So when you go to the hospital, it's for pleasure? Right on.



Breenie, I should probably stick to that whole eating better than I used to bit, but if you want to bring in carrots, I'll totally eat some of those in lieu of cake. I mostly just wanted the petting zoo :o

Carrot cake?!

A nice compromise!!

(I am NOT one of the healthy folks that exercises and eats carrot sticks. By the way. I'mma weigh 250lb by the time I graduate.)

((If I *actually* start on the path to gaining like 130lbs, someone tranq me or something. ))

Haha I love you.

^^I think I'm way more stressed out by tomorrow's Patriots-Steelers game than I am by an impending Virology midterm on Monday. Steelers always lay an egg vs. Brady. :scared:

Sorry for the hijack, 2015ers. This is what you will become. Careful! :meanie:

Sorry we're not so encouraging! Personally, I love vet school. It is really hard (not conceptually, just from a time-management perspective). Like, harder than I imagined. But I'm happy and excited to be doing it, warts and all. It's definitely got its dumb/stupid/wasteful moments, but on the whole I get excited every day I show up to campus, even when I'm feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and like a total vet-school failure. There are definitely days where you just have to take the long view and power on through.

It's been hard adjusting for me from my 4.0 of pre-vet days to my, uh, less than 4.0 of vet school. I think I'm finally at the point where I can live with my current GPA. So long as it doesn't go down much.

To those of your potential 2016ers and beyond, ask any vet and they will tell you that sometime during your first two years, you will hate your decision. It's just that you have to work through it to get to the clinical stuff.

Now, as far as my feelings go, I've been enjoying vet school so far. It's definitely hard work to keep up with everything and cram so much inforamtion into my head in such a short period of time, but it is by no means impossible. So far I'm a pretty solid B student with some occasional As tossed in there for good measure, and before vet school I hadn't been an AB student in many years (I didn't do well in undergrad. I have the lowest incoming GPA in my class I think. There are some excuses I could make but what's the point). As far as the "no touching live animals other than my own" thing I've gotten around that by volunteering to work clinics for students, taking some weekend hours to dog/cat/horse sit, and talking to my old boss about working over school breaks.

I don't want people to be discouraged and think that vet school sucks all the time and you will never be happy while you're in it, but I also don't want you to have an unrealistic idea of what you're getting yourself into. It's going to be time consuming, it's going to be stressful, and there are going to be times where you wish you had chosen something easier to do with your life...like becoming a clown...or going to dental school.


On a side note, Nyanko, THE STEELERS ARE GOING DOWN!!!!

Whoa, I see quite the conversation went on while my class was getting drunk last night.

My two cents: I like vet school. I spend more time enjoying it than not enjoying it. Yes, I really hate histology. But I like physiology. I love animal production. The vast majority of my classmates are pretty awesome and I love to hang out with them.

Maybe whether you like vet school or not depends more on which vet school you go to than anything else?

Definitely not.

Overall, I don't really think so (I'll give you that there may be variations within the programs at other schools that may be better suited to me personally, but beggars can't be choosers)... I guarantee you I would still dislike going into the anatomy lab no matter where I went. I just don't like spending time in that atmosphere, and I get frustrated with the gobs of information that you just have to memorize. I can guarantee you that I would still enjoy physiology and biochem/cell bio/whatever different schools call it because I love processes.

Also, I like vet school, I just don't love it. I don't walk into the building every morning with my big bright smile pouring rainbows and gumdrops on everyone, but at the end of the day, I've learned something new, and that's progress; that's what I enjoy.

I love vet school - the classes, the professors, the clubs. I'm interested in what we're learning and I'm able to keep up with the material so I don't feel swamped. I make an effort to do Not Vet School Stuff, but not as much as I did in undergrad. For example, I don't have a job, I'm not riding currently, my boyfriend isn't here so we can't hang out, etc. I do clean the house, watch football and cooking shows, read and socialize with my neighbors. The clubs and lunch lectures are a nice compromise, because I can choose what I want to learn about instead of pre-determined classes; I think without them I'd feel a little more irritable about being force fed information. And not to sound like a cheeseball, but I really do like learning and when it's applicable to what I'm interested in, even better.

However, I don't like where I am. My house is nice, I've managed to find the fun, drama-free people to hang out with but I miss home terribly. Going from a huge urban center to a rural island is painful. I was talking to a girl from Chicago last night and I finally felt like someone "got it" in regards to how I feel; it isn't an anger toward the country or the place in general (although some people seem to take it as a personal offense) it's just not the environment I can be happy in. Yes, the fall leaves are beautiful and driving by a bunch of farms on the way to school is picturesque but I've realized just how much city amenties/atmosphere/lifestyle mean to me. So vet school itself (being at school vs. the experience of Vet School) is almost a relief because I can stuff my nose into interesting stuff and kind of forget about my personal troubles for the day.

