By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University (1)
Over 3,800 AVMA-member veterinarians have graduated from Ross University in St. Kitts and from St. George's University in Grenada since 1985 and 2003, respectively. (2)
As of this posting, 58% percent (2,224) of these AVMA-member veterinarians reside in the seven most populous states (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio), plus the three eastern states of New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts. The actual number is considerably higher because, as for other colleges, a significant number of graduates do not list any personal or professional information on the AVMA member site, and therefore we have no accessible record for where they reside and work.
The graph below shows the AVMA-member Ross and St. George’s graduates from the ten states listed above, ordered from the highest (New York), to the tenth (Massachusetts). Using New York State as the example, Caribbean graduates, shown in red, comprise 15.1% of the State's veterinarians. Cornell graduates (the in-state college for New York) comprise 32.4% of the total of 4,100 veterinarians, and slightly over half are graduates from neither Cornell nor the Caribbean schools.
 |
| Number of AVMA-member veterinarians from the ten states with the greatest number of Ross and St. George's graduates. Also shown are numbers of graduates from the respective in-state college and other colleges. Data from AVMA directory, February 2015 |
The total number of AVMA-members graduates from these ten states is shown in the following table, along with the number of graduates from the two Caribbean colleges, the veterinarians from the respective in-state colleges and graduates
from other colleges.
Total
Vets |
Carib
Grads |
In State
Grads |
Other
Grads |
|
NY
|
4,110
|
619
|
1,330
|
2,161
|
FL
|
5,241
|
354
|
1,336
|
3,551
|
CA
|
7,008
|
251
|
2,680
|
4,077
|
TX
|
6,231
|
190
|
3,867
|
2,174
|
PA
|
3,480
|
154
|
1,545
|
1,781
|
NJ
|
1,884
|
150
|
0
|
1,734
|
OH
|
3,106
|
134
|
2,281
|
691
|
IL
|
3,277
|
133
|
1,760
|
1,384
|
VA
|
2,762
|
129
|
862
|
1,771
|
MA
|
2,025
|
110
|
654
|
1,261
|
In the absence of demographic data indicating the residence
of the Ross and St. George’s students prior to matriculation, it is not
possible to draw conclusions as to the proportion of veterinary graduates
returning to their home state after receiving their DVM degrees. That deserves further examination.
1. The author is a member of Ross University Board of Trustees.
2. Approximately 75% of these veterinarians are from Ross as it is the older school and also has more graduates each year than St. George's University. An additional 12 AVMA-member graduates of the University of the West Indies between 1998 and 2011 are not included in this study as that college is not accredited by the AVMA
2. Approximately 75% of these veterinarians are from Ross as it is the older school and also has more graduates each year than St. George's University. An additional 12 AVMA-member graduates of the University of the West Indies between 1998 and 2011 are not included in this study as that college is not accredited by the AVMA