Treasure Your Time There

[Spectre2006]

I graduated from Ross in 2000 and am a few months into my specialty. I have reflected back to my time in Dominica and at Ross. So far I would have to say those were the best times in my life so far. I'm up here in Northeast USA, where it just snowed yesterday. I'm in a high stress specialty and use images of lying or taking a nap on the pier at PBH to get me through some moments. Ross is what you make of it. I started Ross in May 1996. I didn't fail any semesters but I did just enough to pass. Most of the times getting B's some A's and some C's. Its very easy to fail, if you don't use your time wisely there. Some classes I didn't attend and just stayed in my room and did some reading till I was tired, then took breaks hiking or snorkeling.

Since graduating, I finished my residency, I got married, bought a house and am living the american dream. I passed my USMLE step 1 with above average scores, step 2, barely passed. Step 3 failed it once and passed second time. CSA, I failed it once ending up taking the CSA course in NJ which prepares you real well. I'm posting this info to give you an idea, if you don't take your exams seriously, you leave your future to chance. I'm not sure what its like at Ross now, but things can only have improved. I would suggest to those to take your USMLE's as soon as it is possible, you tend to loose the momentum you build up from USMLE step 1, your time tends to get wasted on a lot of useless things back in the states, and its hard to find time. And time is what you have plenty of in Dominica.

Right now I'm post-call as a attending and am studying for my specialty boards which are coming up in three months. Every two weeks I get about 5600 dollars and next year my biweekly paycheck goes up to 8500 after taxes. I'm trying to give people a sense of what life is like post Ross. The money really doesnt matter much these days. Its more about trying to find time to rest between work. I get up at 5 am and get home most days past 5pm. My wife is in Residency here and will done in about 1 year and a few months. I love my specialty.

To those that are there at Ross, take in the moment, most who leave will never have another moment like what they are experiencing in Dominica. Lot of the amenities that you miss currently you will have soon enough when you get back to the states.

[queenofspades11]

thank you so much for sharing your career experience and for words of encouragement. It is nice to hear success stories in the mid of all the negativity :)
i will start in September and i just cant wait for the semester to begin.
i know about the difficulty and the lack of all things familiar but i think we all know what we are there to do, and to me nothing else matters
thank you again for sharing this with us

[Spectre2006]

If your starting in Sept. I would take this time now to find out as much as you can about the courses your taking first semester. Start reading through the chapters for the next few months and cultivate study habits. A lot of the battle is finding a comfortable place to study. Initially the heat or weather will get to you, but your body soon adapts. I rarely had AC in my dorms. I moved around quite a bit before settling at PBH. PBH was ideal for me, just enough space to sleep and study and a small cooler for drinks. Take with you what you think you will need to study. I needed lots of music when I studied, and the local bands were not enough.

Lighting is important too. Take a desk lamp with you. If you think you can't get a proper one there. Lot of the time it was easy to study for 5 hrs or more after classes and still have time to meet with friends to party. I lived close to friends who also had the same study/party style so it worked out well. Stay away from island romances, it almost ruined me. Emotional drains can destroy your plans unless you know you totally fit with each other in habits. Know when you need to go to a class and when you don't if its a waste of time.

What impressed me the most is how easy it was to study there versus the states. If I had a chance to do it all over and go to a US school. Knowing what I know now and the experiences I had, I would not trade it for a US school. Because the possibility is there what ever life impediments are around here in the USA will still persist in terms of being able to absorb massive amounts of information. The Island suited me well.

[RossMD2006]

Do u mind stating what specialty you are in and the road it took to get there as an IMG (troubles, roadblocks, any advice would be appreciated)

Thanks in advance.

[Destiny2010]

Do u mind stating what specialty you are in...

:p My thoughts exactly! Spectre2006, thanks so much for the insightful advice you gave to us newbies. I have not been able to hear from someone that is already there, you know?

