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Monday, August 18, 2014

SGU MD

In July we bought my ticket to Grenada where I began an MD program at St. George's School of Medicine. Looking back, everything has seemed so ephemeral and yet so very formative and substantive. I wonder how the next years will compare.

While fleeting, it has been a longer road than I had anticipated, and to be honest Grenada is not where I pictured the road leading. When I received an interview offer from the University of Arizona in Tucson, it was like everything had fallen into place -- it was my top choice. When I interviewed I found that U of A had everything I could ever want -- connected to the hospital, early clinical exposure, a large hispanic population, etc ... I felt the interview went well but then I waited, and waited, and waited.

While waiting, I interviewed at Pacific Northwest University, which I also thought could be "the school." I liked their approach to OMM and even preferred some components of PNWU's early clinical exposure more than U of A's. I was wait-listed and I actively waited.

It was February and I had no concrete acceptance offers. I wasn't getting any younger and was not going to go through another application cycle. So, I applied to the only caribbean school that I would consider attending, St. George's University (see some reasons why here and here). I received my acceptance letter and was excited to know that I would be going to med school, yet I still held out for an acceptance elsewhere.

There came a point where I had to make a decision. I grappled with the reality of attending a caribbean med school. It was not where I thought I would be, nor where I had hoped to go. I realized that I would have to confront the stigmas (some hateful) I had read about on the pre-med forums about not being good enough or not attending a real medical school because I would be an international medical student. I told someone at Adi's gymnastics training where I would be going and his first comment was, "Have you ever seen the movie, 'Bad Medicine'?" (Very encouraging, right?) Yet I personally know students who have been very successful and placed in competitive U.S. residencies. My take-home message: it is what you make of it.

So, yes I am attending a Second-Chance Med School. But SGU gave me the chance to pursue my dream and is providing me the resources to excel. What I have learned being here is that SGU cares about their students and about our success, the university cares about the integrity of the profession and about the Grenadian community.

I am an international med student and I am gratefully taking this opportunity to gain a renowned education, through the study of medical sciences, learning from international classmates and faculty (who visit from universities like Harvard and Cambridge), and from living in and serving an underdeveloped nation.

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