Class of 2015... How ya doing?

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Update from the UC Davis side of things:

School is going ok. I feel like we are really in the swing of things. We've completed all of our handling labs (equine, rabbit, rat, dog, cat) and are now working through basic physical exams (same species). In less than two weeks we will be done with our "Foundations" block and will be beginning our Heme/Lymph block. On Thursday, I have a rotation in the VMTH in Livestock Medicine. Should be quite the learning experience for good ol' small animal me!

I've easily switched into "happy to be passing" mode. I am doing well over passing but when I see a score and it's above 70, I just sigh out of relief and move onto the next thing....different way to think but I'm kinda enjoying it!

I've found a study method that is really working - study one on one with someone every evening going over lectures from that day and then reviewing any material that either of us still misunderstands from earlier material. We probably spend 4 hours reviewing a night and we haven't had to cram for an exam yet. (We study HARDER the couple days before, but no all-nighters, etc..)

I guess you could say I'm one of the "gunners" who is always studying or feeling like I should be studying but the ting is - I enjoy it! I love what I'm learning and I really don't mind putting so much time into it.

I am still finding time to ride 3-4 times a week and that is probably the max I think I could do. I am looking forward to my half marathon being over on Sunday because it will free time up in my schedule if I don't have to be working on that.

Weird thing? We haven't started anatomy yet. I'm looking forward to starting disections but SCARED of the memorization part!

Other worries - I think our next block is going to be substantially more difficult and time consuming than the current one. I'm not sure if I can fit anymore studying in without starting to lose my enjoyment....

So that's me. I love vet school. Would not trade it for anything. Worth all the hard work to get in and worth all the hard work to STAY in!

Originally Posted by heylodeb

We probably spend 4 hours reviewing a night and we haven't had to cram for an exam yet.

So jealous. I don't remember the last day I had four hours I could devote to studying.

Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of being a family guy is (for me) that I just have to accept I can't do as well at vet school as I'm truly capable of doing. Pretty much every test I've gotten "good enough" grades, but I'm always a bit annoyed because I clearly could do better - but between spouse and kids I regularly have to make the decision to not study.

My strategy so far has been to try and make sure I at least get study guides written every day for whatever lectures we have. If I can do more (like, you know, actually study) that's great, but usually that's about all I can do. By the weekend I'm usually able to 'study' the previous week's study guides. But that's pretty much all I get time to do.

That's awesome that you can keep that caught up. Hopefully it will let you ENJOY vet school!

I'm in the same boat as Deb over here at UCDavis, I find myself studying 3 or more hours a night, and get mad at myself if I don't because I'll feel behind. And in the past eight and a half weeks have probably studied more than I did in at least 2 years of undergrad.

I'm not sure how I feel about us not starting anatomy yet though, I think we've gotten a really solid basis which might make the anatomy more relevant once we finally get our dogs, but (and some of this is probably the transition from the old to our new curriculum) sometimes I feel frustrated by the lack of guidance or oversight especially on the parts of some of the clinicians leading the handling labs who expect we should know what the normal size/where X should be as we stare a little helplessly at the animal in front of us. Though I must say on the other side of the coin I love that we actually get to see live animals in labs and real cases clinics throughout our first 3 years.

Also for those of you in the trenches of anatomy at other schools right now, if it makes you feel any better, during our past day in the hospital's clinics I was in radiology, and the residents and faculty there acknowledged that even they after 4 years of Vet school, 2-3 years of residency and years in practice still opened up Miller's almost every day to check something. (and trust me the radiology copy of Miller's showed it).

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

So jealous. I don't remember the last day I had four hours I could devote to studying.

That's awesome that you can keep that caught up. Hopefully it will let you ENJOY vet school!

I really admire people who do this vet school thing with a family/other huge responsibilities. I feel like I can barely keep up with my dogs let alone kids. Many props to you!!

I don't want to come across that it's easy. I do feel overwhelmed about 102% of the time....Just lucky to have the time to study as much as I do.

Originally Posted by heylodeb

I don't want to come across that it's easy. I do feel overwhelmed about 102% of the time....Just lucky to have the time to study as much as I do.

Oh no way. Sorry if I came across critically - didn't mean it that way at all. Obviously you wouldn't study 4 hrs/day if it were easy. I think it's great you have that time. It'll make you a better DVM. I just don't like doing an "adequate" job... I like to do an excellent job. The resources are there: the school is great and the faculty are mostly awesome. But I don't have time to take advantage of it all. (Or I haven't learned how to make the time, yet.) So I'm sorta settling for adequate-to-good and letting go of kittens-and-unicorns-and-A+++ grades.

