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NEWS |
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NEWS |
As of December 13th 2003
Several exciting things have been happening at SCCM over the past few months.
Firstly, the BBC came to St. Chris and did a story on our school. It was played on the national news. If you want to see the program, please visit: http://www.stchris.edu/thepulse.htm
Construction on the Chambers building as well as York House has commenced. Completion of our new labs, library, computer lab, classrooms, lounge, administrative offices, and book store are expected to be completed by Jan 5th, 2004.
St. Christopher's College of Medicine has also been given BCSAP designation. This is great news for our Canadian students from British Columbia needing financial assistance.
http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca/studentservices/
St. Christopher's College of Medicine is listed in the designated school section under the United Kingdom. Our B.C.S.A.P. code is PUIU.
St. Christopher's has also been working with law makers in New Jersey to try and get the law changed so that students from foreign schools can do clinicals in that state. This project has been very successful and the law has been changed. SCCM will turn in their application for clinicals as soon as a committee is formed to approve schools. To read the law, please see:
Bill number: S919
Sponsor: Sen. Joseph F. Vitale
Congratulations to all 5th semester students who received their white coats. Good luck in clinicals!!!
As of September 22, 2003
St. Christopher's College of Medicine was featured in the Luton Herald and Post this week. Take some time to read the article here or at the Herald and Post website.
Over Here - US Medical Students Keen to Play A Part
Happy to be here, some of the colleges 200+ students
Luton college
is a secret success story for town
For more than a year, 200 young medical students from the United States
have been living and working in Luton. But how many locals have heard of
their alma mater – the American-run St Christopher's College of
Medicine?
Precious few, it would seem. But now that it has had time to get
established, that's something the college wants to address.
Back in the States, American medical schools are expected to be involved
and active in their communities, and staff and students at St
Christopher's can't wait to start making a positive contribution to
Luton life.
"We're here and we're ready and eager to make a difference," is the
message coming loud and clear from St Christopher's.
Trying to become a doctor in the United States is a pretty competitive
business – an average year sees 39,000 well-qualified applicants chasing
15,000 places.
Which is why some 24 establishments like St Christopher's have been set
up in various parts of the world – private, independent, US-run medical
schools offering training to students, mostly American, that will
qualify them to complete their clinical training back home in the
States.
"The American medical hierarchy is very powerful and puts strict limits
on admissions to medical schools," explains Dr Paul Cherian, Associate
Dean for Medical Education at St Christopher's.
"It's very expensive to run schools like this in the US. It's cheaper to
run them over here. Why Luton? Well, originally we were in Cambridge but
as we needed to expand, it became cheaper for us and for our students to
move to Luton.
"Now, we're increasingly getting applications from UK students."
Running a medical school obviously requires the co-operation of
hospitals and universities, and St Christopher's has an association with
King's College and Ealing hospitals in London and is very grateful for
the use of laboratories at the University of Luton.
Now they are keen to explore possibilities of co-operation with Luton
and Dunstable Hospital and with Luton teaching Primary Care Trust. Dr
Cherian said: "It's a fact that the more medical students there are in a
hospital, the higher its standards are raised. The standard of care goes
up, it really is a boon for a hospital. In turn, that offers benefits to
the whole community."
If it's more economical for the college to operate over here, that's not
the case for its students, who find the general cost of living
noticeably higher in the UK.
Not that American students are as frightened of debt as their British
counterparts, having long been used to loan systems.
It's not uncommon for medical students to end up owing around £70,000,
said Dana Eilen, former president of the college's American Medical
Student Association (AMSA). "But once qualified, doctors' salaries are
very high so it's acceptable."
They are also used to a much higher standard of student accommodation,
and were amazed at the 'box' sized rooms in which most British students
live.
They have been disappointed that many landlords are unwilling to rent to
them because they are 'students' and point out that most of them in fact
are graduate students, having already completed a first degree. "And we
do a LOT of studying, not partying, unlike many British students," they
protest.
On a less serious level, Dana spoke for them all when he also expressed
great disappointment at Luton's lack of a Starbucks American coffee
shop.
"They are great places to study, and that's something we miss in Luton.
There aren't many places to study. We need a Starbucks!"
Despite all this, the students are convinced they've made the right
decision. "I think that by throwing yourself into an international
community, and especially such a multicultural one as here in Luton, you
will end up becoming a better doctor," said Jarrett Flood, president of
student government.
"Luton is providing us with that opportunity and we are very willing to
come out of our comfort zone."
Dr Cherian speaks very highly of his students.
"They wouldn't come all this way to study medicine if they didn't have
high motivation.
"I believe the level of motivation here is about 100 per cent higher
than you would find at any other medical school in the States."
It's a motivation that extends to a real desire to make a contribution
to their new community.
Jarret and his vice president Iman Zeidan, together with Dana and Angie
Estadilla, who has taken over from Dana as president of AMSA, are eager
to go out into the community and help in areas of particular need across
the town.
Jarrett said: "As a student body, we feel we can be a real asset to the
community. We want to give something back.
Angie added: "Perhaps we could run some sort of screening programmes or
health information programmes. There is a lot of HIV and teenage
pregnancy in this area, so we know there is a need."
Dr Cherian agrees: "We see a medical school as something that provides a
service rather than as a business."
Not surprisingly, the students didn't have to spend long in Luton before
hearing how disparagingly people, especially locals, tend to talk about
it.