Didn't mean to turn it into a giant rant/sob-fest!

My friend and I were debating this once. Is it really necessary to make professional students overwhelmed and stressed out by presenting a lot of material in a short amount of time? Why can't they throw another semester in there and spread things out? Will it make less competent doctors/vets/dentists etc. if you just slow everything down? :confused:. There was a SDN article on med school burnout which basically says that by the time you get to residency, a certain percentage are less empathetic, which IS NOT GOOD if you want to treat people. Also, the number of people who have breakdowns is staggering. I was just wondering if it is really necessary. Is it an indicator that if you break down in school, you are going to break down in a stressful situation when you get out? Who knows.

I will quietly leave this thread now.

If it helps, I'm with you on this. Halifax was not a huge urban center by any stretch of the imagination, but it's 10x the size of Charlottetown, and it's been... an adjustment. There's a lot about Halifax I miss (namely, a decent transit system and 24 hour amenities). I'm trying really hard not to be one of those people who moves and then compares the new place constantly to the old place, but like you say, it's just not an environment I'm happy in and if I didn't have school taking up so much of my time, it'd probably bother me a lot more than it does.

I'd like to see a school where everyone likes vet school (unless the school cafeteria spikes their food/drinks with happy drugs). You're always going to have the "WOOOOO I LOVE VET SCHOOL :love:" subset of students, "Vet school is a means to an ends and I'll tolerate it" subset of students, all the way down to the "I hate vet school, and I cry myself to sleep everynight" subset of students in every class. If there's a school that's an exception to that, I'd like to know.

I honestly doubt that I would "like" vet school no matter where I go. There are some fun days that I look forward to here and there, but for the most part, I'm over it. I'm just tired of the student lifestyle more than anything else.


P.S. And sometimes vet students don't seem very happy because seriously, vet school brings out the whiner in best of people. And remember, you're applying to vet school because you want to become a vet, not because you want to go to vet school! So as long as you go in with the expectation of being possibly unhappy for 4 years, you're all good.

I think my current positive attitude is tainted slightly by the fact that we just finished a block and I've actually slept 8 hours a night for the last 2 nights. ;)
I guess I'm not as stars and rainbows like I made it out. I have been on the phone sobbing after a really difficult exam, swore that if our professor says "as it turns out" one more time I WILL pull out my nerf gun, and my anxiety problems are unfortunately returning with a flourish...

Anyway, I think my feelings towards vet school are pretty damn identical to LIS. He just said it better! But I think a lot of people feel that way, soo...

I'm thinking that maybe the fact that I took 2 years off and had quite some time to relax and enjoy not being in school is helping me from feeling burnt out? Also, the other thing that I am very lucky about is that I didn't really have to move to go to vet school. My husband and I moved 20 miles down the freeway. I still get to see my friends and family on a regular basis (not frequent by any means but definitely regularly) I know where things are and how to get to them....

From looking ahead at our schedule - I will be hating life a LOT more in the coming month and promise that I will buy everyone a yummy delicious cyber chocolate bar or cookie to make up for my annoying positivity while you are all hating life! ;)

lol, it's funny because the 2 years I took off had the opposite effect on me. I'm itching to be back out in the real world again!

Omph, will your intentions are good, PLEASE don't add another semester or year into my curriculum. :) I get through my tough days by telling myself I only have __ amount left and I can't imagine increasing that amount haha

(it's basically like adding more time to the wait you're already in before you're out doing what you want to)

Lol, I was thinking the same thing! :laugh:.

It's good to hear that, actually. Not that I'm glad you feel that way, of course, but it's nice to know I'm not the only person missing home.

Trematode, I see your point about adding a semester, but I personally don't think it's an unbearable amount of information. There's a lot, but it's managable if you keep on top of it.

i agree that its a lot of material but that if you keep up its not so bad. i also am finding that i am very thankful for the anatomy requirement from my undergrad. A lot of my classmates have never had an in depth anatomy course before. it makes it so that i can spend more time on the things i am less comfortable with like histology. My recommendation to future classes (sorry 2016ers it may be to late for you) is to take an anatomy, histology and maybe an endocrinology course before applying even if it isn't required to get in to the schools you are interested in.Having a little background knowledge is proving to be REALLY helpful to me as i plow through the large amount of information that has been presented during block 1 and am trying to recall for the final on monday

I drive past the (tiny) airport, the USDA building, a dairy, a horse ranch, and some nice, open fields on my way to school. I think living somewhere like Penn would have made my brain melt. The location factor is always going to be a personal preference, and one to consider when applying, for sure.

