Factors when picking a school

[whyrightmeow]

So I am in my first year and there are a few things I wish I would have considered before I made my final decision. These are only my opinion, and I won't be offended if yours varies. I am only posting this because I wish I would have read something like it before I made my decision.

I am at The Ohio State University right now as an out of state student.

Positives:
Can apply for resident tuition next year
Great school, nice facilities
Curriculum includes Professional development - basically a 1 credit course on a variety of topics including stress, time managment, finances, etc
Parking is right outside the building
Parking pass is a hang tag, so carpoolers can share 1 tag between several cars
24 hr access to building
Nice recreational facility/wall climbing
Social worker available 24/7 (for when you finally have that meltdown)

Negatives:
Quarter system (not semesters) - this complicates everything. Plus you don't finish until June.
Can only leave for 3 weeks over the summer - so any externship must be in-state unless it is HIGHLY unusual.
Lockers are tiny; a normal bookbag will not fit into them. It is also very crowded when everyone is trying to get to their locker at the same time. (seems minor, I know, but its the little stresses that are the worst)

Things I wish I would have asked:
Is anatomy lab structured, or do you just get a dog and a book? (Our canine anatomy lab is, in my opinion, poorly structured)
Are tests returned to students, or is it against honor code to write down questions from the test? (At OSU vet school no tests are returned, EVER. This bothers me after every test, since I like to know what I got wrong and what the correct answer was - this may have been a deal-breaker for me)
How much (live) animal interaction is there for first year students?
Do you buy class notes or are they posted online so notes can be taken directly on a laptop? (I was amazed at needing to buy 80% of my notes, when I came from an undergrad school that I never once bought a course pack for)
Is the schedule set, or does it change from day to day? (Our schedule has a main theme, but basically changes a little each day)

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[chloehazel]

Lol I realized after posting that that I guess that's not really that cold comparatively to those of you who live in places with actual seasons... But for us floridians, anything under 60 is worth talking about.

It will be 27 tonight though. Does that count as cold?

 

[that redhead]

Lol I realized after posting that that I guess that's not really that cold comparatively to those of you who live in places with actual seasons... But for us floridians, anything under 60 is worth talking about.

It will be 27 tonight though. Does that count as cold?

Oh I know of you Floridians (and my husband is a Texan), there are a couple in my class. They were bundled up hardcore our first autumn here, hehe.

And no, 27 is not cold. It was 10 out today and it wasn't cold. But we don't have to deal with alligators, so I guess it evens up

 

[orca2011]

Oh I know of you Floridians (and my husband is a Texan), there are a couple in my class. They were bundled up hardcore our first autumn here, hehe.

And no, 27 is not cold. It was 10 out today and it wasn't cold. But we don't have to deal with alligators, so I guess it evens up

The fire ants are more of a concern to me. And they have weird grass that scratches you.

And it's 23 here, but feels like 10.

 

[evilsquirrel]

Can we get an update list for Purdue or Kansas? I think Kansas's entry was from 3 or more years ago...

 

[SV88]

Request for Western and TN if anyone can

 

[dyachei]

[quotehttp://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/factors-when-picking-a-school.580221/page-8="SV88, post: 14829031, member: 553817"]Request for Western and TN if anyone can [/quote]
TN - keep in mind I graduated 2011.
Pros:
brand new large animal facility
smallish classes and closeknit community
great zoo/exotics program and hosts symposium every other year
excellent faculty with few exceptions
excellent radiology program
Admin cares about you
low cost of living including car registration
great wildlife/hiking (Ijams, etc)

Cons:
Knoxville is a small city - like really small. And it swells with football season. So traffic sucks with football
Weather - its just nasty enough to get things like hail but isn't super bad
did I mention it's a small city?
some adjustment needed to parts of the small animal hospital
Some facility adjustment needed for the first 3 years of school - not sure if this has been dealt with or not, but our classroom was in bad shape and needed an update

 

[twelvetigers]

Cons:
Knoxville is a small city - like really small. ...
did I mention it's a small city?

Knoxville population - 178,874 as of the 2010 census

Stillwater - as of 2012, the city population was estimated to be 46,560

Yeah, such a tiny town. Can't even imagine.

