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FOR THOSE OF YOU CONSIDERING APPLYING OR TRANSFERRING TO CMU YOU WILL WANT TO READ THIS!
I was accepted at CMU in January as a transfer student. I paid a $100 application fee and a $1000 seat deposit. I was put in Touch with Dr. S****. H****., the Clinical Coordinator who operates under his LLC called the H**** Medical Group. I spoke with Dean R*** J****** personally before I was accepted and it was clear he had not read an iota of my application. In fact he placed me in the wrong clinical semester, and was promptly corrected by S. H. who explained to him that Clinicals Start in MD5 at CMU. It was not reassuring to see the Dean so unfamiliar with the clinical curriculum.
I engaged in several conversations with S. H. over the course of several weeks regarding scheduling my clinical rotations in Chicago for this summer. Since I was accepted in January he said I should expect to receive tuition bills and that I should just ignore them. He asserted that I could enroll at any time as an MD5 and that I would not be assessed a late fee. As May approached and my full tuition was coming due, I requested reasonable assurance that once I had paid my tuition in full that I would be placed in Chicago. Dr. S. H. stated that he could not provide this assurance and that I would have to speak with Dean R. J. again, the Academic Dean. I contacted Dean R. J. and he said that he had concerns about my eligibility to apply my prior credits. I had been given assurance by ECFMG rep in Philadelphia that my credits were applicable toward the credentials requirement and I brought this to Dean R. J's attention. Just a day or so later, I got a demand from the school to sign a statement agreeing to a leave of absence. They said that it was necessary to avoid a late payment on tuition. This assertion directly contradicted the assurances I received from Clinical Dean S**** H*****. I copied the correspondence between myself and S**** H**** pertaining to this matter, and heard no reply. I explained that I was reluctant to sign a leave of absence agreement, because I wasn't even technically enrolled in their school. how can I take a 'leave of absence' if im not even an official matriculant? It was rediculous.
A few days later, I get a letter from Dean R*** J****** that they have terminated my candidacy for, inter alia, arguing with the administration, 'dictating policies', and failure to submit documentation of my test scores, which my email records showed had already been submitted. There was no mention of the initial reason for the delay regarding the ECFMG credential issue. The letter indicated that they would be refunding my seat deposit. Its been over 45 days and I've received nothing. S**** H***** refuses to return my calls or emails. A total scam.
I am left to conclude the following. The CMU administration is run very poorly. There are major disconnects between their financial officers and admin on the island and Clinical Dean S. H. Dean S. H. made assurances that were not upheld by the admin even when it was brought to their attention. Furthermore, it was clear from the email exchanges that Academic Dean R. J's decision to terminate my candidacy rested solely on the fact that I had attempted to assert my rights as a student. For those of you who may be new to Foreign Medical schools, taking leaves of absence reflects poorly on your academic caliber and might be a point of criticism when you apply for residencies. They will want to know why you were forced to take a leave. In general it is not favorable. The fact that this school was willing to jeopardize my candidacy for residency in order to satisfy their internal billing departmental policies highlights a major conflict of interest. I am forced to conclude that you cannot trust what Dr S H**** asserts, nor can I trust Dean R J****** to administer justly. Dean R. J. is a retaliatory Dean who has a vague at best grasp of the curriculum and clearly subordinates the interests of his students.
In addition to the issues I discuss above, Dean S. H. also attempted to sell me a story about how the importance of Greenbook over Bluebook rotations are a myth. That is a bold assertion and not backed up by any evidence. Greenbook rotations which are performed at ACGME accredited Hospitals with Residency Programs in the specialty that one is performing their clerkship in are mandatory in order to be licensed in many desireable US States. S*** H*** attempted to deceive me. I suggest you confirm this with your state licensing body if you aren't sure what a 'greenbook' rotation is and its respective importance. Apparently, CMU has very little offerings in the way of greenbook rotations.
In all I see the termination of my candidacy as a blessing in disguise, because I'm glad I was able to discover how totalitarian and irreverent this administration was prior to tendering the $50k it would have cost me to complete my degree there. No doubt the horror stories you hear from students whose transcripts are withheld, etc are from renegade and corrupt administrations like CMU. To think that Dean R. J. sits on boards that decide how moneys are allocated to poor and underserved areas in the Caribbean is incomprehensible. The man apparently hasn't a shred of compassion in him. He had zero regard the detrimental reliance he creates for his prospective students that he arbitrarily terminates. I must assure you that I have suffered significant damages as a result. I had uprooted my family of four in order to relocate to Chicago from abroad. Both my wife and I left our jobs. I communicated this to Dean R. J. and S. H. and there was no reply. Nothing. So much for compassion. He promised a refund of my seat deposit. That was a lie. No moneys were returned.
