How important are small class sizes in vet school???

[ematt768]

I have gotten into three schools which I really like. One of them is the smallest school in the country and another is one of the largest. The small school plays up their personal attention and increased hands on experience due to the size.

For all you peeps in vet school already. Is that really as important as they make it out to be?

Thanks for your help.

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[bunnity]

I think class size is a pro/con depending on the student. In undergrad, did you prefer classes that were large or small? Personally I am more comfortable in large classes for lectures (not in vet school yet so I only have this opinion from undergrad) but a lot of people like small classes. Also bear in mind that even if you are with all those people for lectures, you will eventually get split as you get into more clinical stuff... I doubt any vet school has room for 100 people to simultaneously learn spay/neuter, for example.

 

[vnair2]

I agree with Bunnity. The difference in size between the biggest and smallest schools is also in my opinion negligible. This isn't undergrad and we are not talking about a difference of a few thousand to a few hundred, but instead a difference of maybe 50-75 people (correct me if im wrong here).

 

[TSUJC]

I think class size has to do with personal preference BUT I also think there is such a thing as too large of a class. A smaller class size allows for more hands-on opportunities especially in labs / clinics.

I taught a vet school lab with 27-32 students each (4 sections). It was hard to help every student that had a question.

On the other hand if it weren’t for big class sizes a lot more of us would be getting rejection letters!!

 

[sumstorm]

Personally, I attended undergrad where the largest classes didn't reach 100, so I am not sure how I will feel going into vet school. My average class size was 12 in lower levels and 5 in upper levels.

So, I think I would need to ask more questions like how big are working groups/lab groups/etc. What is the student/faculty ratio? How interactive are things? In a small school is the technology current? In a large school, will I be hands on enough? I think those are questions that are best directed to students, and most schools will give you some students to talk to if you ask.

 

[Nexx]

Personally, I attended undergrad where the largest classes didn't reach 100, so I am not sure how I will feel going into vet school. My average class size was 12 in lower levels and 5 in upper levels.

So, I think I would need to ask more questions like how big are working groups/lab groups/etc. What is the student/faculty ratio? How interactive are things? In a small school is the technology current? In a large school, will I be hands on enough? I think those are questions that are best directed to students, and most schools will give you some students to talk to if you ask.

These probably are the correct questions to ask Class size overall isn't going to be a good indicator since most of the time you are just getting loaded up with bulk information sitting in a lecture theatre (as long as people aren't noisy!). Our class started out with something like 120 first year and our anatomy lab took up two rooms! But the school provided 3 professors and a lab TA wandering around to answer our questions. So while the actual student:staff ratio was 30:1 which is reasonable itself... but since we are mostly in small groups it ends up being more like a 6:1 ratio. This seems to be about the ratio they keep here for our groups.

Another question to find out is how accessible are the professors? Can you email them for clarification? Do they have decent office hours?

 

[Mylez]

I am at I think the smallest school (Oregon?) with a class size of roughly 50 people. I think it's great, I love having more interaction and I do feel that I get more hands-on experience here than I would have elsewhere. (Just as an example, I'm more likely to be able to get in on a weekend lab than I woudl at a bigger school that shows preference to older students).

What I find great is all my professors know my name, all of the staff knows my name...it's great! I like that close-knit feeling. The other day we had a guest lecturer and he had taken the time and effort to learn all of our names before the class AND our faces. Yikes, now that is dedication (I'd like to add that this was our dean).

Cons: You know everyone...which means everyone knows your business. Kind of like a small town. Can be bad...or, good. I guess it depends on what you do with your free time.

 

[ematt768]

The school I am referring to is actually Oregon State. Do you like it? DO you feel like the education you have gotten there is a good one?

 

[Mylez]

I had imagined so.

I really like Oregon for a number of reasons, but really, when you are looking at a school to attend I strongly feel that you should go where you will get a good education and save the most money.

I feel that the education I have received here is a good one, though it doesn't come with some setbacks. For example, we have been trying to hire a radiologist for two years now (used to have two - argh) and so my radiology course was partially telecast this term, which, frankly, SUCKED. There are also a few choice professors who can really make your life difficult the first year, but the really GOOD ones balance it out. I like to think of our anatomy professor as the class's den mother...ha ha...but really overall I think we have a pretty good set of faculty that is interested in seeing students perform well and learn the material.

Cons: We're smaller, so, inevitably that means a lighter case load than at other schools and arguably that will decrease your learning in that you won't see as much. Oregon compensates by doing a lot of external rotations, for example, we are required to rotate at the animal shelter in Portland, where you get to do a LOT of spays and neuters, as well as anything else that might come through. I have heard a lot of positive things about that rotation.

I personally feel that the quarter term is a bit of a con, but other people love it. *shrug* It is something to consider, we're one of a few vet schools that do the quarter term. If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask or nag me in a PM.