SABA or Ross MERP?

[warrior_of_king]

hi guys, any idea on this? SABA or Ross MERP considering the current situation of saba without loans.

[Drdiego]

hi guys, any idea on this? SABA or Ross MERP considering the current situation of saba without loans.

Did not know that SABA had a MERP program but this is a no brainer. Ross

[warrior_of_king]

Did not know that SABA had a MERP program but this is a no brainer. Ross

I mean a direct admission to saba or MERP of Ross? Im already accepted for saba but just want to get some opinions regarding choosing saba or ross merp?

[warrior_of_king]

anybody, please put any input. thanks

[jhafez87]

I would go to Saba instead of getting merped by ross. I did my search before on this topic....alot of students do not make it to med 1 after merp. Don't get me wrong, merp is a good program but I think it is a waste of time and $$. If u can afford SABA or have so kind of a loan then go there. again thats what i would do, but its ur choice.

[warrior_of_king]

I would go to Saba instead of getting merped by ross. I did my search before on this topic....alot of students do not make it to med 1 after merp. Don't get me wrong, merp is a good program but I think it is a waste of time and $$. If u can afford SABA or have so kind of a loan then go there. again thats what i would do, but its ur choice.

thanks a lot for that reply.
I can afford 2 yrs of SABA by own and family support but not more than that. I need loans after that... maybe best option would be to choose saba if they offer some loan options in a month. it feels easier I you can set the finance part of the education aside and just focus on studying. Thanks for the reply. I just hope I dont get merp'd.

[covarubious]

i hear you there, my major issue will also be payin for it... I am hoping i get the bank loan but that still might leave me a little short. Saba has been talking about their loans that should be out for Sept but no concrete info yet...

thanks a lot for that reply.
I can afford 2 yrs of SABA by own and family support but not more than that. I need loans after that... maybe best option would be to choose saba if they offer some loan options in a month. it feels easier I you can set the finance part of the education aside and just focus on studying. Thanks for the reply. I just hope I dont get merp'd.

[dragisic]

Go to SABA. The accreditation is just about the same. The only thing that sucks about saba is that its small, secluded (literally the island is tiny and you have nothing to do there but study - not that the other islands are different), and u have to ration your water. No more 20 minute showers, atleast thats how long mine are... anyway, Id rather go to a guaranteed med school program than waste my time doing undergrad courses all over again, for a CHANCE of maybe getting in after. But thats just the way i think.

[warrior_of_king]

Go to SABA. The accreditation is just about the same. The only thing that sucks about saba is that its small, secluded (literally the island is tiny and you have nothing to do there but study - not that the other islands are different), and u have to ration your water. No more 20 minute showers, atleast thats how long mine are... anyway, Id rather go to a guaranteed med school program than waste my time doing undergrad courses all over again, for a CHANCE of maybe getting in after. But thats just the way i think.

but what do you think about the loan situation in saba or ross giving federals loans compared to no loans at saba?

[raptors]

MERP?

Don't know much about it, but I gather it's a premed program.

Calculate the numbers for yourself (Saba vs Ross MERP + Ross MD). You'd be paying a hell of a lot for Ross and no guarantee being accepted into the Ross MD program.

Hmm, sounds like a no brainer to me if you can secure loans for Saba.

btw, why couldn't you just get into the Ross MD program? If you have the stats to get into Saba, I'd think you'd be able to get into the Ross MD program. But I digress, I'm no admissions counselor.

[mellsworth21]

Ross MERP. Sabas administration seems to be unstable at the moment.

[dragisic]

Yea, i fully agree with your point with respect to the loan situation at Saba at the moment. When I was writing that post, I neglected to think about that. That said, loan considerations should be acknowledge.

but what do you think about the loan situation in saba or ross giving federals loans compared to no loans at saba?

[warrior_of_king]

MERP?

Don't know much about it, but I gather it's a premed program.

