Some advice on staying DR

I will move a copy of your post to the Living forum, check both locations for answers.

Hey danny47451, the best person to answer your questions about school, would be Hillbilly. He has just about 'written the book' on most of the school stuff here. Having said that, a few questions... Why medical school here in the DR? And then, would Unibe not supply students with a list of suitable student accommodation? And for the rest, the Santo Domingo crowd are sure to pipe up and help with answers about living there.

danny47451 said:

Hi,
My husband and I are going to visit DR at the end of April. He is actually go to medical school there starting at the beginning of May. I am just coming with him for two weeks. I have couples questions.

5. He is not very sure that whether he will like the medical school there or not or will he be able to come back to US and find a job in US after finishing medical school there. So any ideas or comments?

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Do you mean that he has enrolled in a school sight unseen? He also hasn't determined which states recognize this school and he will be able to complete his training and become licensed?

1. finding an apartment here in the capital is pretty easy. Since you are "students" you wont want to be paying much, but you can find decent places in Gazcue for around 14,000 pesos. I know of two presently. We dont have Craigslist down here or any other viable internet marketing system -- yet (at least nothing that will yield a fair deal: the stuff you find on the internet down here is always priced for foreigners). Word of mouth, walking round the neighborhoods -- this is how you do it. UNIBE might help you in this, I am not sure. UNIBE is located just north of the Plaza Cultural, so you have several nabes to choose from, but besides the area right around the school, Gazcue will probably be your main target. You can also look around Ciudad Universitaria.

2. if you dont find anything in a hurry, and you probably wont, then there are options. There are ApartHotels and there are cheap hotels like the Esmeralda which will serve quite well as temporary digs.

4. I dont know whether UNIBE has dorms or not. They might well have some kind of accommodations for foreign students. I had a friend of mine whose wife studied there but they lived in an apartment nearby. these matters, of course, you can verify with the school. As for the nabes, see point 1.

5.No worries on this score, though by all means check with Hillbilly for details. I have had two friends of mine graduate from UNIBE and they both practice medicine in the States. Now I imagine they had to do a residency in the States, as they dont do that here, so from the American point of view, the education lacks the final touch, but they obviously completed that step somehow. The school here I am told is quite good. As far as studying at UNIBE I imagine he will like it; it is not so pressured as the American schools, and Dominican warmth and fellow feeling go a long way toward establishing a fruitful student-teacher relationship. I hope his Spanish is up to par!!

PS: btw, HOWMAR is right, you do have check on these matters to be sure. It is simple to do so, and UNIBE can certainly help you with that, since they regularly train North American students. Both of my friends practice in New York, and I believe that one of them has moved to a Southern state. But as far as State licensing goes, you have to check with the medical board to see . Since you will have to complete a residency wherever you end up, I imagine that it doesnt really matter. The residency and the tests you will be given at the end are what matter. The real question is what kind of a residency you will be able to get when you apply from overseas. Competition for the best spots is tough.

Also see http://dr1.com/living/education/7.shtml