A recent partnership between SUNY Cobleskill and Ross University's veterinary and medical schools allows students easier access to continue their postgraduate degrees if they meet required academic standards.

But both Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and Ross University School of Medicine have been criticized for low completion rates and large class sizes, raising questions as to why the West Indies school was the first choice for SUNY's students.

The partnership between the two educational institutions has been a long time coming, said Lisa Lopez, assistant director of the Student Success Center at Cobleskill. In her job of working with students to secure internships and graduate school placements, she's seen many Cobleskill students continue their education at Ross as open seats for veterinary and medical schools dwindle and admission rates become more and more competitive.

"We've had all of our students successfully complete (at Ross)," she said. "There's no student in our experience who has been dismissed or been told 'You're not going to cut it.'"

Unlike most state schools, Ross admits three classes, or cohorts, of students per year, operating on a trimester system, said Chris Railey, senior director of communications for DeVry Medical International. By default, more students then have the opportunity to enter and continue their education at the Caribbean school.

But these qualities of higher admittance rates and larger class sizes are the same reason Ross comes under scrutiny from other universities, as some say the academic institution doesn't meet the rigors and demands of American schools.

Railey said the average MCAT scores for Ross is about 25, which he admitted is lower than most colleges. In 2013, the average score for all 48,000 students who took the MCAT was 28.4, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges and most schools look for a score of 31.2, according to Bloomberg.

There's more to medical and veterinary school applicants than just MCAT scores, though, Railey said, adding that Ross takes into account an applicant's GPA, social maturity and their in-person interview.

"It really speaks to the idea that we can take students who may not have the opportunity and have a great outcome for them," he said. "In a way, this helps us identify some pretty bright, intelligent people, some non-traditional students. For whatever reason or another, our school makes sense for them."

For Dana Elbrecht, one "bad year" left her feeling like she couldn't apply to state schools for veterinary medicine, and with additional high tuition costs for many of these colleges, Ross seemed like the best choice. The hands-on environment offered at both SUNY Cobleskill and Ross also prepared her for the demands of graduating in 2011 and moving directly into her career, she said. She is now a working veterinarian in New Hartford.

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A West Indies chance for vet, med students