 

[SV88]

[quotehttp://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/factors-when-picking-a-school.580221/page-8="SV88, post: 14829031, member: 553817"]Request for Western and TN if anyone can

TN - keep in mind I graduated 2011.
Pros:
brand new large animal facility
smallish classes and closeknit community
great zoo/exotics program and hosts symposium every other year
excellent faculty with few exceptions
excellent radiology program
Admin cares about you
low cost of living including car registration
great wildlife/hiking (Ijams, etc)

Cons:
Knoxville is a small city - like really small. And it swells with football season. So traffic sucks with football
Weather - its just nasty enough to get things like hail but isn't super bad
did I mention it's a small city?
some adjustment needed to parts of the small animal hospital
Some facility adjustment needed for the first 3 years of school - not sure if this has been dealt with or not, but our classroom was in bad shape and needed an update[/quote]
Thank you

 

[jmo1012]

Lol I realized after posting that that I guess that's not really that cold comparatively to those of you who live in places with actual seasons... But for us floridians, anything under 60 is worth talking about.

It will be 27 tonight though. Does that count as cold?

the island girl says yes that is cold

 

[dyachei]

Yeah, such a tiny town. Can't even imagine.

Hey, I know your area is smaller, but that number is probably when all the football fans come in or during school. It takes getting used to if you aren't from the area. They also try to act like they are a bigger city than they are

 

[WelshCob]

Florida.

I was kind of adverse to going to my own instate school but now I absolutely love it.

Pros:

• Anything you need you can find it in Gainesville. It even has a decent airport to fly out of and if you get tickets early enough it doesn't cost that much more then flying out of a larger airport. Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa are three major cities all with in 2 hours of Gainesville. If you are into horses, Ocala is a 30 minute drive.
• Football is a religion.
• So far all of the instructors barring one that I have met are amazing. They really care and for the most part are both good teachers and people. Even the PhDs.
• They have implemented clinical correlates into almost every class, it is neat to see where all of this is going.
• At the vet school, I can always find parking. Overflow parking is on top of a garage and is less then a 5 minute walk to the schools front door. This used to be a huge issue.
• New fancy small animal hospital that has a primary care ward
• The staff at the small animal hospital is excellent to students, especially primary care.
• You can get almost any large brand of food at a discount.
• We have several certificate programs. So far we have shelter medicine, aquatic animal health, food animal health, international medicine, and business.
• Our Shelter medicine program is the largest and most well known of any school. There are tons of ways to get involved with this. Including catnip which is amazing for getting surgical experience.
• Lots of really good dinner meeting topics. I feel the clubs do a fantastic job organizing these as well as wetlabs.
• The anatomy lab coordinator that can help you find and identify anything.
• Scooter culture.
• Clinics are done summer and fall semester of 3rd year and spring semester of your 4th year. This allows you go go back to the classroom for electives after your first round of clinics, to allow you to learn more about what you think you'd like to do.
• Housing. You find find absolutely anything here. If you want and apartment, house, condo you can find it for rent or sale. Any and every budget can be accommodated.

Cons:

• A lot of people don't like the first year lecture hall. I have absolutely zero complaints about it, except when I am stuck inside it for 6+ hours.
• The library/education center is awful for studying.
• Any lab that involves a microscope is across the street at Shands, aka the human hospital. It sucks when it is hot to walk over there. Also we apparently found out it lacks a heating system. So its been epically cold in Florida and welp the lab is freezing. Also I really injured myself and has no way of getting over to the lab so I ended up not going.
• Limited places to eat. There is a serious rumor going around that we are getting a cafeteria soon. This place is a bring your own lunch place. No where to go get food during your lunch break. There is an Einstein bagels in the small animal hospital which is good for coffee, and the rare occasion you dont bring lunch.
• Schedule is all over the place.

I can answer any specifics you might have.

 

[Coquette22]

The posts about town size reminded me - Charlottetown is a whopping 34,500 people. If you like small towns, go for it. If you can't deal with that (and hell, there's days that I can't deal with it), consider applying elsewhere if you're not a regional Canadian applicant.

 

[BlackDog17]

The posts about town size reminded me - Charlottetown is a whopping 34,500 people. If you like small towns, go for it. If you can't deal with that (and hell, there's days that I can't deal with it), consider applying elsewhere if you're not a regional Canadian applicant.

