Leaving Ross Univ. (Foreign Med School) For Osteopathic Medicine!! Opinions??

[Doc2B]

I am a first year Medical Student attenting Ross University School of Medicine located in the carribean island of Dominica. I wanted to know what your views are on this particular school and whether the decision that I have made on attempting acceptance to New York College of Medicine is the right choice. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Honors College of Adelphi University (GPA=3.8) My particular interest is Surgery or Orthopedic's. Should I leave and try for a better future in an Osteopathic School?

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[turtleboard]

The osteopathic school in New York is the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM), not New York College of Medicine.

I think that attending a Carribbean medical school is a difficult track to becoming a physician in the US. To be honest I don't think Ross University is good at all, if their promotional materials are any indication of that. Just look at their match list that they provide in their admissions brochure. Ross doesn't list all that many graduates to begin with, and the few that are represent only a fraction of one graduating class.

Your GPA is good from a regional university that's had some trouble in the past with Peter Diamondopoulos (the corruption scandal and the replacement of the Board of Trustees for gross mismanagement). How were your MCATs?

I don't know if NYCOM will accept transfers from a non-osteopathic medical school. So transferring may not be an option. Perhaps you may want to leave Ross now and apply to NYCOM as an entering first-year student, but you should definitely check with their admissions office to find out what you can do.

You should, of course, only apply to an osteopathic school if you want to be a DO. Why did you go to Ross in the first place?

Going into surgery, especially into Orthopedic Surgery, is probably the msot difficult thing to attempt as a DO. It's not impossible to become an Orthopod as a DO, or even a surgeon, but it's not easy and relatively more difficult than it is for an MD (a US graduate, that is).

Tim of New York City.

 

[njdevil]

I don't believe that most medical school allow transfer after your first year because curriculums are so different. I believe you have two options (you should probably call NYCOM for specifics).

1. You start all over again as an MSI
2. You finish two years and transfer for clinical rotations (although I hear that that is really difficult to do).

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Adam

KCOM '03

 

[TCOM '03]

I was in the exact same situation you are in about a year ago. At that time, i was like you, a first year student there, but I had also applied to TCOM before I had left for my exile to Gilligan's island (thank God I did!!). Anyhow, to make a long story short, I was accepted to the 2003 class of TCOM and as I said before, I thank God every day that I was fortunate enough to be accepted here. The quality of education is much better then at Ross and the atmosphere is much more conducive to student learning and development (Unlike the cutthroat atmosphere at Ross).

As far as transferring with advanced standing, forget it. You'll have to start over again. On a positive note however, since you're already taking the courses that you would be taking at NYCOM for your first year, you'll have a head start on most of your fellow classmates.

I've rambled on far too long now, but I think it was a very good decision on your part to apply to NYCOM.