"Okay, it's not a perfect place, nowhere is," said Jarret. "But we don't
want to criticise it, we'd like to help to make it better."
As of August 30, 2003
We would like to give a hearty welcome to the new incoming students and we wish them well in their studies here. At orientation on Friday there were approximately 70 incoming students including first semester, pre-med, and transfer students. The school is expecting approximately 30 more students to arrive over the next week. There are 70 first semester students expected for this September.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Please note that as of November 1st, 2003 there will be a new immigration law in effect that will require students coming from the US and Canada to obtain visas prior to matriculating in schools located within the UK. This is very important and failure to comply could endanger your ability to attend St. Christopher's. Please follow the link below to find out how this effects you and what you should be doing about it. If it is not immediately clear, ALL STUDENTS ENTERING IN JANUARY 2004 AND BEYOND ARE EFFECTED BY THIS CHANGE.
Click here:
The British Council USA
As of July
12, 2003:
Today one of our graduates, Max Olesevich came to visit us. He's a
surgical resident at the University of Tennessee. He Matched at The Mayo
Clinic in Rochester and transfered to Univ. of Tennessee after his
internship.
He gave us tips on how to study and how other St Chris grads are doing.
He's also doing research at the Cleveland Clinic.
As of June
6, 2003:
The new Dell computers for our resource room have arrived.
We are now in the process of building our own private computer lab.
*If you have your own laptop computer, we recommend you
bring it with you.
As of May
20, 2003:
The new school hours will be:
Monday - Friday
8AM - 10PM
Saturdays
12PM - 5PM
Students will be allowed to study in designated areas.
Elections for SGA have finished.
Congratulations to those students who have been elected.
As of April
28, 2003:
http://www.stchris.edu/pages/news.htm
May 2003 Semester
We look forward to the start of our May 2003 semester. We would like to
welcome all our new students to St. Christopher’s and wish them luck in
their studies. We also welcome back our more senior students and wish
them continued success.
Graduation
Saint Christopher’s will honor its graduates with a graduation ceremony
at the United Nations on June 8th, 2003. All students eligible for
graduation should contact the office of the Registrar. Contact Shania
Palumbo
spalumbo@stchris.edu or call (908) 301-1150 to confirm that all
required paper work is complete. A list of guests must be received
before the end of March to insure invitations arrive on time.
The Residency Match
Students from Saint Christopher’s College of Medicine experienced great
success in the March 2003 residency match. We will have residencies at
many prestigious program including:
University of Maryland
Illinois Masonic Hospital
Maryland General
Riverside Hospital of Ohio
We wish to congratulate everyone involved and wish him or her continued
success in his or her medical careers.
Med-Achiever Loans
St. Christopher College of Medicine students who are U.S. permanent
residents or U.S. citizens are eligible for the Med-Achiever Loan
Program, covering up to the full cost of tuition and living expenses
during medical school (up to $45,000).
Students can also receive an additional loan (up to $8,000) to cover the
costs of residency travel (e.g. interviews and relocation) when the time
comes to look for a residency position under the same terms as the
regular Med Achiever loan
The Med Achiever Loan from Key Bank is available without a co-signer,
based on credit determinations. Terms of the Med Achiever Loan for
students of St. Christopher’s College of Medicine are the same as those
terms for Med Achiever Loans for students attending accredited schools
of allopathic and osteopathic medicine in the United States.
Princeton Review Affiliation
Saint Christopher’s College of Medicine is proud to announce its
affiliation with the Princeton Review Program. The Princeton Review’s
USMLE Online was recently named as a finalist for the 18th annual Codie
Award that recognizes excellence in the field of software and digital
content. To make this available to students enrolled at St.
Christopher’s we have signed a full affiliation with the Princeton
Review Program. They will offer their live lecture review during the
Review Course scheduled for fifth semester.
The Princeton Review is well known for its success rate and our students
will now have access to their online review material, thousands of
review questions, and live on-campus lectures. The Princeton Review
presents customized, focused instruction including lessons, drills, and
clinical vignettes and provides state-of-the-art-tools in an online
format.
Students will have access to their website, as well as their USMLE
answer guru, for 9-months beyond the enrollment date.
As of April
23, 2003:
From SGA, AMSA, and the administration:
Welcome May 2003 semester students!
Don't forget to join AMSA
http://www.valuemd.com/viewtopic.php?t=990
As of April
14, 2003:
The wireless network has been setup and is running.
Students should be able to access the Web from anywhere around the
building.
The resource room and administrative offices is under construction.
Pending news:
Next term, students will be able to study in the school from 5PM until
10PM, Monday - Friday.
The New Jersey approval process is in the final stages. It is expected
to take several more months.
The school started working on approval to do clinical rotations in Florida.
Approval to remodel the newly purchased building is going slowly. The
director is hoping to get approval from the Luton Borough Council within
a month. The remodeling process is expected to end around January 2004.
As of April
5, 2003:
White coat ceremony was held at the University of Luton's Putteridge
Bury campus. Special thanks to the University of Luton and visiting
professors for their efforts. Congratulations white coat recipients and
best wishes to you.
AMSA's 53rd Annual Convention
Transforming the Culture of Medicine
March 19-23, 2003 Washington, D.C.
Hyatt Regency Crystal City
http://www.amsa.org/conv/
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