By the way, should you ask either Dean R. J. or Dean S. H. where they obtained their MD degree from and they will not disclose this information. That should have been a large enough red flag from the start. Anybody out there in SDNetwork land can back up an answer to this question with evidence? I attempted to contact ECFMG and they couldn't provide this information. Nondisclosure of their degree granting body is a clear conflict of interest for prospective students who want to perform due diligence on their administration. They should be upfront and open, unless they are hiding something. No other admin with whom I spoke had been so secretive about their credentials. Im sure further investigation would uncover the rationale.
So to all you prospective students who are considering CMU... consider the following. This school accepted me without so much as reading through my application. They took my $1000 without hesitation and immediately began billing me for full tuition before the ink was dry on my seat reservation check. They materially breached a valid academic contract and caused my family thousands in damages. They made assurances that my $1000 would be returned and have made no affirmative effort to return it.
Should you be so desperate as to have no other choice but to enroll here, and I feel sorry for you if that's the case, but certainly do not judge you by any stretch, you should be forewarned that should you attempt to assert your student rights, or so much as be assertive in front of the administration, they may in Putin-esque fashion retaliate against you, and possibly pull the rug right out from under you. And they wont think twice. Personally, I would never put myself under such a dictatorship. I know too much about for profit medical schools and their tactics to shake students down for additional revenue.
Curious how many others out there were scammed out of $1100 like i was? I doubt I am the only one. Hopefully more of you will come forward. And as a final word to this new topic, I am near certain that some proCMU voice is going to come out of the woodwork to try and discredit me or tell me how I am the only one who has been screwed. If its the former, hunker down because I will post legal dockets to back up my assertions, and will not stop until you are exposed for the propaganda artist you are; or if the latter, and even if it proves true that I am the only one who has been scammed like this, one victim is enough to tarnish the reputation of an upstart school like CMU.
It is sad that I had to resort to a public forum to have my victimization heard, and the CMU admin could not make so much as a minimal effort to rectify this through the normal channels of communication. BEWARE, and Caveat Emptor to all prospective students. I will update this post if CMU ever decides to return my money or if it takes a civil action to get them to budge.
I was accepted at CMU in January as a transfer student. I paid a $100 application fee and a $1000 seat deposit. I was put in Touch with Dr. S****. H****., the Clinical Coordinator who operates under his LLC called the H**** Medical Group. I spoke with Dean R*** J****** personally before I was accepted and it was clear he had not read an iota of my application. In fact he placed me in the wrong clinical semester, and was promptly corrected by S. H. who explained to him that Clinicals Start in MD5 at CMU. It was not reassuring to see the Dean so unfamiliar with the clinical curriculum.
I engaged in several conversations with S. H. over the course of several weeks regarding scheduling my clinical rotations in Chicago for this summer. Since I was accepted in January he said I should expect to receive tuition bills and that I should just ignore them. He asserted that I could enroll at any time as an MD5 and that I would not be assessed a late fee. As May approached and my full tuition was coming due, I requested reasonable assurance that once I had paid my tuition in full that I would be placed in Chicago. Dr. S. H. stated that he could not provide this assurance and that I would have to speak with Dean R. J. again, the Academic Dean. I contacted Dean R. J. and he said that he had concerns about my eligibility to apply my prior credits. I had been given assurance by ECFMG rep in Philadelphia that my credits were applicable toward the credentials requirement and I brought this to Dean R. J's attention. Just a day or so later, I got a demand from the school to sign a statement agreeing to a leave of absence. They said that it was necessary to avoid a late payment on tuition. This assertion directly contradicted the assurances I received from Clinical Dean S**** H*****. I copied the correspondence between myself and S**** H**** pertaining to this matter, and heard no reply. I explained that I was reluctant to sign a leave of absence agreement, because I wasn't even technically enrolled in their school. how can I take a 'leave of absence' if im not even an official matriculant? It was rediculous.
A few days later, I get a letter from Dean R*** J****** that they have terminated my candidacy for, inter alia, arguing with the administration, 'dictating policies', and failure to submit documentation of my test scores, which my email records showed had already been submitted. There was no mention of the initial reason for the delay regarding the ECFMG credential issue. The letter indicated that they would be refunding my seat deposit. Its been over 45 days and I've received nothing. S**** H***** refuses to return my calls or emails. A total scam.
