luxuries they grew up with.

The dishonest and annoying policies at the school will leave a bitter taste in many students but at the end of the day when it’s all done we are grateful that we got that second chance that U.S. schools didn’t want to give us to carry out our dreams no matter the financial and very emotional sacrifices.

Ryan

8/1/2015 05:30:10

Adam- Can you help me find current student to find the first hand answers to those critical questions? I talked to students employed by SGU , but I am not sure how correct their opinions are

8/1/2015 05:16:35

Second chance at what cost? That matters. Specially dealing with these thugs.

Adam

8/1/2015 05:32:54

They are the seller and you are the consumer. They can put the price at whatever they wish and you have the decision to take it or leave it with knowledge of risks and benefits that you yourself can weigh. I am not saying what they do is right by any means but that’s how the real world works.

As for these “thugs”, I wouldn’t have become a doctor had these “thugs” not existed due to my very poor undergraduate numbers that weren’t even good enough for DO admission.

8/1/2015 05:47:35

Other Caribbean schools are much better. Don’t say that these thugs are the only one bringing doctors to USA from Caribbean. You pay big price to attend SGU. You will never be same after the mental trauma given to you by these thugs. Read this and other blogs. Don’t read kiss …. Blogs.

Ryan

8/1/2015 06:14:47

J3- can you please elaborate on ” other blogs”? you keep saying the same things over and over, I started thinking that you are robot

Huncamunca

8/1/2015 06:06:20

Ryan, and any other potential students looking to get answers, you might consider joining one of the SGU facebook groups. This on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SGUSOMJanuary2015/ is for students admitted in January 2015. You will probably get a wide variety of opinions if you post a question there, but you would have the ability to contact people directly. The page includes current and former students, people in other classes and SGU administrators.
Good luck. SGU has some wonderful qualities as well as some appalling ones. The student body includes some of the most amazing people I have ever met. As a whole, the students are supportive, kind, generous and very unlike the stereotyped “pre-med.” If you decide to go, you will be in good company.

Ryan

8/1/2015 06:11:53

Humcamunca- thank you very much, I will do that, as far as I understand from your previous comment , you were not very satisfied by SGU. I would like to know what was some negatives that you faced, here is my email is you like to email me, j_rite1980@yahoo.com

8/1/2015 07:56:57

Huncamunca, Thanks for helping Ryan.

8/4/2015 13:14:11

I also went to SGU with high hopes. Got dismissed after one and half years on campus. Lost money, lost hopes. Very bad school. They enroll way too many and dismiss over 50% for very minor things. I would not have gone if new the unfair policies. Other schools try to help you so you graduate. Here they want to kick you out after collecting over $100,000. Very unfair and unjust.

Adam

8/4/2015 13:31:46

Can you specify what these “minor” things include?

I do agree with you though on how SGU leaves their students completely in the dark when they begin to sense they are in trouble. It’s sink or swim over there; not like in U.S. schools where they constantly baby you until you pass.

8/24/2015 07:45:24

Minor things:

1. Computer failures are considered the student’s fault. If a student has a computer malfunction during a test, good luck. *Many* people I personally know have decelled because of this.

2. Miscommunications between administration officials have cost students their seat in a particular term or have gotten them kicked out of school. Something as simple as a course director not remembering a conversation will cost points and possibly push a student back a semester.

3. Any life situation (death in the family, illness, etc.) will automatically decel a student. Cases in point:

— Female student broke her back, was forced to take LOA

— Female student diagnosed with cancer, came back in time to finish her classes but was denied and forced to retake all classes

— Male student with family of 3 was kicked out after his mother died half way through the term (he couldn’t decel because he had already decelled a previous term). He was 2 points away from passing one class and was not given a chance to take a make-up exam.

— Female student who was attacked outside of school and suffered head trauma was forced to repeat all her classes.

8/4/2015 20:26:28

Adam, I failed only one course in term 2 by fraction of a point. Not second time, first time. I didn’t even decell this course. My appeal denied and I was kicked out. Is this fair & just? No medical school in the world does this inhumane behavior.

8/4/2015 21:04:48

Adam, what I learned is that they have to kick certain percentage out the door. If the students are doing good, they raise the passing grade until they reach their goal. What a cheap way of making money. You see how many times they raised the passing grade. This is bad.

8/5/2015 03:44:41

M3, It happened to me too. In 2nd term I failed in one course by 1 point. My appeal to repeat was denied. I am home and trying to get into some other Caribbean medical school. I hope to get in a good and fair school. Wish me luck. What are you doing now.

Mike

8/5/2015 19:40:35

I agree with the author 100%. Last year I was dismissed for failing one course. I would not have gone if I knew that SGU Medical school is this bad. I got admitted to DO program in U.S. but I wanted to get a MD. That was my mistake.

A Former Student

8/6/2015 07:27:50

I was a former student there. Can’t agree with this post more. SGU is a big scam. Even if you are a stellar student, you will struggle here. They are a for-profit school that is focused on being #1…in the Caribbean. You can breathe a sigh of relief once you get to term 5 but that will not come easy. I saw people losing their minds at SGU. Try getting into a US MD or DO program, if that honestly doesn’t work out, DO NOT COME TO SGU! Go to another accredited Caribbean school that actually cares about seeing you succeed.

Mike

8/6/2015 08:50:53

A Former Student, I agree with you. SGU is a big scam. How they are getting away for so long. They destroyed the lives of so many innocent people. Thanks to the author of this blog for exposing SGU. God bless her.

D C

8/6/2015 14:47:42

Great post. I was thinking of starting my own blog about my experience at SGU but you beat me to it!

Surviving SGU is not about smarts; it’s about strategy. Are people still using the Mac Daddy files? The school teaches us about ethics but they won’t confiscate the Mac Daddy files.

To any prospective student out there, the thing that scared me the most at SGU was that 80-90% of the students there should not even be doctors in the first place. I met so many people down there who I would not want taking care of me or my family. There are some great students at SGU most of them are doing it for the money or because their parents are pushing them and US schools know this and that is why they reject these students. SGU is no Harvard of the Caribbean…trust me. Don’t let the size of the campus fool you; it’s all for show.

SGU has the potential to be an exceptional school but all they care about is profits and when all you care about is profits, the quality of your product will suffer.

Sadly, you can only truly understand what Tameer is saying only if you attend the school and experience it for yourself.

Shame on SGU

Mike

8/6/2015 20:37:44

DC, excellent. SGU IS A BIG SCAM. New York Times and Washington Posts should do to prevent further suffering of innocent students mostly Americans. I was one of the the American who suffered big time.

L A

8/6/2015 21:41:38

I was on the island for two years.Last year I was dismissed from SGU Medical. I lost everything, time, money and mind. THIS IS A VERY BAD PLACE. I didn’t know. I should not have gone there. I learned the hard way.

Huncamunca

8/6/2015 22:30:25

I’d have to disagree with the negative blanket statements about “most” students at SGU, but I do think the atmosphere at SGU needs to change if the school wants to keep it’s well-managed reputation. Fear, especially fear for one’s survival, does not bring out the best in people. I’ll add here a brief warning to incoming students: The first unified quiz is important. Last year a very large proportion of the class failed. So many failed that students did not take it seriously. I remember one student brushing off the results with a “I’m not worried, they couldn’t possibly fail out this many students.” They can.

One of first things that hit me at SGU was the way student questions were answered. The most frequent response was “you don’t need to know that,” followed by “that won’t be on the test.” SGU is training people to take tests and do well on Step 1 and not, particularly, to learn about the human body. Hopefully those who survive to become physicians will be able to get past that mindset. I hope SGU will too.

8/6/2015 23:21:26

When you say that they do well in step 1, off course!, but out of how many. Very small number go for step 1. Large number go home. This is a scam.

8/8/2015 08:59:32

I’m currently in Term 5 and my original January class of 2014 started off with roughly 700-750 students (I don’t recall how many exactly). By the time the Term 4 pathology exam had arrived 3 terms later out of 525 students who took the final (including those who had decelled from upper terms into my original term), 106 people had failed it. As to how many will be there when classes start, I have no idea because it depends on how many ECAPPS allows back depending on who failed.etc.

8/8/2015 13:13:12

S, final graduating the term 5 will be roughly 50% of total initial enrollment. Such a large dropout. No place on earth you will see this. SGU is a big Scam. Shame on SGU.

Huncamunca

8/8/2015 22:48:52

This is all very disturbing. 106 failed out of the remaining 450 at term 4. I heard a rumor that the bar for passing is to be raised yet again. No idea if this is true or not. I can imagine people reading this discussion and thinking that if half the students who go to SGU fail out, then the student body must be pretty worthless.

It is important to note, and I’m surprised no one has brought it up openly yet, that a large chunk of students at SGU will have advance access to exam and quiz questions, specifically for anatomy. I discussed this with an administrator and was told “well, students will be students.” I think there is an ugly mix of culling and cheating going on. What a shame. I do have to wonder if average step scores would be higher if SGU changed its model to be more fair and humane and put more thought and effort into educating students instead of putting them through a meat grinder.

D C

8/9/2015 00:55:53

Didn’t I bring up the Mac Daddy files issue already? To be fair, I know a lot of people who didn’t use those files and did fine but I also know people who were able to get a previous anatomy exam and it mirrored the actual exam to the point they were flying through the exam.

I also heard about 100+ failing the path exam. I guess if they didn’t get you in term 1, they will get you in term 4.

If you are a mediocre student, I would tell you to stay far away from SGU. It’s not that you don’t have what it takes to become a doc; you won’t have what it takes to make it through SGU.

An SGU acceptance, or a Caribbean acceptance for that matter, means absolutely nothing. It only means something once you graduate.

Lots of up and coming schools in the Caribbean now that are going to give SGU a run for it’s money. I guarantee you within 5-7 years, SGU will lose a significant amount of it’s applicants to AUA, MUA, and UHMS once students start to figure out how the Caribbean works. MUA already has title IV funding, AUA will get it soon, and UHMS will get there as well.

8/9/2015 03:23:58

If SGU don’t fix their acts. They will loose their business big time. Those days gone. Now there is lot more competition. The only thing AUA, MUA & UMHS and others have to do is to pay 100 million or more to buy clinicals for 10 years from New York & New Jersey and convince the New York and New Jersey that SGU is a scam and run by bunch of cheaters. If they do that SGU will be history. Shame on SGU.

Huncamunca

8/9/2015 04:06:07

Title IV funding requires that a school have less than 33% withdrawal rate. Do dismissed students count as part of this quota? Is SGU at risk of losing Title IV funding? I hope not, because I bet that would be catastrophic for most students.

8/9/2015 21:24:32

It is hard to get in the medical schools in U.S. and in the world. Once you get in there is 96 to 94% chances of graduating. Not at SGU. What a scam.
SHAME ON SGU

a student

8/11/2015 06:39:13

I am a current SGU student and I took the time to read this post as well as several of the authors other posts.

I don’t know the author personally so I hate to judge but from her previous posts it seems like SGU did not work out for her because she admittedly did not put in 100%. I don’t think it’s fair to say that SGU is not for everyone when you yourself were not ready to give 110% to becoming a doctor at SGU in the first place.

If SGU was not around, you (we) would not be able to become doctors because US schools would never give us the opportunity to prove ourselves. So if you are given this golden opportunity, why on earth would you waste your time at school getting involved with extracurricular activities; partying; and the such when so much is riding on your test scores?

