Week 0 - Welcome to Ross & Orientation Week

The Atlantic to your left, the Caribbean to your right. Day One in St. Kitts and Nevis.

It's currently the day before classes start. I would input more on Orientation week, but that's probably not the reason you are reading this blog. You're considering Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine because, well, maybe your grades were not competitive enough to get into a United States Vet School. Maybe you weren't in a high percentile with your GRE scores. Or maybe none of the above, and you just want to party on a Caribbean island for 2 1/2 years.

One of my horses (BB) and I all dressed up
for a Halloween parade.

My name is Samantha, and I am a 22 year old incoming Vet Prep semester student. I did my undergrad at a small, private, liberal arts school near Pittsburgh, PA that had an excellent reputation for producing doctors, veterinarians, and other health-based professionals. I graduated with a low-competitive GPA of 2.91, but I had a GRE score in the 92 percentile. Looking back, I realize that my grades were due to devoting too much time to clubs and other activities. I was a member of my college's select choir, I was co-captain of the Equestrian Team, and I worked part time at a local Standardbred racetrack when I wasn't in school. The most time-consuming activity however were the horses, alpacas, chickens, cats, and a dog I owned and cared for at our private family farm, and by the time I would get done with barn chores and back to the college, it would be 11:00 at night and I would have to start studying. I was not considered competitive for the American vet schools, but I knew that being a veterinarian was my passion in life. I chose RUSVM because they are giving me a chance to pursue my dream- instead of solely looking at GRE and GPA, they question the reasons why those factors are low for each individual student.

My first view of St. Kitts was at 11:00 at night after traveling for 18 hours, and the lights around the coastline faded away into a black expanse. Walking through the airport (after experiencing the marvels of the Pittsburgh and Miami International Airports, this airport is TINY!), we were processed through customs and were sent to meet our Orientation Leaders outside the airport and took our first look around. Most of us were so exhausted that we just took out our sheets and pillows and passed out without even thinking of unpacking the rest of our luggage.

The view from the Marriott beach!

The following day, we visited the gorgeous Marriott for breakfast and our first look around the island, which gave me this beautiful photo. The next two days were spent visiting the Strip (beach and restaurants), Sprat Net (restaurant), and Reggae Beach (very pretty beach- but STAY AWAY from the Rum Punch, its potent.)
So then, necessary recovery days were planned, and in the meantime my group went grocery shopping, took care of our visa forms, and most of the other things like insurance cards, refund checks, laundry cards, and generally all hanging around together and meeting people from different groups on the bat cave hike and the Catamaran trip/ snorkeling adventure. I would comment more about the things I was able to do during Orientation week, but it would take a long while and is a little redundant. Besides, the point of this blog is to inform potential students about the realities of studying veterinary medicine abroad.

 So anyways, feel free to email me at farabeest@gmail.com or comment here with any questions, and I hope you enjoy reading this!