Island Med Student

I just replied to Navin, a nice Canadian who sent me an email with questions about Ross University. One day, I hope to make an actual FAQ for Ross, which would hopefully be useful to some of you out there. In the meantime, however, I thought I would at least share the email that I sent to Navin with all of you, in the hopes that it might answer some of your questions. First, here is Navin’s email:

Hi Kendra,

First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time in creating this
blog, allowing people like myself to have a glimpse into your experiences
at Ross University.

I live in Canada, and have recently completed by undergraduate degree. I am
determined to go to medical school, however my luck at Canadian
institutions, so far, hasn’t been great. I am now seriously considering
going abroad in order to complete my medical education. I plan on applying
to the four top schools in the Caribbean, including Ross University.
However, I have some reservations about attending a Caribbean school should
I be accepted. I was hoping you would be able to answer some of my questions
(I have a lot – if you can’t answer them all, that’s ok).

Without further ado:
1. How do you feel about the education your are receiving?

2. What are the faculty and other students like, compared to your
experience at an American University?

3. What are the facilities like at Ross? Are they as state-of-the-art as
they claim on their web site? Do you have easy access to high-speed
internet and wifi?

3. How do you like living in Dominica? What do you like most about
Dominica, and what do you like least? Did you experience any culture shock
when you first arrived.

4. What are your living conditions and accomodation like?

5. What do you eat on a daily basis? Can you get the same type of food you
can buy in Canada or the U.S.?

6. Do you have easy access to laundry facilities?

7. What are the citizens of Dominica like?

8. Have you spoken to anyone further along in your program? What are their
impressions of Ross after one or two years in?

That’s all for now. Reading your blog gives me a sense that Ross provides a
very solid medical education. My main reservations lie in whether I could
live in a place like Dominica for two or more years. I’ve lived in the
city for essentially all my life, and am not sure how well I could adjust
to ‘island’ life.

Any feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
Navin

And here’s my reply:

Hi Navin,

I’m really glad that you’ve found my blog useful. Here goes on answering your questions:

1. I definitely feel good about the education I’m receiving here. As compared to U.S. schools for example, I think the education is pretty on par. There are advantages and disadvantages that I’ve noticed. I think that should be evident in the answers to your other questions. But in general, I think the education here is good. Probably the biggest negative that I can think of is that there are a lot of students here. Because of that, you have to be more patient with certain things. (For example, speaking to a professor or something like that.)

2. I pretty much LOVE the professors. I would say 85-90% of them are absolutely amazing. There are a few of them that aren’t really that great, but they are the minority. The really neat thing is that there are professors here from all over the world. And many of them have amazing records. For example, Dr. Nardell is a physio professor and she was the first female to obtain an MD/PhD from Johns Hopkins. Most of them really CARE about the students and will do everything in their power to help you succeed. Most of them have “open door” policies, where you can just come in and talk to them anytime. The unique thing about Ross (as opposed to U.S. schools) is that professors here are not working full-time at a hospital, and are not completely busy with research. That ends up meaning that they are available to commit more time to the students, and they do.

3. I honestly love living in Dominica so much, that I could see myself living here (or someplace like this) for the rest of my life. It’s an absolutely gorgeous island, and there is tons of nature related stuff to do. However, I must point out that not everyone agrees with me. It really depends on the type of person you are. If you can’t live without a Walmart or Blockbuster or McDonalds, then you may hate it here. There are both types of students on this island: those who LOVE it here, and those who HATE it here. So, in my opinion, it’s not the island that matters, but the person. I did experience a bit of culture shock when I first arrived because I came here from Washington, DC, so I wasn’t used to this type of living environment. But I quickly adjusted. I have to say though that one of the main reasons I choose this school was because I knew I would not have a million distractions around to keep me from studying. You will find that the study conditions here are perfect (at least in my opinion). You will never decide to go out to a club or go watch a movie instead of studying because there are no clubs and there is no theatre! (Although they do sometimes show movies on campus, but hey, that really isn’t the same thing!) Oh, and what I like least about living here is the lack of sushi. There are NO sushi restaurants!! I am in major sushi withdrawal! But, I know that I will totally pig out on sushi when I get back to the States, so that keeps me going. Other than that, I really love it here.

4. The living conditions here are definitely different than in the States, but at the same time, they’re also quite similar. For example, I live in an apartment that on first glance looks like it could be any typical apartment in the States. But if you look closer, there are some subtle differences. For example, not all of the outlets are like in the U.S. (but my apartment, like most of them, have BOTH types of outlets, so it’s no biggie). There’s no hot water in the kitchen, and the hot water in the bathroom is kind of funky (but hey, it’s 80 degrees here every day, so who cares?!) The electricity is also a little strange, because you pay-as-you-go (buy electricity in advance), at least in most apartments. It also depends on how much you want to pay. You can get an amazing, huge, nice apartment for around $800 – $1,000, or you can get a little studio for like $400. I chose the mid-level apartment at $600 (U.S. a month). Also, sometimes there are power outages, and storms which cause the water to be brown. But honestly, that doesn’t happen TOO, often…at least not at my place. At first it kind of threw me off, but I eventually got used to it. Also, you can always go to campus if you can’t study at your place. They have backup generators, so there is pretty much always power, and they have triple filtered water to drink all the time!

