Med School Minutes- Ep. 46- 5 Countries, 1 Passion: A Med School Journey Across Borders

From Canada to the Caribbean to the U.S., Dr. Sanket Chaudhari’s journey to becoming an MD is anything but ordinary. In this episode of Med School Minutes, hear how he navigated cultural shifts, career pivots, and the realities of med school life at St. James. From his work as a student counselor to tips on excelling as an international medical student, Dr. Sanket shares real insights and practical advice for those considering the same path. 

Watch now to see what it really takes to succeed in med school!

0:00 - Intro to Med School Minutes with Dr. Sanket 
1:03 - Dr. Sanket’s Journey from Canada to Medicine 
5:40 - Transitioning from Sales to Med School 
10:18 - First Impressions of St. Vincent 
15:09 - Adjusting to Life on the Island 
20:35 - Unique Experiences: Living in 5 Countries 
29:22 - The Med School Experience at SJSM 
38:10 - Insights as a Student Counselor 
45:15 - Final Thoughts & Advice for Aspiring Doctors

#MedSchoolMinutes #FutureMD #MedicalJourney #InternationalStudents #MedSchoolLife #StudentCounselor #CaribbeanMedicalSchool #MedicineCareer #HealthcareEducation #SaintJamesSchoolOfMedicine #StudyMedicine #FromCanadaToMD #DoctorInTheMaking #SJSM

Transcript

Intro to Med School Minutes with Dr. Sanket

Speaker 1 0:01

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Med School Minutes podcast, where we discuss what it takes to attend and successfully complete a medical program. This show is brought to you by St James School of Medicine. Here is your host, kaushik Guha.

Dr. Sanket’s Journey from Canada to Medicine

Speaker 2 0:19

Welcome and thank you for joining us for another episode of Med School Minutes, where we talk about everything MD related, with a focus on international students, specifically Caribbean students. Today we have a very special guest. His name is Dr Sanket Chowdhury. He's an alumni from St James School of Medicine and he is waiting for the match results coming up this year. He just graduated and he's actually helping us or working at St James as a student counselor. We're gonna talk to him about his experiences, his background and what the student counselor position actually entails. So, without further ado, let's welcome Dr Sanket Chaudhary. Thank you for joining us, sanket.

Speaker 2 1:04

Thank you for having me and I know we're going to talk about you a little bit. What we really want to focus on is kind of your journey. So why don't you just walk us through your background and why you chose St James and let's go from there?

Speaker 3 1:26

Okay, well, I'm from Canada, born in India, okay, and we moved to UK when I was in like grade four. Okay so, london, uk, and did some schooling there for three or four years and then we moved to Toronto.

Speaker 2 1:43

Okay.

Speaker 3 1:44

And I was there until grade 10, no grade nine okay and then we moved to alberta where I did from grade 10 to grade 12 and uh did my university, the university of alberta, which is in edmonton okay um, some sciences, okay. After that I just ended up working okay. For a few years I did some courses here and there, but I was working as a sales salesman okay, yeah, all right yeah and and any other jobs, or was it just? No, I also wrote on my parents restaurant. Okay, as a chef.

Speaker 2 2:19

Chef manager and as far as being a chef, I can relate to that a lot. I think everybody can. Well, I call myself chef, but I mean, but you were prepping meals.

Speaker 3 2:36

I was yeah, Right, right.

Speaker 2 2:38

How's your plating skills?

Speaker 3 2:40

I mean better than my dad's.

Speaker 2 2:46

But what kind of restaurant was it?

Speaker 3 2:50

It was an Asian, like it was called Walkbox. A lot of Asian food from like Thailand, china, india too.

Speaker 2 3:00

What do you think you made the best from the menu?

Speaker 3 3:04

I think I was pretty good with pad thai.

Speaker 2 3:06

Pad thai.

Speaker 3 3:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:08

All right, but for me, pad thai is like you add the sauce and then you toss it around and then I feel like almost everything else goes on top of the noodles as opposed to in it.

Speaker 3 3:20

Yeah, the peanuts, is that Pretty much. Yeah, and all our sauces were since that Pretty much.

Speaker 1 3:25

Yeah.

Speaker 3 3:25

And all our sauces were, since it's a franchise. Okay, so we didn't make our homemade sauce, it was through, we got them.

Speaker 2 3:33

Okay, yeah, okay. And is there any dish that you're absolutely sick of?

Speaker 3 3:39

Sick of no, I wouldn't say I miss all of them.

Speaker 2 3:43

Oh, really, that's awesome. You need to definitely try. So next time you guys are in toronto, definitely make a stop at what is it?

Speaker 3 3:50

walk box. But it's not. It's. Uh. No, it was in alberta oh, okay yeah, in calgary oh sorry in calgary.

Speaker 2 3:57

If you guys are ever in calgary, stop at walkbox yeah and uh the new chef is just tell them them that Sunkit did it better.

Speaker 3 4:05

Yeah, we sold the restaurant, by the way.

Speaker 1 4:07

Oh well, in that case you should say that you know, Sunkit did it better.

Speaker 2 4:12

And then tell me a little bit more about your sales experience.

Speaker 3 4:16

So it was a furniture store. Okay, so I was a sales manager. So I initially started off being a salesman and then became a sales manager within like a year.

Speaker 2 4:26

Okay.

Speaker 3 4:26

It was. It was good. I actually liked it. But my my my dad said I get like I was not using my full potential, Like I should be doing something better. That's why I started looking into.

Speaker 2 4:37

So correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, you've done really well as a sales manager and you were, oh yeah, a couple of awards, yeah we won.

Speaker 3 4:46

We won. It was a national like, so we had a. Every year we have competition, so our competition was who sells the most warranties. So my store came the highest when it comes to warranty percentage, cause I it was a store in Airdrie right, which is a small town north of calgary, okay, so obviously we cannot do volumes like some toronto stores can, right, but it's about the percentage, right, like the warrant. That's the competition that we should. We still have. So, yeah, we were the highest. So I won a word I was number one in the country.

Transitioning from Sales to Med School

Speaker 2 5:22

Okay. So tell me this how do you reconcile that with medicine? Because the way I look at it, doctors typically are very collegial, they're very empathetic, they're very good team players, whereas when you think about sales, you typically think about cutthroat lone wolf, dog-eat-dog. How do you reconcile that? How did that work out for you? Or were you really cutthroat eat dog and you didn't care about anybody else until you hit your numbers, or uh, what's the story behind that?

Speaker 3 5:54

so I think, um, like in canada, like everyone, all the people that I worked with were extremely nice. Um, but also there were some people that were cutthroat. They always like skip a line.