I initially felt sympathy for the author but when I read that she was involved with “organizing a cultural show” a few weeks before finals, I thought to myself “she’s been there for three terms, shouldn’t she know how SGU works by now?” I can understand not performing well during your initial semester and then having to decel but after that, if you haven’t figured out how to study, then it’s not the school’s fault.

In the authors defense, yes, SGU is a cut throat environment and yes they do accept lots of unqualified people and actively weed students out. However, I have classmates and friends who are making it through and have made it through SGU because they wanted it that bad.

If you want to become a doctor and you really want it bad enough, you will get through medical school, including SGU because you will do what it takes to meet their requirements; even if that means studying 10 hours a day 7 days a weeks (I have seen people do it.)

If you can’t then maybe you need to figure out why you are studying medicine in the first place.

SGU is an opportunity not a guarantee, how you approach and what you choose to do with it is entirely up to you.

Tameer S. link

8/11/2015 08:43:07

Since this comment directly involves me, I will respond to it…

There is a lot of truth in the statements made by this student and I have been waiting for a comment like this because there are some things that need to be clarified. My former colleague, I may not know you personally either but I do want to thank you for taking the time and reading through this blog post, as well as my others. I appreciate your feedback and I hope you also consider this comment in response to yours.

I want to make it very clear that this blog post about “Why SGU May Not be for You” is not about me. If it were, then I would not have even gotten help with it from my peers nor would I have published it publicly. This was not even my idea to begin with. I was asked time and time again to express my public opinion on this topic and so I did. I was afraid some people would make it personal but I’m not surprised that they are. They have every right to assume I am at fault because of my own shortcomings and that may be true.

On a personal note, I never partied a single day in the caribbean or outside of it. I’m not into that sorta thing although I know many students who party like there’s no tomorrow and still “make it through” at SGU so I wouldn’t even presume there is a link between partying and failing. As for the extracurricular activities and multiple leadership roles, yes, it was a lapse in judgement and I admitted to that in my previous post. However, organizing & co-hosting the ICSA cultural show was not a decision I made lightly. I put careful thought and consideration into it. Instinctively, I knew it was not a good idea but I felt I would be letting down many people close to me if I didn’t do it. Even my own faculty advisor, family, and friends had encouraged me despite my reluctance and I did not want to feel like I was disappointing anyone by merely looking out for myself. I took a lesson from that. At the end of the day, all you really have is yourself. I should have never taken the advice from people who don’t have to live with the results. Still, the cultural show was over within two weeks preceding finals and I did have plenty of time to study. There were many recent developments taking place in my personal life and unforeseen circumstances that required my time and attention on the homefront. That is what truly compromised my ability to manage my time and study effectively. I realized later that there was a common pattern with my personal life taking a toll one me when I am away from home and for this reason I am presently staying at home while attending school. It’s the only way I can succeed at school while also being able to manage life at home when things get tumultuous. I understand, all this can be perceived or misperceived as excuses and to some extent they just may well be.

But as I said, this blog post is not about me. Take a look at all these other comments from former students who went through the same thing? This post is for them…I know of students (few of which are my friends) who passed all their classes at SGU and still had to appeal their recommended dismissal because they did not achieve a WMPG of >75%. I know of students who failed by 1% and were not given a second chance. That’s a problem! & it wasn’t even my problem! But it still is a problem! Truth is, we can point fingers at the students who are struggling at SGU for as long as we live and maybe rightfully so, but is that really fair?

When looking at the bigger picture, it’s not just about the failure or dismissal rate.The unreasonable policies, the cut-throat atmosphere, the extremely high student: low faculty ratio, the questionable quality of education…even students who put in there 110% fail. So what it comes down to is this: put in 200% at SGU to do well or put in 100% at AUC, RossU, AUA, MUA, UMHS, etc and do just as well if not more…Bottom line is that there ARE other options out there that provide students with so much more. SGU is overrated. That’s ultimately what it comes down to.

“If SGU was not around, you (we) would not be able to become doctors because US schools would never give us the opportunity to prove ourselves.” If SGU were the only medical school outside the U.S. then yes. But fortunately, it is not. Prospective students have the golden opportunity to choose another school that is a much better fit for them.

Tameer S. link

8/11/2015 08:44:24

On a side-note (regarding deceling), I can tell that you did not decel because if you did you would know how unhelpful it can be. I am a hopeful person, so initially and naively I thought deceling would help me in the long run but it did not. If anything, it made things worse. We both know every class at SGU is different. By the time you know how to tackle term 1, you are required to have a completely different skill set and approach to tackling term 2 and so on.Taking only one or two classes one term and then taking a full course load the next is not the most effective way to help a struggling student. If anything, it hinders progress and makes the student comfortable with a reduced course load and even more uncomfortable with a full one. But that is a personal opinion and not sure if every deceled student can agree with me even though I know a ton of students who deceled with me and ended up withdrawing or being academically dismissed. Apparently, research shows that deceling can help. But I think it’s more fair to say it’s a case-by-case basis.

My friend, you raise many valid points. “SGU is an opportunity not a guarantee, how you approach and what you choose to do with it is entirely up to you.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
For the students who do make it through, I question their motivation. Are they really succeeding because of their passion to be physicians or is it because of their overwhelming fear of failure that so prevalently exists at a school like SGU? Perhaps both? After all, it is what it is. You do what you gotta do. You get out of it what you put in and I couldn’t agree more.

Thank you for your comment. Lots of truth to it and lots I needed to clarify.

Best of luck at SGU & beyond,

Tameer

8/11/2015 07:33:06

I don’t buy your defense for SGU. Please show me few schools like SGU. It’s not only her it is also others who are in over 50%. If they knew this policy, they would not have come. Which other school has this high dropout rate?

Huncamunca

8/11/2015 09:54:47

The problem with SGU is the dishonesty about student success. Every single person I knew at SGU put in at least 100% and most had worn themselves down to the bone by the time finals came around. Blaming students has got to stop. No one should be left thinking “if only I hadn’t gotten chikungunya,” “if only I hadn’t devoted a little time attending to cultural activities to make SGU a more inclusive and supportive place,” or “if only I hadn’t gotten attacked by that crazy guy with a hammer that one night.” Other universities are not like this.

8/11/2015 11:48:33

SGU has to end dishonest behavior with the students. Always blame the students, while most of the students at SGU are working their ass off. They never blame the SGU corrupt system. No other school in Caribbean does this kind of treatment with the students. In my dictionary this is borderline criminal behavior. Shame on SGU

a student

8/11/2015 15:42:36

First a few points: The partying comment was directed to the spring-breakers (my apologies, I really mean medical students) that make up about 85% of the SGU student body; not you personally. I always found it funny that the debauchery I witnessed and continue to witness on the island was never in the literature they sent me! I thought SGU students were little angels lol

Second: Did you just say your adviser ENCOURAGED you to organize and co-host the ICSA cultural show when she knew that you needed to pass that physiology final? I hope you left them a scathing review because if that is the case, then SGU has even more problems than you are bringing up.

I don’t disagree about the environment at SGU and I know where you are coming from and it’s hard to put it all into words because it is something that only an SGU student can understand after they experience it. The policies you pointed out are all true and I agree they are designed to weed a good majority of students out. I guess where I am coming from is this: SGU is a for-profit school; a carnival of some sorts if you will, with an established reputation that is actively preying on the hopes and dreams of thousands of students like you and I so they can take our money and in return essentially give us three softballs and two chances to win their version of the bottle game which they call “Terms 1-4” (For all you non-SGU people, term 5 is heavily curved and F=Pass)(For all you people who have never been to a carnival, Google “Carnival Bottle Game”)

Due to their excellent (perceived) reputation which attracts thousands of applicants each term, if you or I were to meet our fate at the chopping block, then there would be conveniently be someone else waiting to take our spot; it really is a great system. I can only hope my future practice follows this model one day! Considering these things, how would you expect an environment OTHER than what you are decrying? SGU’s very existence creates a recipe for a cut throat environment focused on making as much money as they possibly can on an applicant pool that appears to be growing each year. If you are not ready to go head-to-head with a monster like that, then yeah you won’t make it through because that monster is looking for a fight. Does that mean you are not cut out to study medicine? Not really; because US med students don’t fight that same monster. But do you honestly think there is a night and day difference at some other school? Are you suggesting the promised land exists somewhere else in the Caribbean?

Doesn’t Ross flat out advertise a 50-60% attrition rate, doesn’t their FAQ page CLEARLY say that ROTATIONS ARE BASED ON AVAILABILITY!!!, and isn’t their campus in the middle of nowhere on a crime-riddled island? I’ve heard of students from AUA having a hell of a time with third year cores sometimes even waiting months after passing STEP 1! If for some reason, you didn’t like beautiful Grenada, how would you survive at, lets say, Saba which has no beach, no Umbrellas, no Bananas, no IGA, no Shawarma King!!! and is just as cut throat as SGU if not worse? If you are from California or from some state that uses the Cali list, where do you go if you want to return to your home state to practice?…Hint: Not UMHS. Need federal loans? If SGU, Ross, or Saba don’t tickle your fancy, then it’s down to AUC and MUA (I never thought AUC sounded as sexy as SGU though and I don’t want “Caribbean” on my diploma). Do you enjoy running around the country for each rotation? Do you want to spend 6 weeks on the east coast, 12 weeks in the midwest and then another six in who knows where and then repeat? That’s not as easy as it looks when you draw it on a map. Point is, every school has their own internal policies and I can tell you those policies favor the best of the best no matter where you go…and that’s what you and others experienced or are experiencing at SGU (myself included.)

SGU runs you through what feels like a meat grinder (the ringer would be too easy), I get that and I don’t think it is fair that they do that, but the same can be said of anything or anybody who claims to be for-profit. However, at the end of the day SGU does offer you things that some other schools just can’t. For example, they guarantee your third year core and give you a selection of clinical centers and affiliated hospitals that put any of those other “golden opportunities” to shame. Those are the things your money is buying and those are the things that really count because where the hell in clinical medicine will you ever explain the Krebs Cycle to a patient? And even if you did, the patient would be too dumb to understand because they didn’t make it through SGU basic sciences like you did!

You have a valid argument about the policies during the basic sciences but someone could easily turn that argument around and say “Well I made it through basic sciences at a school where I was only required to give 100%! but what

a student

8/11/2015 15:46:03

It cut my last post off, I’m too tired to remember what I wrote. I’ll finish it later.

Mike

8/11/2015 22:34:04

This is a very healthy discussion. Something good will come out. Bad and shameful policies of SGU are getting exposed. Even though this year enrollment has gone up. I bet you the number will go down.

8/11/2015 22:52:34

a student, you are completely wrong. You are giving a wrong picture of other carribean medical schools. Hundreds of thousands of students have finished their residency from other schools other than SGU. Be honest my friend. SGU is big and bought clinicals for 100 million in northeast so what?

8/12/2015 07:43:15

A Student,
Your statement “Doesn’t Ross flat out advertise a 50-60% attrition rate” is way off. Ross never said this statement. The school has only 6 to 10% attrition rate. other Caribbean medical schools have even lower. The only good thing with SGU is clinical rotation are easy to get, only if you come to that point. Very small % finish the basic sciences. for other schools you have to move to different places to do clinicals. I rather finish my Basic Sciences in time and go to different places for clinical. SGU is trying to sell as if they are the only one get clinical and Residency. They are dead wrong. Stay away from SGU. You will be much better off.

8/12/2015 11:28:11

I was in the Foundations program but I did not make it to term 1. I get what the author is saying because I felt the same way too.