Calculate the numbers for yourself (Saba vs Ross MERP + Ross MD). You'd be paying a hell of a lot for Ross and no guarantee being accepted into the Ross MD program.

Hmm, sounds like a no brainer to me if you can secure loans for Saba.

btw, why couldn't you just get into the Ross MD program? If you have the stats to get into Saba, I'd think you'd be able to get into the Ross MD program. But I digress, I'm no admissions counselor.

Thanks for your input. My application is still under review by admissions comm. of ross so I have no idea if im gonna be merp'd or put directly into ross med.
regarding the cost, i know ROSS is a lot lot more expensive than SABA but atleast I would have enought support from the govt.
and im also concerned about the class size at ross, i wonder how they handle it (300 students if im not mistaken). but we'll see what happens. Thanks guys.

[Drdiego]

Thanks for your input. My application is still under review by admissions comm. of ross so I have no idea if im gonna be merp'd or put directly into ross med.
regarding the cost, i know ROSS is a lot lot more expensive than SABA but atleast I would have enought support from the govt.
and im also concerned about the class size at ross, i wonder how they handle it (300 students if im not mistaken). but we'll see what happens. Thanks guys.

SABA will eventually get loans sooner rather than later. The smaller class sizes and island may help you focus more. Good Luck

[brob311]

I am a current Ross student, and if it were down to Ross Merp (3 months and a lot of money) vs SABA - go to SABA.

If you get accepted into the med school right away, go to Ross. Loans are stable, and we are accredited in all 50 us states

[icesage]

warrior_of_king (http://www.valuemd.com/members/warrior_of_king.html), if you can secure funding for the last 2 years, I would definitely choose SABA rather than MERP. Ross MERP does not guarantee you anything. Are you Canadian or American? If you are Canadian, then there are bank loans available to you at a reasonable rate of interest and SABA is the way to go from a financial stand point. If you are American, I would be more cautious about choosing SABA as their loan program is not really the best right now. I know of students suffering right now and I would not wish that on anyone while they have to cope with med school as well. If you are American, I would go the Ross MERP and not have to deal with SABA loan situation right now. They have been saying they are looking into it, but nobody really knows what is going on and how long it will take to resolve the lack of decent loans here. Also as mellsworth21 rightly mentioned, there are some issues with the administration that still need to be ironed out as we have just had two long meetings between the students (one of them being with the dean). So I would take all of these issues into consideration before making a choice. Congratulations on getting accepted.

[warrior_of_king]

iceage, im a permanent resident in america so i guess I would say american. I can fund about 3 semesters but would like to get some secure loans first. Federal loans are the only reason why I wanna go to ross. other thing is that, people have said that the MERP prepares you good for medicine. but after all, Only main reason why i wanna go to ross is federal loans. also the 'unstable' faculty of saba, im not sure if this is true or not but ive heard a lot in recent posts. probably ill still go for SABA. Thanks guys for your advices.

[CrazyDiamond]

Saba just got EdInvest loans (you can see in on the news scroll on the Saba homepage).

Saba is also accredited in all 50 states and if you do the math, even with a lack of federal loans, Saba is far cheaper to finance. Of course, Saba has had trouble maintaining loan providers and 3 have withdrawn in the past few months so the loan situation might still be a little shaky.

Ross has an extremely high attrition rate and that's the main knock against them. As you may have gathered from reading these forums, a lot of change has taken place at Saba and much of it has been for the worse. The admin has heard student concerns but it remains to be seen as to whether these concerns will be addressed in a meaningful way.

Historically, Saba had a very low rate of attrition but the current first semester has had an unprecedented failure rate although things are starting to look a little better: the last histology exam finally yielded a passing average.

A few months ago, I would have recommended Saba with confidence, but in light of the current situation I can't be so sure. However, Ross is by no means a safe choice either given their alarmingly high attrition rate.

The safest choices overall would be AUC or St. George's. With regards to Saba, you may just want to wait and see what happens here and monitor the situation on these forums. I have faith that things will improve.