Speaker 2 6:07

Were you one of those people? No, no, no.

Speaker 3 6:08

Okay. I think the reason I did good was because I would listen to the customer. Okay, right, and I think that relates with the patient too. If you listen to the patient, like half of their things are solved Okay With the customer. You listen to what they're actually looking for, okay, you empathize and sympathize what you know with the customer and they'll tell you exactly what they want. Okay, and then you could like try to help them out, like, let's say, if they're here for a sofa, you know, tell them like okay, you know, maybe, what kind of coffee table were you looking at? Why don't we get a whole deal together right amongst the line? But that kind of translates to medicine. Okay, because you're listening, right, right, instead of like, um, just ignoring what they're here for okay, ignoring what they want, okay, and then putting your own agenda on them onto that do you?

Speaker 2 6:57

know what I mean no, that makes a lot of sense. So, essentially, like you, you're a good listener and because of that it almost sounds like it was second nature to win. Because win the sales competition, because you literally gave customers what they were um wanting, like in the sense that, oh, if I get this furniture, you guys are there for me throughout I mean that's a. That's a really interesting way of uh looking at it.

Speaker 3 7:28

And then, while you were a sales manager, did you decide that you know, I've had enough of this, I'm out, I'm gonna um, no, I think it was my dad and my uncle okay they because I did pretty pretty well in like high school and whatnot, so they were like I feel like you're wasting your potential.

Speaker 2 7:48

Okay.

Speaker 3 7:49

Oh, you know how brown parents are. They either want you to be an engineer or a doctor. So initially they not started looking into engineering. But my dad's like well, what really wanted me to do? Medicine? Okay, so I was preparing for MCAT. Okay, and, believe it or not, it was my dad that ended up applying to St John's. Oh, okay, because it was one of the schools that didn't require.

Speaker 2 8:08

MCAT Right, right, right.

Speaker 3 8:09

He's like why are you wasting time writing MCAT? Right, that was his reasoning, obviously right, and we could start this right away. Okay, so that's why.

Speaker 2 8:26

Well, if you did write the MCAT, a lot of scholarships, yeah, your tuition would have dropped dramatically.

Speaker 3 8:29

Well, my, my good thing, you're done. Yeah, I'm done now. So, but that was that was his reason, because my plan was like applying like a year after right, I have my mcat done and applying to like canadian schools first and then. Okay, that was initial plan. Okay, uh so.

Speaker 2 8:42

So if I were to, and then you got into St James, and then what happened?

Speaker 3 8:50

You know what, initially I was a little hesitant because I come from the mathematic type of background, not really into biological science or physiology, so I was a little afraid, okay, but I really liked it, I enjoyed it really. Into right, you know biological science, of physiology. So I was I was a little afraid okay, but I really liked it, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed medicine Anatomy like the first Anatomy class I took. It was amazing, I mean. Also I think the cadaver was crazy. You know I thought would attend it was dr hug, okay, so he made it really fun. I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 9:25

Okay.

Speaker 3 9:25

And coming to St Vincent, it felt like, almost felt like, you know, like the village that we're from, like in India, okay, yeah, so everyone's extremely kind, okay, like, and they'll treat you like family. Okay, like the place I lived in, st Vincent, I think it's called the Burrows. Okay, and then they will invite us every Saturday and Sunday, like for a meal upstairs. Oh wow, so they were so kind.

Speaker 2 9:51

Who, as in they, as in your landlord, was it? Yeah, landlord. Okay, okay, okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 9:55

They treat us like family. So that was yeah, I didn't miss home much. That's awesome, yeah.

First Impressions of St. Vincent

Speaker 2 10:00

That's awesome. And when you went to St Vincent, was there like? Were you shocked? Were you pleasantly surprised? Were you like, oh my God, where the hell did I end up? Was it beautiful? What were your? So, when I landed, it was nighttime, all right.

Speaker 3 10:26

So I was a little scared because like I don't know where we're going, because like it was so dark and I couldn't see. You know how, like in Zim, it's like all the lights are turned off at night.

Speaker 2 10:33

Right, it's a mountain community, exactly.

Speaker 3 10:35

And so at night you don't see it's dark, right. So I, where is the text that you are taking me? Right, right, right. But then it was pretty easy. It was not. All the anxiety was gone the next day because I met my classmates and whatnot and we hung out, we went to downtown.

Speaker 2 10:57

Went to the beach. It was nice, and so I don't know if you know this, but we are merging our campuses from Anguilla to St Vincent, and there's a lot of apprehension about moving from Anguilla to St Vincent. Yeah, what would your advice to these students be?

Speaker 3 11:17

St Vincent oh, it's a better island. I think it's one of the better.

Speaker 2 11:21

Why did you say that A lot?

Speaker 3 11:22

more people. You don't feel like you're there by yourself. Um, I think good food as well, okay, well, I haven't been to angola, so but from what I think it's pretty good if. If you're not vegetarian, okay if you're vegetarian, okay and and what about um uh cost? Saint saint vincent, saint vincent I. Some of the stuff is expensive. I would say Okay, for example like instant coffee. It's almost the same price as, or even a little bit more expensive, even.

Speaker 2 11:53

Well, that's because it's coming from there, right?

Speaker 3 11:55

Exactly. But the local food is pretty cheap because you get a whole meal for like 10 EC Right, which is what five.

Speaker 2 12:03

So I've noticed that too, because in St Vincent, if you're getting Oscar Mayer, that's expensive, like you're paying like 10, 11 US dollars for like a pack of hot dogs. However, if you're getting the Trinidadian brand or the Barbadian brand, that's a lot cheaper than anything in the United States and I'm going gonna be honest, the taste is really not that different.

Speaker 3 12:28

I mean.

Speaker 2 12:28

I'd say I actually say that I'd go out on a limb and say that the local brands over there are tastier.

Speaker 3 12:35

They're pretty good.

Speaker 2 12:35

yes, yes, so, and have you ever had a situation that you really wanted something and you just couldn't get it?

Speaker 3 12:43

in St Vincent, yeah, I mean a little really looking for a whiteboard, okay, and I could, it was a very hard thing to find in St Vincent really. But and then so we went to like 10 different stores, right and lucky, we ran across this lady in downtown. I was like, oh, there's this one store that sells it. Okay, and it was the last one, okay there.

Speaker 2 13:05

So we were able to find it, so it seems like it is available. It's just no, exactly. Okay, you don't know where to look and the stores in st Vincent are essentially like the multi-purpose stores right like one store does everything from medicine to whiteboards yeah, yeah, okay, just like in India is the same, exactly. Most developing countries are like that um and when? Which year did you leave, saint vincent?

