Reasons to Avoid Ross University School of Medicine

The Negatives About Enrolling At Ross University School of Medicine

The most telling negative sign or red flag about potential enrollment at this school is that most of the students on the discussion boards encourage students to enroll elsewhere in places like Saint George's or American University of the Caribbean if they got a chance instead.  

Another unfortunate truth about Ross University School of Medicine is it does not have the established connections that other schools in the Caribbean have forged, thus making it quite difficult for this school's students to even find placement in competitive US clinical rotations. 

In my opinion, this reason has to represent Reason Number One why studying medicine in the Carribean is a bad idea. If your medical school does not have preferential treatment when it comes to a clinical elective as an IMG, often times, your application will be instantly overlooked and discarded because US-based programs do not want to take a risk on a school they have never heard of.

Without the "street cred" a name like Saint George's carries, many students may only scramble up a few opportunities to find rotations in the United States, and that translates to a low number of letters of recommendation for your ERAS Match application. 

Another frequent complaint brought up by a large number of students at Ross University School of Medicine was the fact that some of the students enrolled in the first few years have an unpleasant "sense of entitlement" complex that can make interacting with peers unbearable.

These students claim to have turned down acceptance offers from John Hopkins or Harvard Medical just because they preferred to study somewhere with a tropical climate, and that can be annoying. These students view themselves very highly and often talk down to their colleagues. Various reports of disruptions during classes surfaces on the forums as well and were attributed to students being rude to professors or administrators because they did not think the topics they were discussing were necessary.  

Final Thoughts 

All things considered, if I was faced with a decision about going to Ross University School of Medicine, I do see that there are some positives aspects to this school choice. You do have a chance to Match, you do have a chance to learn Medicine, and you can become a doctor if you apply yourself and take advantage of the opportunity.  

An important trait of becoming a good doctor is to be humble and to sometimes accept information that is hard to swallow. The truth is that the Caribbean is not a first choice destination for anyone to study medicine and you are digging yourself in a deep hole already by becoming an IMG and then trying to come back into the US market.  

If you lose your sense of entitlement at the door, you can focus on working harder than you ever have before for the 4 years of Medical School and you can find success. Due to the large class sizes at Ross, you may have to deal with students that have that mentality, but as students fail out of the classes, it seems that the student body remaining has a decent clinical experience in the Caribbean and a portion of the Ross class is able to Match successfully.