So, now Bonaire campus will no longer be taking new students and the accreditation of the Bonaire has a time limit to end. I graduated from Bonaire and I am in my clinical clerkships and I’m less than a year left till I finish. So the question is should I stay with SJSM or transfer out to a better school. Either way I will be counted as a transfer. However, it would look worse to have two transcripts from two different schools. If I stay with SJSM then there will be one transcript. I could wait and see what happens but I need to register for Step 2 CK and especially Step 2 CS. It’s better to register for Step 2 CS because of the wait time it requires.
Having a transfer counts as a negative and so I have to do extra things to make my application look good on top of a great Step 2 CK score. Such as having good letter of recommendation from a director of a program, have good clerkship grades, and also include research. I have to cover all angles.
Research is required by SJSM in order to graduate anyways and so you may as well start research ASAP. Also it’s better to have Step 2 CK and CS completed and get ECFMG certified before you apply for residency on September 15th. When I mean ECFMG certified that is having the certification in your hand. You only get the certification after you pass Step 1, Step 2 CS, and Step 2 CK. And having the certification will allow you to apply to more residency spots.
So basically I will stick with SJSM because transferring is another pain in the butt and getting refund from SJSM is another headache.
4 comments:
Hi. I've been reading your blog and I noticed that St. James' story of not meeting accreditation is similar to the St. Eustatius. I'm a current basic science student and I'm concerned because we went through the same problem with not meeting the requirements for NVAO and we relocated to St. Maarten this September. Right now we are just promised verbally that the administration is talking to St. Maarten government on accreditation, but it will take several months to get something in writing. This story is similar to what happened to your school. Unfortunately, St. Eustatius does not have a second campus and I'm wondering what would your advice be for a student like me (I started originally from Statia - no transfers) and I'm close to finish basic sciences, but I'm worried if the school closes in the next couple months. Is it that terrible to transfer schools or can I make it up by doing well on Step 1?
I say get out now. NVAO is just Dutch accreditation body; therefore, any island that is under the dutch government will have to go there. The Dutch system is very tiresome thats why SJSM went to Anguilla, the British colony. The British are easier to work with if you are American/ Canadian citizen.
I'm wondering about just how much transferring would affect our applications come residency. Wouldn't it be enough to just explain your reasoning for transfer, while not bashing your previous school? I'd like to think it's not an automatic negative on a student's record just because they have changed schools. We can't assume to know the reasons why anyone has to transfer and in my personal experience, many students do it for financial reasons. Do you have any links to support how transferring schools sheds a negative light on your record?
Transferring does show a negative light on your record. I would suggest you don't transfer if you think you can stick with it to your school. For SJSM students who have transfer on their record, they are still under SJSM so students can have a leniency on that.
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