Applying ROSS med school

[kongkongkong]

Hello I was hoping to hear some thoughts about my situation.

About myself

I am 31 y/o currently a Physical therapist (graduated with doctoral degree) working at a inpatient hosptial but want to pursue in becoming PM&R doctor and maybe in the future if possible to do the fellowship in sports medicine. I wanted to become sports medicine doctor when I was young but low high school gpa kind of discourage me a lot and took a different route.
I do not have organic chem, bio-chem ready for prerequisites but planning to get the courses done by early 2026
I heard Caribbean medical schools are less competitive compared to US schools.
However a lot of people are saying good luck getting into any residency (except FM or IM) since hospitals prefer US graduates first.
I also heard PM&R is also less competitive program.
The reason why I am interested Caribbean school , it is because my gpa is super low.
cumulative GPA is 3.13
Science: I am not sure due to several retakes I did but its about 3.2 to 3.3 I believe.

Anyone who goes to Ross med school, is it difficult to get into PM&R residency if you go to Ross Med school?
How hard is the studying during 1st and 2nd year? I heard half of the classmates fail and give up medicine.

Thank you for reading my post.

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[LunaOri]

I would recommend a different path: take your prerequisites and some upper level science courses to show that you can get better grades now than you did as an undergrad. Study really hard for the MCAT, and don’t take it until you are certain that you can score 505+. Apply to DO school, which will give you an extremely good chance at a PM&R residency.

 

[kongkongkong]

I would recommend a different path: take your prerequisites and some upper level science courses to show that you can get better grades now than you did as an undergrad. Study really hard for the MCAT, and don’t take it until you are certain that you can score 505+. Apply to DO school, which will give you an extremely good chance at a PM&R residency.

is Caribbean school really that bad?
I already have upper level science courses from my Doctoral of Physical Degree. Would this not be enough?

How competitive is DO school to get into?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Medical school is completely unlike your doctoral program or undergrad. The material is covered at an incredibly high rate. Everything builds upon itself, so you're expected to remember everything from each course. Just "doing" pre-req's isn't going to prepare you well. The better Caribbean schools have about a 30% failure/drop out rate in the first 2 years. There is little support, you're mostly on your own. Proceed with great caution.

DO schools are less competitive than MD schools, but still competitive. With a sub 3.5 GPA, you're going to find it difficult to get an admission.

The MCAT would be a relatively inexpensive way to assess whether this is a viable path for you. Study for it on your own, and see if you can score decently (i.e. >= 505 as above). If not, this path is not for you. Avoid any Carib school that does not require the MCAT.

 

[gyngyn]

is Caribbean school really that bad?
I already have upper level science courses from my Doctoral of Physical Degree. Would this not be enough?

I have seen applicants as recently as this year who matriculated to one of the two "better" Caribbean places with a 484 MCAT. That's the 8th percentile! So the answer to the first question is: yes, it's really that bad.

DO schools average grad school grades into undergrad. AMCAS (MD) does not. For that reason alone, your chances at DO are much better given your academic history. Your chance of graduating and matching are also much better with a DO degree.

 

[Goro]

is Caribbean school really that bad?
I already have upper level science courses from my Doctoral of Physical Degree. Would this not be enough?

How competitive is DO school to get into?

Yes, they're really that bad.

No, your upper level courses in the PhD won't be enough...you still have to take the prerequisites. They'll be needed for the MCAT anyways.

DO will be your path to go for PMR, at the 16idh schoolsthat take Canadias. Have MSUCOM and UNECOM at the top of your list.

PMR residency programs love DOs! That includes academic powerhouses like Stanford, NYU, WashU and U Chicago.

 

[8jsi37]

Anyone who goes to Ross med school, is it difficult to get into PM&R residency if you go to Ross Med school?
How hard is the studying during 1st and 2nd year? I heard half of the classmates fail and give up medicine.

I won't answer what has been answered already. You should always try to go to a US MD or DO program first even if it takes you a longer time to complete the pre-reqs and to get an acceptance because the match rates at caribbean isn't that great compared to US MD/DO programs, even at the big 3. Like others have echoed, medical school is A LOT harder than your PT program. It's truly like drinking out of a firehose. Imagine doing that and living in a third world country where you're susceptible to natural diasters, like hurricanes. In addition, the living conditions is very different than living in the states. Food/grocery is expensive on the island because it's mostly imported. You dont have access to your daily things that you might need. The transition from college/career change to medical school is already difficult, but adding on the transition to living in the US to a small island poses another level of difficulty. Some might adapt faster while others slower, and some might not at all.

Majority of students fail out or have to retake the semester during basic sciences aka the first two years of medical school. For reference, my starting class started with around 250-275 students, this is including those who didnt pass their first semester. As you pass each semester and move on, you get combined with thsoe who didnt pass. Near the end, I was probably left with around 125-140 students. It's difficult to gauge how many of those who started with me made it out. Some of them had to repeat a semester, so they got put in a different cohort while others failed completely out after their second/third fail.

Those who make it out the first two years aren't in the safe zone yet. The next barrier is passing the COMP/CBSE for USMLE Step 1, which has a decently high attrition. They need to study and pass that before being able to sit for the USMLE STEP 1. This is to protect their first time pass rate for Step 1. Most students who pass Step 1 tend to end up passing COMP for step 2 and also Step 2 exam.

There are A LOT of hurdles and obstacles that caribbean schools throw at you in order to "weed you out". A good portion of them are not ready academically for medical school and caribbean medical schools prey on that. There's no way over 1000+ students per year can move onto clinical rotations and graduate. There's simply not enough spots.