More info on Caribbean Schools?

Started by DreOnTheRise
Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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Honestly I've heard mixed reviews. A couple vets I worked for told me that, when getting a job, preference is sometimes given to students who learned on the "mainland." Other vets told me the opposite, that they felt like the students who came from island schools had to work twice as hard to get the same recognition, and that they had good experiences hiring them. One thing to note is the high cost of living on an island, and the fact that most of the time you have to do your rotations somewhere else, which means moving again three years in. I imagine, like with many places, the education is a "you get out what you put in." If you doze through classes and barely pass, your education might be pretty crummy, but that's true of mainland or island schools. If you haul butt and work super hard you'll learn a lot and be prepared, but again, same on or off an island.
 
I'm quite sure the cost to attend an island school is pretty expensive. That's why I highly doubt I'll apply to one. I do not want to move again just for rotations either. The schools on the island is like a now or never type of thing. I think I'll try the US schools several times and if I don't get in I'll do something else.


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DreOnTheRise said:
Thanks for the reply by the way 🙂


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You're welcome! And yeah that's pretty much the same conclusion I came to myself when I was applying last year. It's the same reason I didn't apply to Western because their student loan debt is some of the highest, and even though it was really important for me to get into vet school I didn't want to completely screw myself over in the process
 
Wow I didn't know Western was really expensive. I know someone who's in their 4th year there! I was actually thinking about them too. As of right now I'm considering UIUC, Tuskegee, and Wisconsin.


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DreOnTheRise said:
Wow I didn't know Western was really expensive. I know someone who's in their 4th year there! I was actually thinking about them too. As of right now I'm considering UIUC, Tuskegee, and Wisconsin.


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Wherever you go, do apply to your instate school. If you don't have one, I've had three vets tell me it's worth it to move to a state, get residency, and apply then. The debt load is that bad. Here's an article I found on the subject.
 
DreOnTheRise said:
Wow I didn't know Western was really expensive. I know someone who's in their 4th year there! I was actually thinking about them too. As of right now I'm considering UIUC, Tuskegee, and Wisconsin.


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It is really expensive, but you plan appropriately and do what you can. Some of my classmates are not the smartest with their money. I set budgets for myself and restricted things like eating out, and lived off of pantry staples like rice and beans for the last 3.5 years and my debt load is lower than some people I know who paid OOS tuition at other schools. It all depends.

[edit] I'm a fourth year at Western, in case that wasn't obvious. Thought it was under my avatar, but apparently not.
 
My In state is UIUC and that's actually my first choice. Who wants to relocate and pay extra tuition or even wait to gain residency. I guess sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I read some of the comments on here that UIUC expects tons of animal experience more so than grades. Grades obviously matter as well but I just hear that there big on experience @TerraVet


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TerraVet said:
Honestly I've heard mixed reviews. A couple vets I worked for told me that, when getting a job, preference is sometimes given to students who learned on the "mainland." Other vets told me the opposite, that they felt like the students who came from island schools had to work twice as hard to get the same recognition, and that they had good experiences hiring them.
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I'm sure there is a little of both of those still out there, but I think that the "island student stigma" is largely gone now. I rarely, rarely hear anyone say anything like that. I think one of the factors in changing that has been the fact that those students have to rotate through the stateside places, so many of us worked side-by-side with them in 4th year and realized "oh..... they aren't any better or worse than we are."

There are a lot of other factors (like money, which you mentioned) to consider, but I personally wouldn't include "stigma" in my list of considerations when weighing a stateside vs island decision.
 
Rwwilliams said:
It is really expensive, but you plan appropriately and do what you can. Some of my classmates are not the smartest with their money. I set budgets for myself and restricted things like eating out, and lived off of pantry staples like rice and beans for the last 3.5 years and my debt load is lower than some people I know who paid OOS tuition at other schools. It all depends.

[edit] I'm a fourth year at Western, in case that wasn't obvious. Thought it was under my avatar, but apparently not.
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That was smart of you to do [emoji846]. I need to use that strategy if I get to Vet school lol.


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DreOnTheRise said:
My In state is UIUC and that's actually my first choice. Who wants to relocate and pay extra tuition or even wait to gain residency. I guess sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I read some of the comments on here that UIUC expects tons of animal experience more so than grades. Grades obviously matter as well but I just hear that there big on experience @TerraVet


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Alternatively, you could apply to schools that allow you to gain residency after the first year of vet school (Mizzou, Ohio State, NCSU, to name a few).
 
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DreOnTheRise said:
Did you apply to any of the state schools before or along with SGU?


