Today I informed my boss I will be leaving soon.  He of course asked me why.  I told him I was going away to medical school.  After asking me where, I told him I as going to medical school in Mexico.  He said, “Guadalajara“, inquisitively.  I had to hold myself back from laughing because he said it with such relief.  He was happy that I wasn’t going to one of those “Caribbean Schools”.

Well I’ll be . . .

I’ve heard of this kind of positive response, but have never experienced it myself.  I work in the research department from one most prestigious medical schools and research hospitals in Texas.  This university is also highly ranked nationally as well.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, because the chairman of our department did his first 2 years at UAG before transferring to UCLA.

My boss ensured me that if I wanted to attend a medical school out of the country and receive a residency, that “Guadalajara” was my best bet.  Well we all know this isn’t necessarily true.  However, his perspective is incredibly useful.  It’s an incredibly valuable perspective because my boss is the DIRECTOR of the surgery residency program at this university.  He talked to me about what he thinks about when deciding which of the 200+ residency candidates he will select to fill the 13 available spots.  Though his views of UAG compared to the other Caribbean may not be entirely accurate, it was interesting to see how he separated UAG in his mind from the other “diploma mills” in the Caribbean.  Believe it or not, it seems UAG may actually have a somewhat reputable reputation, especially when compared to Caribbean schools.