Just thought I would drop a note after my exit interview...wasn't sure which forum to put it on...this one seemed better than any of the others (although the ross victims page was tempting)
The exit interview itself was pretty straightforward. Fill out evals, review your transcript, talk with financial aid, get the cap and gown. Afterwards, however, I had the pleasure of talking with Bob Gelles about what I thought about the school and how it could be improved. Apparently, he and Al Lutfey have been meeting with students throughout the exit interview process and hope to give this information to the new board. They all seemed very excited about the new ownership.
In regards to the negative comments about people on the victims page, I think Ross students need to be more helpful and less antagonistic. Fellow students should be treated with respect, regardless of where they are in school. While on my last rotation, I met a former classmate of mine who transfered to Saba after leaving Ross and was starting his first clinical rotation. I have great respect for his dedication to medicine and his desire to be a physician. I don't know if I would have been able to recover if I had been unsuccessful at Ross and with the large attrition rate, many people have to face that scenario.
One of the things that I spoke with Mr. Gelles about was the need for greater support from the Ross faculty and administration. Students need greater access to teaching assistants and tutors in the basic science program and organized testing in the clinical rotations. Students need to feel that they are more than customers of the school. I think this is at the heart of why students from St. George's are so much happier than Ross students. We don't feel that the school could care less about us. Just another person paying tuition. Its really a shame, because many of my colleagues will be good doctors and I believe that in the proper environment, with support and guidance, they could be great doctors.
I don't however think that the posts on this forum have done much to forward the discussion or to create change at the school. If anything, they have only served as a release for frustrated students and a scary experience for potential students.
I hope that potential students talk to actual students, preferably on the phone or in person, and visit the school (if financially possible) before making the decision to attend. The propaganda put forward on this website as well as on the ross webpage (wyoming anyone?) shouldn't guide any intelligent prospective student.
If anyone wants to contact me for info, please do, although my time has become a lot more scarce these days. I left my email at the top and bottom of the page. If you want me to call you, you can email your number to me. If you are really aggressive, you can probably find my number on the internet. I'll be dropping in now and again when I get a chance with residency but I think I'm pretty much done with reading all of this stuff. I wish you all luck in your future endeavours and studies.
primum non nocere,
jordan
j_oland@hotmail.com
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