Hi guys,
I currently attend the SGUL Unic program, and new to valueMD. I've seen a lot of contrasting opinions on valueMD about the program and thought I would give some future students insight as what to expect.
I'd like to start by saying that compared to some students that have posted their negative experiences with the school, I haven't really had any issues at all, and have been fairly pleased with my educational experience overall. I have a unique background since I left a Caribbean medical school to attend SGUL and thought I could give some information on how much better my experience at SGUL has been since students have been juxtaposing the two. I'd like to preface this by saying that not everyone's experience in the Caribbean was like mine, and I'm sure that some have only positive things to say. This is just my perspective.
First off, the class size at SGUL UNic is small (my carib school had approximately 700-800 students) in year 1, which quite frankly was absurd. Trying to learn in a class size with that sheer volume of students all competing for the same resources was infuriating. One of the biggest examples I can give is the Anatomy sessions at SGUL. Dr. Stavrou and Dr. Panos are awesome and truly attempt to help the students. Moreover, the school brings in specialist DOCTORS that are there to answer all your questions and guide you through the anatomy session (for example, your cardiology unit will have cardiothoracic surgeons, and non-invasive cardiologists guiding you). In the carribbean that is not so much the case at all. I once asked a masters in Anatomy "station tutor" (each station was JAM PACKED with students, if you were short good luck!!!!) a question on some cardio/respiratory anatomy and he replied with a perplexed look on his face ".....idk...... figure it out." If I'm paying the amount of money that I was, then I expect to have an expert lead my session. The small class size enables you to have maybe maximum 8 people in your anatomy station at one time. Having only 100 people max in my class has made the overall experience very cohesive and I've fostered some great relationships with genuinely intelligent and awesome people! Additionally, each week you are taught a set of OSCE clinical skills and for every unit you are allocated a clinical placement (sometimes multiple) at a local hospital or clinic where you get to practice history taking and the actual relevant examination on a real patient that has a real problem you are covering in your unit!! You get to do this starting your very first semester in year 1.
The problem based learning (PBL) can either be a hit or miss depending on your group and tutor, but with the exception of only one term, I thought it was a great way to learn. It forces you to learn the concepts in enough detail to present the material to your group and your PBL tutor (gave me incentive to not look stupid in front of them and do my work on time!). Ive generally noticed that those who have a problem with it (not all) are usually the ones who do not put much effort into it and end up having to cram the material towards the end, and then complain about how its "ineffective." Simply put, complete your PBL learning objectives in the depth required and by the time the official objectives are released, almost 70% of the work is done. One of the biggest issues that students tend to have is remaining consistent throughout a term, PBL (executed the right way by both students and PBL tutor) forces you to do that. PBL also fosters a more cooperative learning environment with your peers, whereas in the Caribbean i felt that it was a much more "get away from me, you're on your own" type of vibe.
I find the curriculum here to be more spaced out and cohesive where in the Caribbean I felt that I was dumped a bunch of powerpoint slides to literally memorize, and then have all that information be lost as soon as the next unit came up. Many of my friends from the caribbean feel like they have had to literally go through all the information once again because the pace, volume, and manner in which it is taught is unrealistic for some.
Overall the learning is very clinically oriented. All of the basic sciences you will learn incorporate treatment and management. I will say, that the curriculum does not teach for the step. This is something, you should be aware prior to attending SGUL UNic if you are a north american student like I am. Some students complained about this, but I didn't really understand their rationale since this is a UK course at the end of the day. Once again, I am not intending to antagonize anyone as everyone has their opinion. For some who are worried about this and would prefer to go somewhere else for their medical education, totally fair on you and I completely understand. However, many of my peers have been studying for the step one on their own and have been correlating what overlaps between the course and the step 1. Some of my peers that studied throughout both years consistently, have done well on their practice USMLE tests.