We had a class called Abnormal Psychology and I remember studying hard for the first exam and I did reasonably well with an 82 but I also came away from that test thinking I had close to a 100. When we got our scores back the professor said “Kudos to the person who got a 100 because that test was not designed for you to get a 100.” I still remember that comment to this day only because I still can’t figure out why she would say that but that’s pretty much how things went down there. You were never allowed to feel comfortable and it was not very enjoyable. This was at the Foundations to Medicine level, I can only imagine it’s the same thing at the medical school level from what I have read from your post.

I’ll be starting term 1 medicine at another school in a few weeks. I felt like I gave it my all at SGU but for whatever reason, I could not get the 3.5. The environment is high-stress and you always have that fear that you will fail and be dismissed.

I was talking to one of my buddies who actually graduated SGU and is completing his residency. I told him about my situation and he said “dude, just do what you have to do to get your MD; where you go is irrelevant.” When you really think about it, he’s right.

SM1

8/12/2015 12:25:33

SGU IS DISGRACE! I failed by 1 point in one subject in term 2 and got dismissed. I scored very high in other two subjects. My appeal was rejected. I transfered to another very good Caribbean medical school. They gave me credit to all the courses I passed including two from term two. I was treated with respect and dignity. Now I am back in U.S. doing clinical. SGU is a very bad place.

Mike2

8/12/2015 20:58:27

SM1, Good Luck. I am in a medical school at St. kitts. I was also at SGU and got dismissed by failing just one subject in term 2 by fraction of a point. My appeal was also denied. I am very happy here. I will finish the school in time. I totally agree with you SGU is a disgrace. Shame on SGU.

SM1

8/12/2015 21:28:07

Blessing in disguise. I am glad that I was dismissed from SGU. I am very happy here in St. kitts. As I said before SGU is a disgrace. Very bad place.

8/14/2015 01:37:51

I was also kicked out from SGU for failing one course by fraction of a point. I am at another very nice Caribbean Medical School. I am very happy here. All my senior fellows are doing clinical in U.S. SGU IS A BIG SCAM. New York Times should publish another article about this. Last article” second chance medical school” did not say anything about dropout rate and the scam.

8/14/2015 21:43:24

I was dismissed from SGU after term 2. I passed all three subjects but my overall avreage came out less than 75%. I am at SABA and very happy. SGU is like a Zoo. I was just a number. So few teachers to talk. Teacher student ratio is very bad. you can not even see a teacher if you need any help. What you see is Sea of students every where no teachers. You are on your own. you have give 200% to get 100%. My advice stay away. Before I joined SGU I attended two information sessions in U.S. They lied about teacher student ratio and dropout rate. They told me dropout ratio is 3-4% just like any other U.S. medical school and they said they only enroll 400 students per year. The marketing group at SGU is better than Bernie Madoff. They all should also go to jail and sit with Bernie Madoff. They lied and destroyed two years of my life not to mention money. I would not have gone if I knew that SGU is this bad. There is no place to find out these informations. The only thing they were talking about in information sessions was clinical and residencies. Do not attend information sessions talk to SGU students. SGU is hell on earth.

anonymous

8/15/2015 00:35:34

Come to think of it you are right about the information sessions. They really never did talk about basic sciences or anything related to the first two years. The info sessions were all about the clinical locations and the residencies obtained. In fact, the student representatives they have at the info sessions are students who have already matched! But I guess when you are that excited to begin medical school, you don’t want to run into some student in the basic sciences who will tell you that basic sciences is hard.

I also agree with giving 200% to get 100%. That’s how it felt for me too. I never felt like SGU was an environment that wanted me to succeed. Like someone above mentioned, SGU is just an opportunity and if you can’t make it through, they really could care less.

I’m curious though, how much different is Saba?

8/15/2015 01:44:50

Saba is really good. They treat me like a human not like SGU where I was getting treated like trash. Here at Saba I always have access to teachers. Very good teacher to student ratio. Very low dropout rate. All the teachers are very nice. They want me to succeed. Not like SGU. At SGU, I asked a teacher for help, he was giving me all kind of excuses to avoid me. I felt like he wanted to get rid of me. I don’t know why! I always worked very hard. He told me that I have to give 200%. He was full of …… I am glad I am out of that hell. Stay away from SGU. There are way better schools out in Caribbeans than SGU.

A teacher

8/17/2015 01:16:21

The author is 100% correct. “SGU is not for everyone” everything said in the article is true possibly worse. Very disturbing statistics, for financial gain more than half of the students get dismissed for wrong reasons. System is rigged. Administration should have some human decency, civility and dignity. For money: Why they have to cheat and lie to so many innocent students. This is immoral, unjust and unethical.

8/17/2015 03:06:19

Teacher, Very well said. This information is not given anywhere. I attended two information sessions. They never talks about this. All they talk about clinicals and residencies.

anonymous

8/17/2015 12:40:41

Term 1 enrollment is apparently in the 900 range for Fall 2015. There is not enough room on campus so they put them in hotels.

SGU is like a runaway train.

Teacher 2

8/17/2015 22:25:48

Less than 200 will survive the GENOCIDE. Around 700 will be dismissed. Will go back home with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and depressed, confused and lost. If the train goes with this speed, very soon it will derail. It is a matter of time. I feel sorry for these 700 innocent students.

interesting

11/12/2015 08:28:22

Why do you teach for a company like this?

Withdrawn from SGU

8/18/2015 06:31:42

Great read. I withdrew from SGU as well. After first semester I found myself questioning their tactics. Grades weren’t an issue, I managed to play their game and pass first semester. But to be completely honest, the entire school is a dump. As you mentioned, the anatomy lab is down right atrocious. When a cadaver has been sitting there for so long that you need two or three buckets on the ground to catch fluid leaking from it…it may be time to spring for a fresh one.
I’m pretty self motivated so I didn’t really mind the fact that you’re pretty much taking online courses and have zero interaction with professors. I didn’t mind until I saw how much more the experience could be after moving on to AUC.
The differences between the two schools are night and day. Not only are the facilities at AUC like that of any “real university”, its on a first world island. Like you said, I don’t want to bash SGU, but for being a school that’s much more expensive, you get much less bang for your buck.
The most important difference for me were the professors. They actually speak english at AUC. Most are Canadian, and American, with a few other characters from around the world. This is a far cry from the almost exclusively third world PhD’s SGU has. In later semesters the MD’s you work with in ICM courses are also practicing physicians…as opposed to the countless “MD’s” SGU has on staff that didn’t match, or recently escaped cuba.
Last but not least, the lifestyle on St. Maarten is far and away superior than in Grenada. If you have some inner need to see what living on food stamps would be like, by all means, have at Grenada. St. Maarten has grocery stores that make Whole Foods look like walmart. There are tons of European and American tourists that are fun to mingle with after exams, and the island is all around more beautiful to live on. For 3/4 of the price of the Grenada experience you’ll find yourself living in a luxury apartment overlooking one of hundreds of beaches.
Beaches for that matter: you don’t have to ride a slum bus to get to one.
I could write about the differences for hours but all in all I’m glad I tried SGU because it made me appreciate AUC that much more.

8/18/2015 08:53:33

LMAO at the “MD’s who didn’t match.” I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that. I always wondered why an “MD” would be working at SGU in DES instead of actually…being a doctor!

I don’t believe Grenada is a terrible place though. It’s not a first-world country but it’s also not the slums either. I actually enjoyed my time there.

Now SGU, the school is another story. I agree with everything you and others have said here and might add its worse than you are describing.

For the money SGU is charging, you are being cheated out of a lot. There are a lot of people who I have spoken to who have point-blank told me “I’m not comfortable with my cadaver knowledge.” Most of those students could care less because Anatomy is not exactly high yield for the Step and they don’t want to be surgeons anyway so I guess it works out (in a bad way.)

Also (no offense to anybody here) the majority of SGU students are spoiled brats who have no idea why they “really” want to become doctors. There are so many dudes and so many ho’s down there that the “medical” school felt more like college all over again.

Also SGU does not have a proper interview process…that’s something to think about.

Withdrawn from SGU

8/18/2015 12:04:54

I agree with you….direct anatomy questions aren’t huge on step one, neither are histo….but if you know wtf they’re talking about, intimately, you can draw correlations and answer most of the questions easily.
again, i dont want to bash SGU, or its graduates, but there are much better options for people considering this game out there.
I’m still friends with people I did 1st term with at SGU with and they’re not exactly pleased with their rotation experience.
As far as island life goes…its night and day. I basically lived on a cruise ship for 20 months on st maarten. Best restaurants, beaches, and clubs i could’ve ever imagined. I cant wait to retire there once i have fuck SGU money. I cant speak for SABA or ROSS, but if anyone here is debating AUC vs SGU….do yourself a favor and go to St. Maarten.

8/18/2015 08:58:21

Good luck to you. I failed in just one subject by fraction of a point. Now I am at St. Kitts. I am very happy here. Teachers are so good. They all want to help me and want me to succeed not like SGU. SGU IS A BIG SCAM. For Fall 2015, SGU is enrolling 985+ . Students are staying in hotels. Shame on SGU.

8/19/2015 03:31:25

SGU has just collected over 30 million for Fall 2015 from 985+ students. After collecting another 30 million, 700+ will be dismissed for wrong reasons and 200+ will continue. What a dirty game! Atlas Partner LP and Baring Private Equity Asia just gave 750 million to four owners for high returns. I hope the train derails very soon and the investers will learn the lesson hard way.

Teacher 2

8/19/2015 05:41:31

I don’t mind if they make 30 billion dollar. But I do mind when these 700 kids will be dismissed for a wrong reason. The exploitation, manipulation and abuse of 700 innocent lives are really bad. All 985 students have come to SGU for Fall 2015 term with a hope and wrong information that they got it from SGU information sessions. Hopes will be shattered. 700+ innocent students will go back home depressed, confused and lost. This is a real tragedy!!!!

anonymous

8/20/2015 05:01:45

What I really want to know is how can the professors and administration down there look themselves in the mirror everyday when they are taking part in a scheme like this? Either they are oblivious to what we are talking about or they are rotten people on the inside.

They must be collecting “healthy” paychecks because I sure as hell could never work at a job where I was directly or indirectly screwing people over.

I guess you really can buy anyone off.

BMW

8/20/2015 06:16:47

They are afraid of mirror. They don’t go in front of mirror. It is a gang headed by four owners. Owners are Americans but most of other members of the gang are not. Most of them don’t even speak proper English and cannot find a job with this kind of money any place else. I remember Dr. C. V. Rao. He was my teacher. Cannot explain properly and has no American experience. Many times I asked him some questions and he told me to go on line and take some online courses. He drives a BMW and collects big salary. Where else he can get this kind of money. He knows what’s going on at SGU but he keeps his mouth shut, doesn’t say a single word to anybody outside the gang. They all are crooks and know what’s going on. None of them has any conscious, only think about money by cheating and robbing innocent students. I was dismissed last year by failing just one subject. SGU is a very bad place.

8/20/2015 15:05:46

Here is my .02 cents. Unless you absolutely know what you are doing, I would not recommend going to any school in the Caribbean. I know I know, your parents want you to become a doc and you want to become a doc because you want to be rich. I get that.

You might however fail to be seeing that SGU, Ross, AUC and even AUA are crazy expensive and you are an IMG. Being a medical student and a future physician will seem nice until you realize you have to pay all of that money you borrowed back (unless your parents paid the bill in which case you are in the minority and should consider yourself very blessed.) SGU is the most expensive school out of the bunch and when you factor in interest, you can easily be $500000 in the red by the time you are done with residency; that’s a lot of F’in money. If you are not specializing, you’re not really in an ideal situation. I wouldn’t spend that type of money and end up in family or IM because your student loans will easily become like a second mortgage and you will be an MD living an average lifestyle with 7-10 years of lost wages for you to think about everyday. Personally, I just don’t think it is worth it at that point because you are not going to be happy being a broke doctor. For example, you’re US med school colleagues will be having steak dinners at the finest restaurants and your broke ass will still be going to Applebee’s.