Speaker 3 13:30

uh, during pandemic, so 2020 april.

Speaker 2 13:35

Okay, so this was right during the pandemic, so you've been out of saint vincent for four years that's right, but um, what about transportation on the island? Is that?

Speaker 3 13:46

uh, I think. So we ended up renting okay, and renting is I mean I would say it's on like expensive side, it's okay renting what a car?

Speaker 2 13:53

car.

Speaker 3 13:54

Renting a car it's like on average, it's like 500 to 600 that's interesting because most of our students actually just don't rent.

Speaker 2 14:00

They just walk or use yeah, or yellow. Yellow is the.

Speaker 3 14:04

You know the bus driver name, okay, yeah, so most students end up using him because he drops us off, picks up, picks up, okay. It's like a three-time shuttling service at night, okay, so we usually left at 10.

Speaker 2 14:17

If you want to take him, we'll leave at 10 and we'll drop us off oh, wow, so this is not a brand, but this is the name of the bus driver.

Speaker 3 14:24

Yeah, okay, I mean, everyone calls me, I don't know his real name. Okay, wow, so this is not a brand, but this is the name of the bus driver. Yeah, okay, that's pretty cool. I mean, everyone calls me I don't know his real name, but everyone calls him yellow. I think his name is different.

Speaker 2 14:32

Because you were saying. I was like, oh, it must be something like yellow cabs in New York. It's a yellow bus. Oh, okay, so he just goes by yellow. That's interesting, yeah. And what about safety did?

Adjusting to Life on the Island

Speaker 3 14:47

you ever feel that saint vincent was unsafe? Never, okay, never. Obviously there are certain areas that you gotta avoid, right, but, and those areas are the ones that you know they offer like very cheap housing. So that's how, like students, you can get attracted to that area, right um, but those I would have worked. I remember one of my friend got robbed three times right and he still lived in the same area, right um, but those I would have worked. I remember one of my friends got robbed three times right and he still lived in the same area, right well, I mean, uh, just like any big city.

Speaker 2 15:13

Well, saint vincent has what a hundred thousand population yeah, something like that um, that's the size of a second tier city in the united states um, and in those kinds of, I would say maybe, yeah, every city has its issues, yeah and yeah.

Speaker 2 15:31

I mean, if you even chicago like you know, with the elections people make it sound like this is, you know, there's, uh, afghanistan, yeah, iraq, and then there's chicago, yeah and um, I've been here for 20 years and I've not much as heard a gunshot. But at the same time, if you go to the areas that are particularly affected, for example, rent is very, very cheap in the south side of Chicago, and that's the reason it's cheap is because they don't really have a lot of

Speaker 2 16:08

people, but the good news is that st James has its own dorms now, yeah. So security, I mean I don't think st Vincent ever. I've been there, obviously several times and I've never thought that security was an issue. I walked out late, um, I've walked in the streets. Obviously there are cultural differences, though. I mean, what would you say? The cultural differences are from people in canada who are supposedly really nice, yeah, uh, versus usa, versus saint vincent okay, so I should say saint vincent.

Speaker 3 16:42

by far I feel I felt much safer in St Vincent than Chicago.

Speaker 2 16:46

Okay, really, where do you live in Chicago? Oak Park?

Speaker 3 16:50

Oak Park's a really nice neighborhood it is, but I live like on Austin, so like border of Oak Park, Okay, but that's still. Yeah, I mean, it's not bad right, but at night if I want to walk right, I wouldn't feel as safe.

Speaker 2 17:03

I hear you. I think that generally that's maybe not a good idea in a city as big as Chicago.

Speaker 3 17:10

To walk late at night, unless you're with a couple of other friends, yeah, a couple of other friends, exactly. Whereas in St Winston there's farmers there, right so they carry a machete.

Speaker 1 17:21

It does not mean that they're going to come after you, right so don't be scared by that like they're usually one of the nicest people, just because they're carrying machete means nothing, right, uh, but you could walk at night.

Speaker 3 17:31

I used to, uh, I mean, I didn't go often, but sometimes in the morning I'll go to the gym, like 4 am, okay, uh, there's only one gym on the island. I don't know if they built more, they've been quite a few right now. Oh, really, okay. So the fitness lab is where I used to, okay, uh, go. Uh, it was a walking distance. Like when I said walking distance for like 10 minute walk, okay, but I used to see people like the farmers carrying like machete or whatnot going to work. It's completely safe.

Speaker 2 17:56

They're very normal people right, yeah, and um, would you say, people are friendlier in saint vincent versus usa, in canada, or how would you make these three friendlier in St Vincent versus USA and Canada, or how would you rank these three countries?

Speaker 3 18:07

In Canada, you probably won't see anyone at night time. You're more likely to see a moose.

Speaker 2 18:14

What about in the US? What about people in general?

Speaker 3 18:18

Yeah, I mean, I think they're very welcoming, they're extremely welcome in St Vincent and a lot of people notice that. Okay, also, there's a bad crowd everywhere, right, a majority of them are extremely kind.

Speaker 2 18:31

Okay, okay, yeah, all right. And when you finished St Vincent, you came to the United States. Where did you do all your rotations?

Speaker 3 18:40

So West Suburban.

Speaker 2 18:43

Okay.

Speaker 3 18:43

And then I did have one or two at Community First. So all in Chicago, all in Chicago, okay, okay okay, yeah, that's awesome All in Chicago.

Speaker 2 18:51

And uh, did you have any readjustment issues when you came from St Vincent to say Chicago?

Speaker 3 18:59

Yeah, I didn't like it much Really Initially. Initially I didn't like it much Okay Because, really initially, initially I didn't like it okay because, uh, well, see, I was, I was by myself at that, right, right, yeah, um, so it was a little bit getting used to. Okay, there's no cleaning ladies like that. What was on the island?

Speaker 2 19:12

yeah, yeah, I know that isn't everything in the us. You have to do it yourself yeah, so okay yeah and uh. What about from a food standpoint? Did you have any adjustment issues in Chicago?

Speaker 3 19:28

Chicago. You know, like US in general, your food is very salty, really, and sugary. Compared to Canadian, yeah, okay. Or compared to, like I don't know, maybe St Vincent, okay, like it feels, I mean, I don't know this anymore, right, I love it now, right. But when I initially I'm like, wow, this is very salty, okay, why does the fry have sugar?

Speaker 2 19:49

Okay, I see.

