Excelsior Grad RN Turned MD

[Jonathan Whatley]

Just happened across this. Bravo to Dr. Bailey.

PL II CLASS [Second-Year Residents in Pediatrics]…

Vickie Bailey, MD

Undergraduate Education: Excelsior College, Albany, NY
Medical School - University of Sint Eustatius

Dr. Bailey has had a long journey in her path to become a physician. She has spent the past 20 years working as a neonatal nurse and a neonatal intensive care nurse practitioner. She a hardworking mother and her experiences have motivated her to pursue a career in medicine.

University of Nevada School of Medicine, Pediatric Residency Program: Resident Profiles

[andrewtn]

Just happened across this. Bravo to Dr. Bailey.


University of Nevada School of Medicine, Pediatric Residency Program: Resident Profiles

It feels good to see alumni from the Big 3 go to to achieve great educational and career success. That said, it says she got here MD from University of Sint Eustatius which I see listed as unaccredited on a couple different sites.

One example:
List of Unaccredited Schools and Educational Facilities

[Jonathan Whatley]

It feels good to see alumni from the Big 3 go to to achieve great educational and career success. That said, it says she got here MD from University of Sint Eustatius which I see listed as unaccredited on a couple different sites.

One example:
List of Unaccredited Schools and Educational Facilities

This is an overreach in the definition of "unaccredited" by the writers, in my opinion. To make a long story short, the University of Sint Eustatius is in a tier of Caribbean medical schools whose graduates are eligible for residency and licensure in some but, to my understanding, not all U.S. states. But the school is expressly, actively chartered and approved by its home government on Sint Eustatius as a medical school, the only one in the country. It's listed in the authoritative FAIMER IMED and AVICENNA (formerly WHO) international directories of medical schools.

[Gaz]

It has been a long time since I looked into this, but I vaguely remember that of the many Caribbean medical schools only SGU, Ross, and AUC are approved in all 50 states. This could have changed and I may be wrong. I am pretty sure that Ross and SGU conduct all of their clinical rotations in the US. There was a time that these schools did not require an MCAT. However, they now require one for US students.

On one of my many research excursions over the web, I discovered the UK requirements for americans applying to medical school. Many of you might already know this, medical school is an undergraduate degree program in most countries. It is possible for an american kid to apply to a UK med school directly after high school. In the UK they rely on AP scores to gauge an american applicants preparedness. There are a couple of different entrance exams but they are not like the MCAT. If I remember correctly they are more of an IQ type exam. It is possible to take the exam in the US at a Prometric center. On some of the MD forums I read that it is better to attend a Caribbean school if you plan on practicing in the US. The Caribbean schools focus on preparing students for the USMLE whereas the UK schools do not.

[mrs.b]

Once upon a time, when I was Pre-Med, too young to have any sense, and happy to waste my parents money...an ER doctor I volunteered under (my favorite department to volunteer was ER) said if I was really serious about pursuing a medical profession, to consider looking into Cuba for med school. It sounded insane, but he insisted he knew some people that had trained there and they were, by and large, far above their peers, and had no issues getting employment in the U.S. Since I came to my senses, aged, and moved on to a field I'm more suited towards, a similar comment came up not too long ago in a random conversation that made me think he wasn't just joking. Has anyone heard that? Is a Cuban medical education above par? He had the strangest (funny) sense of humor, so...I'm still on the fence about whether it was sound advice, not counting the difficulty of how an American citizen would get there and get admitted.

[cookderosa]

I like stories like hers, but, unless you've spent any amount of time digging into potential med paths, you might miss a few small - but significant- aspects in her story.

Her bio from the page:
Vickie Bailey, MD

Undergraduate Education: Excelsior College, Albany, NY
Medical School - University of Sint Eustatius

Dr. Bailey has had a long journey in her path to become a physician. She has spent the past 20 years working as a neonatal nurse and a neonatal intensive care nurse practitioner. She a hardworking mother and her experiences have motivated her to pursue a career in medicine.

First, she's not traditional age. This is a factor, I believe, in "allowing" her to come in with non-traditional education. She also has a story. She plays the mom card, even in her bio here, and you can read the intro about her "long journey to her path to become a physician" I'd bet ten cents her story is how she always wanted to be a doctor but had to be a nurse for this reason or that. I'm not slamming her, it's the same story I would have told. Stories get you in. In addition, her 20 years (!) as a neonatal nurse is kick ass, and she also spent some amount of time as an ICU nurse practitioner. She's not dumb. She probably is incredibly bright- ICU and NICU are really considerably difficult areas of nursing, and that she's applied for residency in peds makes sense, it's her wheelhouse. So, she stayed with what she knew (smart). Her med school choice: if I were a 50 year old woman, that's exactly what I would do- because it's darn near open enrollment. True, they have a failure and non-placement rate above 50%, but for the hard core dedicated (women like her, not an 18 year old who couldn't pull A's and good MCAT scores) this is the path of least resistance. She wasn't going to fail, she went there to kick ass. She may have had to sit out for numerous cycles if she applied in the USA, and she likely would have only gotten into a DO school. You'll notice she's got MD after her name, which is another plus. Again, I think she's very calculating and smart.

The down side- this woman has spent her entire life doing this the hard way. I can't fathom the amount of time and money she has spent on this path. From RN to NP and then to MD is no less than a half million dollars, no matter how you figure it.

All in all, that's how to do it if you're like her. Non trads can use non-trad paths. I believe it's when traditionally aged applicants try and do non-trad things that they meet resistance. I don't think she'd have gotten accepted into that residency if she were 25.

**EDIT: I wanted to add, that if you look down that list of other residents, they are very internationally-friendly. This might be something to keep in the back of one's mind if pursuing a similar path

[LaterBloomer]

Mrs. B, some years back I read an article about American students who wanted to become doctors, but couldn't get admitted into US medical schools. This was back during Bush 2 or, maybe even Clinton. The article was about the students' progress in Cuba. Electricity that frequently went out Having to learn everything in Spanish. Less sophisticated medical equipment. I wouldn't be surprised if doctors from that system were very good diagnosticians, and really had to engage patients. The doctor might not have been joking.

Cookderosa? I am so glad that you didn't raise me. I would not have been able to get anything past you.

[cookderosa]

Cookderosa? I am so glad that you didn't raise me. I would not have been able to get anything past you.

I don't know what that means, not sure I want to.

[clep3705]

Cuba is a great option for medical school - if you are fluent in Spanish. The quality and depth of education is outstanding.

[LaterBloomer]

Your analysis of Dr. Bailey's process to become doctor. You cut away all of the extraneous "stuff" and see what really happens. The smoke I blew for my mom wouldn't have done any good with you.