After graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, I was uncertain of my career path. Throughout my undergraduate education, I suppose living the college life seemed more interesting than thinking about my future. The 3.0 GPA I achieved seemed acceptable to me; after all I certainly wasn’t trying to get into medical school or anything!
I had always had a fascination for science and in particular, the science of life, and an intense desire to learn more about this passion remained within me. After graduating, I decided to begin volunteering at a local hospital in the surgical department and absolutely loved the environment. One day while volunteering, one of the orderlies I was working with said something to me that may have fueled me to embark on the great journey that has now shaped my life. He looked at me and said.., “you and me…we are never gonna be able to become a doctor. These docs knew exactly what they wanted to do from the start and got great grades”, he continued, “you have to be something special to get where they are.” This orderly was right about one thing: becoming a doctor is very special.
Remembering vague conversations I once heard years ago about certain people studying medicine in the Caribbean, I went home that day and researched the topic. I learned that there were many medical schools in the Caribbean and furthermore, graduates could obtain licensure and practice medicine in any state in the United States, blending in with any graduate from a medical school in the United States. More research led to the realization that MCAT scores and GPA’s were not used as heavily for admission criteria in these schools and after completing the proper prerequisite classes, it may be possible to go to medical school. The thought of living in the Caribbean also excited me to no end.
I immediately plotted a course that would take me beyond my dreams and satisfy every goal I had ever set for myself. I would take classes that would allow me to learn everything about science I had ever wanted to learn. I would live on an exotic Caribbean island. I would spend my clinical years living in multiple cities, with new adventures around every corner. I would ultimately have a professional post-graduate degree which would provide extraordinary job security for my future. Most importantly, I would be eternally fulfilled working every day of my life helping humankind.
Along the way, I learned a great deal about Foreign and International/Caribbean medical schools and much of it is information you just can’t get without going through the process. The only resources available to me at the time were a few poorly written books and by calling the individual schools. The schools would sometimes offer alumni emails to contact and most were unreachable or too busy to answer any questions. Additionally, the medical school administration staff was obviously biased and I found that almost all would tell you whatever you wanted to hear; some would even lie.  I grew increasingly frustrated and started documenting the information that I was learning. When I finally started medical school, I quickly realized that most if not all students I talked to felt the same. Everyone seemed misinformed and frustrated. As time progressed throughout medical school, my countless hours of investigating the facts and guidelines to making it through medical school in the Caribbean proved fruitful when I found that many of my classmates turned to me for answers. It was very rewarding to me to be able to provide answers and clear the very frustration that plagued me while I was there.
In 2002, in my last year of medical school, I decided to start a website specifically aimed at helping premedical students as well as current medical students and residents to provide information regarding all aspects of medicine in the Caribbean: MDsecrets.com.  It has slowly expanded to encompassing a broader range of medical education information and is a constant work in progress, as I have been working on it throughout medical school and residency.
I attended the American University of the Caribbean, (AUC) for one year, transferred to Saba University, (SABA), for one year, then transferred to the University of St. Eustatius, (Statia), for my remaining two years of clinical rotations and ultimately graduated in 2003. Upon graduation, I volunteered in an anesthesia department for six months and was unsuccessful at my attempts to obtain an anesthesiology residency. I entered into a family medicine residency and after two years, found an opening in anesthesiology, transferred and am now a few months from completing residency. I had no problems passing all of my USMLE exams and very easily obtained a full, unrestricted license to practice medicine in the state of Florida, while in residency.
 I hope my experiences will help you and others. Thanks for reading my story.
Jamie P. Hoffman, MD

J.P. Hoffman, MD, founder of MDsecrets.com is currently a PGY-4 resident in Anesthesiology.