SGU vs Ross Veterinary Schools

[Tiegerz]

I have not seen an updated version of this, except for their Medical Schools. I was just wondering if anyone could give me the pros and cons to each vet school. Everything I have researched thus far is either 10 years outdated or about their medical school. I have a choice to make. Although I am leaning towards SGU I would like all the facts first. Thank you!

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[Gwenevre]

Have you read through the stickied thread about factors for each school?

 

[Tiegerz]

No I haven't. Where is it at?

 

[Gwenevre]

If you look on the front of the pre-vet forum, at the top of the list there should be a thread titled "Factors when picking a school." Someone recently posted a document with pros/cons for just about all the schools.

 

[TeddyBearPaws]

Unfortunately there is nothing in that thread about Ross and the details about SGU are from 2008.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/factors-when-picking-a-school.580221/#post-7404734

It would be great to hear from some of the new students or graduates.

 

[Tiegerz]

TeddyBearPaws that is what I have found by looking through that thread. Many of them state a con as not being accredited which is no longer true. I looked through the document that was nicely put together. Unfortunately it contains no info about Ross and info from 2008 about SGU

 

[Gwenevre]

@allieh8607 @jmo1012 @allygator13

 

[jmo1012]

I will comment later on why I made my choice, but I think it mostly comes down to evaluating the 2 programs through their websites and deciding What works best for you. There are people who love or hate one school, but I don't know how realistic and accurate that is. I've heard bad things about Ross, but I've never been and I've also heard good conflicting things. Same will go for sgu. I think it makes it much more difficult to evaluate opinions because everyone processes being out of the country so differently (which will then have a huge impact on their evaluation of the program)

 

[allygator13]

I can't tell you much about Ross since I don't know much about it... But I know that I chose SGU based on the fact that they offer multiple dual degree MS programs (that I didn't end up doing, but it was a cool option to have) and the fact that we get summers off. SGU does a great job of getting you hands-on experience your first semester of school through class and clubs which I like. I have a friend who is at Ross who is in probably her fifth or sixth term there who just placed an IV catheter for the first time (it's illegal to do it if you aren't a licensed technician where we're from), but I got to do one in my first semester here through one of the clubs. I'm not saying that these opportunities do not exist at Ross because I'm not sure, but I know what we have here at SGU and the hands on is pretty great! It's also fun to be able to answer NAVLE questions that pop up on Zuku Review sometimes and I'm only in my second semester so I feel like the education is on par with other schools as well. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions specific to SGU

 

[allieh8607]

Thanks for the tag, @Gwenevre

However, I'm terribly sorry that I'm in the middle of a whirlwind of exams and don't have time to give a proper response. In short, I've been here a year and a half and can still say that I love it here and I'm confident I'm receiving an outstanding education. But I won't sugar coat the "cons" and I typically don't like to post them on the open forum just out of respect for my school. If you have specific aspects that you want pros/cons for, feel free to PM me and as soon as I get a hot minute I'll respond! Many people message me about Ross and I think I do a good job at keeping my answered as unbiased as possible. I can't say a single thing about SGU as I know nothing about it but I've never heard a bad thing said about it.

 

[jmo1012]

Pros for SGU:
-traditional curriculum - aka 4 years, 2 semesters per year for the 1st 3 years then clinics (Ross has 7 pre-clinical semesters)
-summers off and a 4-5 week winter break (no spring or fall break, relatively few days off in general with 1 in the fall and 3-4 in the spring)
-"cheaper" than Ross - again, you're paying for one less semester technically
-smaller class size - roughly 100 per class
-Grenada sounds like it's generally a safer country (though I've heard a lot of conflicting things)
-SGU is a much much bigger campus because we have a med school, liberal arts program, and multiple masters degrees offered in addition to the DVM campus
-because there are thousands of SGU students on the island, i think there are more "benefits" for SGU students
-we have a bus system that allows students to live off campus without needing a car
-much more international (students come from around the world even though a majority come from the US and Canada)
-international 4th year opportunities
-lots of club opportunities
-the school is very supportive and wants students to do well (i've heard more weeder-type comments about Ross
-strong alumni relations
-excellent team of faculty (though we have our weaknesses just like everyone else)
-we have mini-clinics in 6th term that serve as a little warm up for whats to come. great way to get hands on practice and a great "reminder" of some of the stuff we did earlier on in the curriculum
-you can live off campus from the beginning or stay on for as long as you'd like (or as long as you can lottery for a new contract)

there are many others, but this is what i can think of while multi-tasking on clinics right now haha

Cons: [only looking at things specifically an issue for SGU, not generally or for both school - i.e. its expensive to fly to Grenada, but it's also expensive to fly to St. Kitts]
-we definitely have some weak areas in our curriculum (course-wise), and i think we probably have a higher turnover rate for professors just given the location (and university politics)
-surgical experience is...minimal? it definitely doesn't compare to ross and some of the other schools pre-clinical experience, but is only slightly below average for most schools. we went through a class size growth and i dont think we've really come up with a solution yet for surgical experience (it was minimal before the increase, but exactly the same or better than some of the US schools)
-we have to pay stupid taxes at the airport and on shipped goods - they definitely target students more
-our facilities weren't designed to handle the increased class size. we handle it, but maybe not in the best manners

