Caribbean Medical school Experience

Over the last 5 years I get asked a lot about what was it like at a Caribbean Medical school?

Well, it was not fun and sun on the Beach. I saw the Beach little, spent most of the time in my room studying for exams.

My classmates where nice yet its lonely. Lonely? Yes, 1/4 of the students transferred out or failed out, I'm older so its harder to connect to them and honestly we are all different.
Competition was also a factor, competition about what I'm not sure to this day but it was there.

I have understood always that medical school is not a competition against anyone but yourself.

Tests and the USMLE is also a competition against yourself.

We had 3 semesters a year and finished 4 semesters in 1.5 years. It went fast.

The times I saw the beach and the island was during the 2 week breaks between semesters, really the only time I took off.

5 years of my life have been continuously spent studying medicine. I don't totally mind it, but it gets lonely at times.

I have me, myself and I to contend with, a wife and 3 kids. But my wife and 3 kids are not in medicine and are not interested in what I do that much. Lonely is what I feel the most at times.

So what I remember the most about life on the island is all the time I spent reading and on the computer preparing myself for the tests.

Dr. Bill