I find it hilarious that so many people at AVC refer to Charlottetown as "the big city." I come from a small town of <3,000 people and even I don't think of Charlottetown as a real city!

 

[Coquette22]

I find it hilarious that so many people at AVC refer to Charlottetown as "the big city." I come from a small town of <3,000 people and even I don't think of Charlottetown as a real city!

It's a relative thing. In terms of PEI, Charlottetown is "a big city". And there's a lot of native Islanders at AVC or at least people who have lived here a really long time, so to them, the biggest population center on the island = a big city. For me, it's too small. I'm not a huge city person. I think I could cope in places like Toronto or New York City, but it's not ideal for me. I'm more comfortable in small cities like Halifax (300,000).

 

[Crystalight33]

TN - keep in mind I graduated 2011.
Pros:
brand new large animal facility
smallish classes and closeknit community
great zoo/exotics program and hosts symposium every other year
excellent faculty with few exceptions
excellent radiology program
Admin cares about you
low cost of living including car registration
great wildlife/hiking (Ijams, etc)

Cons:
Knoxville is a small city - like really small. And it swells with football season. So traffic sucks with football
Weather - its just nasty enough to get things like hail but isn't super bad
did I mention it's a small city?
some adjustment needed to parts of the small animal hospital
Some facility adjustment needed for the first 3 years of school - not sure if this has been dealt with or not, but our classroom was in bad shape and needed an update

I'm currently a first year, so I can update this a little bit

Tennessee

Pros:

-Brand. New. Large. Animal. Hospital. It is seriously seriously cool, top of the line surgery suites and recovery areas for equine AND large animal, indoor equine arena, equine underwater treadmill, in house farrier, separate wings for camelids (lots of alpacas and llamas in the area), swine, small ruminants, and large ruminants. Also, all students are invited to join equine rounds on Tuesdays and Thursdays and large animal rounds on Wednesdays, which is a great way to get to know the faculty as well as the facilities.

-Small animal hospital is really neat too, rehab clinic with a pool and an underwater treadmill for dogs, super fancy MRI, CT machines, very neat oncology dept. Also, community practice is where students can take their pets for check-ups, vaccines, and routine surgery for a discounted rate (I think my exam fee was around $15 when I took my cat there).

-Exotics dept is very active. They do a lot of work for the Knoxville Zoo and there is a big cat rescue that brings a lot of big cats here for procedures that students are able to observe.

-Everyone here wants you to succeed. The teachers will come in on their own time (weekends/evenings) to hold study sessions before tests. We also have student led review sessions and a google drive where people will post their notes. At the beginning of the year, we are paired up with a second year student (our 'big sib') and they give us old notes, study guides, old exams, and lots of encouragement.

-Small class size (85 give or take) and the dean is not increasing it anytime in the foreseeable future. Also, anatomy labs are split now so it isn't the whole class in the lab all at once.

-Very active clubs. There is a club for almost everything here and a lot of them have really cool wet labs. I've done declaw procedures on cadaver cats, a fish necropsy, and will be doing a bird necropsy next month. There is also a spay/neuter lab with cadavers, an equine lameness wet lab, there was even a paddle boarding trip with the environmental club. And speaking of necropsy, there are gross path rounds pretty much every day (when necropsy gets cool stuff) where the pathologists show us cool tumors, diseases, parasites, abnormal organs, etc.

-I really like Knoxville. I don't think it's that small, there are 3 malls, something like 1500 restaurants, extremely dog friendly downtown (restaurants have outdoor seating for you to eat with your dog), plus there is a lot of outdoor activities in the area: hiking, whitewater rafting/kayaking, rock climbing (esp around Chattanooga), and skiing (though I've heard it isn't so good in Gatlinburg). There are also a couple of greenways right in front of the vet school that I like to run that are pretty busy and I feel safe on.

Cons:

-Football. I'm not a huge football fan, so it may be a pro for you if you are, but football is huge here. Game days pretty much shut down campus and it is hard to come study at the vet school before, during, or for 2 hours after a football game. It's just on Saturdays though, Sunday is back to normal.

-Parking is expensive. A parking tag is around $180 for the year and the parking lots around the vet school are open to undergrads as well. It isn't usually a problem though except on the rare days when class doesn't start until after 10am.

