Edmonds resident Dr. David R. Gross has published a book aimed at helping graduate students get into and successfully compete in any postgraduate program: “You Can Nail It!  How To Get Into A Professional Program.”

The book is a comprehensive self-help guide that teaches students in pre-professional programs — and the academic advisors who guide them — how to prepare and practice for academic competition.

Each year, at least half a million North American students enter the first year of higher education expressing their intention of gaining admission into one of three medical professional programs. Available data indicate that only 55,000 -60,000 of these candidates actually apply to medical, dental or veterinary schools in the U.S. and Canada each year. The low percentage of applicants results because students with average or poor grades realize they will not be competitive.

Gross sets out his “course for success” based on experience that he has gathered over a 40-year academic career, showing students how they can improve their time management skills and learning efficiency.

Gross graduated from Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1960 and was in private veterinary practice for ten years. He enrolled in graduate school and earned a M.Sc. degree in 1972 and a PhD degree in 1974 from the Ohio State University. He taught and did research at Texas A & M University College of Veterinary Medicine for sixteen years then became Director of the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Research laboratories at the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine for five years. He retired in 2006 after twelve years as Professor and Head of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

A member of the Edmonds writers’ community, Gross also serves as a member of the steering committee for City of Edmonds’ Write On The Sound and as moderator of the newly-formed Edmonds Publishing Cooperative.