If you think you are going to a Carib school and will easily end up in some super competitive residency, maybe it’s time to pinch yourself and wake up? There are exceptions however to every rule and in the end, its about who you know and great things can come out of that. But for most of the Carib grads, you will be fighting all the way to the match and you are not a shoo-in for anything.

Becoming a doctor is no joke and neither is the time and money required to get there. If you are doing this for the wrong reasons, go do something else. SGU is not your friend and they don’t give two you-know-whats about you. So don’t go there expecting them to hold your hand. They want your money and they will pull whatever strings to make more money. You’re really walking a thin tightrope when you are down there for those five terms because if you mess up, you will become the proverbial red-headed stepchild and they will drop you with no mercy. If they drop you in term 4, I feel especially bad for you.

To help prove my point, listen to Modica’s white coat speech; it’s the same damn speech every term lol! He don’t care; it’s business as usual.

8/20/2015 22:05:45

Nobody thinks SGU medical is going to be a cake walk. They all know medical school is not easy but they don’t know the dirty policies of dismissals. Lot of students who got dismissed, if they knew that 2/3 are going to be dismissed. They would not have come to SGU. If SGU doesn’t get rid of you in term 2 they will get you in term 4. If they don’t get you with 75% GPA. They will get you by raising the Passing grades to whatever it takes to achieve their goals. They have to get rid of 2/3. Other Caribbean schools are not like this. I was at SGU. Now I am at AUC. This school is so much better than SGU. Very small dropout rate. No dirty dismissal policies like SGU. And is much cheaper. SGU is not a good option. People should think twice before joining SGU.There are better options out their.

Term 4 student

8/21/2015 01:00:21

J2, I agree with you. SGU has to get rid of 2/3. Not enough room on campus and not many clinical slots. Look! what happening now. 980+ Enrolled for Fall 2015. Most of them are staying in hotels.

8/24/2015 20:56:55

Good reading. I got admition to SGU and AUC for next term. After reading this blog and talking to few SGU students, I decided to go to AUC. Friends told me SGU is a good place for clinicals and residency but very bad place for basic sciences. Most probably I will be dismissed. SGU has extremely high dropout rate compare to other good carbbian medical schools and their advice is “stay away from SGU”.

anonymous

8/25/2015 00:21:56

Dude, that post reeks of fakeness lol. Don’t do that.

Ameer

8/26/2015 14:30:15

clinicals and residency (re: your future job) are infinitely more important than basic sciences. the concern with caribbean schools is whether you can match or not. If you can’t make it off the island (basic sciences), frankly you probably wont be able to get a step score high enough to match. Cut throat but true. This is the reality of the currently climate.

8/25/2015 00:55:17

Dude, What kind of fakeness you found? My spell check was turned off and it was too early at east coast to fix the language. Take care!

anonymous

8/25/2015 02:44:29

I dunno man, why do I get the feeling you are posting under more than 1 name. If you are, don’t do that. This blog speaks for itself it doesn’t need your “help.”

Withdrawn from sgu

8/25/2015 09:10:55

You’re going to love AUC. My single bedroom dorm room was bigger than my three person suite at SGU…and I had a lagoon view in my kitchen and bedroom. School is tons of hard work but the island has pretty much every fun vice you can think of to relax when you need it.

Nick

8/25/2015 11:54:53

Whether you go to SGU or some other Caribbean program, you are still an IMG. SGU is not going to give you something that you can’t get anywhere else.

In the end, it is very important to research each school; talk to others; and perhaps visit the campus so that you know what you are getting into. Med school is serious business and SGU is not the only ticket in town anymore.

Ameer

8/26/2015 14:26:42

I’m a recent SGU grad that interviewed and matched this last year. On the interview trail when I ran into other Caribbean graduates that were not from SGU they were basically all from Ross, maybe 1 or 2 AUC. All these other “great options” that you mentioned don’t like posting their match results, which makes me wonder if they match anyone. I’m not saying people don’t fail out of SGU, all I’m saying is if someone still considers the Caribbean a viable means to becoming a doctor (which is questionable and will be much clearer after this year’s match), then it’s in their best interest to go to a school that has proven to match residents year after year. That’s ultimately what it’s all about.

Gross Anatomy means nothing to 90% of practicing physicians, SGU’s course didn’t make me any less of a doctor and anatomy labs shouldn’t be how med schools are judged. SGU isn’t overrated in the sense that they produce results. 800+ matched each year the last several years. Yes, many dropped along the way, but I’d like to see the match rates for any other schools besides SGU, Ross, AUC, or Saba.

What I tell people that ask me about Caribbean med schools these days is to not apply to the Caribbean, to wait it out and see how things trend and in the meantime apply for AMG or DO. However, I will say that without SGU I wouldn’t be an MD doing exactly what I want to do in my life, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

8/27/2015 21:34:44

You’re looking at the situation through only one lens. I have worked in one hospital and seen many residents from AUC, Saba, MUA, AUA, even Windsor and Avalon and others in the IM program. Keep in mind a lot of these other schools are much smaller.

Also, SGU’s match list really isn’t anything spectacular for the amount of students that matched.

Mike

8/28/2015 01:25:21

Ameer, you are 1 of the 800+ who got matched. What about a much bigger number than 800+ who got dismissed. You are correct but you are not giving the whole picture. Problem with SGU is that they are bunch of liars and con artist. They want to make money as much as they can from the basic sciences period by enrolling way too many students and dismissing them by any means. It was not like this before. They never say this to new students. If you attend any information session, they only talk about clinical and residencies. They lie about dropout/dismissal rate. By my calculations they have to dismiss around 60% of the total enrollment. This is ridiculous. Which other school does this? If they have some decency they should reveal this figure to enrolling students. This is unethical, immoral and criminal. SGU is a scam.

Huncamunca

8/26/2015 22:53:02

I agree with Ameer. The program is designed to remove students until the desired ~400-500 per term remain. The 400 SGU students who make it through residency do well and are generally desired by hiring officials over grads of other Caribbean schools. (I have an inside contact who has told me his organization will take SGU, but not other Caribbean grads).

The problem with SGU is the dishonesty about dropout/dismissal rates. If people understood what they were getting into before they enrolled the system would be fair. But it is not fair. What SGU is doing is fraud. I hope that changes. SGU is a wonderful place in many ways. Some appear bent on belittling students, but I’ve found the majority to be dedicated, compassionate, and admirable on many levels. That is true of those who remained and of those who were dismissed.

8/28/2015 07:22:56

“…are generally desired by hiring officials over grads of other Caribbean schools. (I have an inside contact who has told me his organization will take SGU, but not other Caribbean grads).”

Based on my experience, I don’t think any organization looks at an IMG any differently regardless of where you went. If SGU students were treated any better, you would get an influx of new applicants.

someone

9/30/2015 13:18:37

For prospective students who happen to read this:
SGU is a wonderful place, it gives you a second chance to achieve your dream of becoming a doctor.
SGU is also lacking in its marketing integrity. What some of the posters said above is true. Our class has around a 40% attrition rate.
I am writing this post to inform all prospective students that this IS the environment of SGU.
So if you are afraid you are in the 40% and you don’t want to be in debt after 1 or 2 years of studies after being kicked out because
a. You are not mature enough to fight for your dream
b. You are not intellectually capable enough to handle the course load.
Then PLEASE DO NOT APPLY.

If you think that you have learned your lesson and is serious about your career and would have a financial back up plan if this doesn’t end up with the way you’d like. Then please apply.

A healthy discussion should include people who have both deceled and people who have made it through.
I truly empathize with people who are kicked out of SGU, but we are not kids anymore.
Let’s be responsible with our decisions and our careers.

Anonymous

10/17/2015 09:09:08

Has the attrition rate increased recently? I’ve never heard of it being that bad. I often heard SGU is the “best” medical school because in the Caribbean. I know of a handful of success stories who went there.

Hmunca

10/17/2015 14:41:46

I think things have changed over the last years. I would bet few apply to med school thinking they are in the bottom 40%. It is not just about lack of intellect. I think it is more about ability to adapt to a very rigid system that is designed to do away with half the students. You never get to see the questions after tests. The answers are never explained. SGU is not just for second chance people. A lot of students there applied to SGU because of its excellent reputation and/or because they had family and friends who went there. The school though, is not the place it used to be.

10/20/2015 20:03:06

If you honestly don’t have the academic ability or the “on fire for medicine” mentality, you simply will not survive a Caribbean medical school…period.

If you manage to pass terms 1-5, 1-4, etc., you still have the comp and then STEP 1 which are crazy hard.

I’ve witnessed it at two school now and it is rather depressing.

I’m not saying GPA and MCAT scores predict success but you have to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if you want this more than anyone else in the world. If you find yourself struggling in your first term, I personally feel that that is an important sign that medicine is not for you because it will only get harder from there. And that is not necessarily a bad thing; it’s better you find that out sooner than later.

10/28/2015 06:18:09

Tameer, What are you doing now?

corey

10/29/2015 11:55:41

I believe she is getting a phd!

11/3/2015 04:23:41

Tameeeeeer!!!!!!!!! we miss you! and you were always such a nice girl, don’t change, and I’ll see you around! I’m still in the island finishing up my term 5! Please take care!

INDEPENDENT REPOST OF TAMEER SIDDIQUI’S: WHY SGU MAY NOT BE FOR YOU

This is the post excerpt.

Why SGU May Not Be for You

7/20/2015

136 Comments

Let me just say this first and foremost, this post is not intended to attack St. George’s University School of Medicine in any shape, way, or form. I spent quite some time in Grenada and learned a lifetime of valuable lessons that I know I couldn’t have learned anywhere else. I have wonderful memories from SGU with the most wonderful people I have ever met. I can go on and on about how grateful and lucky I am to have had such a rare opportunity to study abroad and I have indeed went on and on about that in my previous posts. But let’s be real, my experience has not been all sunshine and rainbows. Ever since I withdrew from SGU, I have been wanting to share with my readers some insights I have gained from being a student there. I have been writing this for awhile now, but not alone. I have friends from SGU who have worked on this with me. Some are still students there while others are not. Some of them have continued on the medical path, while others have pursued something else. I have been reluctant to publish this for awhile because of the amount of heat I will be getting from current/past SGU students and faculty. But I’m at that point now where I would rather give clarity to prospective students at the expense of being attacked from people who really have no right to judge me since they have no idea what students like myself have been through.

Let’s face it, there are just not enough student blogs out there and while I admit mine is nowhere close to being perfect, it certainly is authentic and I take great pride in that. Although SGU did not work out for me, It does work out for others. I am not dissuading students to attend the school, but I am not recommending they do either. I am not posting this in an effort to “get back” at anyone or anything. I am not grieving. I am however, upset and frustrated with the way things are at SGU and I believe that it would be a greater crime to witness what I have for over a year and a half and to go on living my life without sharing some valuable insights that may help others.

This blog-post specifically is about my overall perspective of the school, which has dramatically changed since my first blog post. I apologize in advance if this entry may provoke anyone affiliated with the school. I do not intend to start a debate nor create conflict in any way. I am not asking any reader to agree with me nor am I interested in convincing anyone that I am right. I am not sharing all this for your approval, for I already have my own.