-The classrooms are a little bit on the old side. They are completely functional and all the technology is up to date, they just aren't as pretty as some other schools. The second year classroom is on the other side of the parking lot from the vet school and it is pretty up to date and nice looking. There is a plan to build a new auditorium for the vet school, but I don't think it will be finished by the time I graduate.

-It very rarely snows here, even though it is cold enough.

-It is pretty much impossible to gain residency here if you are out of state.

 

[dyachei]

I'm currently a first year, so I can update this a little bit

Tennessee

Pros:

-Brand. New. Large. Animal. Hospital. It is seriously seriously cool, top of the line surgery suites and recovery areas for equine AND large animal, indoor equine arena, equine underwater treadmill, in house farrier, separate wings for camelids (lots of alpacas and llamas in the area), swine, small ruminants, and large ruminants. Also, all students are invited to join equine rounds on Tuesdays and Thursdays and large animal rounds on Wednesdays, which is a great way to get to know the faculty as well as the facilities.

-Small animal hospital is really neat too, rehab clinic with a pool and an underwater treadmill for dogs, super fancy MRI, CT machines, very neat oncology dept. Also, community practice is where students can take their pets for check-ups, vaccines, and routine surgery for a discounted rate (I think my exam fee was around $15 when I took my cat there).

-Exotics dept is very active. They do a lot of work for the Knoxville Zoo and there is a big cat rescue that brings a lot of big cats here for procedures that students are able to observe.

-Everyone here wants you to succeed. The teachers will come in on their own time (weekends/evenings) to hold study sessions before tests. We also have student led review sessions and a google drive where people will post their notes. At the beginning of the year, we are paired up with a second year student (our 'big sib') and they give us old notes, study guides, old exams, and lots of encouragement.

-Small class size (85 give or take) and the dean is not increasing it anytime in the foreseeable future. Also, anatomy labs are split now so it isn't the whole class in the lab all at once.

-Very active clubs. There is a club for almost everything here and a lot of them have really cool wet labs. I've done declaw procedures on cadaver cats, a fish necropsy, and will be doing a bird necropsy next month. There is also a spay/neuter lab with cadavers, an equine lameness wet lab, there was even a paddle boarding trip with the environmental club. And speaking of necropsy, there are gross path rounds pretty much every day (when necropsy gets cool stuff) where the pathologists show us cool tumors, diseases, parasites, abnormal organs, etc.

-I really like Knoxville. I don't think it's that small, there are 3 malls, something like 1500 restaurants, extremely dog friendly downtown (restaurants have outdoor seating for you to eat with your dog), plus there is a lot of outdoor activities in the area: hiking, whitewater rafting/kayaking, rock climbing (esp around Chattanooga), and skiing (though I've heard it isn't so good in Gatlinburg). There are also a couple of greenways right in front of the vet school that I like to run that are pretty busy and I feel safe on.

Cons:

-Football. I'm not a huge football fan, so it may be a pro for you if you are, but football is huge here. Game days pretty much shut down campus and it is hard to come study at the vet school before, during, or for 2 hours after a football game. It's just on Saturdays though, Sunday is back to normal.

-Parking is expensive. A parking tag is around $180 for the year and the parking lots around the vet school are open to undergrads as well. It isn't usually a problem though except on the rare days when class doesn't start until after 10am.

-The classrooms are a little bit on the old side. They are completely functional and all the technology is up to date, they just aren't as pretty as some other schools. The second year classroom is on the other side of the parking lot from the vet school and it is pretty up to date and nice looking. There is a plan to build a new auditorium for the vet school, but I don't think it will be finished by the time I graduate.

-It very rarely snows here, even though it is cold enough.

-It is pretty much impossible to gain residency here if you are out of state.

About the weather - I moved to Knoxvegas and everyone was talking about how it didn't really snow, etc. The first year I was there, it not only snowed, it black-iced and the school didn't shut everything down until most people had already had issues getting in. There were over 200 accidents that day. the next year was ok, the 3rd year had lots of snow/ice, by 4th year, I had difficulty getting to campus multiple days AND we had a massive hailstorm which did like $6000 worth of damage to my car.

 

[hedgehogcatcher]

...

 

[wolfpackprevet]

I can talk about Raleigh all day, feel free to PM me. I've lived here for my entire life, in the region right around the vet school for 8 of those.

 

[wildcatj]

Bumping this up again for those of you who have a decision to make!

