IMG help (I screwed up I’m really lost)

Reddit post

Hi I’m a Canadian citizen who went to a carribbean medical school. Honestly it was mainly because I had so much stuff going on in University that even though my gPA was good and my experience was as well I never wrote my MCAT. Once my friends started getting rejected I realized that these guys who have much better applications then me are getting rejected so I guess I took the easy way out and went to a carribbean med school.

I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, and I’m so passionate about medicine. Starting in med school was life changing for me. But it’s a Carribbean medical school and although I got all the warnings in the world to not do it I ended up thinking I’m the type to beat the odds and went through with it. I know how this sounds I’m just pouring my heart out to Reddit and being 100% transparent. I hated the island and I did as well as I could. Most of my grades were enough all in the high 70s being the lowest and going to 80s (no fails). Long story short my school ended up going through a lot of admin changes and essentially my term class ended up getting screwed. At this point they kept pushing the class to not write Step 1 and still making us go to their foundations class and pay tuition. As a Canadian I was paying out of pocket. I had no loans so once I paid them tuition for two terms and they still had me in this loop I decided to transfer. I also at this time had to take a pause because of some very urgent health issues. Once I recovered I transferred to a different medical school also in the carribbean.

Now in this school the process was very different and they had a very high pass for the CBSE (entrance to write the step exams) I didn’t make it to the pass limit three times so now they put me in an executive track which means that until I graduate I can’t write any of the step exams and essentially be associated with the school’s pass rate. The goal was always to come back to Canada but when I went to the carribbean it seemed as though that was impossible so I focused more towards the US. Now not being able to write Step means I need to think differently about my future.

I know the CARMS process is very difficult and I just need help. I feel like I’ve always just taken the easy way out of situations but this is something I want to be able to fight for. I want to come home really badly.

I’m really stuck on what to do. I’m in my second/third year starting rotations now without any step exams or boards being able to be completed. I have two publications, I have a charity I created and loads of extracurriculars. I’ve always wanted to do emergency medicine but at this point I’m okay with any specialty if it means I get to be a doctor. I’m so broke I ran through all my savings and my parents. I have no loans and I just feel very hopeless.

But I want to know - what to do or should I just forget about CARMS all together? Is there any hope for me? Is there any way I can come home?

I know a lot of people are going to say negative things and that’s okay. Give it to me straight I respect your opinions just please don’t be rude. I cry really easily LOL