If you are on the SGU bandwagon for whatever reason—maybe because you’ve had a wonderful, positive experience and would love to encourage others to attend the school—then feel free to open up your own blog and throw your love for the school all over it. Indeed, you are entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine.

INTRO

Senior year of college, the only caribbean medical schools I applied to (and got accepted to) were Ross University and St. George’s University. Certainly at the time, I was younger and naive. I was asking the wrong questions. “How is the island?” “What are the people like?” & of course, “How good is the food?” Don’t get me wrong, I definitely inquired about the schools’ USMLE first-time pass rate and residency placement as well, but I was asking it the wrong way. Easily, we all know that the “top caribbean medical schools” aka the “Big 4” (SGU, Ross, AUC, Saba) all have excellent first-time USMLE pass rates and residency placements. However, the real question I should have asked is, what percentage of the students that enroll actually sit for Step 1 and make it to residency? Or to simplify things, how many of the students that enroll actually graduate? One thing I didn’t know before but know now is that the reason why the top schools in the caribbean are at the top, is because they have a chopping block. They weed out a significant number of students and the only students who actually make it through are the cream of the crop. The problem is, we all think we are the top students when we apply. The reality is, not all of us can be at the top.

St. George’s University (SGU) on the Caribbean Island of Grenada

SGU IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

I’ll say it again. SGU is not for everyone.

SGU only favors the cream of the crop. And by all means they should because only residency programs take the cream of the crop! The problem with this is, the school should then only accept the cream of the crop. In other words, they should be more selective in the admission’s process. If they are only going to take into account the students who excel, then they should only accept the student’s who excel! The venture capitalist side of the school— accepting countless students to gain millions of dollars in revenue, but knowing on a deeper level that a good amount of these students are not cut out to be here in the first place is unjust, immoral, and unethical. It leaves these students hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt not to mention emotionally devastated, lost, and confused.

In fairness, perhaps all of the students who get accepted appear to be the cream of the crop at first. I know I had a competitive GPA from a reputable university and could have gotten into a DO school if I had retaken the MCAT and given it the chance. However, assuming the admission’s process is all fair game, still doesn’t take away from the manner in which the educational system is set up. It is rigged. It is designed to weed students out. SGU has no problem accepting a surfeit of students, leaving them to fend for themselves once matriculated. There is an overwhelming amount of material to learn (as there is in any medical school), but there are also a surplus of students, not enough resources or faculty on board, thus contributing to a lower quality education, and the constant policy changes which I’ll provide examples for later on, overtly favor academic attrition as opposed to academic retention of students.

One thing that really frustrates me is that lots of the faculty and staff at SGU—including some of the students that are doing well—blindly support this money-making machine model without really considering all the facts. You will hear many of them say, “SGU has provided students with an opportunity to pursue their dreams of becoming a physician and it’s up to the student to make that happen.” Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. They know that what is happening to the students is wrong but they don’t want to feel guilty about choosing to be at SGU so they convince themselves that it’s entirely up to the student in the first place. Even my own faculty advisor whom I had highly regarded had made it clear to me on many occasions that the school was not the problem, I was. At first, I was deeply offended but only now I have come to realize she was right. A person like me is not cut out to be in such a demeaning, cut-throat place. Even some of the students who are passing (and by passing I mean barely making it through) resent students who are not passing. They are the ones who claim “those who failed out deserved to fail in the first place.” Excuse me? Deserved to fail? What does that even mean? More importantly, how do you live with yourself? Unfortunately, these same students will somehow make it through and become a physician and when their patient dies they will make a similar, illogical claim, “those who died deserved to die in the first place.” For the sake of humanity, please quit medicine and go bake yourself a humble pie.

The reason why these staff members and students embrace this thought process allows them to rid themselves of any personal responsibility or guilt they may have. Even when I was a student, whenever I was asked if I recommend the school, I would do so without hesitation yet at the same time I would feel uncomfortable inside. I could not speak negatively of SGU because I had committed to it and being honest with myself about my unhappiness here would have forced me to deal with even more guilt of choosing the school in the first place. And so I did what it seems most students are doing, I blindly supported it. Cognitive dissonance at it’s finest. With that said, not all students are like that. Some genuinely, truly, madly, deeply, love SGU. Some of these students are my closest friends. They are doing remarkably well, they are humble as can be, and they build me up instead of break me down for withdrawing. These people do exist. They appreciate SGU for their own reasons. More power to them. I would be honored if they were my physician.

Don’t get me wrong. I agree it is absolutely a student’s responsibility to succeed in medical school and no one else’s. It is indeed up to the student to put in the time and hardwork and I am not discounting that. All I’m saying is that succeeding is so much harder at a place that practically takes your money and then leaves you hanging, making you have to fend for yourself, and treating you as if you are just another statistic.

SGU White Coat Ceremony in Patrick Adams Hall (seat capacity 852 students)

“JUST ANOTHER STATISTIC”

First day of orientation, one professor had the nerve to look at all of us ~780 students and told us blatantly, “you or the person sitting next to you will most likely not be here on the day of your graduation.” Basically insinuating that half of the students here will make it, and the other half, will not. How encouraging (obviously the attrition rate is not that high at SGU, and I’ll touch on that later on).Certainly, the quality of education that SGU provides is somewhat comparable to that of U.S. medical schools and that is great. They do indeed have professors with office hours and student-led review sessions and that’s pretty wonderful too. They definitely provide you with help, if needed. So when I say “treated as if just another statistic” I am referring to the fact that SGU does enroll a surplus of students and it does show when you are sitting in an auditorium with over 700 students or trying to get help at a “small group review session” that has 20 other students or even worse, trying to study a cadaver during open hours while there are 25 other students hovering over you and there being only one facilitator trying to show everyone an inconspicuous nerve.

The above statement was posted in 2011, you would think the info in it would be ‘outdated’ by now. Sadly, it is not. This user has a strong opinion about the school structure and I couldn’t agree more…The administration clearly values capital over people, and that is not okay.

But it wasn’t always like this! The recent graduating class of 2014 had approximately ~900 graduates in total! (combining fall/spring classes-Source: http://www.sgu.edu/news-events/news-archives14-sgu-som-graduates-2014.html) That means in 2010, the fall & spring classes had a total of ~450 students each! (most likely more since not all students make it through, but the # is still relatively small!) SGU alumni always comment about how great of a school SGU is, but as you can see, they really are not the best people to ask! At least, not anymore… Times have really changed! The 900 graduates that enrolled at SGU in 2010 will not be the same number of graduates you will see in 2020! The students entering now already have over 700 students per term! (Source: http://www.sgu.edu/about-sgu/medical-students-enrollment-statistics.html) So technically we should expect to see that number doubled by the time graduation arrives but it might actually still be that 900 students graduate because SGU is doing everything in it’s power to vigorously weed students out!

2014 SGU School of Medicine Commencement Ceremony

CURRICULUM

Before deciding on which medical school to attend, it is of utmost importance that you have a solid understanding of the curriculum because it is this which determines your ability to learn and master the material of medical school. Majority of the caribbean medical schools (and American medical schools) have block exams. This means they are tested frequently and provide students with multiple opportunities to succeed. SGU does not have block exams. At the time of this writing, SGU offers a midterm and a final exam during the basic sciences (at least for the first three terms, if not also for the rest). In other words, the midterm and final are essentially the only opportunities you have to pass the classes. While it may seem doable, (and certainly is for a certain type of student) it’s actually much harder than it seems. The amount of material covered in medical school along with the fast-paced learning that is required actually favors students who take block exams as opposed to two big tests. This is because students who are tested monthly or frequently are only required to retain a certain amount of information covered during that period of time whereas students who are tested only twice in one given term are responsible for knowing twice as much information! Although schools that provide block exams to their students also give a comprehensive final examination, these students have a much better chance of passing such a final because they already have a good idea of what to expect since they took 3 or 4 other exams preceding the final. In addition, the final exam, although the most difficult, is usually just a reflection of all the block exams combined. Even more importantly, the comprehensive final exam although weighed the most, does not weigh half as much as the two big exams we take at SGU because those are essentially 50% of our grade. Thus, medical schools which deliver block exams weighed proportionately give these students leverage when preparing for their finals which are not nearly weighed as much as a midterm or final at SGU.

In fairness, SGU has what are called, “Unified Quizzes” which are supposed to be mini-tests given to students before their big exams but they barely weigh in on the student’s final gpa and they are not representative of the actual exams since every term learns at a different pace and the unified questions are randomly thrown in from a question bank. For this reason, the averages on these Unified Quizzes are usually lower than the averages on the actual exams. The averages on the actual exams are ~80%. Not bad. What drives the majority of SGU students to do so well? Is it because of the “high quality” education? Or is it because SGU’s mantra of “survival of the fittest” causes students to transform into sharks and in desperation gnaw at every other student for “exclusive resources” until the shark tank becomes a blood bath?

QUESTIONABLE QUALITY OF EDUCATION

My medical school journey did not end after SGU. I had applied and interviewed at several other schools and even matriculated into one. What I’ve learned from all these other schools is that their quality of education is far superior than SGU’s and they are not even deemed with as much regard and respect! Majority of the caribbean medical schools , whether they are at the top like Ross University or up-and-coming like University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS) provide their students with higher quality education and support!

For instance, medical schools all over the world generally have a small group of students assigned to a cadaver for their anatomy lab class. Throughout the semester, the students learn from one another and ask their instructor questions whenever they need help. Some schools even have a facilitator assigned to each group while others provide them only when needed. These students stick with their cadaver throughout the semester, they even name it. That’s how attached they become to it. They realize the privilege they have in exploring the human body through dissection and they treat it with respect.

Anatomy at SGU is a prime example of the poor infrastructure and educational model of the school overall. The problems encountered in our anatomy lab represent a higher level of problems at SGU on a grand scale. While most schools require anatomy lab every day SGU students have it once a week. The anatomy lab day is the most dreaded day because it would start early, and in no particular order would consist of a discussion, a dry lab, and a wet lab, which would take 4 hours combined, and then by the time it’s over, student’s have to get ready for another 4 hours of lecture. Aside from the fact that the department decided to squeeze it all in one day, the quality of our learning is what really ticks students off.

The anatomy department tries to implement research, discussion, and physical examination all in one sitting. You are assigned to a small group of usually 7-10 people and the clinical tutors who facilitate the discussions change every week. This leaves no stability in the curriculum as every tutor teaches differently leaving students hoping and wishing for the “good clinical tutor.” While SGU does provide students with the opportunity to engage in physical exams by practicing on their fake patients (real people that work for SGU), there are usually not enough clinical tutors to go around to each of the students and ensure that they are examining their patient correctly. There is also not enough time (since they decided to do all of anatomy lab in one day). Students rush through their physical exams, because time is running out and by the time OSCE’s (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) roll around, most students are freaking out and are practicing on each other or on themselves. Luckily, it is very easy to pass these OSCEs (probably because the school knows they don’t do a good job at teaching it).