I was curious when you talked about how much you enjoyed your specialty, just what exactly your specialty is. I am guessing you graduated 2000, you did 2-3 yrs residency & 3 yrs to specialize? Am I right? You've come a long way...Hopefully one day I will be in your shoes.:rolleyes:

[alpathmd]

I graduated from Ross in 2000 and am a few months into my specialty. I
Since graduating, I finished my residency,

Welcome!!! :-smiley7

Ditto, what residency, what fellowships did you do?

One thing that i've noticed,the more you travel around to different cities..and different states, you realize there are SO MANY Ross grads...all over. It's so nice to see!

[booksale]

Right now I'm post-call as a attending and am studying for my specialty boards which are coming up in three months. Every two weeks I get about 5600 dollars and next year my biweekly paycheck goes up to 8500 after taxes. .


keep hustlin

[Spectre2006]

I obtained the spot outside match and the same for Prelim Surgery spot. This was a few years ago, when it was somewhat easier. Total of 4 years for internship and residency. No fellowships.

[Spectre2006]

1) Initial adjustment getting off the plane. This is when lots of doubts set in, the travel from the plane to the school takes a little bit of time, and you pass through some third world type areas. And you wonder if you did the right thing.

2) Adjusting to room/apartment. When I made arrangements, I was given a really bad 'front room' lobby type room in one of the apartments at coconut beach hotel. I shared it with two other people. The other two people shared the back room with the adjoining bathroom. You can imagine what it was like to share the place since you would have to walk into someone elses room to use the bathroom late at night. I studied at school initially, since the room I stayed in was impossible to study in.

3) Adjusting to school/weather, backpacks lugging around a backpack full of books. I lost 40 pounds in the first six months at Ross. Your basically constantly sweating.

4) Adjusting to food. Bottled juices/barbecue roadside, and the school cafe. The food has gotten better during my stay there.

5) Making friends, study partners. Self explanatory.

6) Moving to optimize living/study conditions. I did this as soon as I could. Since future success at Ross depended on how comfortable I was with living conditions. Everyone has their own comfort zones. For a brief moment I lived at a primo place, but its not necessary. Just enough for what you think you need to get by and study.

7) Learning the ropes at school. Some classes I think took attendence, and through the grapevine you could tell what was necessary to attend. Some classes you needed to attend since exams had non standard professor specific knowledge tested. Basically you failed the class because you didn't attend and learn some ** the prof wanted you to know that he or she felt was important. So you end up studying for the USMLE type specific knowledge and Ross specific knowledge. Over the months I was there, some profs were let go because they were testing non standard knowledge.

8) Getting through the first block of exams, its highly important to build up your confidence level to do everything possible to get through the first block. Lot of people end up failing and doubts set in and they are climbing a wall of worry and self doubt. Ross accepts more people the first semester than ending up completing the total 5 semesters. My first semester class had 250 people I think. Of that only 70 completed the total basic science set without failing a semester.

9) Leaving Ross and adjusting to USA, clinical sites, at this stage most have paired up with other people during their time at Ross and end up moving to USA and living in the same local or apartment. It is not necessary to complete clinical rotations to complete step 2 of the USMLE, lot of the previous bad habits that one had in the USA during undergrad will come back. And people realize its much more difficult to study in the USA then it was at Ross. I would suggest if you have time in between basic sciences and clinical rotations, stay at Ross and study for step 1 & 2.

10) Clinical rotations were pretty much easy to get through, the hardest part was adjusting and finding a place to stay at in each city. The CSA exam is the next hurdle. The clinical sites and rotations really didn't prepare me for the CSA and I ended up failing it. The CSA tests certain things that are subjective in nature. I ended up taking the NJ CSA course, it helped me a lot.

11) Applying for the match, I didn't go through the match. I knew what field I wanted to enter and that field was not popular at that time with US med students. I waited post match for the unfilled match list. I had scrounge around for this list. This list was somewhat hard to obtain. Of the the unfilled spots those departments the faxes are flooded with CV's and applicants. Prelim spots are easy to obtain in a urban setting. My specialty required a internship year. I would suggest to start something instead of waiting for your desired specialty, the more your out of the loop or not doing something productive the easier it is for you to fall out of the system. So if you don't match for what you want. Do a transitional year or a Prelim Med or Surg spot. There are a lot of unfilled spots. Plus you need to complete step 1 & 2 plus TOEFL /CSA for ECFMG certification.

