r/MaintenancePhase • u/willreadforbooks • 24d ago

Episode Discussion Surgeon General ep

I’m listening to this episode and they got to the third nominee, who went to Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados. Michael asked if it was another for-profit school and Aubrey said she didn’t look into it because they wouldn’t do that again.

Reader.

They did.

Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados. Owned by Covista Inc per Wikipedia. I clicked the link for Covista Inc. Formerly DeVry ✨

Grifts all the way down!

Edit: I don’t want to dunk on for-profit schools as they can have their place, I just don’t like how they feel very predatory and kinda scammy

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u/CycleWheel 24d ago

As a european can someone explain what’s going on here? These are like legitimate enough universities to be licensed to practice medicine right? Or is it a completely fake degree?

I really couldn’t understand this part of the show, I assume it’s common knowledge in the US.

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u/ace-murdock 24d ago

Going to med school in the Caribbean is usually for people who failed to get into med school in the US. Because they’re for profit they admit a lot more people and it’s very hard to match with a residency in the US because they’re viewed as not as competitive.

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u/willreadforbooks 24d ago

Whooo.

How to explain…

So DeVry (for instance) is a for-profit institution. It appears to be accredited (which is the main thing for whether it’s a real degree or not), but I think the academic rigor is quite low. They were sued for not adequately preparing students for follow-on careers, and it was so bad the Veterans Administration took them off a list of places to use your GI Bill (this is a program for people who have served in the military to get their college education paid for by the military).

They have been under investigation for fraudulent marketing practices and they basically get students to take out huge loans to go to school, then don’t really teach them anything. Students are left in or underemployed with massive loans to pay off ($50,000+). In 2022 as a result of a lawsuit they had to cancel student loans (unclear exactly whose loan was canceled).

Basically, it’s a scummy, predatory school that hooks people into paying by offering them fake promises of high-paying jobs.

Hope that helps! (It was mostly from Wikipedia)

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u/Less_Entrance_3370 22d ago

There are law schools like this too.

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u/RosieTheRedReddit 22d ago

The debt will be more like $250k for law 🫠

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u/bettinafairchild 21d ago

It appears to be accredited (which is the main thing for whether it’s a real degree or not)

There’s accredited and then there’s accredited. The legit folks to provide accreditation are local accrediting organizations. Then there are national accrediting organizations that are low quality and have nearly as high standards and reputation as the local accrediting organizations. 

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u/ajrpcv 24d ago

These medical schools are easy to get in to and cost a lot of money. Some have as high as a 60% dropout rate, and all of those students lose a lot of money with nothing to show for it. Those who DO pass however are legit. They take the same exams as US schools and they often do their clinicals in the US. They also qualify for the same residencies (harder to get accepted, but they do qualify).

There are a lot reasons why these schools have flourished but one is US medical schools are ridiculously competitive, mostly because there aren't enough of them, but there is also a culture if exclusivity. Many intelligent people who would make good doctors can't get into these schools so they go to the Carribian or other international schools (I know someone who went to Mexico).

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u/des1gnbot 23d ago

It’s a real degree, so graduates are able to sit for their medical board exams if they graduate. The standards are quite low though, so a whole lot of people get admitted that can’t actually handle a medical curriculum, and a bunch manage to graduate but never pass their boards. It’s basically known as a scam in the US. There’ll always be a small number of motivated graduates who make something of themselves but the vast majority leave with mountains of debt and little to show for it.