(I will point out, though, that my SDN time has plummeted. So I've at least made that smart choice..... )

First *real* exam today...Cell Bio...I studied with one of my new friends for 7 hours last night; lets hope it worked!

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

So jealous. I don't remember the last day I had four hours I could devote to studying.

Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of being a family guy is (for me) that I just have to accept I can't do as well at vet school as I'm truly capable of doing. Pretty much every test I've gotten "good enough" grades, but I'm always a bit annoyed because I clearly could do better - but between spouse and kids I regularly have to make the decision to not study.

My strategy so far has been to try and make sure I at least get study guides written every day for whatever lectures we have. If I can do more (like, you know, actually study) that's great, but usually that's about all I can do. By the weekend I'm usually able to 'study' the previous week's study guides. But that's pretty much all I get time to do.

That's awesome that you can keep that caught up. Hopefully it will let you ENJOY vet school!

Hey LIS, don't let that get you down! We know you're great. It's beyond impressive you can even DO vet school with a family! We have a few mothers-to-be in our class and I think at least one current parent, and I am mostly in awe. Taking care of a horse and two cats seems like a circus to me, most days.

I know you'd like to do "excellent", but a lot of times the things that separate the A from the B students (or even A from C) are little details and nuances that aren't super important in the large scheme of things, but demonstrate time and effort in really going through the presented material. A's, B's and C's are passing for a reason, because they mean you know your stuff!

You're excellent just for handling life and vet school!

Also, good luck EllieG.

Originally Posted by breenie

I'm not great at anatomy, soooo... here's to hoping it doesn't correlate with clinical ability.

unless you were to become a radiologist or surgeon or pathologist straight out of vet school with no further training, you'll be just fine . just don't be the person who keeps groping around at the belly fat pouch on a cat trying to palpate the bladder. It's embarrassing when the clinician asks you if people's bladders are found in their muffin tops too.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

So jealous. I don't remember the last day I had four hours I could devote to studying.

And what's even more is that it's a 4 hour buddy system. Pretty admirable that neither of you guys have flaked out yet.

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

unless you were to become a radiologist or surgeon or pathologist straight out of vet school with no further training, you'll be just fine . just don't be the person who keeps groping around at the belly fat pouch on a cat trying to palpate the bladder. It's embarrassing when the clinician asks you if people's bladders are found in their muffin tops too.

Bahahahahahahahahah

Well, I didn't break down and cry in the anatomy practical. I'm taking my victories where I can get them.

Originally Posted by breenie

Nah I got what you were saying, was just being sassy. I agree that it's hazing... but I think the nicer word is "conditioning" you to consume, decipher, and recall large volumes of information in short periods of time.

I'm not great at anatomy, soooo... here's to hoping it doesn't correlate with clinical ability.

We had a board certified internal med doc come talk to is in one of our classes and she was very upfront about how much she hated and was bad at anatomy. She was having trouble remember what the name of the humerus when looking at some radiographs but is an awesome dr. She definitely made me feel better about my struggle with anatomy.

The cell bio exam actually went really well! Eeeee! I'm doing it, guys!

Originally Posted by EllieGirl89

The cell bio exam actually went really well! Eeeee! I'm doing it, guys!

Look Ma, no hands!

I think I did well on our first mid-term today. Starting yesterday, though, it is ANATOMY WEEK OF DOOM at my house, since anatomy is our next midterm. Even with a week to study I feel like I won't be able to get it all in, but I'll go hard on the weekend and just get in my few hours each night before then.

Overall, I enjoy vet school itself. The teachers are superb, I find the subject material fascinating (anatomy maybe only half as much, haha) and I'm able to get in a couple hours of studying each night. I really, really miss home though. I'm managing fine with the keeping busy part but it seems like every day there's a handful of little things that crop up and remind me that I'm a long way away from all that is familiar and loved. I mean really, when else would I be excited to see a car with a Dallas Cowboys' sticker on it!?

major drama over changing an exam date...*sigh*

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

It's embarrassing when the clinician asks you if people's bladders are found in their muffin tops too.

Is that experience speaking, MB?

Originally Posted by EllieGirl89

The cell bio exam actually went really well! Eeeee! I'm doing it, guys!

You rock, EG.

