Caribbean Medical Schools

We have usually heard jokes about medical degrees earned by doctors in third-world countries and how they are prime candidates for a lawsuit. Or maybe we hear about such higher institutions of medicine as Caribbean medical schools as places to work on one?s tan. But there are legitimate Caribbean medical schools, those which are accredited, those which have high standards, and those which turn out some fine male and female doctors.

One of my community college students was a brilliant poet and at the same time a young man adept in the sciences. I imagine he was one of the rarer right/left-brained individuals, able to do logical and creative work equally well. He had a huge following as a slam poet. Then, in his second or third year, he decided to apply to a number of Caribbean medical schools. After the traditional wait, and much self-searching and occasional doubt, he was accepted at one of the finer Caribbean medical schools. I was incredibly proud, as he was my student, a fellow poet, a friend, and he had come to me for one of his recommendation letters to the Caribbean medical schools. What impressed me even more was that the school that accepted him wrote me a separate letter of thanks, and invited me to visit their satellite and main Caribbean medical schools if I was ever in the area.

But Caribbean medical schools have more qualifications than just my knowing someone who was accepted and who is now attending or more value than the graceful efforts made to thank mentors and invite them for a tour. Caribbean medical schools have rigorous programs of study and internship and maintain quality and high-bar standards. These institutions work students in the core sciences, through the pre-med steps, and through the medical practical and clinical phases, as well.

Here are some of the schools, those considered the top Caribbean medical schools:

American Global University School of Medicine (in Belize)
American International School of Medicine (in Guyana)
American University of the Caribbean (in St. Maarten)
Central American Health Sciences University (in Belize)
Grace University School of Medicine (in Belize)
International University of the Health Sciences (in St. Kitts)
Medical University of the Americas (in Nevis)
Ross University School of Medicine (in Dominica)
Saba University School of Medicine (in Saba)
Saint Theresa's Medical University (in St. Kitts)
Spartan Health Sciences University (in St. Lucia)
St. George's University School of Medicine (in Grenada)
St. James School of Medicine (in Bonaire)
St. Martinus (in Curacao)
St. Mary's School of Medicine (in St. Lucia)
Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine (in Mexico)
Universidad Iberoamericana (in Santo Domingo)
University of Health Sciences (in Antigua)
University of Saint Eustasius Medical School (in St. Eustasius)
Windsor University School of Medicine (in St. Kitts)

Boarding Schhols

One of the funny things about boarding high schools is that they usually serve one extreme or another. There is no such thing as a typical boarding high school. As a matter of fact, the only thing that unites high school boarding programs is that they cost a lot of money. You see, some boarding schools are meant to prepare the children of the rich to be the inheritors of the future. They are called college preparatory schools, and they are extremely difficult. Meanwhile, other ones are practically military high schools. They are meant for dropouts and delinquents, designed to whip them into shape and turn them into productive members of society. Don't get me wrong ? the latter will get you a good education but the people enrolled are totally different and the philosophy is very strict.

The boarding high school I went to, however, was one of the only ones that actually straddled the line. It wasn't quite a military high school, but it was close. I have never seen such a strange mix of students, and yet at the time I took it totally for granted. About half of the kids there were extremely high achievers from very prominent families, while the other half were delinquents. When I first got there, I was a little bit scared of some of the kids in the boarding school. It seemed like a terrible environment for a small, weak kid like me to be put into. I figured that I would be picked on every single day. To my surprise, however, that never happened. The boarding high school would not tolerate that kind of behavior. Things were so strict that people got the message pretty quickly: bullying was out of the question.
At the time, I was furious with my parents for sending me to a boarding high school. My older brother had gone to a Montessori high school, and they had let him do practically anything he wanted. It seemed unjust for me to be sent to boarding high schools when my brother got so much more of a permissive environment. I had to leave my friends behind for the entire school year, and put up with disciplinarian teachers shouting at me at every turn. In the end, however, I was grateful for my parent's decision to send me to that boarding high school. It taught me discipline, something that my older brother never learned in his Montessori school.

Acupuncture School

You will never meet a more varied and interesting group of people than you'll find in an acupuncture school. In my class, there are people of all races from at least half a dozen different countries. Some of them had parents who went to Oriental medicine schools themselves, while others never even heard of acupuncture until they reached adulthood. Yet all of them have one thing in common: a passion for traditional Chinese medicine.

In my case, acupuncture school is something that I did not even consider until I was about 30. At that point, I had a successful business career going, and was doing pretty well for myself. Suddenly, I started to develop some health problems. At first it didn't seem like much, but it got worse and worse. Initially I had a few bellyaches, but soon my digestion was acting up all the time. I would get stomach cramps, allergic reactions to food, and anxiety attacks. My doctor tried to tell me that it was nothing. He thought it was just psychosomatic, but I knew that he was wrong. I was enjoying my life, and nothing was going wrong emotionally. Then, on a whim, I went to an acupuncturist.

The particular practitioner I went to had only not gone to acupuncture school. He was a trained masseuse as well, and no matter what the problem, he would begin the session by massaging the patient. He explained that any kind of healing works better when the body is relaxed. I told him about my problem, and he immediately began treatment. I felt better almost immediately. I went back a couple more times to finish the treatments, but by then I was convinced. Traditional Oriental medicine works, and I wanted to study it.

Of course, giving up a successful business career to study in acupuncture school isn't an easy thing to do. A lot of my friends gave me a hard time and tried to talk me out of it at first, but I could not be persuaded. I knew what I wanted to do. I was amazed at the healing possibilities of acupuncture, and I wanted to learn more about it. There are many different acupuncture schools to choose from, which made it a little bit difficult. Some of them are much better than others, and as an outsider it can be hard to find out which have the very best programs.