12) Study for USMLE step 3 during internship, its very easy to procrastinate this. Most states have a 7 year limit from step 1 to complete all the steps. If you delay you end up having to repeat the whole cycle. Believe me I know some people who waited and can't get licensed in some states because of this requirement.

13) Complete residency and apply for a job, this is probably the easiest thing to do. Each year you have a In-service exam in your residency testing your fund of knowledge against others of your year in the specialty.

14) Get licensed in those states. Most states are Ross 'friendly', the paperwork is not as severe or could be. Save all your documents from your clinical rotations and contact numbers. Some states will require you to fill out a form for each rotation, and the forms have to be signed and stamped by the chief or director of that department or hospital.

15) Apply for hospital priviledges, pretty easy most just wait for your state licensure.

16) Start your job. =)

Throughout all this you will soon realize, your quality of life has really not improved in a subjective sense. I'm putting 12-14 hr days for work. And you come to realize, how easy it was to be a med student at Ross compared to what life is like now. Yeah you may own a 5 series BMW and live in a nice house, but you essentially end up becoming a working machine.

[miasma]

awesome story of your experiences man, and good job. best of luck with your career.

[booksale]

holy shiz. you lucky mother.
anes is getting much harder these days. very cushy lifestyle and pay.
i want to go into anes too, but i'll settle for obgyn if i have to. i heard obgyn is always looking for men.

seems like medical specialties get harder or easier in cycles. no one wants to go into obgyn for various reasons. but things might change in 6-10 years....

[Dru]

Paying $87,000 for OB malpractice insurance would do it for a lot of people.

[Future2010MD]

Hey awesome post. It really gives me encourgement and makes me confident about my decision for choosing Ross. Thanks a lot. Can't wait to start in Sept!!!

[booksale]

Paying $87,000 for OB malpractice insurance would do it for a lot of people.


another reason why anes is so good- average premium nationwide is only $21000.

some day things will get better for obgyns and surgeons.

a couple decades ago, anes was very risky, and malpractice insurance was among the highest. safety improvements have helped lower the anes premium to its low cost today. I expect the same to happen to obgyn and surgery, if not through legislation. I have faith in obgyn.

[sukhtinder]

hey spectre...

nice to hear your story, im 2 yrs behind you finishing up residency. were you there when the big cheating scandal broke out, and a room was on fire by some disguntled student around 97? i assume it was all rumor, noone was ever sure if it really happened. great story none the less, im sure alot of us would love to hear it, take care!

[Spectre2006]

These guys were my best friends there, we stayed at PBH, I think their room accidently caught on fire. We use to cook a lot, Angelo was italian dude from NJ and Woody was an Indian dude from NJ. Without these guys I doubt Ross would have been as entertaining.

Yep there was a cheating scandal when I was around, not sure how it all got started, something about exams being sold by people in the copy office, this was just rumor though, I think there was an investigation and some people were found guilty.

Someone just tried to message me now, but my popup blocker wouldn't let it through try again if I'm on. Sorry whoever it was.

I lost touch with these two dudes, Woody last I remember got married and moved to Cali with the ER position. Angelo was in NJ and was aiming for Anesthesiology. Not sure if he succeeded. You tend to loose touch with your friends when you get back to the states. These guys were brilliant, especially Woody.

Maybe I will try looking them up. There are a lot of stories. One time we camped out on PBH's pier with fishing poles and cigars and nets and some beer. lol.. You can only imagine.

[Spectre2006]

I found out what happened to Angelo, hes in Saginaw, MI PGY 5 Chief Surgical Resident. Theres a picture of him if ya google Angelo Incorvaia. I knew that >@@@@@>>> would succeed.

[alpathmd]

Yep there was a cheating scandal when I was around, not sure how it all got started, something about exams being sold by people in the copy office, this was just rumor though, I think there was an investigation and some people were found guilty.


There was one in 2001 exactly as you described....copying exams in the copy office....and yes, students and staff were found guilty involving a law suit/settlement..