Along with the discussion component, students also attend a wet lab, also known as cadaver lab. Cadavers are prosected (already dissected by pros to save time and room for error) and student’s choose their own group (I usually had 5 or 6 students in mine). The anatomy lab is split into two big sections with ~40 students one one side and ~40 on the other (rough estimate). If I remember correctly, there are ~8 cadavers per section. So 8 other cadavers on the other side with groups of ~5 students per cadaver over there. These are conservative numbers (there could have been more than 5 students per cadaver).Anyway, the students are not assigned a cadaver. Instead, they simply rotate and examine every cadaver about every 5 minutes. The worst part is, there is a long list of structures that student’s should be able to examine within the time frame allotted per cadaver! Students are expected to know all the structures on their own and if and only if they need help, are they allowed to ask a facilitator questions. But here’s the caveat, the facilitator has to be available in the first place! That’s right, the number of students far exceed the number of facilitators in the anatomy lab. After all, there’s two big sections of students and not enough facilitators to go around! You would think these facilitators would be swamped with answering student’s questions, but they are instead engaging in small talk with one another in the corner of the room. I remember my peers yelling out for help and even me having to leave my station and physically going to the facilitators to grab their attention. Of course, I may have figured out the answer to my own question if I didn’t waste so much time trying to get a facilitator to answer it. That’s exactly what ended up happening. Many times, students no longer relied on the facilitators help because they were not reliable. (For the record, not all facilitators ignore their students, just a few of them made it a problem worth noting. Other facilitators that were present were usually preoccupied at other station’s answering other students’ questions or they were with us at our station and we were hogging them). Point of sharing all this is that the facilitator:student ratio is not good. It’s a problem SGU has now and it’s a problem SGU will keep having as long as they continue this way.Final component of anatomy lab day is dry lab. This is also known as imaging lab. This opens with a ridiculous quiz where students have to correctly identify an inconspicuous structure on a powerpoint slide that is far from eyesight. Sometimes it’s a nerve, an artery, a muscle, or a bone. The questions range from first order to third order. The only way a student can really prepare for this type of lab quiz is by labeling and memorizing all the structures on all of the virtual lab images that the department provides. That is no easy task. The virtual lab quizzes heavily affect a student’s GPA and students’ dread this component of dry lab the most for this reason. Dry lab is broken into two different sections. One of the sections consists of students who are once again in groups and must sort through x-ray/image-based questions with their peers while also examining the structures. The second section consists of students learning and performing ultrasound techniques on their fake patients (real people who work for SGU). I would say the ultrasound is by far the best quality of education that SGU provides. Not all medical students gain access to ultrasound upon their arrival as first year students so that is definitely a plus. But once again, student’s are rushed through the process and because the clinical tutors are so diverse in their teaching methods, students race to the best ones leaving others with the opposite.

The issues listed above were indeed addressed when I was an SGA Rep at SGU. I had attended a Student Government Meeting with the anatomy department faculty members along with the rest of my colleagues who also served as term reps. We had openly discussed our concern and contempt for these anatomy lab issues but even though some of these issues were addressed and resolved, majority of them have not been corrected. The faculty of the anatomy department had informed us that the student to faculty ratio is large and they cannot provide an adequate amount of facilitators simply because they do not have them. To improve the dry lab quizzes problem that student’s were having, they have informed us that they will provide each student with an iPad in the future so students do not have to strain their eyes to see the structure in question. I have heard from subsequent terms that the dry lab quizzes are becoming more manageable because the questions are far easier than they were when I was around. Even though I am sharing all this criticism about the anatomy lab class structure, I must say I do love the anatomy staff members. In fact, the school’s course directors, faculty members, and core professors are one of the main reasons I remained. They really do care about the students and that is evident in the changes they make but there is only so much they can do to correct the overlying and overwhelming administrative and academic problems that exist.

In fairness, even though students have only ~5 minutes per cadaver during wet lab, they are able to study the cadaver for as long as they want during open hours throughout the week. The problem is that now the window is open for all students in the term instead of just the students on the lab day. So there are generally an influx of students during open hours at the time the facilitator is going through high-yield anatomical structures. This is not helpful when every student in the lab is hovering around one cadaver as the facilitator is trying to show all the students one important, microscopic nerve of the Brachial Plexus. I specifically speak about anatomy because it has always been one of my favorite classes. I really enjoyed learning about the intricacies of the human body and I appreciated every opportunity I had when I laid my eyes upon a cadaver in high school, college, and then medical school.

I remember at SGU the person in charge of the lab came to me at one point and even commented on how well I treat the cadavers. She was amazed that sometimes I would hold their hands while I examined them. She said I treat them with a kind of respect she has never been before. That was a compliment coming from the instructor who teaches an elective solely on dissection. Unfortunately, during open hours, when the cadavers are left in the hands of confused students, they are not treated with respect. Now I don’t expect students to hold their cadavers hands but I certainly don’t find it acceptable to mistreat them. I would walk into the lab during open hours seeing the body parts severed and separated. A cadaver’s arm would be under it’s leg, intestines would scattered, a heart would be missing from one cadaver while another cadaver had two livers. Organs would be all over the place, outside the cadaver, not inside it. It was repulsive. I’m sure it was an accident. Student’s don’t intentionally want to play around with cadavers and misplace their parts. I just don’t understand how some people can be so careless. Do they not realize that these cadavers were once living human beings who gave up their bodies for us to learn how to treat people like them? I’m sure if these cadavers saw just how their demised bodies were being treated (or should I say mis-treated) they would have wanted to die all over again just so they could change their mind about giving it to science. I honestly stopped attending open lab hours because of this reason. I mean, how are you supposed to learn about the normal anatomy of a human body when it’s not even in it’s normal condition? There was no one to supervise and the facilitators only came once in awhile. By the way, these facilitators were actually upper-classmen who simply had to pass the class to get to this teaching position. Many of them were my friends. When they were not around, the whole room was left open and unguarded. The cadavers were left in the hands of inexperienced, unwise, and incompetent students like myself. The treatment of cadavers during open hours was despicable and I will forever resent it.

RossU SOM Anatomy Lab

Compare SGU’s anatomy lab conditions to it’s competition, Ross University SOM they have anatomy labs like this: http://www.rossu.edu/medical-school/blog/12/432

5046186 UMHS SOM Anatomy Lab

Or compare it to newer schools like UMHS which have anatomy labs like this: http://www.umhs-sk.org/index.php/news-and-events/anatomy-lab-opens-may-13-2008.html

After withdrawing from SGU, I flew out to Ross to tour its campus and facilities. I also have many close friends from there. UMHS (also founded by the Ross family) is another school I grew very fond of and because of it’s small class size, 100% USMLE pass rate, high match rate and low attrition rate (no chopping block), I find it comparable to the “top caribbean schools.” Both Ross and UMHS have anatomy labs with dissections built into their curriculum which means students will engage in personal learning with their cadaver, giving them more time to understand it. Groups are small, technology is brilliant, and facilitators: student ratio is conducive to a learning environment.

Ever wonder why SGU does not have a picture or a webpage for it’s anatomy lab? Now you know.

Anatomy is one of the most important classes a medical student takes. It provides the very foundation upon which all learning can occur. If the lab component of this class has such a flawed structure and layout at the very basic level, what does that say about the rest of the classes? What does that say about the administration? What does that say about the school?

Aside from anatomy lab, even at the basic-lecture learning component, the quality of education that SGU provides is still questionable. If SGU prides itself on a high quality education then why in the world are students having to refer back to lectures from years ago in order obtain the level of understanding they need to do well on the exams? That’s exactly what happens at SGU. While studying for physiology, I along with the majority of my classmates had to refer back to our course director’s teaching on Sonic Foundry-MediaSite in order to learn the material. SGU will proudly proclaim that it has visiting professors from all over the world and as exciting as that sounds, this actually creates more problems for students than it solves. The core faculty at SGU create the exams but then leave the teaching part in the hands of visiting professors who have no idea what’s going to be on the exam. Surely, they have a list of objectives to cover but the manner in which we are taught does not parallel the manner in which student’s before us were taught. In the past, SGU core faculty professors actually taught the students and they taught well. Visiting faculty members teach well too but it can be really confusing keeping up with their lectures while our essential/supplemental class notes we ordered from the bookstore are on a completely different pace. Students have to hustle through the plethora of notes to align themselves with the visiting professors who are doing their own thing. Some of the modules are indeed taught by the Core faculty and those subjects I usually learned well. However, important topics like GI, Endocrine, and Respiratory physiology were all taught by visiting professors. To save time, avoid confusion, and focus solely on high-yield information in an effort to prepare for the exams, majority of students including myself referred back to lectures from years ago by watching online, the lectures taught by the core faculty at a time when they weren’t too busy to teach their students the material.

I can go on and on forever about the lower quality of education at SGU but instead, I will move on to other equally, important issues, by now I think you get the point.

ACADEMIC POLICIES

Earlier I stated the educational system at SGU resembles that of a venture capitalist but it is actually worse. It doesn’t even invest in it’s students. I can already hear what every caribbean medical student is saying in response to that, “haha tameer, you’re such a spoiled brat you want the school to invest in students like you. Please, grow up. Every Caribbean medical school does not invest in it’s students. SGU is no different. Invest in yourself and deal with it.” Okay, that may be true. It’s no surprise to any caribbean student that their school is not invested. After all, it’s generally accepted that student’s (med and vet) in the caribbean have to fend for themselves. But all that aside, even if you just look at the very basic policies you can see that SGU is actually far less invested than the other caribbean medical schools making it so much harder for students to fend for themselves. Here’s how…

Chancellery Building: Primary Academic, Administrative, and Business Offices

ACADEMIC DISMISSAL POLICY

No student enrolled in medical school ever doubts their ability to succeed. After all, they made it to medical school, didn’t they? Yet, it’s important to be realistic and aware of the policies a school has regarding academic dismissal because more often than not, student’s will struggle if not fail a course maybe a little or maybe by a lot.

Don’t be another student to walk into a school like SGU and find yourself completely shocked at the stringent, strict, and unreasonable policies they have regarding student dismissal and promotion.

Most caribbean medical schools have a very reasonable academic dismissal policy. They allow students to repeat a failed course. However, at SGU the only option a student has to repeat a failed course is by deceling. Deceling means the student drops the course mid-way and takes it again next term, never having really failed it in the first place. Students who take a course without dropping it/deceling and actually fail the course are automatically recommended for dismissal. They can either appeal the recommendation for dismissal with the hope of getting reinstated or appeal with the risk of getting dismissed. Or they can avoid putting their fate in the hand’s of the administration altogether and withdraw.

During the basic sciences at other caribbean medical schools like American University of the Caribbean (AUC), failing the same course twice are grounds for dismissal. Other than that, a student may fail up to 17 credit hours before getting asked to leave. After this, students have the opportunity to appeal in front of a committee consisting of faculty and honor students who will decide whether or not to allow the student to stay (Source). At Ross University SOM, if you fail a course you will have to repeat the entire semester again and pass. You will only be dismissed after failing a repeated semester. (Source). At American University of Antigua (AUA), students (in Semesters I-III) with a final grade between 65-69%, failing in no more than two courses, and are not on academic probation may be eligible to re-test for the final exam(s). There is only one exception, if a student fails in semester IV, they have to repeat the entire semester. A student who receives an aggregate (weighted mean) score of less than 55% may be dismissed (Source). At Medical University of the Americas (MUA), students who fail a repeated course, students who fail while on academic probation, and/or students who fail two or more courses while enrolled in Basic Sciences, whether or not on Academic Probation may be dismissed (Source). At University of Medicine & Health Sciences (UMHS), a student who fails a course does not have to repeat the entire semester, they just take that course and are only recommended for dismissal if they fail it again (Source). Notice how all these schools allow students to repeat a course as if it’s a fundamental right. Having these kinds of policies means the schools value their students’ to the extent that they will allow them to make a mistake long as they learn from it and correct it.