 

[MystoryMachine]

Hello friends! Would anyone be willing to do an update for A&M, Purdue, and/or OkSU?? Thanks!

 

[Tbeezer12]

An update on Illinois would be awesome!

 

[bbeventer]

An update on Illinois would be awesome!

Illinois

Pros:

• Integrated curriculum from day 1
• 8 weeks of Rotation/clinical experience 1st year, 7 weeks of Rotations second year
• Wide selection of elective courses (that are available starting the second "quarter" of first year)
  
• For 4th year 2 block systems are offered "small" and "large" the "large" animal block gives you a lot of off campus time which many students utilize for externships in wildlife med, exotics, equine, etc.
• Very active clubs with a constant stream of interesting wetlabs and scrumptious food.
• Great discount programs (food, vaccines, flea/tick, other products)
• Plenty of parking around campus
• All notes are provided prior to class via powerpoint pdf format ready to be downloaded to onenote
• All lectures are captured on itunes (unless it breaks)
• Mostly free printing (we don't think its supposed to be free, but it never charges us to print)
• Great exotic/wildlife medicine program that you can be involved with beginning day 1 of first year
• Great professors, with the normal few exceptions
• All the core classes are under one roof
• The Hospital is a 5 second walk from the Basic Science Building (where classes are held 1st/2nd year)
• Our clinical skills lab allows hands on practice of skills on models, and there is instruction time dedicated in the skills lab 1st/2nd/3rd year (from suturing, to scrubbing and quartering a patient for surgery)
• Courses are blocked together in 8 week sections like quarters, limiting the amount of exams to only a Midterm and Final! All subjects are on one exam so you only have 1 exam to study for at an time. No more 8 exams in 1 week.
• There is a cafe on the vet med campus that provides decent food and coffee
• The vet med campus is located away from main campus by a few blocks, far enough away to avoid the traffic, but close enough to use the gym.

Cons:

• Small town in the middle of a corn field, and its flat
• Its always windy here
• A parking pass is $660 bucks!!!
• The library is extremely outdated
• Very limited caseload in some departments
• The 3rd year lecture hall is not conducive to learning
• The cafe is kinda expensive

 

[fractiousfeline]

Need opinions on NCSU vs. Wisconsin ASAP!

Was taken off NCSU's wait list yesterday and have to decide by Monday

 

[bluesails]

Would LOVE updates on Cornell and Tufts. I've deposited at Tufts but got accepted to Cornell off the waitlist and have to decide TOMORROW MORNING... oh God.

 

[twelvetigers]

Need opinions on NCSU vs. Wisconsin ASAP!

Was taken off NCSU's wait list yesterday and have to decide by Monday

Is NCSU not a whooooole hell of a lot cheaper?

 

[fractiousfeline]

Is NCSU not a whooooole hell of a lot cheaper?

Only $10,000 less over the entire four years (Wisconsin offered me a scholarship, bringing the difference down). If it were any more, I'd probably choose NCSU hands down, but this is a relatively small difference compared to most other vet schools.

Both have great OOS tuition rates, NCSU because of the IS residency after the first year and Wisconsin because who knows why, it's just cheap! That's actually the reason I applied to both

 

[orca2011]

Is NCSU not a whooooole hell of a lot cheaper?

Wisconsin has super cheap OOS tuition, so it might be somewhat comparable.

 

[cadisestrama]

Is NCSU not a whooooole hell of a lot cheaper?

I think there isn't too much of a difference between NCSU and Wisconsin in terms of cost. Isn't NCSU's ~40K a year for OOS (but you can get IS tuition after the first year: ~17K). Which comes out to be about 91K. Whereas Wisconsin's OOS tuition is ~26K, so 4 years would make it 104K.

Edit: Oops... Didn't see that other people posted already.

 

[fractiousfeline]

I think there isn't too much of a difference between NCSU and Wisconsin in terms of cost. Isn't NCSU's ~40K a year for OOS (but you can get IS tuition after the first year: ~17K). Which comes out to be about 91K. Whereas Wisconsin's OOS tuition is ~26K, so 4 years would make it 104K.

Edit: Oops... Didn't see that other people posted already.

Yep, exactly. The figures I have show that NCSU should be $89K and Wisconsin will be $99K after my scholarship. So tuition is very comparable!