Speaker 3 19:51

Right, that's very interesting. You don't notice these things, bro. Okay, that's the first thing I notice about food.

Speaker 2 19:56

Interesting, interesting and well, I mean I want step back again to St Vincent and just talk about what your initial reaction was like from the topography would like. When you first came out on the next day you started meeting friends and stuff, but or classmates. Um, when it comes to the topography of the island and the general beauty of the island, you said you went to beaches. Can you elaborate that a little bit more?

Unique Experiences: Living in 5 Countries

Speaker 3 20:21

yeah, so you know how you mentioned like this like mountainous kind of region, right, so I was not uh like ready for like how steep the climb was, right or so you know, because, like with the heart, even the cars sometimes have like hard time going up and it's crazy steep, so there's no problem going down. Yeah, but when you're coming back, I wanted to walk back up to my apartment. Was very hard, um, and the beaches are a little bit different. I think they call it black sand.

Speaker 3 20:50

Black sand beaches yeah, right, because of active volcano, yeah, which did explode, I think, in 2020 yeah yeah, yeah, it was very live, it was very scary, I was not okay I'm kidding, I mean you know, what really struck me about the volcanic eruption was that when the volcano erupted, people were out on the street dancing.

Speaker 2 21:16

Some people collected ash and selling it on eBay as fertilizer. And to me that is just so admirable. And to me that is just so admirable because people over there are, they take life head on, like literally, they take life by the horns.

Speaker 3 21:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:39

And, no matter what the situation and I think that that's something that not just USA, but Canada, usa and a lot of the Western world has a lot to learn from instead of having anxiety and, you know, stressing out about a difficult situation, they're making the most of it.

Speaker 3 21:56

Also, of course, the volcano happened in the far north region of the yeah, so I think only in certain areas of downtown was affected.

Speaker 2 22:04

Well, they had ash flow, not flow, but ash coming on the cars and stuff. It's like snow Exactly, and that's why people were like Christmas came early and they were making all these? Jokes and memes and you know, whereas us over here in Chicago, we were really concerned and worried and whereas folks on the island and our staff, they were like, yeah, it's not a big deal, you know, we'll get through it. When the volcano erupted, there were videos and honestly I'm not going to lie it's one of the most beautiful things that I saw.

Speaker 3 22:36

Yeah.

Speaker 2 22:37

And not just that when a volcano erupts. This is something I didn't know because of the electrical charges in the ash that hovers around the summit. Yeah, it triggers lightning and essentially like a lightning show, if you will. Wow, and I remember watching this live.

Speaker 3 22:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2 22:57

From our faculty and staff on the island and they were just like it was a show for them and I was like you know what and that's a big lesson that I took away for myself was, when the volcano erupted, Something that potentially, and if something like that happened in, say, USA, I have a feeling the reaction would have been very, very different.

Speaker 3 23:24

Panic, anxiety.

Speaker 2 23:25

Yes, Whereas there people took it in their stride, they made the most out of a situation that could have been very unfortunate, but it didn't turn out to be like that. Yeah, everybody enjoyed it. And then because of the volcanic ash, I think typically again, I heard that this is very typical of most volcanic eruptions is that when the eruption subsides, there's usually very torrential rainfall afterwards, because it induces the electric charge and whatnot, induces a lot of storm, clouds and things.

Speaker 3 23:59

Okay.

Speaker 2 24:00

So we had torrential rainfall, and so the whole thing lasted, I would say, about three to four days. And then, with the torrential rains, all the ash was washed away and it was like a brand new beginning, and not just that like because of all the ash fall, which is incredibly high in, like because of all the asphalt, which is incredibly high in, you know, various chemicals that are conducive for growing, of fertilizers, the island is even greener now. Really, yes, it is. I mean, it already was incredibly green.

Speaker 3 24:31

Yeah.

Speaker 2 24:34

And then it's already green now. So I know you mentioned that instant coffee and stuff like that was very expensive back then, but I know the government has made an active effort to uh develop its agrarian industries, including coffee and cocoa. Wow so, and, and mind you, these things actually grow wild there, yeah, so now they're focusing with a little more technology and having their own development. And one interesting thing I don't know if you know this is that St Vincent, I think, if I'm not mistaken, is the first Caribbean island to legalize marijuana. Yeah, I don't know if it's a big part of their culture.

Speaker 2 25:14

Yeah, yeah, and from my understanding is that the, the, they've legalized it and I don't know if is it readily available on the island. I mean, I was offered once but I don't. From my experience they're only just like in the United States, they're set dispensaries.

Speaker 2 25:42

I think on the whole island there are just two places that actually sell marijuana, but it's regulated and I think that's pretty cool and again, it's a part of the culture, so it's not necessarily abused like I would go out on a limb and say there is a lot of abuse of marijuana that happens in the united states yeah uh, even is it being legalized, it's you know, but there it's a part of the culture, it's very ritualistic. I mean think, uh, the rastafari and their culture is part of their uh region. But uh, did you hike to the volcano ever?

Speaker 3 26:19

no, that's something I did not do. Okay, why not? See, I'm not a big hiker, you know it was like a six hour, seven hour hike. Yeah, I mean, I should have.

Speaker 2 26:29

You know, not looking back, I, I should have done it okay, but I thought it was gonna take like a whole day going up there it does take a little bit, but nowadays our students actually organize hiking groups and they go up together and they come down together and it is a national reserve, if I'm not mistaken, the hiking trail.

Speaker 3 26:47

It's beautiful, I've been told. It's like amazing. Okay, but Dr Santosh at the time was teaching us, like you know, all these mosquitoes that you get bitten by.

Speaker 2 26:53

Well, I mean, it is a tropical country and those are risks there's no question about it, but I also think that there are ways to mitigate those risks. Yeah, of course, and what about any of the other you said you mentioned you spent time on the beaches. What beaches did you spend time on?

Speaker 3 27:11

So there was. I lived in Willa Lodge.

Speaker 2 27:19

So it's near the stadium A little.

Speaker 3 27:21

yeah, that's where it's towards fitness lab side, um. So in the back there's there's like a private type, not private but there's a beach right there. Okay, I want to say I spent time. I was only initially, when I started medical school, right. It was like first week right after that probably went like three or four times okay. Like first week right after that probably went like three or four times okay. Uh, never, I guess I never, you know, never got into it okay I know a lot of students who spent all day on the weekends.

Speaker 2 27:46

Sometimes they'll rent out a boat okay, yeah, and go so, and, and uh, saint vincent is an archipelago, right?

Speaker 3 27:54

what? What is that? What does that mean?