I think it is much more based on personality than school. For instance, I love vet school and couldn't be happier - and I have a hard time remembering that not everyone absolutely loves UC Davis as much as I do (it is an even better fit for me than I could have ever dreamed). Sure, there are times I am stressed and would rather not spend my entire weekend memorizing virus taxonomy, but I have a smile on my face most of the time. And we all know how Nyanko feels :laugh:. Two different opinions - same school. There are 133 different personalities in our class, so people are not going to have the same opinions on things.

for what its worth, i never took anatomy, histology, or really any of the classes i have now prior to school and i'm doing just fine in everything (with the exception of anatomy, but i think its more a function of the people i work with and how its presented rather than prior knowledge). and there are plenty of people who took the courses in undergrad that are still struggling because the material presented now its much more focused and specialized

I didn't mean it as you can't do perfectly fine and depending on your personality maybe better with out having a background but for me it is helpful to not be looking at the anatomy for the first time right now. Granted sometimes that is a disadvantage and I think I know it better then I do and it can bite me in the ass but for the most part having a little background isn't harmful. For the students you mentioned that have a background that are still having a hard time would not having the course before make it easier for them right now because it would only be new information?

I have taken 6 credits of human anatomy and physiology, parasitology, neurobiology, biochemistry and am currently taking developmental biology and medical and veterinary entomology. I still cannot get in. :laugh:. At my local vet school, you are allowed to apply as soon as you get your prerequisites (which can take as little as 2 years if you plan it right) This means that those accepted after two years of university likely do not have any of these courses. It all depends where you go, who it is taught by, how it is taught and what your study habits are like. IE: taking the course previously MAY come in handy if you are struggling with the way the professor is presenting the material.

Anything is possible. Somehow I wrangled 6 credits of reproductive physiology into 3 years of college. I know my way around a weiner.

just throwing out a different perspective for any pre-vets who saw your post and suddenly freaked about not having taken those classes and not having time to fit them in (because i definitely would have panicked if i had heard it was highly recommended to do those first as a senior :) )

i feel like i have a love/hate relationship with vet school right now.

1. overall, i love school.
2. i love grenada.
3. i love the culture and experience of being in a foreign country/on this island.
4. i love that a lot of what i'm learning is filling in the gaps for everything i saw in hospitals.
5. i love learning about other peoples' stories (you can learn so much about a person just by listening) and backgrounds-many of my classmates have some really unique veterinary and life experiences!
6. i enjoy learning new facts, information, and piecing a unit together.
7. i enjoy working in our hospital once a week (we have such a different set of "common" problems down here, things i'd never see in the US).
8. i love the weather and my tropical environment.
9. i love being forced to work on limited resources.
10. i love having to be creative to make things work out.
11. i love working with animals and getting to play with live dogs in anatomy lab 1-3 times a week because our professor always brings at least one of his gazillion dogs with him to class.
12. i love that my professors are all kind and willing to help you in any way.
13. i love that every effort seems to have been made by the school to ensure students really do well and survive their first semester.
14. i love how willing the upper term students are to help the underclassmen out whenever.

1. i dislike feeling stressed out all the time.
2. i dislike feeling like no matter how much time i put into a subject, i might never be able to know and understand 100% of the material.
3. i dislike going to class and feeling like i'm wasting time because i'd do better studying the material on my own (i feel too guilty to skip though).
4. i dislike the whiny, immature, and unprofessional attitude that vet school seems to bring out in students. i dislike being tired all the time.
5. i dislike feeling stuck in a situation and knowing that theres nothing i can really do to change it.
6. i dislike be stuck with the same people all day every day because after 2.5 months, it has really started to grate on my nerves.
7. i dislike feeling like there are never enough hours in a day or days in a week.
8. i dislike feeling like i still have 3.5 more years before i get to have a "real" adult life.
9. i dislike feeling vulnerable.
10. i dislike feeling lonely and isolated.
11. i dislike being so far away from the man i want to spend the rest of my life with and wondering how we will ever possibly make it work.
12. i dislike being away from the love of my life-my piggie <3 and knowing that each time i leave her, she doesn't understand what's happening and why.
13. i dislike that i don't love every minute of being here and feeling so incredibly down and sad sometimes.

overall i really like school and i have no desire to quite. i am very much looking forward to having a month off soon to catch up on sleep, relax, and leisurely review this semester's material and look at what's coming up next. school is just A LOT of work and a huge energy zapper. :)

You get a month off?! Lucky! We get less than 2 weeks off for winter break

Us too. :( I'm used to generous breaks from undergrad. And only 6 weeks for summer! Auuuughhhhh Mizzou I love you but hate you.