 

[Tortaspie]

Pros for SGU:
-traditional curriculum - aka 4 years, 2 semesters per year for the 1st 3 years then clinics (Ross has 7 pre-clinical semesters)
-summers off and a 4-5 week winter break (no spring or fall break, relatively few days off in general with 1 in the fall and 3-4 in the spring)
-"cheaper" than Ross - again, you're paying for one less semester technically
-smaller class size - roughly 100 per class
-Grenada sounds like it's generally a safer country (though I've heard a lot of conflicting things)
-SGU is a much much bigger campus because we have a med school, liberal arts program, and multiple masters degrees offered in addition to the DVM campus
-because there are thousands of SGU students on the island, i think there are more "benefits" for SGU students
-we have a bus system that allows students to live off campus without needing a car
-much more international (students come from around the world even though a majority come from the US and Canada)
-international 4th year opportunities
-lots of club opportunities
-the school is very supportive and wants students to do well (i've heard more weeder-type comments about Ross
-strong alumni relations
-excellent team of faculty (though we have our weaknesses just like everyone else)
-we have mini-clinics in 6th term that serve as a little warm up for whats to come. great way to get hands on practice and a great "reminder" of some of the stuff we did earlier on in the curriculum
-you can live off campus from the beginning or stay on for as long as you'd like (or as long as you can lottery for a new contract)

there are many others, but this is what i can think of while multi-tasking on clinics right now haha

Cons: [only looking at things specifically an issue for SGU, not generally or for both school - i.e. its expensive to fly to Grenada, but it's also expensive to fly to St. Kitts]
-we definitely have some weak areas in our curriculum (course-wise), and i think we probably have a higher turnover rate for professors just given the location (and university politics)
-surgical experience is...minimal? it definitely doesn't compare to ross and some of the other schools pre-clinical experience, but is only slightly below average for most schools. we went through a class size growth and i dont think we've really come up with a solution yet for surgical experience (it was minimal before the increase, but exactly the same or better than some of the US schools)
-we have to pay stupid taxes at the airport and on shipped goods - they definitely target students more
-our facilities weren't designed to handle the increased class size. we handle it, but maybe not in the best manners

Does anyone know what the average debt is coming out of sgu?

 

[allygator13]

Does anyone know what the average debt is coming out of sgu?

Not sure about totals, all I know is that the maximum yearly loan amount that you can take out is around $62,000 for the first three years of school. I don't know how much it will be for fourth year since it's more expensive. Of course you don't have to take out the full amount every year so it will vary depending on the person and how they live here.

 

[jmo1012]

http://www.vinfoundation.org/AppUti...833&objecttypeid=10&redirectFromMiscDefault=1

i'm not entirely certain about the accuracy of this because they have changes in total COA for schools that dont have an ISOOS difference. it is definitely possible to get away with less than that at SGU.

 

[Tortaspie]

Not sure about totals, all I know is that the maximum yearly loan amount that you can take out is around $62,000 for the first three years of school. I don't know how much it will be for fourth year since it's more expensive. Of course you don't have to take out the full amount every year so it will vary depending on the person and how they live here.

Don't you transfer to the U.S. for year 4? I'm just confused be caused I've heard some people say everything in the end is like 200,000-250,000 and sometimes more.

The first three years are 62,000 + an additional year. If I over-estimate the last year to be 50,000 then that's about 112,000 for all four years. Then if I add on the cost of housing, books, transportation, food, etc for four years I'm not sure how much that would be. It just doesn't seem like it would come out to be $200,000+... Unless it really isn't that much. Where am I going wrong here?

 

[jmo1012]

Don't you transfer to the U.S. for year 4? I'm just confused be caused I've heard some people say everything in the end is like 200,000-250,000 and sometimes more.

The first three years are 62,000 + an additional year. If I over-estimate the last year to be 50,000 then that's about 112,000 for all four years. Then if I add on the cost of housing, books, transportation, food, etc for four years I'm not sure how much that would be. It just doesn't seem like it would come out to be $200,000+... Unless it really isn't that much. Where am I going wrong here?

you dont "transfer" for 4th year - you attend one of our partner schools for clinical year training. you are not enrolled in a different program, you are an SGU student paying SGU tuition (they pay the other schools).

so i'm not sure what you are doing mathematically, but it appears you think it will cost you $20k a year...
What allie said was that she can take out $62k A YEAR (to cover tuition and cost of living). $62k multiplied by 3 pre-clinical years gets you to $186k. the 4th year costs more because it's 3 semesters and not 2, and costs more in general because of what the schools ask for from SGU. even if it weren't more, and was $31 a semester, you'd be looking at $93k for the 4th year. That gets you a total of $277k. tuition rates change a little bit each year, so realistically, you're looking at closer to $300k.

http://sgu.edu/financial-services/svm-tuition.html

 

[Tortaspie]

you dont "transfer" for 4th year - you attend one of our partner schools for clinical year training. you are not enrolled in a different program, you are an SGU student paying SGU tuition (they pay the other schools).

so i'm not sure what you are doing mathematically, but it appears you think it will cost you $20k a year...
What allie said was that she can take out $62k A YEAR (to cover tuition and cost of living). $62k multiplied by 3 pre-clinical years gets you to $186k. the 4th year costs more because it's 3 semesters and not 2, and costs more in general because of what the schools ask for from SGU. even if it weren't more, and was $31 a semester, you'd be looking at $93k for the 4th year. That gets you a total of $277k. tuition rates change a little bit each year, so realistically, you're looking at closer to $300k.

http://sgu.edu/financial-services/svm-tuition.html

Ok I see now. I wonder how much people take out on average since $62k is the max. I'm pretty people can get by on less than that.

