This Makes One More Post Than My Old Blog

A second post, you say?!?  ¡Ay caramba!

A little more information about this type of schooling, because if I haven't already answered all of your myriad questions, then the odds are good that you don't know

 very much about it.  I know I didn't.

So, as many of you know, I've been trying to get into medical school for a long time, and I was never able to secure admission in an American medical school.  The Caribbean option made me a little uneasy, but it's been a great experience so far.  Here's the general layout for me:

Medical school typically takes 4 years, and the usual setup is that the first 2 years are spent largely in lectures, learning gross anatomy, microanatomy, etc. - all the classroom coursework that a doctor needs to be proficient.  The second 2 years are the clinical years, where young MDs-to-be learn to interact with patients more, and they do rotations in different areas of medicine like surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, etc.

As a student in Ross University's School of Medicine, I'm going to spend the first 4semesters on the island of Dominica - the Nature Island of the Caribbean.  That's 16 months, from January 2009 through April 2010, with 2-week breaks every 4 months.  After that, I will spend 4 months in either Miami, FL, or in Michigan in Ross's Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine.  My 2 clinical years, which will follow, will take place at 1 or more of 70 different teaching hospitals throughout the United States associated with Ross.  It's a little more complicated than fairly standard 1-location all-inclusive medical schools that you'll find in the U.S., but it's just part of the adventure!  Other military brats like myself will know what it's like to move around frequently.  I'm used to it, and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks to Scott "Goat" Turner and Alina "Crud" McClain for their comments!  Any more comments would be helpful.  Be sure to ask me any questions you might have in a comment, email, text, IM, facebook, or messenger pigeon, and I'd be happy to answer everyone!  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, Fantastic Festivus, or Kickin' Kwanzaa!  I'll be in Dallas, TX, where my whole family will be crashing with my big sister Gayle and her clan!  I'll be sure to post again while I'm there!

As always, take care!

(photo courtesy of user kretyen on flickr.com)

Janus

Hello, friends!  This post begins my previously promised blog about life as a medical student in the Caribbean.

A quick word to begin: this blog is for my family and friends, so that they can keep up with what I'm doing while I'm out of the country and largely out of contact.  However, for those that are interested, I hope it will also provide some information for prospective Caribbean medical students, especially those who are from the United States and haven't been able to get a good bead on what this situation is like.  I know that information was limited as I prepared for this, so maybe you can see what this is all about, and can then make more informed decisions about whether it's for you or not.

A lot of my friends think I'm a pretty funny guy (I see myself as more of a clown).  I can't promise a great deal of humor, and I don't know that anyone will find this thing interesting, but I'll do my best to keep it moving along.

Feel free to pass on the RSS or the URL to anyone you think might enjoy this.  I don't make any money on it, the only thing it costs me is attention and time, and I've got plenty of that for now.

I'll actually make a real post on what I'm doing to get ready this upcoming Monday.  This was just to get the ball rolling.  Take care!