And Breenie - thx! The peeps I hear about doing vet school while pregnant .... that's beyond impressive. Between 'life balance' and what pregnancy does to a woman ... I can't imagine it.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Is that experience speaking, MB?

lol, i've done lots of embarrassing things but that i can proudly say was not one of them. i hear it happens pretty often though, so don't feel too bad if it happens to you.

Originally Posted by jmo1012

major drama over changing an exam date...*sigh*

We had an exam date change last week and it was last minute and really threw off my studying for other classes. So, there was a lot of drama but I think it's actually semi-justified. In our case it was just a double booking of the room by whoever oversees that, and it all worked out ok, but I was super stressed because I felt like I should be studying for one test but felt like I was slacking if I didn't study for another. It was mostly internal conflict I think. Like I said, it all worked out ok though. Did relatively well on both exams (I think...only got one back so far)

Thanks LIS =)

Originally Posted by pooter

Well, I didn't break down and cry in the anatomy practical. I'm taking my victories where I can get them.

I only saw one person crying today so that's pretty awesome! Here's hoping we both passed!!!!

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.

Originally Posted by Bearby

We had an exam date change last week and it was last minute and really threw off my studying for other classes. So, there was a lot of drama but I think it's actually semi-justified. In our case it was just a double booking of the room by whoever oversees that, and it all worked out ok, but I was super stressed because I felt like I should be studying for one test but felt like I was slacking if I didn't study for another. It was mostly internal conflict I think. Like I said, it all worked out ok though. Did relatively well on both exams (I think...only got one back so far)

our class is quickly earning the labels whiny and intense. and this was really just an absurd debate about moving the exam up because we finished the material today and weren't supposed to have the exam for 3 weeks (along with 5 others in a 10 day span). everyone was unhappy for some reason or other (put it here, this date, that date, the list goes on ugh)-the professor is just like deal with it haha.

Originally Posted by goldnretrivrgrl

I only saw one person crying today so that's pretty awesome! Here's hoping we both passed!!!!

Originally Posted by goldnretrivrgrl

I only saw one person crying today so that's pretty awesome! Here's hoping we both passed!!!!

Oh that was just me....

Originally Posted by goldnretrivrgrl

I only saw one person crying today so that's pretty awesome! Here's hoping we both passed!!!!

I can dream. But, I can tell already that I'll have to *rock* the remaining exams to have any shot at doing well in the course . . .

No. Not thinking about that now . . .

Just to come from a different point of view, I love anatomy. I did really well on both the lab practical and the lecture exam. I'm not sure if it's the professor or the material, but it was challenging and fun.

Now, Histology on the other hand? Ew. If anyone wants to give me a great resource for learning that topic thoroughly, that would be fantastic.

Originally Posted by Tator17

Now, Histology on the other hand? Ew. If anyone wants to give me a great resource for learning that topic thoroughly, that would be fantastic.

Resource? Sure: A few beers, a microscope, and some good music. Mix thoroughly, rinse, lather, repeat.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Resource? Sure: A few beers, a microscope, and some good music. Mix thoroughly, rinse, lather, repeat.

Huh. I thought I had been doing something similar.... Oh right! I forgot the microscope!! I'll try your way and see what happens

We had our first Histo test on October 3rd and we haven't yet gotten our grades back. It's like the worst form of torture ever.

curious, does anyone else grade exams immediately after you've taken them? all my classes except anatomy have us hand in our scantrons and then the answers are posted and we can review or tests. we also then have the opportunity to "challenge" any questions that we think are unfair on paper for review by the professor. we have to hand everything back before leaving though. (everything except anatomy is MC here)

All of our classes have written tests on the computer. Anything that is fill in the blank must be hand-graded, but we get to see all the answers immediately after we submit the test. This lets you come up with an unofficial score, but you still have to wait for professors to grade their questions.

Anatomy and histology also have practical portions that are on paper, so you have to wait for those to be graded. Our anatomy professor is AWESOME though, and has them graded before Monday comes (all of our anatomy tests are on Fridays).

Originally Posted by scb44f

All of our classes have written tests on the computer. Anything that is fill in the blank must be hand-graded, but we get to see all the answers immediately after we submit the test. This lets you come up with an unofficial score, but you still have to wait for professors to grade their questions.

Anatomy and histology also have practical portions that are on paper, so you have to wait for those to be graded. Our anatomy professor is AWESOME though, and has them graded before Monday comes (all of our anatomy tests are on Fridays).

He was extra frisky this time and got them done by Saturday afternoon. What a beast.

Originally Posted by Tator17

We had our first Histo test on October 3rd and we haven't yet gotten our grades back. It's like the worst form of torture ever.