5. Hmmmm, what do I eat on a daily basis…. Well, I can tell you that I do eat a lot of Subway! Okay, here are your options CLOSE to campus (you have a different selection if you travel, but I doubt you’ll want to go far when you’re in the middle of studying…but you probably will go out to other places on the weekend/breaks). The Shacks are RIGHT on campus. There you will find things like chicken sandwiches, Mexican (okay, not really) food, wraps, fruit smoothies, fruits and veggies, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of the Shacks are really good, and some of them are honestly sketchy (sketchy like I ate at them and had horrible diarrhea sketchy). Then there’s Subway, which is also on campus. It’s just like a normal Subway (wait, do they even have Subways in Canada?). Anyway, if you’ve never eaten at one, they basically have subs and salads and stuff like that. There are also a hand full of Chinese and Indian restaurants close to campus. Honestly, they’re not the quality that I was used to, but they’re not that bad. There’s a pretty good pizza joint (Perky’s Pizza) that’s right across campus. And lastly, you can make your own food (which I try to do often). Basically, you’ll find that the local foods (fruits, veggies, eggs, bread) are SUPER cheap. But if you want to buy some Frosted Flakes, for example, you will pay MORE than what you’re used to. Things that have to be imported are more expensive. That’s just how it is. You can find a lot of the stuff that you’re used to, but definitely not everything. It really depends on what you like to eat. I was used to shopping at places like Whole Foods (yeah, I’m a sold out yuppie wannabe hippie sometimes), to buy stuff like whole wheat pasta and tofu. Well, that’s hard to come by here. The local grocery stores don’t have the best selection. But there are nicer grocery stores in Roseau (about an hour away), so if you want to make the trip once a month or something, you can buy a lot of stuff. Fruits and vegetables are not sold at the grocery stores for the most part. You have to buy them at the Shacks, local shops, and the market.

6. YES! We all pretty much have easy access to laundry facilities. Pretty much no one has a washer/dryer in their apartment, but there are laundrymats on every corner. And you don’t do it yourself; they are full-service. You can either drop it off, or they will come pick it up for you. It’s pretty nice, actually, because it’s one less thing you have to worry about. I think it’s usually like $10 for a load (which is like $4 U.S. dollars or something – sorry I don’t know the Canadian exchange rate!)

7. The citizens of Dominica are pretty nice for the most part. They are, of course, very different. I know this sounds obvious, but there are some students who easily forget that they are in a different country, dealing with a different culture. Two things that are important to remember about the locals: 1) They are on “island time.” This means that they do things more SLOWLY than in the States. They take their time to do everything, so you have to be patient! You might walk into Subway, and be the only person in line and it still takes you 20 minutes to get your sandwich. That can be upsetting to some students at first, but you eventually get used to it. 2) They don’t have much. By that, I mean, that the average salary of a local Dominican is incredibly LOW. I don’t want to quote it, because I’m not sure, but let’s just say that most Dominicans do not have much money. The illiteracy rate here is also incredibly high. While there are some affluent and well educated Dominicans, there are definitely not the majority. But I would say that most of them are VERY friendly. They will say hi to you every time they see you (and they KNOW you fast)! If you tell them your name, they will definitely remember! Most of them are also very accepting of Ross students. They will treat you like they would any other neighbor. I have met a few Dominicans that weren’t quite as friendly, but they are definitely the minority.

8. Yes, I have spoken to many people further along in their Ross education, including physicians, residents, and med students doing their clinical rotations. Honestly, almost everyone I’ve spoken to had nothing but good things to say about Ross. I hate to say this, but if you read/hear people who complain about Ross all day long, you will eventually realize that most of those people are failing their classes. I had read the forums online before coming here and was a little unsure because I heard so many complaints. And then when I got here, I realized that the complainers are the ones who are doing poorly (for the most part….there are exceptions). It seems mean to say it, but the people who aren’t doing well usually blame Ross for their failure, and that’s why they hate it here. Ross is not perfect, and there are some definite disadvantages, but I would say for the most part, it’s a good school that can help you to your goal of becoming a doctor. And I guess I should say upfront that I happen to be doing well in my classes, so maybe that does make me slightly biased, but I think I’d feel this way even if I weren’t doing so well.

Okay, my fingers hurt from typing now, so I’ll leave you with that. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Also, I just realized that this email may be nice for other people to read, so I’m going to publish it on my blog. I’ll leave out your last name, though! Thanks!

Best,
Kendra