Speaker 2 27:56

archipelago is a group of islands okay, it's not an in just one island, like, for example, angola. Angola is one island, I see, um, and saint vincent is an archipelago which is like, uh, the philippines or indonesia. Oh, I see, okay, a group of islands. Yeah, have you visited any of the other islands?

Speaker 3 28:13

no, I'm in barbados always because no, no within saint vincent no, no, the small islands like nearby.

Speaker 2 28:19

No, no, no no, you didn't.

Speaker 3 28:21

I wish I did.

Speaker 2 28:21

Okay, all these things I wish I did now okay, well well, the good thing is that means you were studying hard and obviously yeah, the fruits of your labor have obviously paid off.

Speaker 2 28:29

Yeah, uh, so, so it sounds like you never really had a chance to explore the other island, which is a good thing, because I keep saying medical students should not have free time enough, yeah, to go visit the other islands. But the other islands are white sand beaches, yeah, and beckway is the closest to the mainland, and then you also have uh, canaan and union island, which are resort islands, yeah, yeah, in fact, in Canaan, you have the Mandarin Oriental there, really, yes, and I think it's the first Mandarin Oriental in the Caribbean, and now they're building some more, which is obviously a big deal.

The Med School Experience at SJSM

Speaker 2 29:09

And then you also have these, and they're all white sand beaches. So just the mainland has, uh, black sand beaches. Have you ever ventured to the atlantic side of the island? Nope, so much, which is great. Yeah, you're giving all the right answers.

Speaker 3 29:28

You studied hard yeah, I did, and then my days off, like I just felt, like watching tv, for example right once you have you finished your exam, or just chilling Right, right right right.

Speaker 2 29:37

So what are the chilling a day of chilling in St Vincent other than watching TV, okay so chilling also includes like $3 high runes that you get. Okay, 3 EC, high runes 3 EC. So that's what a dollar.

Speaker 3 29:52

Yeah, okay. Yeah, I think at one point it was like cheaper than water. And you get like three for 90 C Right.

Speaker 2 30:00

So why would you buy water in St Vincent? Because, if I'm not mistaken, st Vincent has the best water quality of all the Karakom Islands. In fact, you can drink straight out of the tap. I know the government is very proud of that achievement, yeah, which, I would dare say, even America cannot boast of, that fact.

Speaker 3 30:16

No, we never bought water, okay. I dare say, even America cannot boast of that fact. No, we never bought water, okay.

Speaker 2 30:18

I'm just comparing it. Oh, bottled water.

Speaker 3 30:19

Bottled water was more expensive, but yeah, no, I never had to buy any water from anywhere.

Speaker 2 30:23

That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome, and did you visit any of? I'm guessing you didn't have time. But, like, st Vincent also has a lot of historical landmarks where they have a fort. Did you visit the fort? No, I didn't.

Speaker 3 30:40

Okay.

Speaker 2 30:41

The fort's beautiful.

Speaker 3 30:43

I visited the jail.

Speaker 2 30:46

Did the police catch you for something? No, no, no, okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 3 30:50

No, because we were there in downtown and I think we were trying to get license right For a car license, like temporary license, and then we saw the jail I get license right for a car license, like a temporary license and then we saw the gentleman. I said, wow, this is pretty cool. He's like, oh, do you want to see it? Like? The police said yeah, I'm like, yeah, that would be pretty nice. And he actually showed us. They're extremely nice because they know we're students, right, right, right, very kind to us.

Speaker 2 31:23

Also, don't take advantage of that right like do something illegal. But they told us today you guys want to come see you. Oh, wow, that's pretty cool. That was awesome. Yeah, that's, that's an interesting story. No, I mean, even my experience in st vincent has been great. People love, they, welcome foreigners. What I really like about st vincent it is it is not commercialized yet. It'll get there, I'm sure, but as of now it is not. Oh great.

Speaker 1 31:39

You forgot to hit record no, I was checking that though that's what I was checking. Okay, you said as of now Commercial?

Speaker 2 31:47

Yeah, okay. So yeah, it is getting there. I do think this is a very exciting time for Vincentians and St Vincent in general. Lots of construction happening. I know the the sandal resort just opened up. Um connectivity of the island has skyrocketed. Yeah, uh, the number of connections from mainland usa. I remember when we started there was one flight from miami to simpson one day a week. I think that's changed. You can fly out practically any day of the week. You have flights from New York, you have flights from Miami, you have flights from Toronto. Now, toronto, yeah, that's every week.

Speaker 2 32:24

By the way, twice a week, I think I forgot well, during busy season it goes up to four times a week, wow. And then during slow season, which is the hurricane season now and I think the coolest thing about St Vincent it is not in the traditional path of the hurricane, it's not in the hurricane belt.

Speaker 3 32:39

Yeah, so which?

Speaker 2 32:41

a lot of other islands are.

Speaker 1 32:42

But, again.

Speaker 2 32:43

I mean, as I said, the folks in the Caribbean are just so incredibly resilient, yeah, so anyway, I mean, after St Vincent, you obviously came to Chicago and you finished everything up in Chicago. But now I want to ask you you're very unique in the sense that you've lived in what? Four different countries, if you consider India, uk, canada, usa and St Vincent it's five.

Speaker 2 33:16

What's your learning from this? Like what's your takeaway from living in, because I can tell you there aren't that many people who've had the privilege of living in all these different countries. So what's your takeaway from this?

Speaker 3 33:33

I think, like every country has its own charm, like the culture and everything right. I think like every country has its own charm, like the culture and everything Right. Um, but one thing I should mention is that from grade, from kindergarten, from kindergarten to grade 12, I switched more than like 12 schools, okay, cause my, my dad was an engineer, he's like where he got a job, like he was to move, so all that like I feel like it kind of like helps me communicating, you know, getting to know other people, like I mingle people a lot easier, right, but in terms of people I ruined everyone's. I haven't had any bad experiences and then in any other countries, so like do you think it's living in all these places?

Speaker 2 34:20

Did you ever have any personal issues Like, oh, I can't make friends, or you know, I don't like this place that much.

Speaker 3 34:27

Honestly, I have never had that kind of issue. Okay, the only time I felt like that was when I was starting my rotation in Chicago. I was by myself, I had to do everything by myself. I see.

Speaker 2 34:38

That was only for like a month. Okay, what about college? Were you living at home when you did?

Speaker 3 34:41

undergrad. So we were in Edmonton, right, that's where my University of Alberta is located, and when I got to university, my parents decided to move to Calgary. Okay, so everyone. So I lived in dorms. Okay, it's called Lister, like so Lister dorms okay, okay, it's called lister. Like uh, so lister dorms are like okay, you know different towers? Uh, we're actually very famous when it comes to dodgeball. We broke a record in dodgeball participants I'm sure that's very relevant for ever yeah, all our listeners.