I hope your experience is like mine! Our histo test was broken into a lecture and lab test. I *genuinely* thought I rolled in with maybe a C on the lecture and an outright D on the lab. Like, really honestly thought it as opposed to just a whiny "oh I didn't do as good as I wanted" kinda crap. I was so off my game during the lab portion that I dropped my test slide tray and broke slides, even.

And then I got an A (barely) on both. I'm still slightly baffled and wondering if somebody took pity on me and put my name on top of their test.

Anyway, I think there is at least SOME element of "don't overthink it" ... at least with our profs.

I have to admit getting multiple choice questions of this nature don't amuse me:
Q: Which of the following is false regarding blah blah?
A: blah
B: blah blah
C: blah blah blah
D: All of the above are false
E: None of the above are false
F: Some of the above are false

Can't say I've ever seen a teacher use the 'some of' possibility.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

And then I got an A (barely) on both. I'm still slightly baffled and wondering if somebody took pity on me and put my name on top of their test.

WOOHOO! lol, I think we've found the guy in the MN '15 class who mopes around after every exam, when really he's laughing sardonically inside .

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

I have to admit getting multiple choice questions of this nature don't amuse me:
Q: Which of the following is false regarding blah blah?
A: blah
B: blah blah
C: blah blah blah
D: All of the above are false
E: None of the above are false
F: Some of the above are false

Can't say I've ever seen a teacher use the 'some of' possibility.

yeah, i've noticed that vet school profs get creative with their easy to grade, yet harder than the average multiple-choice type of questions. we had one prof who would have multiple choice exams, BUT there could be more than one answer choice for each question. So essentially, if it was a 30 multiple choice question exam with choices A-E, it was really a 30x5 = 150 true/false question exam.

It was good in that you got partial credit essentially for eliminating the obviously wrong choices and selecting the obviously right choices. But it was a nightmare for students who struggle already with test-taking skills, or are overthinkers. Drove me nuts when an answer choice included something that I thought I'd never heard of before. I couldn't tell if it was that I just didn't know it... or if it was a completely random thing there to throw students off (usually the case). And since it was for immunology where everything seems tangentially related... any true statement that seemed unrelated to the topic of the question at hand was very tempting as well. Like... you know... anything related to common inflammatory mediators seems to come in play for EVERYTHING. But getting circle happy usually led to minus points .

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

It was good in that you got partial credit essentially for eliminating the obviously wrong choices and selecting the obviously right choices. But it was a nightmare for students who struggle already with test-taking skills, or are overthinkers. Drove me nuts when an answer choice included something that I thought I'd never heard of before. I couldn't tell if it was that I just didn't know it... or if it was a completely random thing there to throw students off (usually the case). And since it was for immunology where everything seems tangentially related... any true statement that seemed unrelated to the topic of the question at hand was very tempting as well. Like... you know... anything related to common inflammatory mediators seems to come in play for EVERYTHING. But getting circle happy usually led to minus points .

Whenever I have true/false questions I have to stop myself... because if I see something I don't recognize I always think, "Well yeah, we went over a lot of material... That's probably true, and I just don't remember it."

For whatever reason, my automatic assumption is that anything I don't recognize has to be true. Why would they lie to me!?!? They wouldn't lie to me. Right?

Apparently wrong!

Originally Posted by Tator17

We had our first Histo test on October 3rd and we haven't yet gotten our grades back. It's like the worst form of torture ever.

That's crazy, that's the same day we had our histo test and just got our grades back yesterday. Well full grades back. We got back 2/3 of the test late last week. I'm pretty stoked because somehow I pulled out a B! I was fairly certain that I would be barely passing if I passed at all. Even after getting back 2/3 of the exam I wasn't sure if I had done well enough to pass.

The other part of these T/F multiple answer questions that drives/drove me crazy is that some answers you just can't evaluate. A statement that you don't recall coming up in class could be either:
* a true statement forgotten amongst all the info.
* a true statement that the professor actually forgot to mention this year but covered other years(happens way too frequently).
* a poorly worded true statement (I fall for these frequently)
* something you actually can't remember the details of.
* Something you are supposed to infer, but then again, it could be something you are not supposed to infer.
etc etc.

End rant.

Originally Posted by Bearby

That's crazy, that's the same day we had our histo test and just got our grades back yesterday. Well full grades back. We got back 2/3 of the test late last week. I'm pretty stoked because somehow I pulled out a B! I was fairly certain that I would be barely passing if I passed at all. Even after getting back 2/3 of the exam I wasn't sure if I had done well enough to pass.

