Thread: Surviving the Game

I have decided to write this thread to express my feelings after 4 semesters at Ross University, Dominica.

My background....undergrad GPA 3.17 with ** in Biology, MCAT 24. Outcome? I MADE IT THROUGH! Current Ross GPA 3.0.

For anyone that is in doubt of their capabilies at Ross I decided to include my stats so that you can grade yourself based on my stats. If you do not succeed here at Ross it's because you don't know how to live in a third world country, don't know how to manage your time, or really have no desire to learn medicine. Just because Ross is in the Caribbean DOES NOT mean you can goof off. You definately have your work cut out for you.

What does Ross mean? Rely On Self Study!!! The only time I learned anything at Ross is when I was in a Microbiology, Pharmacology, or Histology Class. Everything else I had to teach myself by reading books, cutting class, and making my own notes. 90% of the handouts given by the teachers were terrible unless they came from the above mentioned departments. If I attended 100% of lectures at Ross and studied only what they said in class I definately would have failed a semester or two. I studied hard and made it through 4 semesters straight. Let's see....what else can I say....oh yeah....DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE ATTEND AN ICM LECTURE in 4th semester. I learned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from lecture and they never test you on what they say in class so it's a complete waste of time. That's all I will say about class at Ross.

How I feel about Ross in general? Well, there are a lot of good students here and there are a lot of people who I wish I could kick out of the school. If I had administrative rights, half the school would disappear. There are a lot of cheaters on campus and there are A LOT of underground notes with old exam questions going around. I found out some student clubs give their members special notes with old exam questions, shelf questions, comp questions, etc....I am hoping that the step 1 exam will wipe them out and even the playing field because I would hate to work with a doctor that cheated his way to getting a degree. Oh well...there is nothing I can do about that except express my remorse. Next, I considered my term here at Ross as jail time. I hated every minute I was here. It's not that I hate Ross, I hate the island it's on. There is absolutely nothing to do here. What's my typical day like? Wake up at 7am, go to any classes I choose to attend, study when I am not in class, go to bed at 12am, repeat the process the next day for a total of about 500 days (16 months minus vacation time). Ok....I'm getting bored so I'm going to stop writing and study some more.
For anyone that thinks I'm kidding around. The last time I was on valueMD before this post was about 14 months ago when I was a 1st semester. Since that time I have been studying and now I am free again. Do not take my comments lightly, they are real. You have to REALLY want to be a doctor to survive your 16 month term here. Good luck to anyone that reads this.

Congrats on making it off the island!! Now just study for Step 1 the same way you did for your classes and you'll be in clinicals (much, much better than the island!) shortly!!! Before you know it you'll be interviewing for residency!!

About the cheaters, not to worry, Step 1 will take care of those losers!!

Originally Posted by mboyaji

The last time I was on valueMD before this post was about 14 months ago when I was a 1st semester. Since that time I have been studying and now I am free again.

Hmmm.... mboyaji, you are the first person I know heading into 5th that has expressed a sense of being free.... (Maybe it's a good thing you haven't been reading the posts here.) Good luck to you! I hope Miami is an awesome experience and that you will share that with the rest of us! And major congrats on escaping the island!!!

Get back to studying.. you still have 4 more test to go.

nice post.

say it like it is. I too can't wait to get the hell off this island after this week. After 16 months, whatever appeal the island has wears off.

I hope the minimum passing score for ICM is super low so i can pass that garbage class.

It truly is like a jail sentence. and I will feel like a new man once I am out.

oh yeah..... I don't know if they still do this, but every class has a t-shirt. Our t-shirt sucks booty. If I could get another t-shirt, it would look like this, front and back:



Except, it would say "ROSS PENITENTIARY" on the front. Official prison wear.
You new students starting in January 2006, feel free to steal my idea, and send me a picture once you get the shirts printed.

arya, you better get to studying that micro, because after today, we do not know s____! link626, where are you from? where did you sit in class? who are you?

I agree with moboyaji.

This place is a means to and end, and that's it. they (ross/devry) use you for your money, and you in turn use them for the opportunity to get an MD.
They do 'funny' things while you are down here. During your 'prison term' on Dominica you will notice that they make snap changes to school policies, fudge numbers/grades on test scores and what not.

I agree with the course reviews that mboyaji put up. its important to consider that alot of teachers we have here are very old, do not have modern teaching styles, and some seem to suffer from ADD in that they have scattered lecture powerpoints and or handouts. Whatever the case is, if you chose to go to a class that is disorganized, then you have to spend almost as much time p utting it all together in a coherent format for yourself to study. this is a total waste of time. courses like 3rd sem micro produce packets that are so awesome that you spend 100% of your time learning the material rather than deciphering it.

after 4 semesters here, i realize one true thing, how much i hate this place.

4 days to freedom!!
Salsabil

one last thing, a business model for you to consider:
knowing that ross is a for profit organization.
they put you here for 16 months - a term calculated by Ross to maximize profits out of you (revenue) while minimizing their accountability to you (interpreted by Devry as extraneous costs). Since the bulk of intelligent students (profitable produce) matriculate to miami after 16 months. And the majority of weak students are weeded out. Maximum smart students and minimum dumb students after 16 months.

Understanding that Ross (Devry) is a for profit organization, the only moral fiber here is 'the bottom line'. they do not care about ethics even though they teach it. you will understand why things are they way they are down here because you see that its all about money and not about you. so while they are cashing in on you, Devry banks on the assumption that students will not 'revolt' unless kept here for 16-24+ months, [LDR point somewhere at 14.5 -15.5 months]. By revolt I mean - either demand change while here, or say F-it and transfer out to another school.
therefore they do what they feel like and have no accountability to you. They can say all these nice things, but do nothing about it. Their only allegiance is to their Master's on the Devry board of directors.

Originally Posted by zred

arya, you better get to studying that micro, because after today, we do not know s____! link626, where are you from? where did you sit in class? who are you?

I didn't sit in class. I chose to skip out.

That micro shelf was totally WACK. What a waste of studying. I don't know what the hell we did this semester.

I agree that a good chunk of your time is deciphering the handouts. What a frickin waste of time.
And I especially hate professors who write up their.notes.in.1/2.sent.so.its.v.diff.to.make.sense.***.he.is.say'g .


I can't wait to see what the Path shelf will be like tomorrow.

Hmm...is Ross University unorganized that much? I'm not sure if I want to go there if that's how it is. I mean medical school is already competitive as is, but why confuse the students more if there is not any proper teaching methods and guidelines.

Originally Posted by mboyaji

There are a lot of cheaters on campus and there are A LOT of underground notes with old exam questions going around. I found out some student clubs give their members special notes with old exam questions, shelf questions, comp questions, etc...

Thats a pretty weak definition of cheating

'underground notes'?
'old exam questions'?

Those questions were made available by Ross for many semesters until they took them off G-drive