Semester 4, Finals Week

Other than the studying another day after another day after another day, not very much has been going on down here... minus the giant 8" centipede that Jen and I took out one night after studying.

On a more interesting note, the university is under "attack" (in the reputational way) by yet another colleague.  Reader's Digest posted a list of the "Top 50 Things Your Vet Never Told You..." and #20 was appalling:

"20.  "Your vet may not have gotten into vet school!  Vets who can't get into traditional US veterinary programs due to bad grades and poor test scores often go to for-profit schools in the Caribbean, where, basically, if you can pay the tuition, you get in."  --A vet in California

The AVMA has also posted a response in defense of our school (link here).

I, like many of us down here, was outraged and posted my own reply to the article:

"I have worked alongside many great vets that have come from Caribbean schools, and am currently a student at Ross University myself.  Our education is no less challenging nor is our curriculum inferior to those at American schools.  As a matter of fact, our passing grade is a 70%, not a 60% like some American schools are!  We are held to just as high of a standard and don't take our oath any more lightly than our American colleagues.  We have just as much hands-on experience, if not MORE than some schools. 

What Ross provides for us students is a great opportunity to live and grow both personally and professionally with a wide array of experiences that we never would have had if we had attended schools in the US.  I would never have had the experience to work alongside the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network to help preserve the breeding population of leatherback sea turtles had I gone to an American school, for example! 

If #20 were true, the AVMA would not have accredited the university.  Accreditation implies that our institution meets or even exceeds the same standards that all accredited US veterinary schools are also held to.  There are even some schools in America that have limited accreditation status.  What I'd like to know is how the author of #20 feels about foreign graduates that have passed the PAVE or ECFVG (in addition to the NAVLE and their state boards) to get full licensure in the US if they have relocated to the States. 

I am proud to be a Ross vet student, and I am thankful for the opportunity that the school has provided me. I know many of us down here would agree! We're a dedicated, passionate bunch of students who have a lot to bring to the field of veterinary medicine, and I feel as though our commitment to the veterinary oath shows with the sacrifices we made in our own lives to get to this point."

And on that note, on to the finals freak-out, frantic studying phase:
* Monday:   Pathology II - 5:30-7:30pm
* Tuesday:  Epidemiology - 12:00-2:00pm
* Wedenesday:  Pharmacology II - 8:00-10:00am
* Thursday:  Clinical Pathology  8:00-10:00am

*panicpanicpanicpanic*

In that image, kitty = vet school... and, yeah, stress has been doing that to many of us.  ;)