Obviously since the program is new, there aren't any statistics yet available that I could reference to you guys as the very first opening SGUL UNic class just graduated a couple of weeks ago. Also keep in mind that just because you go to a Caribbean school doesn't automatically mean you will pass your step 1 as advertised by them. I know plenty of peers from my old school who did not pass their comp examination and now must retake them while their peers move on to clinical rotations. Basically, I personally think it comes down to your own work ethic more than anything else. As an IMG we are all aware that we have to go the extra mile to secure our residency spots down the line, so just put in the work and good things can hopefully happen.
As far as the Ponce School of Medicine controversy, i'm sure it was a shock to some people, but at the end of the day I personally didn't see what the real issue was. Ponce rotations are ACGME accredited for all 6 core rotations. I'm assuming the major issue for some students not being allocated to Swedish Covenant hospital in Chicago was that it came up suddenly without really being kept in the loop, people then realized that they may not end up at the very place they had been preparing to go to for the past two years (which is definitely a fair argument). The school should have informed students earlier on of any hurdles and kept them in the loop. But as far as accreditation and quality of rotational clinical education at Ponce, there isn't really an issue. Ponce's Step 2 average is right on par with the national average (national average score being 215, and Ponce being 218), so I assume you will be receiving a quality clinical education. I can't really compare the 3rd and 4th year of SGUL UNic with that of the Caribbean because I left prior to that. Some of my friends failed out of their past semester in the Caribbean because their school accepted more people than it could place in clinical rotations. What was their solution?? Randomly increasing the pass mark that had been the same for all the past terms (once again I'd like to stress that this is not representative of every carib institution, just ones I have been exposed to)!!!!!!. This unfairly cut off those people and forced them to pay an extra terms worth of tuition even though they had EARNED what was supposed to be the normal and consistent pass average. There i was a number, here i feel much more like a student.
Overall, the school is new, and they have made adjustments throughout the past 4 years to accommodate the student body in ways they are able to. I generally saw a lot of negative posts on valueMD, and while some may have their opinions, I wanted to assure people that it is not the case for everyone. I'm personally very pleased and am looking forward to continuing my education with this school. I hope that I've given enough helpful info about the school itself, in addition to comparing it to another experience I had. Don't want anyone to feel like their opinion isn't valid, i'm just giving mine!! thanks
I currently attend the SGUL Unic program, and new to valueMD. I've seen a lot of contrasting opinions on valueMD about the program and thought I would give some future students insight as what to expect.
I'd like to start by saying that compared to some students that have posted their negative experiences with the school, I haven't really had any issues at all, and have been fairly pleased with my educational experience overall. I have a unique background since I left a Caribbean medical school to attend SGUL and thought I could give some information on how much better my experience at SGUL has been since students have been juxtaposing the two. I'd like to preface this by saying that not everyone's experience in the Caribbean was like mine, and I'm sure that some have only positive things to say. This is just my perspective.
First off, the class size at SGUL UNic is small (my carib school had approximately 700-800 students) in year 1, which quite frankly was absurd. Trying to learn in a class size with that sheer volume of students all competing for the same resources was infuriating. One of the biggest examples I can give is the Anatomy sessions at SGUL. Dr. Stavrou and Dr. Panos are awesome and truly attempt to help the students. Moreover, the school brings in specialist DOCTORS that are there to answer all your questions and guide you through the anatomy session (for example, your cardiology unit will have cardiothoracic surgeons, and non-invasive cardiologists guiding you). In the carribbean that is not so much the case at all. I once asked a masters in Anatomy "station tutor" (each station was JAM PACKED with students, if you were short good luck!!!!) a question on some cardio/respiratory anatomy and he replied with a perplexed look on his face ".....idk...... figure it out." If I'm paying the amount of money that I was, then I expect to have an expert lead my session. The small class size enables you to have maybe maximum 8 people in your anatomy station at one time. Having only 100 people max in my class has made the overall experience very cohesive and I've fostered some great relationships with genuinely intelligent and awesome people! Additionally, each week you are taught a set of OSCE clinical skills and for every unit you are allocated a clinical placement (sometimes multiple) at a local hospital or clinic where you get to practice history taking and the actual relevant examination on a real patient that has a real problem you are covering in your unit!! You get to do this starting your very first semester in year 1.