My histo professor just told us that grades will be released today. Maybe he reads SDN? Of course now I can't concentrate on the lecture or on the anatomy lab or on the midterm I have later this afternoon. Eeeeeeeeee!

Update from NCSU: We are on fall break, thank goodness. Fall break wasn't something I had in undergrad, but it is most certainly welcome and needed here. We're definitely more than halfway through with our semester (we actually finish our last final, anatomy, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The Monday after Thanksgiving, we come back for two weeks of selectives, but those are fun and ungraded, other than P/F). There seems to have been a collective mental "shift" in my class...I think we are all a little more settled in, used to the grind of vet school, so to speak. Our most recent anatomy test was a bear, though, worth 270 points for the practical and written parts, with 40 of those points coming from old stuff from the first two practicals (it's amazing how much stuff you remember....and how much stuff you forget ). Of course we have an exam when we come back (Physio, but I like that subject!), so fall break is a break, yes, but also an opportunity to catch up on school stuff!

I wish I could have used fall break to catch up on everything, but I have an anatomy exam tomorrow, so that's all I've been doing. Once that's over, I'll start reviewing for the phys final on Wednesday, then two more smaller exams Friday... THEN I can breathe, Doubt I'll want to catch up with anything much after that.

Originally Posted by twelvetigers

I wish I could have used fall break to catch up on everything, but I have an anatomy exam tomorrow, so that's all I've been doing. Once that's over, I'll start reviewing for the phys final on Wednesday, then two more smaller exams Friday... THEN I can breathe, Doubt I'll want to catch up with anything much after that.

Lol, you'll get used to not using breaks constructively by catching up on non-urgent studying. Nowadays, I don't even try. The only catching up I do is the tv line-up.

Anatomy midterm in 16 hours.

Originally Posted by Coquette22

Anatomy midterm in 16 hours.

GOOD LUCK!!! I'm sure you'll do great! (just whatever you do, don't write male vagina as an answer to any of your questions. i did... and i'm sure my prof sighed at my stupidity).

First anatomy exam tomorrow at 1pm

Originally Posted by EllieGirl89

First anatomy exam tomorrow at 1pm

Yay! We'll be suffering more or less at the exact same time! Good luck OSU 2015!

Hope it went well Coquette!

I am quite confident that I passed this exam. The practical was pretty straightforward but I thought the written exam was a little tricky. I don't think I did as well as I thought I should have and I don't think my grade is going to necessarily reflect what I know. But then again, I could be pleasantly surprised. Guess I'll just have to wait and see!

Originally Posted by EllieGirl89

Hope it went well Coquette!

I am quite confident that I passed this exam. The practical was pretty straightforward but I thought the written exam was a little tricky. I don't think I did as well as I thought I should have and I don't think my grade is going to necessarily reflect what I know. But then again, I could be pleasantly surprised. Guess I'll just have to wait and see!

I feel like I could have written this post word for word!

only 17 more anatomy labs to suffer through. 17!!

and if i'm getting ambitious, only 47 more until i'm done with anatomy lab forever. but i mostly just can't wait to be rid of the horendousness that this semester has turned into. 17. i will survive!

After feeling like I didn't quite live up to my potential on anatomy, I totally rocked the immunology midterm today. Much needed confidence boost! Next is animal production systems on Friday.

(Still waiting on marks though...)

Originally Posted by Coquette22

Next is animal production systems on Friday.

What kind of content do you cover for that class? Is it more on the operational aspect of things? Or more in general what types of operations exist and how it affects society, etc...? Do you go on field trips for that? And if you do, what do you see on your field trips?

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

What kind of content do you cover for that class? Is it more on the operational aspect of things? Or more in general what types of operations exist and how it affects society, etc...? Do you go on field trips for that? And if you do, what do you see on your field trips?

It's a bit of a mixed bag! I really like it. Nothing too heavy, but very informative. It's sort of a crash course, especially for the people who might have no animal production experience at all. It's more operational. So the typical cycles of a cow/calf operation, sheep, goat, aquaculture (including a lecture on shellfish), dairy, poultry, swine, equine... And there's always the information on where/how vets fit into the picture. We do have fied trips. They're optional, but most people go. (Exception being swine, because of biosecurity.) A local farm will let us come in, they show us how things are done, how the animals are housed, our instructor is on hand too to answer questions. There's a little talk of society, but mostly in the context of economic impacts.