Any current NCSU or Wisconsin students out there that can whip up a pros and cons list? You'd be my hero

 

[dovelover]

]
Any current NCSU or Wisconsin students out there that can whip up a pros and cons list? You'd be my hero

I don't go to either school, but North Carolina's a hell of a lot warmer than Wisconsin. It's snowing here in Minnesota right now. Wouldn't be surprised if it is in Wisconsin, too. Just saying.

 

[onisteverina]

I, too, would really appreciate an updated pros/cons list for Cornell and Wisconsin!

 

[twelvetigers]

Only $10,000 less over the entire four years (Wisconsin offered me a scholarship, bringing the difference down). If it were any more, I'd probably choose NCSU hands down, but this is a relatively small difference compared to most other vet schools.

Both have great OOS tuition rates, NCSU because of the IS residency after the first year and Wisconsin because who knows why, it's just cheap! That's actually the reason I applied to both

I wasn't sure about Wisconsin. In that case, I have nothing to add.

 

[orca2011]

Yep, exactly. The figures I have show that NCSU should be $89K and Wisconsin will be $99K after my scholarship. So tuition is very comparable!

Any current NCSU or Wisconsin students out there that can whip up a pros and cons list? You'd be my hero

Personally, I would pick NCSU but I know very little about each program. I'm fairly interested in exotics so that gives NCSU a plus and it's warmer. And as much as I've heard that Madison is nice and all, I don't think I could handle their winter after the winter we had in Philly.

And I'm sure that doesn't help you at all. Best of luck in your decision!

 

[fractiousfeline]

Personally, I would pick NCSU but I know very little about each program. I'm fairly interested in exotics so that gives NCSU a plus and it's warmer. And as much as I've heard that Madison is nice and all, I don't think I could handle their winter after the winter we had in Philly.

And I'm sure that doesn't help you at all. Best of luck in your decision!

Haha, no it doesn't! Thanks though This is gonna be a tough one..

How well known is NCSU for exotics? I'm interested in small animal and exotics (as in pocket pets and small reptiles, not aquatics or zoo med).

 

[Morgan the mitten]

Anyone have specs on Auburn and Mississippi state? I just posted a thread about Mississippi's curriculum.

 

[WateryTart]

I'm an undergrad at WI, so I can't speak to the specifics of the vet school curriculum, but I can speak to some generalities about living in Madison, WI. If there are other WI lurkers on here, feel free to add to this.

PROS:

• best of both worlds: big city/huge university sophistication, but tons of green space on and nearby campus; it's a bike-friendly, runner/walker-friendly campus and there are two large lakes flanking the north & south sides of campus. Lake Mendota is about 300 yards from the front door of the vet school. The recreation possibilities are endless. Also, Devil's Lake is an hour's jaunt to the north--fantastic hiking, swimming, views, and camping there in an amazing setting.
  
• amazing athletic facilities that are free for students & next door to vet school
  
• friendly, good-hearted people - everyone is so polite! It's lovely.
• low price? I've been told it may not always be one of the lowest in the future though. Some funding was cut by our current governor.
• huge veterinary teaching hospital; you will see large animals, zoo animals, and wildlife in addition to the usual (and unusual) pet species
• so much fun with the Big 10 football team at Camp Randall. So much to do and tons of university traditions to experience.
  
• I just really love this city and this university; UW will always have a special place in my heart. Even "coasties" find themselves coming back to WI because there's just something so nice about this state.
• Campus is huge but walkable.
• Free bus pass; buses will get you anywhere on campus or almost anywhere throughout Madison.
• Art & music scene is really good.
• Craft breweries everywhere.
• State Street is so much fun!
• Incredible farmer's market in the summer in the Capitol Square, just east of campus.

CONS:

• WINTER. It is a crucible that eats up 1.5 months of fall semester and 2 months of spring semester. Some unlucky years, like this year, it's even worse. We had wind chills of -30°F and below, and they do not cancel class for that here. So put on your woollies under your jeans and sweater, and invest in some really high-quality winter gear and a long puffer coat.
• Winter.
• Winter.
• Parking. I don't know if I get a special deal as a vet student, but as an undergrad my parking on campus is over $800 a year. The good news is that if you live on/near campus, you probably won't have to pay that. I commute from a small town every day, so I have to pay for a spot within walking distance to my classes.
• In deepest winter, there's not much to do at night, except study, hibernate, or meet up at bars. Pick your poison.
• Personally, I found rents in Madison to be too dang high for my situation (single parent). And gentrification of old buildings and old neighborhoods is pricing some people out of affording to live near campus. There are multiple luxury high-rises going up every year downtown/around campus. But if you are still okay with having a roommate or three, it's probably not as bad.