Speaker 3 35:11

Yeah, and I was there doing that record ranking did you play? Yeah, yeah. So search us up on Lister Dodgeball League, I'll be there. Okay, really yeah.

Speaker 2 35:19

So is there like I watched the movie Dodgeball? Yeah, Is it anything like the movie?

Speaker 3 35:25

No, it's more competitive. Really, it is crazy, really, people bleed.

Speaker 2 35:31

With Dodgeball, with Dodgeball.

Speaker 3 35:33

Oh, I can see that. That's how hard they get hit in the face.

Speaker 2 35:35

Yeah, I can see that. And is there like a varsity kind of scenario with dodgeball? Do they play like at? Are there international competitions at all?

Speaker 3 35:46

No, so we had like four towers, right Right, our four towers. We had like 15 to 20 floors in each tower, so it was your floor. Oh, okay, those were the teams, right, right, right, and then your tower too. So we have all started, which is the towers only. Okay, it was like you know, like I was in seven shaver, like seven shaver versus like three mckenzie, for example that was a tower name. Okay, okay, okay, and and you guys won, yeah, we were the best team, of course, I see, look us up, I see.

Speaker 2 36:15

Look us up. That's funny. And so, now that you're done, you're obviously looking for residency. You just graduated and you're finishing up residence or applying for residency. What are your thoughts about residency? I know you said you mentioned you're. Are you a Canadian national? Now, I've always been. Canadian OK so do you think it's easier? Do you think it's harder? Did you take any special?

Speaker 3 36:47

steps while applying for residency. I only think, no, not something that other than what USIMGs or non-USIMGs would have to do right. Ecfmg certification Okay, which requires OET, and step one, step two, which is same for everyone. Okay, I see, but if I want to go back to Canada, that's a different story than I got to write Canadian exams.

Speaker 2 37:04

Well, I mean so you know. I mean we've had a podcast with another gentleman called Dr Escudero, who finished with us and then got residency in the United States post-residency, I think.

Speaker 2 37:19

he worked a couple of years in the United States and moved back to Canada to start his own practice and he said that once you finish everything in the United States you don't have to do I mean other than like standard paperwork. You don't have to do anything. So apparently Canada has a very big reciprocity with the United States so anybody licensed in the United states can go back yeah, so that's actually, you know, like good thing you mentioned, because, uh, the borders are opening up okay.

Speaker 3 37:46

So, after residency, uh, also depending on what type of residence you did, okay, if it's family medicine or internal medicine is a little bit more open, okay, right, I mean, I don't know much about like any like higher specialties that are going back right, um, but alberta is open now right, noah, scotia is open.

Speaker 1 38:05

On.

Insights as a Student Counselor

Speaker 3 38:05

Tier is open oh, okay, so after is there some, like you said, some paperwork, and so are you interested in going back to canada, I mean, but 10 potentially okay after residency. You know, we'll think about it Like it's, because, like everyone's back home, right, okay, right.

Speaker 2 38:22

But Canadian physicians just don't make that much money?

Speaker 3 38:24

No, they don't.

Speaker 2 38:25

They don't make anywhere near. Yeah, and which is so surprising to me is because Canada's a big country. What? 30 million-odd? Yeah, closer to 40 million people.

Speaker 1 38:36

Okay, look at that million odd.

Speaker 2 38:39

Yeah, probably closer to 40 million million people. Yeah, look at that. So, uh, 40 million, but that's still like 10 percent of what us. That's about 10 percent of us's uh size, and they're obviously sprawled over a landmass that's actually bigger than the united states, yeah, so, considering all of that, I'm just really shocked that canada does not really have more residency slots and the number, and so, if I'm not mistaken and you can correct me if I'm wrong there seems to be an absolute dire need for physicians in canada yeah, in canada there's there's a huge need for physicians.

Speaker 3 39:11

Okay, not just that, more so than the united states even. Yeah, because physicians, because physicians that are in Canada are moving out, they're coming to the US. Is it just because of the pay? Paycheck is a big thing, right. And for residency spots, I feel like I don't know. The last one I saw, I think this was two years ago, when I was looking at the spots remaining there were some spots that were left open. They were never filled.

Speaker 2 39:38

Oh, oh yeah, but how come? But why do people say that it's so competitive in Canada?

Speaker 3 39:43

then it is competitive for non-Canadians. I mean, if you get your exams done right, If you get your exams and everything and you're Canadian, I think you have a fairly good shot at getting residency in Canada. But then you're probably not going to canada or toronto, vancouver or any of these big cities. I think we have some few uh uh people from our school that imagine in toronto.

Speaker 2 40:04

Well, yeah, every year we do get a couple of students who match into, but I'm just saying generally speaking. If they wanted to go back, is it something? Is it? Do you think it's? I would think, like in the united states, big cities don't have a dearth of physicians. Everybody wants to be in chicago, la, uh, new york, boston, all these big cities. But when you go to the rural areas, even usa has a dearth of physicians. Is it something similar like that in canada as well? Or is it just like dearth of physicians across the board?

Speaker 3 40:34

I mean they're more, you know like, focused in like or clustered in areas such as Toronto, calgary, but it's hard to find them If you go to rural areas.

Speaker 2 40:46

It's probably one or two doctors max, all right. So, considering all this, I know you said that you'd see, but what factors would influence you to probably go back to Canada? Would it just be family?

Speaker 3 41:03

Yeah, family is one. And then I feel like safety too. Okay, if I end up having a family, right, right, right, obviously, if I'm doing well financially, then you will. Yeah, it's not if I'm doing you will. But I'm saying like up to a point that I want, yeah, um, I might, because it would be a good option. I feel like it's safe in terms of, okay, just safety in the world, like in general have you thought about the potential tax implications?

Speaker 2 41:34

canada's, you know, I would say yeah, we get tax law easily. Well, I mean, you know it's quite that's debatable, but easily. For a straight salary you're probably paying five to ten percent more than yeah which is a lot in the.

Speaker 2 41:49

US we pay a lot. But considering all of that, would you still want to make, because I've actually never seen Canadian students from our roster at least, move back to Canada Because they're like you know I'm doing great, I'm okay here, I don't want to go back, is, I know it's very premature, but maybe a couple of years down the road, other than safety factor, do you see yourself actually going back and practicing?

Speaker 3 42:21

Probably not. There's a high chance I'll end up staying in the US. A very high chance.