 

[allygator13]

you dont "transfer" for 4th year - you attend one of our partner schools for clinical year training. you are not enrolled in a different program, you are an SGU student paying SGU tuition (they pay the other schools).

so i'm not sure what you are doing mathematically, but it appears you think it will cost you $20k a year...
What allie said was that she can take out $62k A YEAR (to cover tuition and cost of living). $62k multiplied by 3 pre-clinical years gets you to $186k. the 4th year costs more because it's 3 semesters and not 2, and costs more in general because of what the schools ask for from SGU. even if it weren't more, and was $31 a semester, you'd be looking at $93k for the 4th year. That gets you a total of $277k. tuition rates change a little bit each year, so realistically, you're looking at closer to $300k.

http://sgu.edu/financial-services/svm-tuition.html

Ugh... That was just really depressing haha

 

[allygator13]

Ok I see now. I wonder how much people take out on average since $62k is the max. I'm pretty people can get by on less than that.

I took out the full amount this year since I didn't know how much I would end up using, but I'm 3/4 finished with this school year and I have about $9,000 extra.

 

[jmo1012]

Ok I see now. I wonder how much people take out on average since $62k is the max. I'm pretty people can get by on less than that.

there are so many factors that play into how much you end up needing - do you have a family? do you live in the middle of the US in a tiny town where its much harder to travel to and from? do you have a house or car or whatnot in the US that you have to take care of? are you more of a spender or frugal person? do you have savings? can you work during beaks? the list goes on and on. you are offered an amount that is most likely to cover the average student, but you have to remember that a lot of students at SGU are not coming straight from undergrad and therefore have more complicated lives and situations.

it would be very tough to say what the "average" amount people take out is, because its not something we talk about amongst ourselves.

 

[Tortaspie]

I took out the full amount this year since I didn't know how much I would end up using, but I'm 3/4 finished with this school year and I have about $9,000 extra.

Do you think it's better to take out the full amount and have some left over or take out what you think you'll need, does it even matter?

 

[Tortaspie]

there are so many factors that play into how much you end up needing - do you have a family? do you live in the middle of the US in a tiny town where its much harder to travel to and from? do you have a house or car or whatnot in the US that you have to take care of? are you more of a spender or frugal person? do you have savings? can you work during beaks? the list goes on and on. you are offered an amount that is most likely to cover the average student, but you have to remember that a lot of students at SGU are not coming straight from undergrad and therefore have more complicated lives and situations.

it would be very tough to say what the "average" amount people take out is, because its not something we talk about amongst ourselves.

Yeah I understand. I'm lucky enough that I probably won't have any debt when I graduate. When I start applying I'll probably try to work and save a little money in the process. I have a boyfriend of 9 years that would move with me wherever I go, but no kids and nothing I'm committed to. I have 2 tortoises, that's about it.

 

[allygator13]

Do you think it's better to take out the full amount and have some left over or take out what you think you'll need, does it even matter?

It's probably good to have extra in case you need it. I just had no idea how much I would use or need, so I took out the full amount to be safe and then to see where I'd end up afterward to try to get a better estimate for the next years.

 

[jmo1012]

 

[MassDVMMPH]

I have no idea how you guys in the Caribbean get any studying done at all with all that natural beauty surrounding you. That's why I only applied to places in the cold, miserable climates of the northern U.S. When it's 6 below zero with a foot of snow on the ground, it is really not too difficult to curl up in a ball on the sofa and study anatomy. I don't think I would have been half as successful in my veterinary school career had I gone to school in tropical surroundings. But more power to you...

 

[allygator13]

I have no idea how you guys in the Caribbean get any studying done at all with all that natural beauty surrounding you. That's why I only applied to places in the cold, miserable climates of the northern U.S. When it's 6 below zero with a foot of snow on the ground, it is really not too difficult to curl up in a ball on the sofa and study anatomy. I don't think I would have been half as successful in my veterinary school career had I gone to school in tropical surroundings. But more power to you...

It just makes it that much better when we do get free time

 

[jmo1012]

I have no idea how you guys in the Caribbean get any studying done at all with all that natural beauty surrounding you. That's why I only applied to places in the cold, miserable climates of the northern U.S. When it's 6 below zero with a foot of snow on the ground, it is really not too difficult to curl up in a ball on the sofa and study anatomy. I don't think I would have been half as successful in my veterinary school career had I gone to school in tropical surroundings. But more power to you...

I definitely want to do nothing when it's cold. I would curl up and just go to sleep haha