SGU MPH/MD? Ross MERP? Saba?

[xox]

So I got accepted to the SGU MPH/MD dual degree, Ross Merp, and Saba. I am trying to decide where I should go.

For Saba I have a direct admission
SGU will offer me a second degree
Ross will provide me with a better foundation

I believe they each all have positives and negatives, so I am having a hard time deciding what path to take. Would the extra degree really help me match into residencies? Will going to Saba hurt me match?

What are your opinions and do you have any advice for me on what path to take?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

So I got accepted to the SGU MPH/MD dual degree, Ross Merp, and Saba. I am trying to decide where I should go.

For Saba I have a direct admission
SGU will offer me a second degree
Ross will provide me with a better foundation

I believe they each all have positives and negatives, so I am having a hard time deciding what path to take. Would the extra degree really help me match into residencies? Will going to Saba hurt me match?

What are your opinions and do you have any advice for me on what path to take?

Thanks!

I worked with a saba grad who couldn't match. Bad choice. Ross has a 50 % placement rate sgu not much better.


Have you applied do?

 

[xox]

Yeah I did apply DO, but I haven't heard back yet
I am looking to go into primary care, so I figured it would be doable if I went to SGU, Ross, or Saba (With a lot of hard work of course)

 

[NewHorizons]

Yeah I did apply DO, but I haven't heard back yet
I am looking to go into primary care, so I figured it would be doable if I went to SGU, Ross, or Saba (With a lot of hard work of course)

Can't fully comment on the MD, but for graduate level degrees the school name means a lot, combined with the research accolades. Looking at the research put out by SGU professors ... I am not impressed. The quality of any of their graduate program is unclear. Even if MPH degrees aren't research based, practicums and other capstone projects should have significant impacts and backing.

Consider doing an MPH at an NA school after your MD during residency if you get into primary care. You may be eligible for funding or time off to pursue a graduate degree. Going to the Caribbean is challenging enough with the less optimal set up, don't make it worse on yourself.

 

[xox]

Thank you, I will take that into consideration!

 

[wxman393]

Can't fully comment on the MD, but for graduate level degrees the school name means a lot, combined with the research accolades. Looking at the research put out by SGU professors ... I am not impressed. The quality of any of their graduate program is unclear. Even if MPH degrees aren't research based, practicums and other capstone projects should have significant impacts and backing.

Consider doing an MPH at an NA school after your MD during residency if you get into primary care. You may be eligible for funding or time off to pursue a graduate degree. Going to the Caribbean is challenging enough with the less optimal set up, don't make it worse on yourself.

SGU's MPH is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). There are MPH producing brick-and-mortar schools in the United States that are not even accredited by CEPH. However, I do agree that the quality of research is something to consider, along with accreditation, if you are considering pursuing a career in public health.

Edit: I attend a USDO school and I have no connection to SGU other than family members who have attended and successfully graduated/matched in the 1980s.

 

[wxman393]

CEPH accreditation however is not a good measure of the calibre of the school. They also have set guidelines that I feel detract from the main goal of public health, which is to utilize diversity to impact significant changes in the community.

For graduate school purposes, it's important to look at the alumni and where they end up + evaluating the curriculums of various programs + interviews/networking with faculty/staff + research accolades.

You ideally want to aim for a top 20 school regardless of field if you are doing a graduate degree. The nature of Caribbean schools is that it's a second chance option for medicine... but for graduate school whose bar is set relatively lower in the US compared to MD programs, this should not be a primary option.

Yes, I completely agree with you that going outside of the United States for a primary graduate degree is not a wise choice. However, I was addressing the OP's post regarding a combined MD/MPH. Unfortunately, if you want to become certified in public health, you need to have graduated from a CEPH-accredited school. They are doing a pilot program to allow eligibility for five years of applicable public health work. But, there are still schools in the United States that have not applied and/or received CEPH accreditation.

I've earned an MPH and PhD in Public Health, working in both academic and clinical settings. It has benefited me tremendously coming from an accredited program. However, n=1 and this is just my opinion. On

For the OP, if going Caribbean is your only choice, I would choose the dual-degree program. Have you looked into any DO/MPH programs in the U.S.?

 

[bedevilled ben]

For most students, the MPH program at SGU is essentially bait to get you onto the MD program hook and squeeze some additional money out of you. The additional courses of the MPH make it extremely difficult to complete your MD coursework on time, which in turn makes matching into the NRMP more difficult down the line. Additionally, as others have said, regardless of the quality of the education, the degree will be seen as functionally useless by most US schools, and will not have near the impact of a US graduate degree. Additionally, you might be able to leverage a future employer to pay for your MPH once you've completed your residency.

The one area of exception to this (in my opinion) is if you want to pursue a career specifically in global health, which the SGU MPH program actually does emphasize, and don't want to participate in the NRMP. I think there are probably better programs to do this from (think a UK program), but overall it wouldn't be a bad choice in that case.

 

[Skip Intro]

I have said this at least a few times before on this forum, but if Ross (or anyone else) had put me in some kind of "pre"-medicine program instead of admitting me to the full MD-granting program off the bat, I would be doing something else with my life right now.

In the words of Chester Karrass, "In business as in life -- you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate."

-Skip