I am left to conclude the following. The CMU administration is run very poorly. There are major disconnects between their financial officers and admin on the island and Clinical Dean S. H. Dean S. H. made assurances that were not upheld by the admin even when it was brought to their attention. Furthermore, it was clear from the email exchanges that Academic Dean R. J's decision to terminate my candidacy rested solely on the fact that I had attempted to assert my rights as a student. For those of you who may be new to Foreign Medical schools, taking leaves of absence reflects poorly on your academic caliber and might be a point of criticism when you apply for residencies. They will want to know why you were forced to take a leave. In general it is not favorable. The fact that this school was willing to jeopardize my candidacy for residency in order to satisfy their internal billing departmental policies highlights a major conflict of interest. I am forced to conclude that you cannot trust what Dr S H**** asserts, nor can I trust Dean R J****** to administer justly. Dean R. J. is a retaliatory Dean who has a vague at best grasp of the curriculum and clearly subordinates the interests of his students.
In addition to the issues I discuss above, Dean S. H. also attempted to sell me a story about how the importance of Greenbook over Bluebook rotations are a myth. That is a bold assertion and not backed up by any evidence. Greenbook rotations which are performed at ACGME accredited Hospitals with Residency Programs in the specialty that one is performing their clerkship in are mandatory in order to be licensed in many desireable US States. S*** H*** attempted to deceive me. I suggest you confirm this with your state licensing body if you aren't sure what a 'greenbook' rotation is and its respective importance. Apparently, CMU has very little offerings in the way of greenbook rotations.
In all I see the termination of my candidacy as a blessing in disguise, because I'm glad I was able to discover how totalitarian and irreverent this administration was prior to tendering the $50k it would have cost me to complete my degree there. No doubt the horror stories you hear from students whose transcripts are withheld, etc are from renegade and corrupt administrations like CMU. To think that Dean R. J. sits on boards that decide how moneys are allocated to poor and underserved areas in the Caribbean is incomprehensible. The man apparently hasn't a shred of compassion in him. He had zero regard the detrimental reliance he creates for his prospective students that he arbitrarily terminates. I must assure you that I have suffered significant damages as a result. I had uprooted my family of four in order to relocate to Chicago from abroad. Both my wife and I left our jobs. I communicated this to Dean R. J. and S. H. and there was no reply. Nothing. So much for compassion. He promised a refund of my seat deposit. That was a lie. No moneys were returned.
By the way, should you ask either Dean R. J. or Dean S. H. where they obtained their MD degree from and they will not disclose this information. That should have been a large enough red flag from the start. Anybody out there in SDNetwork land can back up an answer to this question with evidence? I attempted to contact ECFMG and they couldn't provide this information. Nondisclosure of their degree granting body is a clear conflict of interest for prospective students who want to perform due diligence on their administration. They should be upfront and open, unless they are hiding something. No other admin with whom I spoke had been so secretive about their credentials. Im sure further investigation would uncover the rationale.
So to all you prospective students who are considering CMU... consider the following. This school accepted me without so much as reading through my application. They took my $1000 without hesitation and immediately began billing me for full tuition before the ink was dry on my seat reservation check. They materially breached a valid academic contract and caused my family thousands in damages. They made assurances that my $1000 would be returned and have made no affirmative effort to return it.
Should you be so desperate as to have no other choice but to enroll here, and I feel sorry for you if that's the case, but certainly do not judge you by any stretch, you should be forewarned that should you attempt to assert your student rights, or so much as be assertive in front of the administration, they may in Putin-esque fashion retaliate against you, and possibly pull the rug right out from under you. And they wont think twice. Personally, I would never put myself under such a dictatorship. I know too much about for profit medical schools and their tactics to shake students down for additional revenue.
Curious how many others out there were scammed out of $1100 like i was? I doubt I am the only one. Hopefully more of you will come forward. And as a final word to this new topic, I am near certain that some proCMU voice is going to come out of the woodwork to try and discredit me or tell me how I am the only one who has been screwed. If its the former, hunker down because I will post legal dockets to back up my assertions, and will not stop until you are exposed for the propaganda artist you are; or if the latter, and even if it proves true that I am the only one who has been scammed like this, one victim is enough to tarnish the reputation of an upstart school like CMU.
It is sad that I had to resort to a public forum to have my victimization heard, and the CMU admin could not make so much as a minimal effort to rectify this through the normal channels of communication. BEWARE, and Caveat Emptor to all prospective students. I will update this post if CMU ever decides to return my money or if it takes a civil action to get them to budge.