hey all, haven't been on here in a while, but thought i'd make a post as a Tufts person, because it's been interesting to read what it's like first year at other vet schools.
we've been in class almost 2 months - we've had 3 physiological chem exams (i guess our equivalent of biochem) and 1 developmental anatomy exam...haven't gotten the most recent p-chem exam back, but i've done decently well on the others. next monday is our first histology exam, and then on halloween we have our first anatomy exam (on all of the muscles of the thoracic & pelvic limb, plus actions and innervations, and like 200 pages of syllabus material). the last graded class we have is molecular biology, and we have a paper due for that in a week and a half. we also have some pass/fail courses - clinical skills (hands on with horses, sheep, pigs, cows, llamas, and dogs), human-animal relationships (yawn), and international veterinary medicine (the only course i really like).
we have 1 exam per week, and they're pretty much all on mondays (or tuesdays if it's a 3 day weekend). we had 2 weekends (one in september, and the first weekend and october) where we didn't have an exam on a monday, and i used one of those to visit my boyfriend, but now it's the end of free weekends.
to be quite honest, i waver between kind of disliking vet school and outright hating it. i don't think it has anything to do with Tufts itself, and i have no intention of dropping out, i am just realizing that i really really do not like being a student. a couple of other people i've talked to feel similarly - vet school is basically just a means to an end for a lot of us, and is not all smiles and sunshine, and there's nothing wrong with that. it just means it sucks a lot more for us, i guess. if i'm not studying, then i'm feeling guilty for not studying, and it's like a constant battle against the ever-present feelings of anxiety and stress. so i guess i'm still adjusting, but i don't think i'll ever get to the point of "enjoying" it, per se.
i was in the dvm/mph dual degree program for the first couple of weeks (they do it over 4 years of vet school), but i dropped out of it after realizing how much work vet school alone is, because i figure i will get my mph after i graduate, when i can actually devote sufficient time and brain cells to studying public health. i'm considering doing the IVM post-graduate certificate that Tufts offers, which doesn't require too much extra work, because honestly international vet med is the only thing i'm learning right now that i actually feel passionate about.
what else? i live with 1 other first year and 2 third year vet students, which is great for both getting advice and also having a convenient study partner (although i mostly study by myself). we have like 100 acres of trails leading from our backyard, so that's at least one good thing about being here. also new england is gorgeous in the fall - i've already consumed several gallons of apple cider, and the leaves have already changed color. so yeah, i guess overall i'm surviving.
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