I think there's a lot of information (and disinformation, opinions, etc.) here on ValueMD, and I know it served as an invaluable resource for me as I prepared for my transition to Dominica. However, to be honest, there were still some things that I was not prepared for, and that surprised me, in both a negative and positive way.

I will recount some of them here, as well as give some suggestions. If these are repetitions of what many other people have said, then my apologies. I wish everyone the best of luck.


When to get here:

I arrived on Dominica (DA) almost 2 weeks before classes began, a week before orientation. I found that it was a great time to arrive because you get to explore a bit of the island and really orient yourself before the rush of school preparation begins. My father came down for 3 days, and my fiance for 2 weeks, and the three of us not only explored the area surrounding the school by foot, orienting ourselves, but also got down to both Portsmouth, as well as Roseau, and go on the free tours that SGA puts on just before orientation (go on them, they are worth it!).

Of note, we arrived on a Sunday. On DA almost everything is closed on Sunday (save for Perky's pizza, and maybe a shack or two), so if you need anything, or want to have a big celebratory dinner the day of your arrival, don't get here on a Sunday.

What to bring:

There are threads dedicated to this topic, so I'll stress my personal experience (especially if you arrive on a Sunday when everything is closed). YOU CAN EXPECT THAT YOUR CHECKED BAGGAGE WILL NOT ARRIVE WITH YOU. When you get to the airport, you pass this desk where your passport gets stamped (smile and politely greet the immigration guy, will ya? don't look too terrified like a lot of the people do), and then you stand in this hot room and wait for a small team of airport workers to bring in all the luggage by hand. Everyone is anxious to see their bag, and then dart to it. Take it easy, yours probably won't get there. After that you get taken to campus by van (take dramamine as soon as you land! there are over 200 turns between the airport and campus) and dropped off at the Housing office. You have to check back with them regularly for baggage that arrives late, but they don't really keep tabs on it, so just keep plugging away and checking that baggage room.

That being said, pack judiciously. In your carry-on bring all you important papers (with copies, oh and leave copies at home just in case), including a couple of copies of your Ross acceptance letter which you need to open your bank account. I brought a small travel pack of clorox disinfecting wipes to wipe down parts of my apartment when I got here. It was kinda clean, but could've been cleaner. Also, bring any prescription meds that you use regularly with you as it is illegal to mail medicine here, and from what i was told not everything can be had regularly. And the rest should pretty much be clothes. Oh, and an umbrella - something that will fit in your backpack. Other than that, you should carry on anything else that you deam necessary or valuable to you. Everything else should get checked. As many people have said, there are a lot of things here, and though it might take some work to find, or some patience/time, you can find a lot of things from back home here, but you'll pay twice or three times as much, sometimes 5 times as much. And that can be for food that's expired. So, if there's some food, or breakfast cereal, or snack, or whatever, that you ABSOLOUTELY must have, bring it. A box of US brand cereal costs about $10 US here, when they get it.

Also, school supplies at the bookstore here are marked up considerably, so if you have room in your bags, take advantage of US prices and stock up. I recommend at least 3 3-4" binders (w/ dividers) and a few 1" binders, highlighters and pens of preference, dry erase markers, binder clips or rings, and a ruler. The library has a table with a bunch of three-hole punches, staplers and staple-removers for students to use, so don't worry too much about those. Also, specific toiletries, shampoos etc, might not be available here. So if you're the type with SUPER sensitive skin, or are just a stickler about what you put in your hair, well, think about bringing it. Lastly, a good set of headphones are important when you discover mediasite (more on that later).

As for clothes, light is the key. I wear shorts and t-shirts exclusively. I brought a couple of polo shirts just in case, but have worn one maybe once in the last 3 months. Also, bring a decent outfit (guys --> long sleeve shirt, tie, decent pants, non-sneaker shoes; ladies --> casual dress for example) if you plan to do the white coat ceremony. Oh, and you'll need the white coat of course. A SHORT WHITE COAT. You don't NEED to put the patch on it, so don't fuss. Just make sure you show up looking professional, and with a white coat. I wear Crocs most of the time because it can rain randomly, and I don't like getting my leather sandals all wet. Also, because there're essentially dirt roads all over the place here, I wanted shoes that I could clean easily. Keep in mind, the environment outside also means that you're gonna track a lot of dirt with you, so I keep a separate pair of sandals for inside the apartment. I also carry a light zip-up hoodie sweatshirt because sometimes in the library it can get cold. And I also have a lightweight packable poncho that I take with me if I go out on excursions. DO NOT bring your nice clothes because there's always the risk that the laundry services here can damage, stain, or lose them. And bring enough clothes to last you generally for two weeks plus between washings, as laundry services run between $20-$30/load depending on size.