At SGU, on the other hand, a student will be automatically recommended for dismissal after failing a course of 4 credits or more (which is majority of the courses), or for failing two courses that are less than 4 credits each. The students have no opportunity to repeat a failed course unless they are reinstated after already making an appeal for their dismissal (students who are reinstated are generally an exception to the rule). Notice I could not provide a legitimate source for SGU’s academic dismissal policy. I wish I could provide one but there is no updated handbook stating these policies publicly on the SGU website. The only way to access SGU’s current handbook is by already matriculating and obtaining access to the MySGU page. There are previous versions of handbooks available online, but they no longer provide valid information nor do they adequately state the policies that currently exist.

Please note, all these dismissal policies are regarding the basic sciences program! The clinical sciences are another component of medical school in which these schools have additional yet reasonable grounds for dismissal usually providing students with multiple upon multiple attempts to pass the required basic science comprehension examinations.

Thank you to my friend Benji Ho for recommending my blog to prospective caribbean school viewers and for helping out with this section. Learn more from his blog here!

CHANGES IN POLICY FAVOR WEEDING OUT

One thing I strongly dislike about SGU is the sudden changes in policy they make over the course of a single term without really asking for students’ input.

For instance, the WMPG (aka cumulative gpa) increased from 73% to 75% as the minimum gpa a student must maintain in order to be promoted to the following term. Even though passing a class remains at a 70%, a student who has passed all classes > 70% is still recommended for dismissal if their average is <75%. It may not seem like a big difference that the WMPG only shifted two points up, but for the students who before managed to have a cumulative WMPG of 73% would be considered as successful students promoted without hesitation to the next term, students now with that score are recommended for dismissal and these students are left with the difficult choice to either withdraw or appeal their recommendation for dismissal with the risk of being officially dismissed or luckily getting reinstated. In other words, you can pass all your classes at SGU and still be dismissed if you do not meet the minimum gpa requirement of 75%. This is also true for students at SABA, another “top” caribbean school that most closely resembles SGU in many other ways it might as well be called it’s twin.

I know many students who have failed a course by .5, 1, or 2 percentage points and actually appealed. Some of them were reinstated, others were not. Just google it, it’s a common occurrence and not a fair one I might add. I also know students who passed all their classes and had to appeal their dismissal because it did not meet the WMPG of 75% which was not what we signed up for when we first matriculated.

In another example, when I first matriculated to SGU, basic science courses like genetics & immunology used to be separate classes that were comprised of 2 credits each. A student could actually fail these courses and continue onto the next term. However, once again the administration changed the policies without students’ input or consent and combined both those classes, now making them one class, total of 4 credits. The first 2 months are genetics, final 2 months are immuno. This means if you fail genetics and pass immunology or fail immunology and pass genetics, you are still automatically recommended for dismissal. Whereas not too long ago, you could fail one of these courses and not be recommended for dismissal!

Allow me to make it clear, I am not advocating for students to fail. I am simply stating that they have the right to a “second chance.” Still, people argue that caribbean medical schools in and of themselves are “second chance schools” so giving students another chance at retaking a course is just a waste of time because they are clearly “not cut out to be here since they can’t even make it at a second chance school” or so we’ve heard. But in reality, caribbean medical schools are far more difficult than american medical schools. The administration at american medical schools fight for their students and do everything they can to keep them because they chose their students selectively out of thousands of other applicants. That is why the medschools in the States have extremely low attrition rates (1-3%). In caribbean medical schools, the curriculum is generally accelerated, the quality of education is lower, and the administrative policies usually favor weeding out in an effort to only take into account the cream of the crop so that only the best students can sit for STEP 1 & 2 making the school look far better than it actually is.

ATTRITION RATE

SGU has always been known to have a much lower attrition rate than the other caribbean medical schools (which I think at the time of my withdrawal was approx. 6%) After being a student here and really observing the way things work or don’t work, I’ve noticed there are many students who voluntarily withdraw midway during the semester or they take a “leave of absence” but then never come back. Also far as the students who fail a course, the attrition rate may only take into account the number of student’s who actually appeal and get dismissed. But there’s a significant amount of students who do not even go through with the appeal because they do not want to risk academic dismissal so they are essentially and forcibly cornered into withdrawing because the alternative choice is not really a viable one for many students.

Some questions that need to be truthfully answered: Does SGU’s dropout rate also take into consideration the students who withdraw or take an LOA and never return? Or does it only take into account the students who appeal and get dismissed? I would ask the administration this question but quite frankly, I do not trust their answer. I’d rather have an outside source that’s an expert in this field look into it. Such a low attrition rate with such a high enrollment of students with such stringent academic policies, dismissing majority of students who appeal does not add up. Something does not look right here. The attrition rate is masqueraded. Only a fool would believe it.

I once did. It’s a clever tactic. The fact that students are given the choice to withdraw after they have failed a course removes any responsibility the school has when students inevitably “drop out” one way or the other. For this reason, no law suits are being made because everything is being thrown under the rug as if it’s the student’s choice to begin with. In SGU’s defense, “The student failed, that was on him/her, the student’s appeal sucked, or the student withdrew” are all great attempts at justifying why students at SGU drop out. But the reality is, “the school does not give students a chance to retest or retake a course, the school would rather disregard a student’s appeal & dismiss a student so that they can accept another incoming first-termer who would have to pay for a full course load rather than accept the other student’s appeal and reinstate them because that once failed student would only have to pay for only that one failed course.” And for those students who withdrew? Oh, SGU forgets about them. They are no longer under SGU’s responsibility, (as if SGU was responsible for it’s students in the first place). After all, the students who withdrew could have appealed, so it’s the student’s fault once again! Clever. Turning tables, blame-shifting. Giving a “free choice” when really it comes down to a student appealing and getting dismissed or being cornered into withdrawing. As for the ones who appeal and get reinstated? They are usually the ones who failed by 1 or .5% and are passing with flying colors in all their other classes. It does not take a statistics expert to know that these kinds of students are statistically insignificant, rare, lucky gems in a stone cold world. Other students who get lucky like this happen to be connected in some way with SGU administration. Like the USGA president-elect who failed a course but still managed to continue on because, well, he/she was going to be the next president! Talk about cherry-picking…

TRANSPARENCY IS KEY

Not many student blogs will take the time to actually “expose” a school because it either comes across as complaining or because everyone has already accepted that this is what we signed up for when we went to the caribbean and therefore we must simply “deal with it.” To each, their own. I for one, did not know I signed up for this. From the time I matriculated (2013) to the time of this writing, SGU’s student handbook is not readily accessible for prospective students, but once you enroll at SGU and login into the “mySGU” page, only then can you view the handbook and see what you signed up for. It wasn’t until I was sitting in orientation the first week when they put a slide up on the projector that said in bold, “Failure is not an option.”

At first, I thought they were being cute. I didn’t take it as seriously…Certainly, no one ever thinks they are going to end up failing any course. We hold ourselves to high regard and become overconfident and overestimate our abilities before we even begin. Whatever the case, the school should be more transparent and allow students to obtain access to the student handbook which can adequately answer all their questions.

The academic catalogue, on the other hand, although publicly accessible, does not provide important information regarding academic policies and processes. One might argue, however, that even if the student handbook was available publicly on the SGU website (as it is with all the other top caribbean schools) where any prospective student can access it, they still might not want to because after all, “SGU is SGU, no reason to look into it.” Seriously, how many students actually take the time to read through a caribbean medical school’s handbook? They are too busy preoccupying themselves with STEP scores & match rates as they should be but they neglect to read up on the critical information regarding a school’s structure and curriculum. I kid you not, there is this blatant and blind worship of SGU, a school that is completely overrated. I’ve seen it throughout my time as a student and even after I withdrew. I still have prospective & current students reaching out to me and asking me about SGU’s policies and curriculum without really looking into it themselves. In fact, this entire paper has been sitting on my desktop for over 6 months now and it’s been going under constant revisions, additions, and omissions from my peers helping me with this. Only now, I am serious about posting it publicly because people are still curious about SGU and want my honest opinion of the school. Thanks to them pushing me to voice my concerns, I am finally completing this and publishing it.

SGU students in class

ATMOSPHERE

Despite knowing all these negative factors at SGU, students who “choose” to withdraw or are academically dismissed constantly belittle themselves for not succeeding at SGU. I think that’s due largely in part to the overwhelming negative atmosphere at SGU. It’s almost like “don’t ask, don’t tell”. If you are unhappy, shut up. If you are struggling, just suck it up. Why? Because this is medical school and everyone is struggling and sucking it up. But does that really make it okay? And is SGU really like any other medical school? When I was sitting at my graduate school interview, and sharing all of this with my interviewer, he was baffled. He asked me why in the world I decided to stick around for over a year and a half and why the other students presently struggling through the system decide to do the same. I responded that by the time I had realized exactly what I had gotten myself into, I had to stay. I honor the commitments that I make. I don’t walk out—not from schools or relationships or anyone or anything. I don’t walk out, unless I absolutely have to. Eventually, that time came when I had no choice but to leave and immediately I was glad I did.

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SGU students in Taylor Hall, Grenada

It seems like every student has implicitly consented to the way things work at SGU. Perhaps they have realized it’s too late to back out now like I did. As I have previously mentioned, the faculty and students who are content blindly assume you are the perpetrator and that the school is an innocent victim. I am sick and tired of blaming myself for my shortcomings and watching my colleagues in similar situations do the same. The truth is, we can say, “If only I had studied more” for as long as we live but we know in our hearts it wouldn’t have made a difference. Really believe it was only a matter of time before some of my friends and I had to take our leave. Such is the way SGU makes it out to be. In a society that profits from your self-doubt, standing up for yourself is a rebellious act. Looking back in retrospect, taking all of these factors into account, I have come to realize that students do not fail SGU, SGU fails their students. As for the students who make it through, they did not pass SGU, they survived it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Indeed, every caribbean medical school has its flaws, no matter how great its step scores or match rates are. I am not here to shame SGU and declare it a lost cause. If the administration really takes the time to listen to its students, ask for their consent when changing policies that favor weeding out, or perhaps even decrease the incoming number of students per term, that’s a promising start. There’s always hope. But they have got to start somewhere. Seeing the direction it is currently headed in, motivated me to get this message out there in the first place. I hope SGU officials will not read this message merely to respond with every reason why I’m wrong, but will rather, take the time to seriously consider these concerns and address them moving forward. Seeing the direction it is going in seems like it’s headed for a downward spiral. Unfortunately, many of the students will go down with it. As if not enough already have…

While I acknowledge that there may be worse schools out there, that is not the purpose nor the scope of this message. I could rant on about lower tier schools but that’s not the point. These serious issues at SGU should be evaluated without comparing to other schools that are not of its “caliber.” I admit SGU is better than many other caribbean medical schools that are not even worthy of talking about. We all know those ones that have been around for decades and still cannot place their students in decent residencies. But this is SGU we are talking about; a school that is highly deemed and regarded as the “Harvard of the Caribbean.” So while students from other caribbean medical schools like to assume SGU students have it so easy, they are undermining this message and ignoring the reason for it. This is a school that most american premed students drool over and dream of attending. That is why it is so important that these issues are openly stated and addressed.

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge once again that everyone is entitled to their own opinion; to each, their own. Prospective students, please remember, regardless of what you read or don’t read, it’s all up to you at the end of the day. Just because I have written something with the help of peers doesn’t mean every student at SGU agrees. We would never “not recommend” a school just because of our personal experience/performance. There are many issues that need to be brought to light and we’re finally doing that. It’s a collaborative effort. But it’s not enough. More students need to speak up at SGU but we understand those currently enrolled who desire to speak up are unable to do so because they are “enslaved to the system.” If SGU’s administration keeps throwing these issues under the rug then eventually the rug will become an obstacle and will start tripping more and more students over to the point where no one will be able to make it to the other side. A listening ear and the willingness to change goes a long way.