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Yes, I applied to state schools and Ross and SGU all at the same time during my first application cycle. I ended up getting waitlisted at three US schools, and accepted at Ross and SGU. I didn't want to wait another year to start school and didn't feel my application was really going to change since my major area of weakness was variety of veterinary experience and I was already having a lot of trouble finding that to begin with.
 
allygator13 said:
Yes, I applied to state schools and Ross and SGU all at the same time during my first application cycle. I ended up getting waitlisted at three US schools, and accepted at Ross and SGU. I didn't want to wait another year to start school and didn't feel my application was really going to change since my major area of weakness was variety of veterinary experience and I was already having a lot of trouble finding that to begin with.
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Dam that makes me wonder now. I wouldn't want to wait either. Who does. How has your experience at SGU been to you for the last three years? Seems like you're doing ok [emoji846]


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I'm just getting done my 4th semester at Ross if you have questions.

Cost of living should be expected to be more here but for me personally I have found housing cheaper than anywhere I have ever lived in the US so that has balanced more expensive costs of everything else for me personally.
 
WeimMama said:
I'm just getting done my 4th semester at Ross if you have questions.

Cost of living should be expected to be more here but for me personally I have found housing cheaper than anywhere I have ever lived in the US so that has balanced more expensive costs of everything else for me personally.
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So are you going into your 3rd year then? That's good you found it cheaper out there[emoji846] Did you also have trouble getting into US schools?


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DreOnTheRise said:
Dam that makes me wonder now. I wouldn't want to wait either. Who does. How has your experience at SGU been to you for the last three years? Seems like you're doing ok [emoji846]


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So far SGU has overall been great. The island takes adjusting to and some people have a lot of trouble with that, others don't. I personally did not have trouble adjusting, but there are some things that can get frustrating (typical things you'd expect about living on an island really). The school also has its issues, but so does any school. However I am confident in the education I'm receiving and I'm doing well here. Do I wish I had gotten into a US school? Yes, I think most do, but mostly because of the inconvenience of being away from family and friends and missing things about the US. Do I regret starting school here instead of applying again? Definitely not!
 
allygator13 said:
So far SGU has overall been great. The island takes adjusting to and some people have a lot of trouble with that, others don't. I personally did not have trouble adjusting, but there are some things that can get frustrating (typical things you'd expect about living on an island really). The school also has its issues, but so does any school. However I am confident in the education I'm receiving and I'm doing well here. Do I wish I had gotten into a US school? Yes, I think most do, but mostly because of the inconvenience of being away from family and friends and missing things about the US. Do I regret starting school here instead of applying again? Definitely not!
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That's good! Yeah moving anywhere over seas is going to take some adjusting. I'm glad
that you're succeeding and nearly done! If I were to attend an Island school I would most certainly miss my family and friends, but for someone who loves to travel I would like to experience it. Did you apply to Ross too? Why did you chose SGU over Ross?


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DreOnTheRise said:
That's good! Yeah moving anywhere over seas is going to take some adjusting. I'm glad
that you're succeeding and nearly done! If I were to attend an Island school I would most certainly miss my family and friends, but for someone who loves to travel I would like to experience it. Did you apply to Ross too? Why did you chose SGU over Ross?


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I did apply to Ross and was accepted there as well. I chose SGU for a few reasons, one being the number of dual degree Master's programs they offer with the DVM. At the time I thought I'd be interested in one of them, but didn't end up pursuing it. The second being, I WANTED REAL BREAKS. Haha summer breaks are so necessary I think, and I don't know how I'd do with only having 3-week breaks between semesters. You really don't finish that much faster going to Ross than you do at a regular school with real summers.
 
DreOnTheRise said:
So are you going into your 3rd year then? That's good you found it cheaper out there[emoji846] Did you also have trouble getting into US schools?


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We have finals this coming week so as long as I pass them then yup, I'll be heading into "3rd year" in September. Its not my 3rd year of school since Ross is accelerated but it equates to 3rd year learning basically. I didn't apply anywhere but Ross because I knew I wanted to come here for the accelerated program.
 
allygator13 said:
I did apply to Ross and was accepted there as well. I chose SGU for a few reasons, one being the number of dual degree Master's programs they offer with the DVM. At the time I thought I'd be interested in one of them, but didn't end up pursuing it. The second being, I WANTED REAL BREAKS. Haha summer breaks are so necessary I think, and I don't know how I'd do with only having 3-week breaks between semesters. You really don't finish that much faster going to Ross than you do at a regular school with real summers.
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I agree. Summer breaks are necessary. Especially when you're in Vet school! That's all you get is 3 weeks from Ross??That's a really short time, not enough to recover from all the exams and stuff. Well I'm glad it's working out for you[emoji846]. Idk who I'd chose if it came down to Island schools, but I know I'd apply to them if I can't get in the states.


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WeimMama said:
We have finals this coming week so as long as I pass them then yup, I'll be heading into "3rd year" in September. Its not my 3rd year of school since Ross is accelerated but it equates to 3rd year learning basically. I didn't apply anywhere but Ross because I knew I wanted to come here for the accelerated program.
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Oh ok. So it's still the same but it's just your 3rd year of learning. Gotcha. Good luck on your finals[emoji846]. How is that accelerated program?


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