 

[fractiousfeline]

Thank you!! I know the winter is going to be the biggest con, but there's just something about the atmosphere of Madison that makes me think it might still be worth it. I loved how friendly the people were too. But these were things I didn't know until after visiting, so I'm going to NCSU this weekend to really compare.

WateryTart, are you staying at WI for vet school this year?

 

[WateryTart]

Thank you!! I know the winter is going to be the biggest con, but there's just something about the atmosphere of Madison that makes me think it might still be worth it. I loved how friendly the people were too. But these were things I didn't know until after visiting, so I'm going to NCSU this weekend to really compare.

WateryTart, are you staying at WI for vet school this year?

Not this year, but when I'm ready to apply I hope to stay here. I have a year or two before I will want to apply--time to finish all my prereqs and get my bachelor's. It's really WI or bust for me, not only because of personal preference but also because of my life circumstances.

 

[fractiousfeline]

Not this year, but when I'm ready to apply I hope to stay here. I have a year or two before I will want to apply--time to finish all my prereqs and get my bachelor's. It's really WI or bust for me, not only because of personal preference but also because of my life circumstances.

Ah okay. Best of luck!

 

[fractiousfeline]

So I'm choosing Wisconsin! NCSU is a wonderful school, but my gut has been telling me the whole time that I belong in Madison. Plus, NCSU raised their tuition this year and the difference is now only ~4K.

I can add an updated NCSU pro/con list for those who may be interested, but I'll hold off on Wisconsin until I get up there and can add more detail for those considering it.

Good luck with your decisions, everyone!

 

[WateryTart]

Welcome to WI! Feel free to message me if you need anything. From talking to current vet students, it sounds like you will have a lot of built-in friends in your classmates as soon as classes begin.

 

[fractiousfeline]

Welcome to WI! Feel free to message me if you need anything. From talking to current vet students, it sounds like you will have a lot of built-in friends in your classmates as soon as classes begin.

Thanks! I get that feeling too

 

[fractiousfeline]

Okay, here's my take on NCSU.

Pros:

-OOS students can get IS residency after their first year. This was one of the biggest pros to me because that makes NCSU one of the cheapest vet schools in the country for OOS students. 100% pass rate for this over the last 3 years.

-teaching animal unit (basically a working farm) right in the school's backyard. Horses, dairy/beef cows, pigs, chickens, Canadian geese, you name it - all on campus for you to learn from. Great for anyone wanting to do LA (maybe not so much for dairy though)

-great exotics program. Exotics has their own separate ward and areas for reptiles, small mammals, avian, and sea turtles (they're extremely proud of this and you can get a LOT of experience with sea turtles if it's a particular area of interest for you). They collaborate with various aquariums and other sea turtle rescues on the coast where you can do externships. Exotics classes are also built into the curriculum and they have a small animal/exotics tracking option for your later years (can't remember if it starts third year or if it's just during clinicals). Also lots of options for selectives with exotics (I'm SA/exotics so I asked a lot of questions about this).

-selectives - one or two week period after exams where you choose an area of interest that you may not be as familiar with or that you just want to learn more about and you get to focus and gain in depth experience with that specific topic. No exams during this time, and students really seem to like this part of the curriculum.

-because of selectives, you finish exams before Thanksgiving/Easter, which is a lot earlier than most other vet schools (but you also start classes earlier than other schools - orientation starts first week of August).

-NCSU is changing their curriculum to focus more on communication/PBL and small group discussions of case studies in place of some didactic material - could be a pro or con depending on you

-brand new small animal hospital organized by specialty (oncology, neurology, surgery, cardiology, etc). Designed by the same architect who did UF's new hospital (personally, I think UF's is nicer, but it's still a beautiful facility)

-parking garage on campus with plenty of spaces available. $327/year

-cafeteria on campus if you're not a pack your own lunch kind of person

-plenty of housing available and cost of living is relatively cheap

-good weather

-Raleigh is pretty with tons of trees everywhere

-there are some great restaurants (yelp is awesome)

-Raleigh may be spread out, but everything is easily accessible because of all the highways circling around and through the city. Really well organized place.