Speaker 2 42:26

For the match? Are you actually applying for the Canadian?

Speaker 3 42:28

match no, I'm not applying, okay, all right and for the United States.

Speaker 2 42:34

any tips and tricks for any of our viewers who are Canadian during the match season, because obviously you've navigated this pretty successfully. You've got quite a few interviews already and I think everything started over last week.

Speaker 3 42:46

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 42:47

So I have no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a slam dunk for you this year.

Speaker 3 42:52

Oh, thank you.

Speaker 2 42:53

But for any of our Canadian students who apply, is there any advice that you might have for them?

Speaker 3 43:02

A few advice, like you know, when you're applying. Make sure you have your application in before they open.

Speaker 2 43:09

Okay.

Speaker 3 43:09

Right. So let's say this year they open on 25th, you have your application completely done, okay, before 24th, okay, incomplete applications, for what I've been told they just get pushed to the side, right? Secondly, from what I've heard, always see, you know, like these are all you know from here he said she says right that they go through USMD students first. Okay, in their first batch, usually USMD and US IMG. Okay, because they're American, you know they're. They will not be so required. So Canadians usually end up getting interviews on the second half of October okay, from what I've heard, right, right.

Speaker 2 43:53

So I would say that, and that might be true for programs that are relatively new and that are you know that that probably have a certain number of visa or visa limits that they have, yeah, however, for programs that typically take, uh, foreigners yeah and the program director knows that yeah and I've seen this happen, like I've been in several rooms when they're deciding who they're going to hire for residency when they see that what they typically do is they don't really look at where you're from. They're like is this a good candidate? That?

Speaker 3 44:38

might be a potential fit.

Speaker 2 44:40

I do think that you're right, especially for smaller programs that have limits on the number. But if you're going to a large program typically university programs like, for example, unc and stuff I've actually seen it the other way around also, where they've selected a candidate, they found out that that person was canadian, and this particular institution has never done visas, um, and we've talked through the university how to do these visas and stuff like that and they did it because they liked the candidate that much. Oh Really.

Speaker 3 45:14

Yeah.

Final Thoughts & Advice for Aspiring Doctors

Speaker 2 45:14

So I mean I would go out on a limb and say that maybe there really isn't. You know, if you do your research properly now, if a program clearly says that we're not going to do a visa, yeah, of course it's harder to change their mind?

Speaker 2 45:32

Yeah, of course, but if you know that the program takes IMGs and there's several resources out there In fact we have a chat GPT custom GPT that does that If you go to chat GPT and search up St SJSM, you'll see it and that actually tells you, for all the presidency programs listed, even, what percentage of students or their last class was Canadian or IMGs, imgs, yeah. So I mean, now that you're in that process, do you think the fact that you were Canadian, do you think you had a chip on your shoulder when you were doing the applications, had a chip on your shoulder when you were doing the applications?

Speaker 3 46:18

Hmm, no, I think, because you know, canada and US is like so, so similar, right, like and so communication, I feel a lot of pro and actually look at us very similarly. Also, if it wasn't a visa, visa issue, right, so I don't think they look as as that different. I don't think I'm like a disadvantage or I'm gonna be at an advantage, right, um, compared to like, let's say, like a student that's from india yeah, that's gone through our school of course.

Speaker 2 46:51

yeah, right, oh, 100. I definitely think that that's the case. Yeah, um, but it's not like you wrote your personal statement in a different way because you were Canadian, exactly, did you? No, no, no, oh, okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 3 47:04

No, they recommend you. If it's a personal statement, try to be, because the last podcast that we did with Dr Kruger and Dr Pinus, they're like, be personal. It's a personal statement. It's a name for a reason, right, they want to know about you, not about like your scores and whatnot. Right, you already say that in your MSPE and your resume. So I think that it's a little bit easier for Canadian students to write, okay, compared to like, let's say, an Indian IMG or from a different country that doesn't speak English, right? So I think in that sense it's a little bit advantage.

Speaker 2 47:43

But and as far as generally your overall experience, would you, for medicine in particular, would you do it all over again, or are you like you know one's enough? I'll probably explore the engineering route next.

Speaker 3 48:00

No, I would do it again, and again, and again.

Speaker 2 48:02

Really yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 48:04

And if I got younger and younger?

Speaker 2 48:08

That's also true. That's also true. I do want to talk about this because this has been a hot button issue with step one and step two. Yeah, you've obviously done really well, you've cleared on your first attempt. Do you think that there is any changes from when you took the NBME to when you took step one? Then you took the NBME for step two and then step two. Do you think, stylistically or from the examination pattern, anything changed for you?

Speaker 3 48:46

Not drastically, because when I was about to write step, they did change it in terms of, like the content. I think they were removing like the pharmacological question to something a little bit different. Right, they were adding more communications skill type questions on their more.

Speaker 3 49:07

That was in October 20, 21 okay okay, and then they switched to pass or fail. So I wrote it right before it switched to pass or fail, like in two days before, okay, but there wasn't that big of a change where you would notice from your MBMEs. Okay, the concepts that are being tested are still the same. Okay, they don't change. Okay, but the way with the way they ask is a little bit different, I see well, I mean define a little bit.

Speaker 2 49:35

What do you mean by?

Speaker 3 49:36

so I would say it's if step one or step two are more similar to what they use me on your summary website. They provide free 120 mm-hmm so free 120 questions okay it's from the website and your step looks very similar to those that format Okay and the length and difficulty of those questions are very similar. Okay, sometimes on MBME you get some questions that are like way off, okay, okay, right, like I mean not that commonly, but the concept that has been tested. It goes across the whole board.

Speaker 2 50:18

Okay, but do you think, based off of that, now that you know so much about the exams, would you have prepared or studied differently in any way?

Speaker 3 50:33

Yeah, I think so. I think because when we were studying studying like we might have used way too many resources okay, right, that's a I'll I'll suggest.

Speaker 3 50:45

You know, like, stick to what our new upcoming students what I would say is stick to one place where you're writing all your notes okay that's extremely important because, like, let's say, you want to review microbiology, right, right, you're not searching through like 10 different books to look at microbiology when you've done all the hard work already. Go to that book, go to the notes that you've already taken and learn from it or add on to that.

Speaker 2 51:10

Okay.

Speaker 3 51:11

That would have helped.

Speaker 2 51:13

That's interesting. That's interesting and, generally speaking, you know now that you're done with everything and you've already put in your application and this is your first year going through the residency match. You're currently a USMLE counselor for St James. That's right. Can you tell us what that is so?