You just made me lol.
I will admit, it is nice to go into a class and already know a good portion of the material. I barely had to study for my med and vet entomology midterm. Because I had already take entomology and parasitiology, I only had to focus on 25% of the material. :sleep:.

wow really? we have 2 17 week semesters for 3 years, a month off in the winter and 3 months off in the summer. we don't have fall, thanksgiving or spring breaks though

Yeah, it's how Mizzou manages to do the 2 + 2 system. We don't have a fall break or anything, but we do get a week at Thanksgiving. So, we sacrifice Christmas and summer breaks. :(

I keep telling myself it's worth it to get more clinical time. :)

I got my anatomy midterm mark back. I'm very very pleased. I think they may have counted wrong. :D

Holy !@#$ me too! :D Although my S&F grade went down? So I'm going to email her about that. But yay!

Since we've finished the biochem exam I have had zero motivation to do anything remotely school related. Which seems fine until you realize that we're going to be bombarded with finals after thanksgiving break. And thanksgiving break is only around 2.5 weeks away.
:yawn: Someone find my motivation and bring it back to me!

This has been the week from Hades! We had an anatomy quiz on Monday, a Radiology exam on Tuesday, and a Histo exam today. So this is how my life went...yesterday after school I went to my friend's house, we ate our weight in Chinese food, then pulled an all-nighter (okay with like two 1-hour naps) to study for histo. The exam was from 8-10 this morning, then from 10-11 my group worked on our epidemiology project, I worked 11-12, 12-1 we had a lunch lecture, and then we had class from 1-5. I am beyond exhausted but I'm super happy that our first round of midterms is over. I didn't do awesome on the histo exam but I did good enough and for that I'm thankful. I've really got no one to blame but myself because I didn't keep up on the material as closely as I should have. So I'm totally motivated now to do better next time. I'm taking a break tonight and then hitting the books hard starting tomorrow. Cell bio exam Tuesday, Anatomy exam Monday, then the next week will be Thanksgiving break. Then after that just two more weeks of class and a week of finals! I can't believe how fast this is going!

We had a renal phys test, a microanatomy quiz (essentially a small test), and our third anatomy test this week. I literally just got done with the anatomy exam. Let's just say, I'm still in vet school! Thank goodness that's over!

Yeah. Gotta say... WHAT THE HELL, ANATOMY.

By some miracle I passed the written portion of a test that was about things we had NEVER SEEN UNTIL TUESDAY.

Practical? I probably passed, but did not excel. Per usual.

I have never needed a weekend more!

I have a lot of work to do this weekend so that I can go visit my boyfriend next weekend. Also, only six total weeks of class left for us! Crazy how quickly the semester has gone.

Seriously... I did some stupid stuff, but some things were tagged in ridiculous places. And I, too, am not happy about that written portion. I could not have known that all if I tried. There is no. freakin. way.

Yeah, I didn't go in and look at the practical answers because I knew I'd be really mad.

stayed up late studying last night (hematology) and ended up barely getting any sleep because I spent the ENTIRE night reading supposed CBC's that my brain was "oh so kind" to create. Of course, they weren't even possible to figure out since they were sleep-deprived induced. At one point, the CBC for the same cat kept changing every time I would make a diagnosis, I'd look back and see that the white cell count had switched so that it no longer had a left shift or the previously regenerative anemia was nonregenerative now....
Around 4:15am, I seriously considered just getting up and studying more so I could at least look at CBC's that made some sense!

:sleep:

I remember when I thought memorizing the muscles was hard. That was cute.

:laugh: Right?!

One thing you will have learned by 3rd year is that 2.5 weeks is an eternity. Seriously. Enjoy a couple of nights off. :)

Haha. I know, rite?

We're having the pelvic limb vessels/nerves and abdominal cavity exam Thursday, then it's only the head left. One more exam on that, and then the 250 point final... yikes.

We have 5 exams and we drop 1.

And any time he calls something a "point-gathering activity" (quiz of some sort) you know you're about to lose some points... because I would never quite gather as many points as was intended.

:thumbup: What I'd do for 1 week free from exams... It's amazing how much more info they can put into the curriculum each semester.

When it gets to be 2.5 days away, then I start worrying.