krh696 - if you want to be a Vet then apply to Ross. No fear.
animaldoc1 thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings about the school.
Being a student here I must disagree with just about everything you have said.
All Vet schools are hard, and Ross makes it clear that it is an Accelerated Program, lasting 3.3 years with no summer breaks and only people who understand and/or want that should apply. I started my undergrad in 2004 and worked in the field for a while, so I do not need or want summers off, I just want to be a Vet, like a lot of other people here. My semester schedule has 21 credit hours yes. I have 4 classes a day from 8am or 9am to 3pm or 4pm with an hour + 10 min lunch break. These classes are Histology, Anatomy, Nutrition, and Physiology. And we have a Intro to Vet Med seminar that goes over things like communication, empathy and teamwork. On Fridays I only have 3 classes with a 3 hour break in the middle of the day, its pretty sweet 🙂 Our semesters are 4 months each and in between each we get a 3 week break. Nuf said. And a long weekend mid semester.
I do not know how many Vet students are not stressed, and I do not think it is a matter of going to Vet school in the Caribbean or the States. I think every Vet student will experience stress at one time or another during their education. Vet school is not easy. Anywhere. But down here we have the Caribbean sea to lap our stress away, and by the way there is a campus beach just a walkway away 😉
Every week here at Ross, there is a Stress Management class on Wednesdays, and a Study Skills workshop Thursday 5-6pm; in case your strategies all of a sudden are not working or you need some new ideas for challenges you have never experienced before. I have took advantage of these and they are awesome. Plus we have Psychologists that live on campus and they are so keen.
So please do not be deterred striving Vet students. Ross will not reject you if you are qualified like a States side school will, just cause their classes are full. If the current Ross class if full but you qualify to be a student, they guarantee you a seat in the next semester and will even let you defer your seating for a year if you need to get things in order before you come. We have a prep school on campus for the students and staff's children and I can see them out of my dorm window, they always look like they are having a ball! haha. The locals are so awesome as well, the school employs a lot of them and are not just exploiting the island which was important to me. We also have a feral cat program to help the locals, and all of our kennel dogs are island dogs (some stays, some car accident victims, or some emergency victims that were flew in from a nearby island) which we practice palpation on, behavior train, and adopt out.
I worked at Harvard Medical School before I came here and they invited Ross Students for their residencies because they have an AMAZING rep for their clinical time in the States, which starts after the 28 months spent here on the island. Yup. Institutions know how well equipped Ross students are in clinicals and they are sought after. The discrimination of going to a Vet school in the Caribbean is dissipating quickly people. The AVMA doesn't accredit just any building with an animal inside to be a Vet School. Ross has had to meet all the requirements State schools have and have been graduating Vets for 30 years.
But anyway if anyone else has any questions and concerns about Ross feel free to pm me or make a post on here. I do not work for this school btw. I was rejected by a few State side schools but still got into Ross on my first round of applications because they could see my passion over my grades and gave me chance to achieve my dream. I respect a school that does that.
KEEP YOUR HOPES HIGH PEOPLE!
