170 people. nice. I never like laaaaarge classes.

looks like it's time for that online-16-month spanish crash course. I still remember a little from my first year spanish class in high school. 8) Como? Que?

i think with all the whining about 5th semester, you should allprobably understand the way thinsg used to be. when 5th was on therock, the studenst whined about being there for 5th. they whined about the experience at PMH. they said they learned nothing of value for working in a US hospital. those with previous medical experience said the way things were done at PMH was totally irrelevent for US medical students. the other schools would use our 5th as advertising(well, rumor wise anyways) agaiunst Ross. I remember when i first started there, they always said "ross doesnt have enough clinical spots in the states, so they weed everyone out in 5th, and send 10 to clinicals in the states, and teh rest to england." so finally, Ross set up miami. of course, we always joked that they lied to us,a nd said we were doing 5th in the states, and instead, sent us to miami. yes, the latest census figures showed Dade county to be 89% hispanic. by the way, I went with nothing more thne my distant memroies of 2 years of high school spanish,and my spanish improved immensely in miami. and that was before i met my wife(colombian, thanks to her, my spanish is now fluent, complete witha colombian accent, very valuable when residency and job hunting!). as for the comment that you know all about physical exam after 4th. thats a load of crap. you think you know it all. and believe me, in hindsite, Dr F. grades fairly easy on the PE in 5th. if you get a different grader, you may pass with skills that are very much not up to par. the onething you must always remember , is that soemday, peoples lives are in your hands. if your skills suck, they die. and it will be your fault. yes, I feel that with 5th in miami, USMLE scores have suffered. that is partially because after being on the rock for 16 months, everyone hits miami like its a great big party. when you are there, you must NEVER forget the reason why you are there. its to study, not to party.

I don't entirely have first hand experience because I withdrew in the middle of the term because my stepmother was told she has until Thanksgiving to live due to the severity of her cancer. Likewise, my best friend got into an accident and went into a coma. Staying would only have made me fail out due to a lack of concentrating. But anyway, I find it suspicious that their prediction of a third of the class failing did come true. Why won't they let the students see their grades after mini 2? Why can't the students write their mini 3 answers down and then check them after the test like they do for mini 1 and mini 2? I am sure it would give the students closure and would really show if whether or not they failed and if the faculty are as crooked as politicians. Surelt, since the current first semester has almost 400 students, they will be failing at least 200 since they don't have enough cadavers and they have to save room for the second semesters that fail. The administration here needs lobectomies.

When I withdrew, 30% of my histo grade was acquired. I did get about 5 points below the MPS on mini 1, but I got a 92% on Kalli's first lab practical, which was about 30 points over the MPS. When I returned, I was informed that I am on academic probation because "I withdrew histo failing." I went to Kalli and asked him to show me the calculation he performed to give me a WF. I told him my scores and surely my lab grade should have given me a WP. Well, Kalli told me he didn't include the lab grade. That is complete baloney! Without a doubt I am going to fight it. I got punished for being there for my loved ones and at the same time, I got screwed and was not given credit for a grade I paid a few thousand dollars to get! I don't care if I have to go to the CEO, but I am at least demanding something in writing that states that the WF is based one one exam and does not include a lab exam on which I scored a 92%. Idiots!

They also never mentioned the hostile wildlife, err, I mean locals. The delapidated buildings. The exorbidant prices for low quality commodities, nor did they mention fervent anti-american sentiment held by the local populace, the poor status of the roads, the fact that raw sewage is dumped into the caribbean sea, the fact that the locals dump their garbage onto the beaches, and the bland rotten food. They play this place out to be a charming open community, but in reality, the truth is indeed a long way off from the statements that are claimed.The greedy blood sucking locals and customs agents who charge us unfair rates for quality items we desire to bring in, instead of comsumming sub-standard dominican stuff. We also pay close to 100% duty on most food items. But yet I see no capital improvment that is in the students interest. Most of the capital improvement costs in the portsmouth was incurred by Ross. It really goes to show that the dominicans have no respect for their lifeblood, and, in my opinion, exposes them for what they really are: Greedy Bloodsuckers.
Now, for those who wish to retort my comments. I am an A student. So you cannot use the "that guy is bitter about failing...." line. Nor am I transferring any frustrations about my academic status onto the dominicans. As was stated earlier, I am an A student. I also hold no emnity towards the student body, and for the most part, hold no emnity towards the faculty ( we do have some really great professors). I do hold a slight degree of emnity towards the administration, but that is in no way shape or form transferred on the dominicans. My degree of digust for the this island and its inhabitants is based purely on my objective observations of having lived here for the past eight months and the objective reports of my colleagues.
Well, my 2 cents worth.
Chris

__________________
But when I start to feel that pull, turns out I just pulled myself-Weezer

Ah, you don't want to deal with patients- Words of a wise pathologist

PGY-1 Pathology Resident at VCUHS.

If you scored 5 points less than the MPS then that means you scored around a 54 on mini1, right? If that is the case take 54*.20 because mini 1 is 20% of your grade. Take the 92 from the lab multiple by .10. That would be 10.8 out of 20 for mini 1 and 9.2 out of 10 for lab 1. Add those together and you get 20 out 30. To get your current grade 20 divided by 30 is 66.67 which is below the 70 points required to pass. You can not have a MPS added because the actual MPS is only calculated after the final and you did not take all of the exams so logically they would not give you a random amount of points. You can try to appeal but I believe your time would be better spent trying to obtain good grades this semester. No matter what they say you have to redo the semester.

I did speak to Dr. Martin, chair of the department, and he flat out told me that if I scored between 55-65, it was passing. And if you calculate a 66-67%, that is slightly above that range and is thus, passing. Dr. Martin said he will look into it. Dr. Laville, too, appears annoyed that he didn't factor in the lab grade. Dean Obenshain, the person I withdrew with, also said, "I think your concern is logical." So, I've got some support. We'll see where it takes me.

brotherman has soem points. the thing is, the locals near the school have been dumped on for 20+ years by ross students. I actually saw one of my classmates tell a dominican the only reasoin his country existed was because the US let it exist. yes, it is no excuse, but you kind of expect them to get sick of us after awhile. i did notice, when you were more then a few miles away form the school, the locals treated you like a king. unfortunately, i would say that 90% of my classmates NEVER went further away then the C and W office in town, or coconuts. and yes, the dominican nears the school do think of Rossies as easy money, and a target of abuse at times. as for the customs on food, that must have changed. I used to get food shipped to me,a nd always bought food back with me at tehstart of semesters, and one time I got charged 25 cents. that was it.

I've been here 4 semesters and only been charged 12EC for customs.......for food, DVDs, etc....etc.......if you walk in there and are nice, they will write "Gift Package" Value: 25EC and charge you 2.14EC........

sometimes it also depends on how pretty you are. :P They favor women over men sometimes.

I guess then I'm a pretty good looking guy