Dear All,
I am the parent and doing some research for my son.
I attended the Ross open house at Atlanta. I got some useful information
about the school. In the open house they claim that for USMLE Step 1
the pass rate is from 82% to 92% and their attrition rate is about 10%.

I did get some information about Saba through their web site and some
other means. In the saba web site they posted the following stats
about the USMLE pass rate. I am just pasting this info from their web site
as it appears

Q. What is the pass rate for Step I and Step II?

A. Step I pass rate are as follows: 1999 - 94.3% 2000 - 94.7% 2001 - 93.2% 2002 - 94.9% Step II pass rate are as follows: 1999 - 95.5% 2000 - 94.7% 2001 - 86.7% 2002 - 93.3%

Are these stats are authentic?

If these stats are correct, why not choose Saba over Ross?

I put following points in favour of Saba
1. Less expensive
2. Student vs Staff ratio is 6:1
3. They admit only 40 students
4. Attrition rate is below 5%

I found some information about Ross through other means
1. Their attrition rate is more than 10% they claim ( It is around 25% )
2. More expesive than Saba
3. USMLE pass rate also lower than Saba.
If all these are correct then why pay more for same education ?
Please guide me in choosing Ross Vs Saba.
I appreciate very much for your valuble input.
Thanks again for your time and consideration ?

Rao,

MITCHDC answered your similar post quite well in the Ross Forum. There is no doubt that the $ is quite substantial, but remember that it is inversly proportional ( at least to a certain extent in the case of Caribbean Schools) to the quality of the programs and eventaully, good residency placements in the United States. For Instance, many students from St. Georges in the Carribean, seem to get highly competative residencies like Emergency Medicine and Surgery. Also remebmber that some schools can't place their students in New York State residency programs, and according to Dr. Durst (AUC grad.), 1/3 of open residency positions every year are from NY state.

Having said all that, U.S. residency programs (esp. University based) will eventually filter out IMG students according to a major criteria of USMLE scores, followed by the quality of the med. sch. program, rotations, grades etc. Ross, AUC, St. Georges, Saba, and MUA prepare their students quite well for the USMLE, but in the end, it will be in son's hand (ok brain!) to do well on the USMLE.


Good Luck...

While both are good options, I think it is important to consider how you will fit in at each program.

Ross is definitely better known, has a longer track record, has more graduates and is approved by just about everyone except the LCME (which they sorta tried to do by openiong a campus in Wyoming). While it used to be known as a school that wouold pretty much accept all comers and then fail those who just couldn't make the grade (VERY large attrition rate), Ross now seems to take a bit more care in choosing new students and has apparently lowered its attrition numbers.

A major factor you should consider is the living situation on Dominica. It can be very hard on people who have difficulty adapting to relatively primitive living conditions. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it seems to be very challenging for a lot of folks. I am sure the living conditions have factored into many students' decisions to leave when school wasn't going well. That said, I personally believe Dominica has a certain charm and would provide a tremendous learning experience for a young person who has never lived abroad.

Saba is also an excellent program (in my opinion). Though the school is about ten or twelve years younger with fewer graduates and is less well known, the Residency matches each year seem to show that it is on the right track and can hold its own against any of the "Big Three" (SGU, AUC, Ross). The biggest drawback at this time is that Saba has yet to be approved by California or NY. Though they are heavily into the approval process with both states, you must consider the possibility that they will be approved by neither. That would result in some problems with licensure in those (and other) states.

When all is said and done, however, I pretty much agree with your analysis Rao. Saba has a better student/faculty ratio. It is less expensive. It has at least a comparable pass rate for the USMLE (if not better). The living conditions on Saba (even though it is small and water is an issue) are decidedly better than those on Dominica.

Taking all this into consideration, that is why I chose Saba !

I wish you the best in your decision!

Best of Luck!

someone else wrote on perfectdoctors.com/ross.htm

First it is not been established as equivilant education to the US, It may be but that has not been done yet. You won't be able to use US federal stafford loans, and will be forced to us higher interest private loans. Their clerkships force you to move aroud the US alot. They have not been around very long, so they do not have a proven track record.
In the end if you do well in either saba or ross and do well on the step 1 you will get a good residency.
ross and SGU are the *** *** ******s and have proven track records, but ross is more of a self study. So if you come from a large university and know what it is like teaching your self classes like endocrinology, organic chem, and biochem I would recomend ross. You should also post this question on the valuemd.com web site, Main IGM forum. There are very informed people on that site.

Good Luck, and what ever you choose I'm sure you will do OK

http://www.perfectdoctors.com/saba.htm

that forum is monitored by saba people. you can't post freely. unlike ross forum, people say bad things about ross, etc, etc.

so it kinda suggests that ross doesn't care what people think what they are, but saba really doesn't want people to tell the truth .