Cons:

-sometimes the environment seems competitive. I've heard from multiple students that it alternates years - one year will have more than a few crazy/neurotic students that take grades a bit too seriously, and the next will be pretty chill and very supportive of each other. Other students said they didn't feel like there was competition and that their classmates were all very supportive and helpful. So it's obviously class dependent and it may not be that big of a deal because the majority of your classmates will be supportive. But there were multiple opinions on this topic, so take it as you will.

-NCSU is changing their curriculum to focus more on communication/PBL and small group discussions of case studies in place of some didactic material - could be a pro or con depending on you

-some students mentioned that because of selectives, the core material is compressed into a shorter period of time and they have exams back to back (most agreed that this was not a huge deal though)

-downtown Raleigh is more of a business district than anything else. The streets were kind of empty at night and it wasn't as eclectic and interesting of a place compared to other city centers.

-I didn't feel as drawn to Raleigh as I wanted to. It was spread out and full of residential areas. It seems like a nice place for families, but I didn't see myself there at this point in my life. (This is completely specific to me though - you may feel entirely different about it)

-no gym on or near the vet school (closest is main campus with all the undergrads)


As you can see, the list is definitely stacked towards pros. NCSU is a fantastic school and you will get a top-notch education here. But something was missing from Raleigh and the school for me personally, so I chose to go elsewhere. The biggest advice I can give to future applicants is to visit wherever you get accepted . You can tell a LOT about a place by visiting and getting a feel for the atmosphere of the city and the school. There are a lot of intangible factors that go into choosing a vet school in addition to the academics because, let's face it, all of these vet schools are amazing and you will get a good education wherever you go. So choose where you're happiest and go with your gut (***as long as the tuition is comparable!!! I would never choose a school that was 30K+ more, regardless of how wonderful it felt. Minimize your debt at all costs, and if you're lucky enough to chose between comparably priced schools, THEN follow what I said above).

Okay, end of rant and advice. Sorry it was forever long! Good luck

 

[equineconstant]

I'm new here but I'm trying to find schools that at least give me something in wildlife/zoo medicine. I know there are externships and things I can do at the end but I would really like something that can get me involved with wildlife relatively early. I'm a Florida resident so I'm applying to UF and I'm thinking about NCSU but I'm not sure where else to apply. I don't have the prereqs for UC Davis or Tennessee and I'm not sure if it's worth taking them (only have one semester left and it's full) especially to maybe not get in/pay OOS tuition. Thanks!

LSU has a good exotics program. Even in first year you can get involved with raptor rehab. Wildlife/zoo med is a really difficult field to get into, though.

 

[abbyb2]

Pros and cons for the RVC? Love this thread...very helpful!

 

[WelshCob]

Oh I know of you Floridians (and my husband is a Texan), there are a couple in my class. They were bundled up hardcore our first autumn here, hehe.

And no, 27 is not cold. It was 10 out today and it wasn't cold. But we don't have to deal with alligators, so I guess it evens up

You know alligators don't just wander the streets?

 

[dyachei]

You know alligators don't just wander the streets?

Most of the time. There was one recently that kept trying to go to walmart

 

[Cyndia]

Appreciated the opinions on the vet school from WelshCob, and the undergrad from Chloe, are there any other UF students floating around that could give some more of their personal pro/cons?

 

[Bracco Pointer]

One of the big pros for UF, IMO, is that you'll have access to a really top notch (almost brand new) teaching hospital. I'm not involved with Zoo Med, but I know everyone who is really likes he program. We also have a very strong shelter med program and very busy ECC service. Most of the clinicians are awesome and only want you to succeed, even the tough ones.

They are in the process of making the first year more clinically applicable. In the past (and I'm sure it won't change over night) there has been a disconnect between reality and first year classes.

And, for what it's worth, I almost hit an alligator on the road on my way home from work Sunday night. Sometimes they DO wander the streets!

 

[Kpowell14]

Gonna bump this jewel of a thread since decisions are starting to be made... And since a new thread popped up asking the difference b/w schools...