My friend and I are pre-med. She is a senior and I am a sophomore at a large state school. I've heard some negative things about Caribbean schools specifically regarding cost, living conditions, and match rates. I've discussed these concerns with my friend as she goes through the application process, but she doesn't seem to take me seriously. For context her GPA is ~3.3, 1st MCAT was 479 in Jan 2023, she retook in Aug 2023 and got a 500. She has lots of leadership experience, minimal research, and moderate clinical experience/shadowing.
She's very adamant about applying this cycle and refuses to take a gap year on the basis that it will throw off her timeline for marriage and kids. She is also very adamant about not attending a DO school citing that only an MD would satisfy her and her family even if it's at a Caribbean school. However, she is applying to a handful of DO schools.
She was recently offered conditional acceptance to Ross if she passes their 15-week MERP program. Is this program a cash-grab or a genuine way to help students succeed? Can anyone speak on the true success rate? (She has told me 96% of their students pass first try)
Although she's telling me that she's still considering other schools, it seems like she has her heart set on Ross and has decided to begin MERP in April. She knows not all Caribbean schools are good, but repeatedly cites Ross' 97% match rate, and wide range of clinical rotations as reasons to attend. She's also very dead set on going into psychiatry and states that since she's not going into a competitive specialty, Ross' match rates shouldn't be an issue. Money is also not an issue in her mind since her family is well off.
She doesn't want to reapply (which I can understand to an extent) since it would decrease her chances significantly and she wouldn't have a committee letter from our school (which apparently is a big disadvantage to an application, I'm not really sure about this)
Is there anything else I can show/tell her to convince her that she can do better than Ross? And that taking a gap year and reapplying would be better? Or if there are people from Ross on here, would you advise her to continue on this path?
I care for her and I don't want her to end up in a difficulty situation. But it doesn't seem like the information I have now is convincing enough for her to reconsider.
She's very adamant about applying this cycle and refuses to take a gap year on the basis that it will throw off her timeline for marriage and kids. She is also very adamant about not attending a DO school citing that only an MD would satisfy her and her family even if it's at a Caribbean school. However, she is applying to a handful of DO schools.
She was recently offered conditional acceptance to Ross if she passes their 15-week MERP program. Is this program a cash-grab or a genuine way to help students succeed? Can anyone speak on the true success rate? (She has told me 96% of their students pass first try)
Although she's telling me that she's still considering other schools, it seems like she has her heart set on Ross and has decided to begin MERP in April. She knows not all Caribbean schools are good, but repeatedly cites Ross' 97% match rate, and wide range of clinical rotations as reasons to attend. She's also very dead set on going into psychiatry and states that since she's not going into a competitive specialty, Ross' match rates shouldn't be an issue. Money is also not an issue in her mind since her family is well off.
She doesn't want to reapply (which I can understand to an extent) since it would decrease her chances significantly and she wouldn't have a committee letter from our school (which apparently is a big disadvantage to an application, I'm not really sure about this)
Is there anything else I can show/tell her to convince her that she can do better than Ross? And that taking a gap year and reapplying would be better? Or if there are people from Ross on here, would you advise her to continue on this path?
I care for her and I don't want her to end up in a difficulty situation. But it doesn't seem like the information I have now is convincing enough for her to reconsider.