CONCLUSION
By going to SGU, I used to think that one day I’d be able to proudly proclaim, “I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference…” But I’ve come to realize that sometimes the road less traveled, is less traveled for a reason.

“THINK BEYOND”

SGU’s motto is, “think beyond.” I strongly encourage all prospective students to do just that before matriculating to SGU. Think beyond the extravagant campus, the alluring website, the fancy white coats, and the excellent statistics. Think beyond all that and you will start seeing what you are really getting yourself into…

There’s no doubt SGU is a top caribbean medical school. I’m not here to argue against that. I’d be wasting my time as well as yours if I were. SGU prepares it’s students for the board exams and places students in brilliant residencies. It gives each and every student a fair chance to be a doctor and that’s a rare opportunity that must never be taken for granted. A good number of students excel and their dreams come true. Those are the students that are shown on paper and are glorified to the fullest extent. But a good number of students are also cornered into withdrawing or are dismissed and those students go unreported, are left in tremendous debt, and have no voice. This blog post is a voice for the voiceless; it speaks for all the students like myself, who appreciate the opportunity that SGU has given us, but we are just better off without it and you may be too.

*All image rights reserved to their proper owners*

Update, July 29th, 2015:

Lately, I have received lots of positive feedback from prospective & current SGU students regarding this blog post and I appreciate you all for taking the time and want to thank you for all the support & encouragement! Even several SGU instructors and clinical tutors have reached out to me and admitted that this is sadly very accurate but with respect to their privacy, I will not disclose their names. Due to the many comments being left on this page, I am no longer requiring that they be “approved.” Feel free to share your story, drop a comment, etc. Differing opinions are more than welcome.

136 Comments

Why I Withdrew from SGU

4/5/2015

6 Comments

Photo Credit goes to my friend and SGU colleague, Kevin Ly. Check out his blog at https://kevinlymd.wordpress.com/

Last I wrote, I shared about my personal experience deceling at SGU and doing well because of it. Now I share with you my experience term 2 onwards and let me warn you, it’s not pretty. In a nutshell, Term 2 went well. At least, in the beginning it did. I enjoyed it so much more than term 1. Even though the classes are much harder, they are so much more interesting, and the labs were so much better in that they were not as tedious or time-consuming as term 1 labs were. Not to mention, the professors and clinical tutors are a lot easier on you since you’ve made it through term 1 and believe me that makes a world of difference.

The best part about term 2 was passing all my midterms. For the first time on a full course load, I had passed all my midterms at SGU and it felt empowering. Made me believe I could make it through. All my first term courses, I passed on a reduced course load, so imagine my excitement when I realized I had made it through midterms during term 2 on a full course load! It was a great time and while it was the best part about term 2, a part of me wishes it never happened. I wish I had failed my midterms, because only then would I have realized I need to study harder and smarter for my final exams, rather than getting too comfortable.

Term 2 is scary because soon as you think you are doing well, tables turn and you realize you are not. There is this false phenomenon at SGU, it’s called, “Just Pass.” Majority of students here tell you to “just pass” because they believe that’s all that really matters in medical school. That couldn’t possibly be farther from the truth. All of my midterms during term 2, I scored 80% or higher, except for one of them, I had “just passed” and instead of studying harder and smarter, I thought, “what an accomplishment” instead. I blame no one but myself for this false sense of confidence that I had during this time. I share this because I want to put a stop to it immediately. Take a lesson from this! If you are enrolled at SGU or at any medical school for that matter, let it be known, a grade C is NOT safe! Now I’ve learned to see it as this: an A is a green light, a B is a yellow light, and a C is a red light.

As the term went on, I continued studying but I was also very much committed to other things. I not only performed but also hosted a cultural show within the month of our final exams. I certainly had overcommitted myself and I learned that the hard way. I was very distracted as finals neared, I was going through a lot of problems in my personal relationships and many developments were taking place on the homefront that needed my time and attention. Despite all this, I studied as much as I could but I already had a bad feeling about the dark future that lay ahead…I knew I wasn’t ready to take my physio final. I knew the night before when I was practically pulling an all-nighter trying to solidify the concepts in my head, but they just weren’t sticking. I wasn’t doing well on the questions but I wasn’t doing awful either. I was scared because I wasn’t prepared like I was for my other classes. Soon after I took my physio final, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was an overwhelming darkness consuming me. It was a familiar feeling because I had felt it before. I felt it when I had failed all my midterms first term. I knew this feeling, I knew it like I knew myself…

On 12/13/14, I received my final exam scores from SGU. It was a sunny Saturday, I was sitting on my bed in Sauteurs, building M. It was a lovely dorm. Had my own bedroom and bathroom. Shared a common kitchen with loving, caring, genius roommates. After completing a year and a half at SGU, I found out i got a failing grade on my final physiology exam (65%), bringing my final grade down to a 68% F. I was already on the borderline for that class after only passing that midterm with 73%. Strangely enough, in that moment, I felt a sudden sense of liberation mixed with disappointment and devastation. I was shocked but at the same time, I was too relieved to grieve…

A year in a half in this place, getting ~80% B’s or higher on all my other midterms and finals yet waking up every morning with a cloud of doubt hovering over me and an overwhelming fear of failure consuming me day in and day out…you can pass all your classes, in fact you can even have a higher WMPG (cumulative gpa) than the minimum requirement (which is currently 75%) like I did but if you fail any class by 2 percentage points like I did or by 0.5% like my close friend did, then you are automatically recommended for dismissal…what a battle to conquer each and every day…what an awful way to live.

Indeed, medical school is hard, but it shouldn’t be almost impossible, unfair, and unreasonable like this. I felt like almost every day at SGU was a lost cause, it was a pressure cooker, I felt like I was a guinea pig in an unauthorized science experiment that was already set up for failure, and there I was constantly fighting for my survival. It was surprisingly liberating to finally experience my greatest fear. Let me tell you, when what you fear the most actually happens, and you are still alive and well, then all of a sudden, it isn’t your greatest fear any more. When you survive and overcome the worst thing that you think can ever happen to you, it’s no longer the worst thing…in fact, it becomes the best thing that could ever happen to you because it opens you up to a whole new world of possibilities and that’s what it did for me.

Instantly and without hesitation, I had decided to withdraw from SGU. It was the only thing that made sense to me. It was the best thing I could do for myself. Deep down, I knew it and like ripping off a bandaid, I just wanted to get it over with. Felt like this was long over-due. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, which meant I couldn’t run to the registrar and submit my withdrawal form right away. It meant I had to process what my gut reaction was telling me, and believe me, I hate having to think over things because then I tend to overthink them. Luckily, I had a strong support of friends that became a family to me and I’m still lucky enough to have them. They came over immediately, gave me a hug, and when I told them I am withdrawing, they became emotional. From the depths of my heart to the core of my soul, I knew more than anything, SGU was not for me, at least, not anymore. I wanted so badly to have nothing more to do with it. I was not angry or bitter, instead, I was euphoric and relieved. My friends thought I was crazy. I just knew I did not belong here and I had been fighting that conviction since the day I stepped foot in Grenada. I just couldn’t admit it because I had convinced myself that a part of me wanted this more than anything. And maybe for awhile I did…

Finally, Monday arrived and I met with Sara Rabie, the Associate Dean of students, who by the way, has been tremendously kind and helpful in supporting me throughout this withdrawal process. She knew me well because of this blog and because of my videos on youtube. In fact, I had told her I was going to get rid of all of them because I no longer felt qualified to advise students on how to study for medical school, she immediately stopped me and told me not to feel that way. She made me feel better about myself. She acknowledges those videos reach an overwhelming number of prospective medical students and she herself found them helpful and wanted to share them with SGU students. She told me while I may not have performed well in one class, it shouldn’t take away from all the other classes I performed well in…I really appreciated that. Since that conversation, I’ve decided to keep the videos up, although I still feel a bit iffy about it.

Anyway, Dr. Rabie felt I was making the right choice. It’s very unlikely for a student to get reinstated at SGU. Especially a student like myself that has already deceled. Not saying it’s impossible, it’s just highly unlikely. I wasn’t interested in appealing because I wasn’t interested in risking dismissal. With that said, even if by some miraculous force I was reinstated, I would still choose not to continue. I would not be willing to take physio over again at SGU because I knew that the underlying problem was not with physiology or with SGU, but with me. I no longer fit the school and the school was no longer a good fit for me. I felt it was a matter of time before I would be withdrawing or failing again. If not now, then maybe term 4. If not term 4, then maybe term 5. Just wasn’t worth it. I was not learning here. I was not happy here, at least, not anymore. I just knew deep down, I was no longer meant to be here. I’ll never forgot what Dr. Rabie said to me as she took the withdrawal form from her cabinet, she laughed waving it to me and said, “Funny, isn’t it? All the work one has to do to get into SGU but just this form one has to fill out, to get out.” I think it was a perfect example of the way things work at SGU. I worked my whole life trying to excel in high school and undergrad to get into a medical school, yet one failing grade at SGU and I was dropped like a fly. She handed me the withdrawal form and I felt like I was finally free…

(Side note: for those of you who don’t know, at SGU if you fail a class of 4 credits or more [which is majority of them] then you are automatically recommended for dismissal. You have the choice to withdraw or appeal the recommendation with the chance of getting reinstated or dismissed [majority of students who appeal, get dismissed]).

The truth is, you know in your heart when something is meant for you and you know when it no longer is. I believe I came here with good reason and I believe I’ve left with good reason too. I can’t believe for a second that God put me here to destroy me, I refuse to play victim, I’m better than that. I know I must have served a purpose here and now my work is done. I know I have touched the lives of people who crossed my path and I know people who crossed my path have touched my life in a way it could not possibly be touched by anyone else… I am not the same person I was when I first started at SGU, I’m a better person because of all that’s happened. It’s a humbling experience and I am truly grateful for it.

Let me just say that I am fully aware of my limitations and I am not here to blame anything or anyone for my experience at SGU. I realize I didn’t have to overcommit myself to other activities on campus, I realize we all have distractions and problems in our personal lives and so that does not justify my poor performance in any given term. I am not here to make excuses. The little that I do share is not meant to be judged heavily upon but rather taken lightly and accepted for what it is. I apologize if this blog post is coming across as me being in denial and self-righteous. I don’t feel that way at all. I have definitely gone through the whirlwind of emotions that comes with going through a challenging experience like this but I don’t find it relevant to share all those details. I’ve certainly accepted the consequences, I have given myself the time to heal from all of this, and I’ve definitely allowed myself to process everything that’s happened, but I honestly do not see it as something “tragic” as others do. I almost feel like people have to convince me that what happened was bad. I don’t feel like it was. I prefer to leave the judging to my Creator. It happened, a part of me feels like it was meant to… it is what it is. I can choose to dwell on it and victimize myself or I can choose to see the good in it, learn from it, rise above it, and share it to help others in similar situations realize that they are not alone. Better yet, may my SGU journey prevent others from being in this situation in the first place. That alone, would make this all worthwhile.

Although my time at SGU was short-lived, the lifetime lessons I gained are not. The lifelong friends I made are still my family. In fact, saying goodbye to SGU was one of the easiest things I’ve ever had to do. But saying goodbye to my closest friends was the hardest. SGU is a good school, but it is not for everyone. While my SGU chapter is over, my story is just getting started. I’m moving forward. Thank you for sharing this painfully rewarding part of my life with me.