10/15/09 GM minutes

 AMSA Fall 2009-Week 8 General Meeting Minutes (10/15/2009) 

Announcements 

• CAHPSA 2nd Annual Northern California Health Care Conference

(co-sponsored by AMSA)

Date: Sat, Oct 17

Time: 9:30 am - 4 pm

Location: 159 Mulford

Register at:

http://cahpsanorcalhealthcareconference09.eventbrite.com/

• UCB AMSA Vice President of Membership Internship

To apply for the internship, you must have at least 8 membership standing points and please be sure that you will be able to fulfill the requirements as they are listed on the application before submitting it

The application for this position will be available at amsa.berkeley.edu by

early this week. Please complete and return the application to me (Tiffany

Gee: tiffanygee11@gmail.com) by Friday, October 23 at 11:59 pm. Interviews will then be offered for one or two positions

• A potential biochemistry-oriented lab position/shadowing is available via UCSF. Please contact Yusef Karaouni at ymkaraouni@berkeley.edu for more information

• October Kaplan MCAT Test Prep Auction. For all the details, please go to this website, a Google form:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDNWdnlENmY4bHRDbWdNRFhNRzZhRlE6MA

The auction starts THIS MONDAY October 19, 12:00 am and lasts until

FRIDAY October 23, 11:59pm

Speaker: Ross University - Associate Director of Admission Tom Hueller 

• Background: M.A. in Medical/Psychiatric Social Work and has taken an occupation in the field before joining the admission board of Ross University

• San Francisco-based, one of the interviewers for applicants from the Bay Area

• Ross University is an international medical school that is a good alternative to US and Canadian medical schools. It was established in the Dominican Republic in 1978

• The curriculum mirrors that of US medical schools

• Licensed medical degree to practice medicine in all fifty US states, Dominica, and the Caribbean. Most of the graduates are interested in international medicine

• Performance in terms of Med school GPA and USMLE test is on the same par as US medical schools

• Placement in residency has a very diverse appointments in the US

• Housing areas are conveniently located near campus and near the beach!

• Faculty to student ratio is 1:15. Lecture sessions in the morning can be in a class size of 400. However, the afternoon sessions are problem-based learning through working in groups of 10-15 students

• Facilities are state-of-the-art; Gross’s anatomy labs are advanced with video dissection. Classroom lectures are augmented with plasma screens. Lectures are recorded so that students can revisit each lecture at their own time and convenience

• First two years of the program takes place in Dominican Republic. Then the fifth semester takes place in Miami, FL or Saginaw, MI. Then sixth-tenth semester is the start of clinical rotations and USMLE test. This would take place in appointments to teaching hospitals in the US. The appointments to clinical rotations with Ross are guaranteed (something to look out in other medical schools too). There are approximately 70 schools affiliated with Ross for this, mostly in the East Coast

• Admissions: typical premed classes (1 yr Bio+labs; G-chem and O-chem+their labs; 1 yr of Physics; 1 semester of Calculus/Statistics; 1 yr of English/Humanities with rigorous reading load)

• Average GPA of matriculants is 3.4 and average MCAT is 26. Average age is 26 years old. Student body make-up based on ethnicity is relatively equally distributed with no majority ethnicity. Gender make-up is approximately 50-50

• Requires two letters of recommendation: one faculty in sciences and one professional letter

• Application is separate: NOT through AMCAS

• Ross is considered by the US Department of Education as having the same standing as US institution in terms of financial aid as well. So subsidized, government loan is a possible part of the financial aid package

• For deferred students who are considered to have not shown the full academic potential, there is the Medical Education Review Program, guiding these students for 3.5 months to show this potential and get guaranteed admission to Ross upon completion with an adequate level of accomplishment. This is somewhat like a post-baccalaureate program except successful completion guarantees admission to Ross

• For more information, please contact Tom Hueller at thueller@rossu.edu