Oh! I almost forgot. About linens and stuff. Definitely bring your own sheets, and a pillow. I also brought a plastic mattress cover, and a comfortable mattress pad. THE MATTRESSES HERE USUALLY DO NOT HAVE SPRINGS. They are just foam. It took some adjusting to. As for towels, I had read that the towels sold here were thin and cheapy. So I brought some thicker, nicer towels from home. However, in my apartment, I have to keep the windows open, or the humidity is too much and the bathroom never dries. Regardless, thick towels will never dry in the bathroom. So the moral of the story: A thin towel, or dish rag, etc., like the ones sold here are primarily used because they dry quickly in a non-air-conditioned environment. Just something for you to think about.

What about actual classes:

The most important advice I can give to someone preparing to come to Ross has nothing to do with anything related to anything that I've talked about above. If you have everything above pretty well organized by now, great, keep going. If you don't, focus on the important stuff, and get down to business, because the real nitty-gritty I believe, is making the switch to how Ross tries to teach you medicine. And for me, that's been the both the most challenging, and the most interesting part.

First thing's first, as soon as you arrive, take your laptop straight to the IT department, drop it off, and get it set-up. It might take them half a day, but don't wait until the first week of class, it gets hectic.

When you start orientation they're going to give you a ton of information really quickly. Phone numbers, hours, names, places. Start taking it in. If by the middle of orientation, you haven't looked at the first week's class schedule, and started thinking about it, you're behind.
I think in many ways, the Ross program, though not always intentionally, is a sink-or-swim kind of place. With such a high turnonver (and I mean number of students/time, not failure), there's a baseline amount of dis/miscommunication. So you have to stay at the top of your game from the get-go to get it. Quickly learn the names of the people around you, get their local DA cell phone #s, ask professors who will find out information for you if they themselves don't know.

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention. A couple housekeeping things. Cellphone: I got cable & wireless. Easy as pie to set-up. There's an office in the same building as the bank, subway, and the SGA office. I brought an unlocked GSM phone from home, so I just need to buy a SIM card, and load it with money. The SIM card and $50EC of credit cost me $80EC ($30 US). And it's $.50EC/min to the US.

For the bank, that can take some time, because the line is usually pretty long the first 3 or 4 weeks, so do it as early as possible. again, they ask for a copy of your Ross acceptance letter, and I think they ask to see your passport. Then you can open a checking account, and get a debit card which you can use at the two ATMS on campus.

Back to the class issue...Either before classes start, or during the first week (and around every Mini), you'll receive a set of "packets", which are basically printouts of the powerpoint presentations of each professor's lectures. Some professors don't actually do this, and choose to change it up by giving out either summary material in paragraph form, or material to be completed in class, but these tend to be the minority. It is from these packets that most students learn, study, cram, etc. You will here comments like, "If it's not in the packet, it won't be on the exam." or "Just study the packet." etc. etc. And although it is quite clear that the packets serve various and explicit functions (summarizing, streamlining, condensing, simplifying), approaching a subject strictly by studying packets, in my personal experience, is ineffectual. This also adds to the frequent debate of which textbooks to buy.

The answer to the textbook question I believe is very much dependent on finances. If you can afford to buy every book, I would say to do it. Many lectures, packets, and explanations in my experience, across most subjects we've covered so far in 1st semester are incomplete. And textbooks and other resources help in supplementing your understanding of not just what's being taught, but the reasoning behind it - the mechanisms, effects, causes, etc. For those of limited financial resources, the library usually maintains several copies of previous versions of most of the textbooks currently being used, and you can check them out for two-week periods, and renew by phone, or in-person with your ID. Now, you can't bust out the highlighter and scribble all up in the margins, but it sure does help when you have to prepay so much for electricity. And there's always IslandThrift, which sells used copies of current and older editions for a good mid-point.

Mediasite, which I mentioned above, is essentially Ross's lecture streaming site. Every lecture for every semester is streamed online, and viewable on campus live, or at anypoint afterward. What does this mean? It means you have the potential to design your own work/study flow to when you learn best. During week one, about 250-300 students (Our class has 390 registered) went to class. After Mini1, that number dropped to 100. And 10% of those are probably PACE students which don't even have to be there. So go figure. But I've also seen people not go to lecture thinking they can just mediasite, and quickly fall behind on a week's worth of lectures. In medical school, that's a mountain that's tough to climb over.

The next thing I want to say before I go (because I have to go study now), is that you should try BEFORE you get here, to look into how you study, study methods, and how best to approach success in medical school. I would guess the majority of people do that when they get here, as I did. My only point to you is that it takes a good amount of time and energy to do so, time and energy that when you get here you'll probably want to devote to studying. So if you can look into successful study methods, your own personal study habits, and other approaches to constructive processing of the massive amounts of information as is done in medical school, you'll be one step ahead.

O.k., so that's enough for today. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff that I've left out that I wanted to say, but I've used all my time. I apologize if I don't respond to any comments or questions in a timely fashion. Again, I wish everyone the best of luck, and the most important thing is to remember why you're doing this to begin with.