ross got texas recognition first because its students were (unlike some other offshore schools) ceromoiously blocked from getting licensed there. What happened was that a ross tudent applying for texas, in answer to the question "do they do research there" said no. Hence no more texas for ross, NO loopholes as you say. To remedy the situation at ross's appeal, texas agreed to do a formal review of the school and ultimately then gave it equal status with the us. So its "first on the block" while great for ross students wanting to go texas had nothing to do with its own wonderfulness so much as its (unfair) distinction by the great lone state of texas as explicitly inferior. So this cheerleading about being the "first" to gain texas stature is a little bit making a virtue of necessity.

The issue of ACGME accrediation- to say "we have more hospitals" is missing the point. in the us most schools have one maybe two hosptials you rotate out. number is neither here nor there. what is VERy relevant is if the school is going to send you off to a rotation that potentially wont be acmge accreditied (non-US hospitals dont have to worry about this standard so lets put them aside). If a school says well we have 100 hospitals that are accredddited (and BTW not just the hospital but the rotations do you) but there are still a few you might get sent to that are not, you can be screwed. make sure every rotation is in the us and you dont have to be forced into down time that might delay graduation if you refuse to take one. .

Ross is a perfectly good school. My objection merely is when people try to find virtures where there are none in order to claim their team is better somehow. Its not the way a good doctor ought to think and its sort of common denomonator-ish. I agree the issues like the lifestyle on the island are completely 2ndary to issues like licensure, residency outcome, usmle pass rates on the first go etc. Its nice for instance tobe in st Maarten if hot spot desinations are your thing (to be honest the 3 days i spent in vegas were more than enough) but its not the reason to choose St Maarten. SGU is the oldest school but its not the reason to choose sgu. Ross had texas first and one extra acgme hostpial by your count (ill take your word for it)but its not the reason to choose ross.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

i have no idea why anyone thinks an "effective learning enviroment" tops out at 100. Sitting in a lecture hall that's not a seminar is fairly the same no matter how big. I dont subcribe to that notion at all. However at some point the classes do become too bloated or at very least unseemly and ross and sgu are extremely big. However so long as the tutorials are well managed and effective i dont see it disrupting the education yet. Its not kindergarten requringing one on one care and if it needs to be, one should reassess the career choice.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

I find it rare that I agree with everything Setphew says, but I would have to say I agree. You choose your school based on what you want out of YOUR school.

However, I don't think utorontograd was out to boast about how awesome Ross is (he hasn't even started classes yet). I think he/she was just trying to knock down a few rumors for his/her own mindset.

It is good to have pride about where you came from, where you went to school, etc, but like Stephew said, do not let it cloud your judgement making you better than any other school. It's not conduct of a physician even though I am sure we will see our fair share of others doing it.

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Phil
Class of 2010!

Anyone,

Can you do three semesters a year at Ross?
Thanks
S

you don't get it. What was said in the previous thread is all true. and the several posts above me address the issue again.
having 46 sites sounds a lot simpler than it really is.

say you have 40 surgery rotation sites, and only 6 peds sites. sure you're not gonna have a problem getting a surgery rotation. But now you see, everyone is trying to get through the 6 peds sites, and that's where the bottleneck lies. That means that you may not get a green peds, a CORE rotation, until later in your 4th year. And you shouldn't be doing core rotations during 4th year for the sake of proper order and for step 2ck.

for people who strictly limit themselves to future california practice, they can take advantage of the family practice umbrella and make things easier. But why limit yourself like that?

Dru and others had it correct. A hospital can be ACGME accredited for one rotation and not for others. The BEST way to go about things is to research things yourself via the ACGME website. Do NOT rely on Ross, do NOT rely on heresay, do NOT rely on anyone else but yourself to do the research for you. You can seek advice from those here on the forum, but ultimately, you should go and verify the facts independently.

As for Ross having only 3 non-ACGME sites...I guess the utoronto was simply stating hospitals that don't have ACGME in anything. LOL. There really is no point in that.

I can name more than 10 Ross hospitals RIGHT NOW that are not ACGME for Peds that Ross still sends students to. Not convinced? Do a search for yourself. I'll give you the first three, 2 of them being "proud Ross Clinical Centers where you can do all your cores."

1) Jackson Park
2) Kern
3) Maryland General

Whether you count the cores at these places working under the "FP Umbrella" or some other means, the point is...under licensing laws in stringent States like Texas, these hospitals are NOT ACGME for Peds.

I believe there is only ONE state that requires all of your rotations to be at programs where they actually have an approved residency training program at that site. Other states (if they have any rules at all) accept the ACGME family medicine umbrella. That one state is Pennsylvania.

I may be wrong, but I don't think I've ever heard of another State with this policy. I rarely hear from anybody on ValueMD that they are planning on practicing in PA. But if that is in the plans or is a possibility they you can be all means do all your clerkships at ACGME sites.

Unlike AUC and SGU, Ross does not send ANYBODY overseas. Another point commonly overlooked. While overseas rotations are a loopwhole in the approval process, I doubt they provide the US medical experience equal to even a non-ACGME site here in the States (I have personally spoken to a few students who have confirmed this).

-M

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MitchDC/MD
RUSM 2006 Graduate

Two points I'd like to make.

1) Texas is the other State that may give you problems. I've seen the 72 week core+elective ACGME requirement that you alluded to for Pennsylvania. These 2 States are HUGE. I would not want to lose them...not after having paid $200K in getting a medical degree. You never know where you will end up. You never know where your wife wants to go, where family will reside, etc. Coming from Ross, it is in our best interest to keep ALL OPTIONS OPEN.

2) At this point, having all US Rotations is currently a DETRIMENT, not an advantage. While I agree that having all US ACGME rotations would be best, if they cannot be offered, especially for Peds in a timely manner....it is better for Ross to be pro-active and affiliate with UK hospitals (like AUC) so that Ross students can practice in all 50 States. Simply stating that Ross keeps everything in the US is a poor excuse when the system is failing.

You can argue that US non-ACGME sites are superior to some overseas... I cannot verify that, but neither can anyone since each hospital is different. HOWEVER, I can say this: Peds is a 6 week rotation...whether the teaching/learning experience is good or not....we're talking 6 measly weeks!!!!

Anyone who would not sacrifice 6 weeks to goto the UK so that they can practice in all 50 States eventually...is crazy. 25 years from now when you are an Internist or FP (most Ross grads are), when your wife wants to move to Philadelphia but you cannot go because you didnt spend 6 weeks going to the UK for a Peds Core? Justify that!

wait. are you sure there are only 2 states where the umbrella doesn't apply, or may cause problems?

enlighten me.

i dont know too much about SGU, but i do know that ross's clinical dept is pitiful.

it took me 6 months longer to graduate because there were so many gaps between my rotations, with my electives coming before my cores.

when i complained about it, they basically told me i could withdraw from school if i was not happy.

dont for one moniute think teh clinical dept people are there for you own good, theyre treating you like cattle and will do what's convenient for them.

good luck!

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Please un-ban Preppystud, Woodbridge, Bob2k, and Rajpatel, they were the most elite members of valueMD...sbturner is my hero