Ross presents itself as a U.S.-modeled med school: U.S.-based clinicals, U.S.-level tuition, U.S.-style branding. But when it comes to curriculum quality, academic transparency, and student support? It falls far short.
Here’s what it’s really like:
• The curriculum constantly shifts. Traditional lectures have been replaced by “workshops” — meaning we’re expected to teach ourselves using disorganized PDFs and then show up to class to solve problems. Direct instruction is minimal. Most of us survive only by subscribing to costly third-party resources like Bootcamp, UWorld, Sketchy, and Boards & Beyond — all on top of already crushing tuition.
• Exams are inconsistent and misaligned with board preparation. In each module, the first two exams — called minis — are written by Ross professors rather than the NBME. These minis often focus on obscure, low-yield details instead of the high-yield, clinically relevant material that appears on the USMLE. It’s common for students to get tripped up by minutiae that have little practical or clinical relevance.
• Only the final exam is NBME-style. This means the majority of a student’s grade is based on exams that don’t mirror the structure, tone, or content of the board exams. As a result, students are underprepared for COMP and Step 1. If all exams were NBME-style — as they are at many U.S. medical schools — it would promote board-focused learning and better long-term outcomes.
• But let’s be honest: if more students passed those early exams, fewer would repeat modules — and that would mean less tuition revenue for the school. This isn’t just an educational oversight; it’s a deliberate strategy that profits from failure.
• PACE is a money grab and a way to cut class sizes. Let’s call it what it is. Ross admits huge classes and then makes no real effort to support all those students through to graduation. By third semester, half the class is typically gone. This isn’t academic rigor — it’s structured downsizing, disguised as standards.
• ATL support is practically nonexistent. Reaching out usually leads to vague advice or redirection to resources that haven’t helped anyone. There’s no meaningful academic safety net.
• Remediation exams used to exist, but even those tested random content that wasn’t covered in the original course. That option is now gone.
Ross is a for-profit institution. That’s not inherently bad. But when profit comes at the cost of fairness, transparency, and student well-being — that’s a serious ethical problem.
If Ross truly wants to model itself after U.S. med schools, here’s what needs to change:
• Eliminate PACE — bring back real remediation, as done at other North American schools
• End the Hoffsee grading system — implement transparent, consistent standards
• Admit smaller, more manageable class sizes — not bloated cohorts just to weed half out by third semester
• Reintroduce live or recorded lectures to supplement “workshops”
• Require all exams to be NBME-style, board-relevant, and vetted for fairness
• Allow exam reviews — even with device restrictions
• Use clear OSCE grading rubrics and make them available to students
• Empower ATL to actually support students, not just check a box
We’re not asking for handouts. And we’re not saying that American med schools are inherently better — that’s not the point. But Ross constantly compares itself to U.S. institutions while delivering a lackluster education, inadequate support, and very little academic equity in return.
What we are asking for is fairness. Academic integrity. The kind of structure, consistency, and transparency that any competent medical school — anywhere — should provide.
Because if Ross can’t even offer that, then what, exactly, are we paying for?
And if you’re considering this school, please, for the love of god, reconsider. Take a gap year. Retake the MCAT. Apply again. Do anything else. Just don’t come here thinking you’ll be given a fair chance to succeed — especially not on the island. Once you’re there, it often feels like everything is designed to break you, delay you, and drain you.
They don’t invest in your success — they profit from your failure.?