Speaker 3 51:34

we help students that are in that phase, in a limbo phase between md5 to comp and step one okay, and a lot of them have issues with, like you know, some of them will, like low, have like knowledge issues, right, it's just to guide them. You know what to study, how to study, right. Others might have issues with the question itself.

Speaker 3 51:57

They might have the knowledge but they don't know how to apply it okay so we try to help students like that and even though it's a counseling position, I end up teaching them, tutoring them about certain concepts, and our goal is for them to pass comp right and then pass step.

Speaker 2 52:15

So so far we have been successful okay I mean it's been good and and considering your usmle counselor position versus your chef job, versus your sales job, uh, how would you?

Speaker 3 52:32

which was the best? Is that right? Yeah, all right, I don't want to use the super little term because they're so, so diverse.

Speaker 2 52:36

Yeah, the best, is that what you're saying? Yeah, all right, I don't want to use the super little term because they're so diverse.

Speaker 3 52:39

Yeah, the best job. I would mention that I haven't mentioned yet that it was McDonald's. I loved it so much. I was in high school. I worked at McDonald's in high school oh my God.

Speaker 2 52:49

Why did you like it so much?

Speaker 3 52:51

It's all friends working Okay and we just had fun. We had competition on like how fast can you make like cheeseburger?

Speaker 2 52:57

Okay, yeah, and who won?

Speaker 3 52:58

there. Oh see, okay, I was third, I was third.

Speaker 2 53:04

But it definitely. I can see a pattern where you seem like a very good competitor slash test taker. It almost seems like so when it comes to competitions, you've got that.

Speaker 3 53:13

I like competition.

Speaker 1 53:14

Yeah that's good, that's good, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 53:17

Well, as far as the counselors are concerned, what do you think are the qualities that make a person excel at counseling or be a very, very good counselor?

Speaker 3 53:30

Listening is a big thing, right, like same thing when it goes for sales or patients. Think of it like these students are struggling, so like understanding their perspective is very important before you can help them. Okay, they might be going through something crazy in their life and so empathizing in their position, okay, and then we can figure out how to solve it, how how to deal with it. Okay, but they feel like they've been, they're in that prison that they cannot get out of. Okay, right, learned helplessness. Even though the door is open, they feel like they cannot get out. Right, right, right. So a lot of students feel that way. Okay, so we're trying to break that ice.

Speaker 2 54:11

Okay.

Speaker 3 54:12

How do you break that ice? By listening to them and then, obviously, like when we do these questions right, like understanding where they're going wrong. So I do questions with my students and then seeing like where they're actually, you know, struggling with Right, and then I'll tell them you know what. You did this to this correct, right, you were good, but you were not confident in selecting your choice, like why is that? But you were not confident in selecting your choice, like how, why is that? Okay, and we'll actually talk about it without like I don't know sugarcoat things.

Speaker 2 54:39

I tell my students they're like bad at something, I'll tell them, but I also tell them how to improve it okay, so, without obviously giving away who the student is, can you tell me what your best student experience has been or who your best student has been?

Speaker 3 54:54

our best students are. I mean, they're the ones that I want to schedule like 10 times a week. Usually I mean um, but they take advice very, very seriously and then they follow through with it okay right and I help them with scheduling. So and then and they, I see improvement okay that's. That's a big thing. I got a one email just recently from, like, a young lady that like passed her step one. Okay, very kind email as well, that was. I really appreciate it, okay.

Speaker 2 55:24

It was nice, that's all I posted on my yeah, it looks like you're. You're going down the professorial route. I like education.

Speaker 3 55:35

Yeah, I told Dr Guo. Like you know, I don't mind teaching like physiology now and then.

Speaker 2 55:39

So he thought he hooked me up with Dr Balgolf.

Speaker 3 55:41

Okay, I did some one physio lecture, that's awesome, that's awesome and um.

Speaker 2 55:48

so, at this juncture, um, you're obviously. What specialty are you applying for again?

Speaker 3 55:56

Internal medicine.

Speaker 2 55:56

Internal medicine? Where do you see yourself, say, 10 years down the road?

Speaker 3 56:05

10 years down the road. So internal medicine initially, like I want to do cardiology.

Speaker 2 56:14

Okay.

Speaker 3 56:15

Hopefully. I mean I'm not 100% sure yet, right, but first I want to become aology. Okay, hopefully, I mean I'm not 100% sure yet, right, but first I want to become a good internist.

Speaker 2 56:21

Okay.

Speaker 3 56:22

Right, a good like a hospitalist Right, and that's like academic standpoint right. But 10 years from now I want to be a little bit rich, be able to afford some cleaning lady.

Speaker 2 56:35

Well, I mean I think you will be Just considering your trajectory and considering your history. I'm pretty sure, I'm confident. I'm no soothsayer, I'm no clairvoyant, but I can tell you that it's definitely on the cards and you're going to knock it out of the park. But thank you so much, sanket, for giving us the time today yeah.

Speaker 2 56:58

I really appreciate it. And, yeah, make sure those students get all the help that they need because, again, I've always said that St James, or any school for that matter, their success entirely depends on how well their students do yeah and I think what you guys are doing is quite phenomenal. You guys are very focused on the students and have helped innumerable students and I would say, as an administrator, my biggest gripe is that our students don't take advantage of some of the tools and resources that we have provided.

Speaker 2 57:30

That's true, so I think, generally speaking, that's what I think you should do, especially now that you have a couple more months left.

Speaker 3 57:40

Yes.

Speaker 2 57:41

Make a phone call and be like hey, you know, I mean keep everybody accountable, essentially.

Speaker 3 57:47

Yeah, I think now, like a lot of people that are in MD5 are getting recommended to counseling. So, like they, I had quite a few students in like past month that are between well, from MD5. Yeah Right, they started MD5, they already contacting so Thank you so much, sanket.

Speaker 2 58:06

That was a very, very interesting conversation. Obviously, you have so much to contribute to any residency program you go to. Just the fact that you've actually lived on five different countries in and of itself brings so much of such a wealth of knowledge and experiences to any program. I think any program would be lucky to have you. If you liked our content, do not forget to give us a follow and give us a like. It goes a long way. We put a lot of work into producing these episodes, and feel free to download more episodes of Med School Minutes from your favorite podcast provider, such as Spotify or Google. Again, don't forget there is no shortcut to becoming an MD.

Speaker 1 58:55

Thank you so much for tuning into our show. We hope you enjoyed another episode of Med School Minutes. If you like our content, please follow us and receive notification when a new show is posted. This podcast is brought to you by St James School of Medicine. For a video version of this podcast, please check us out on sjsmorg slash video.