The problem based learning (PBL) can either be a hit or miss depending on your group and tutor, but with the exception of only one term, I thought it was a great way to learn. It forces you to learn the concepts in enough detail to present the material to your group and your PBL tutor (gave me incentive to not look stupid in front of them and do my work on time!). Ive generally noticed that those who have a problem with it (not all) are usually the ones who do not put much effort into it and end up having to cram the material towards the end, and then complain about how its "ineffective." Simply put, complete your PBL learning objectives in the depth required and by the time the official objectives are released, almost 70% of the work is done. One of the biggest issues that students tend to have is remaining consistent throughout a term, PBL (executed the right way by both students and PBL tutor) forces you to do that. PBL also fosters a more cooperative learning environment with your peers, whereas in the Caribbean i felt that it was a much more "get away from me, you're on your own" type of vibe.
I find the curriculum here to be more spaced out and cohesive where in the Caribbean I felt that I was dumped a bunch of powerpoint slides to literally memorize, and then have all that information be lost as soon as the next unit came up. Many of my friends from the caribbean feel like they have had to literally go through all the information once again because the pace, volume, and manner in which it is taught is unrealistic for some.
Overall the learning is very clinically oriented. All of the basic sciences you will learn incorporate treatment and management. I will say, that the curriculum does not teach for the step. This is something, you should be aware prior to attending SGUL UNic if you are a north american student like I am. Some students complained about this, but I didn't really understand their rationale since this is a UK course at the end of the day. Once again, I am not intending to antagonize anyone as everyone has their opinion. For some who are worried about this and would prefer to go somewhere else for their medical education, totally fair on you and I completely understand. However, many of my peers have been studying for the step one on their own and have been correlating what overlaps between the course and the step 1. Some of my peers that studied throughout both years consistently, have done well on their practice USMLE tests.
Obviously since the program is new, there aren't any statistics yet available that I could reference to you guys as the very first opening SGUL UNic class just graduated a couple of weeks ago. Also keep in mind that just because you go to a Caribbean school doesn't automatically mean you will pass your step 1 as advertised by them. I know plenty of peers from my old school who did not pass their comp examination and now must retake them while their peers move on to clinical rotations. Basically, I personally think it comes down to your own work ethic more than anything else. As an IMG we are all aware that we have to go the extra mile to secure our residency spots down the line, so just put in the work and good things can hopefully happen.
As far as the Ponce School of Medicine controversy, i'm sure it was a shock to some people, but at the end of the day I personally didn't see what the real issue was. Ponce rotations are ACGME accredited for all 6 core rotations. I'm assuming the major issue for some students not being allocated to Swedish Covenant hospital in Chicago was that it came up suddenly without really being kept in the loop, people then realized that they may not end up at the very place they had been preparing to go to for the past two years (which is definitely a fair argument). The school should have informed students earlier on of any hurdles and kept them in the loop. But as far as accreditation and quality of rotational clinical education at Ponce, there isn't really an issue. Ponce's Step 2 average is right on par with the national average (national average score being 215, and Ponce being 218), so I assume you will be receiving a quality clinical education. I can't really compare the 3rd and 4th year of SGUL UNic with that of the Caribbean because I left prior to that. Some of my friends failed out of their past semester in the Caribbean because their school accepted more people than it could place in clinical rotations. What was their solution?? Randomly increasing the pass mark that had been the same for all the past terms (once again I'd like to stress that this is not representative of every carib institution, just ones I have been exposed to)!!!!!!. This unfairly cut off those people and forced them to pay an extra terms worth of tuition even though they had EARNED what was supposed to be the normal and consistent pass average. There i was a number, here i feel much more like a student.
Overall, the school is new, and they have made adjustments throughout the past 4 years to accommodate the student body in ways they are able to. I generally saw a lot of negative posts on valueMD, and while some may have their opinions, I wanted to assure people that it is not the case for everyone. I'm personally very pleased and am looking forward to continuing my education with this school. I hope that I've given enough helpful info about the school itself, in addition to comparing it to another experience I had. Don't want anyone to feel like their opinion isn't valid, i'm just giving mine!! thanks