Could any Ross University students help me out?

[Willotree]

Hello. I am doing some research on international schools and was looking at Ross University. I have a few questions.

- So Ross University evaluates you based on your cumulative GPA and prerequisite GPA right?
- For the prerequisite GPA lets say you don't do well in a chemistry course. Could you take another chemistry course and replace it with the lower chemistry mark to increase your prereq GPA?
- Is there a minimum mark you must achieve for prereq courses? If you do bad in one prereq course but do well in others, is that fine?
- What is the average admitted GPA? Could you possibly share your stats?
- Who is qualified for the vet prep program?
- Approximately how much will you be in debt once you graduate? (I know it varies depending on how much you spend but on an average)
- Realistically how long will it take to pay off the debt if you make average veterinarian salary. I have no idea on the whole financial aspect of international vet schools.

Thank you. Sorry if there are a ton of questions 😛

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[allieh8607]

I will message you as soon as I get some time with some answers to these questions but a lot of the answers can be found on the Ross University admissions page or is similar to information you would find with most US schools that are out of state (debt questions and repaying debt).

 

[Willotree]

Sure that would be great!

 

[jmo1012]

i am not a Ross student, but in general i dont think you can substitute pre-req classes. usually they are specifically looking at general chemistry marks and organic chemistry marks. you can retake the classes and try to do better (they usually take the average between the two). and in general, a C (or sometimes C-) is usually the lowest grade a school will accept for a pre-req

 

[Willotree]

i am not a Ross student, but in general i dont think you can substitute pre-req classes. usually they are specifically looking at general chemistry marks and organic chemistry marks. you can retake the classes and try to do better (they usually take the average between the two). and in general, a C (or sometimes C-) is usually the lowest grade a school will accept for a pre-req

OK thank you.
Is going to a Carribean vet school financially unrealistic though? I'm not expecting to live a lucrative lifestyle.. but I don't want to pay off debt for the rest of my life. I will also have unpaid undergraduate tuition on top of that. If I could receive some realistic advice I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[ERassistant]

I've been looking at Caribbean schools too, and these are the numbers I've been looking at.

Some VERY vague numbers:
Tuition (based on rounded values and passing all courses): $185,000
Cost of living assuming you get by on $1000/month for 3 years: $36,000
Total: $221,000 not including: moving, visiting home, importing pets, lab fees, etc.
*** numbers based on rounded values as of 2014; ballpark figure

That is a lot of debt that should not be taken lightly. The monthly payment varies based on interest rate, period of repayment, etc. You can plug numbers into an online calculator if you wish.

Can you make a living being a vet?
Yes
Will you be rich?
Probably not
Do you love your job?
That's for you to figure out

 

[jmo1012]

OK thank you.
Is going to a Carribean vet school financially unrealistic though? I'm not expecting to live a lucrative lifestyle.. but I don't want to pay off debt for the rest of my life. I will also have unpaid undergraduate tuition on top of that. If I could receive some realistic advice I would greatly appreciate it.

Unfortunately, the name of the vet school game is debt forever with a few exceptions. You should look into the schools with "cheaper" IS tuition like NCSU, Auburn, etc

Realistically, caribbean and oos schooling is expensive. It depends a little bit on your financial and life situations. Some people need the full COA every year for loans based on what life they have back in the US (family, homes, cars, stuff, etc). I had none of that, and it allowed me to take out less every year. At SGU, the amount you needed per month varied drastically based on each person. Some people lived on campus and that was like $1300 per month (paid as a lump sum at the beginning) whereas others lived off campus for $400-500 per month or $700-1000 per month, or even more than that if they were crazy. My understanding is that in someway shape or form, you have to have a car in St. Kitts, whether its shared or personal just because of the way the island is set up. That's definitely not the case in Grenada because we are a much bigger school.

 

[crazycatlady]

..

 

[jmo1012]

I recommend sending your questions to a Ross recruiter, not asking fellow students for their opinions based on what they might have heard. Of all the admissions departments I've interacted with, the Ross recruiter has by far been the fastest to reply and overall the most personable and forthright.

But, to give you some of my own hearsay... Ross told me their average admitted GPA is 3.2, the tuition is about $200k for 10 semesters including health insurance, and they don't seem to have an exact formula for deciding who gets accepted to Vet Prep versus regular admission. Only you can decide if the debt is worth it. One thing to consider with Ross is that the program takes almost a year less time than normal, since they don't do summer vacation. That's more time that you're in the job market, or it gives you the extra time to do an internship to make yourself a more competitive job seeker.

1+ for talking to admissions

as for the whole done sooner thing, its 8 months sooner. in a traditional curriculum, that extra 8 months gives you time to either work and make money or pursue externship opportunities such as RAVS, MARVET, WorldVETS, specialty hospitals, Africa trips, Australia trips, etc. it also means that you are immersed in a very rigorous and grueling program for 2.5 years without much of a break. i personally cannot imagine this, 4 month semesters wore me out every single time and i always needed to go and recharge afterwards and i am very certain my academic performance would have suffered if i hadn't had the time off in between. also, if you were looking at completing an internship post graduation and you didn't start in a class that finished in may, you'd have several months to kill post graduation with that huge debt load. the likelihood of getting a short term job during that time is pretty dismal as no one wants to hire someone who is immediately leaving, and fresh out of school doesn't really make you an ideal candidate for relief work. the people i know who were in this situation were either married with an SO that worked and so not having income for 6 months wasnt the end of the world, or managed to scrounge something up for a month or two but were stuck for the other months.

 

[kieradi721]

Do any of you know the details as to where first years at Ross live? If I were to attend I would hope to be able to bring my pets and fiancé. Yet I've heard that you're required to live in on campus housing and that they don't allow pets.

 

[allieh8607]

Do any of you know the details as to where first years at Ross live? If I were to attend I would hope to be able to bring my pets and fiancé. Yet I've heard that you're required to live in on campus housing and that they don't allow pets.

Yes, you are required to live on campus the first semester and you are not allowed pets. However, in extenuating circumstances they make exceptions. I knew of some people that literally could not find anyone to watch their animals for one semester and had to bring them so they were allowed to live off campus. Married students are normally an exception as well. I hope you've done a lot of thinking about bringing your fiancé with you to the island, as unless they are able to work from home or they are in an online degree program there really is no work for them here (but I assume you know that already!). If you've been accepted and are really considering everything you mentioned, I would suggest contacting the housing department and I'm sure they'll work with you. If it were me though, I would suck it up and leave my fiancé and pet at home for the first 4 months, live on campus and bond with my class, then move off campus with my pet and consider bringing my fiancé down. Just my two cents.

 

[kieradi721]

Yes, you are required to live on campus the first semester and you are not allowed pets. However, in extenuating circumstances they make exceptions. I knew of some people that literally could not find anyone to watch their animals for one semester and had to bring them so they were allowed to live off campus. Married students are normally an exception as well. I hope you've done a lot of thinking about bringing your fiancé with you to the island, as unless they are able to work from home or they are in an online degree program there really is no work for them here (but I assume you know that already!). If you've been accepted and are really considering everything you mentioned, I would suggest contacting the housing department and I'm sure they'll work with you. If it were me though, I would suck it up and leave my fiancé and pet at home for the first 4 months, live on campus and bond with my class, then move off campus with my pet and consider bringing my fiancé down. Just my two cents.

Thank you! That helps me 🙂