MN or WI c/o 2019

[KodiakBear]

Hello! I am looking for advice as to which vet school I should attend in the fall--MN or WI.

I was accepted right away to MN, my in state school, and I accepted the seat in the spring. However, I just got the call that I got off of the waitlist to WI, and I need to make a quick decision.

There are a variety of pros and cons for me for each school. Obviously, MN in my in state school, meaning I will pay in state tuition (totaling 120k over 4 years versus 150k over 4 years at WI). My family is also in MN, and would of course love to see me stay. However, my long term boyfriend will be attending WI vet school, and would be a great daily support system for me in WI. I would also save of living costs, as his family offered to pay our rent for our apartment. This brings the difference in cost from 30k between the two schools to about 15k.

I have received advice from a variety of different angles, and am looking to hear from people from each school as to the pros and cons of MN and WI. I am also specifically interested in potentially specializing in ophthalmology after getting my DVM--does one of these schools seem like a better choice for ophthalmology?

For me it really comes down to cost, the difference in how good each program is, particularly in ophthalmology, and a personal decision of being closer to family and having daily support from my partner. I am very torn and will take any perspective I can get!

Thanks!

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[Gwenevre]

Was it your mom that asked for advice before? If you look on the MN c/o 2019 thread there was a bunch of advice given there.

 

[LetItSnow]

I honestly don't think you're going to get far trying to decide which program is 'better' - both schools are really good and one person's sense of which is better is pretty biased since ... well ... only a rare few people go to more than one vet school to give you a true comparison. And I don't think pre-vets are well-situated to decide which school is "better" (honestly, that's not meant to be offensive .... it's just .... you can't really get a truly good insider view of things until you're in the middle of it). They can make pretty informed choices about which school might FIT them better, but.... that's about it. I went to UMN and loved it, but that doesn't make WI a worse choice.

The ophtho dept at UMN consists of two boarded ophthalmologists. Most of the time one is on clinics and one is off, though there is some overlap occasionally. There is one scheduled procedure day/week, though they tend to work in things the other days as needed. As a student on the rotation, you'll spend an hour or so in teaching rounds in the morning, and an hour or so in case rounds at the end of the day. You'll see 2-4 cases during the day. I can't speak to what the other doc is like (other than I've run into her in a few out-of-school settings and like her a lot), but the one I was on with (who also teaches the didactic portion of the ophtho curriculum) very much expects you to drive the case. She will catch and correct your errors, and she will make suggestions, but if your treatment plan is reasonable, she's one of those few clinicians who will go with it even if it's not exactly what she would do. The rotation was well-paced and had an hour or two of homework every night study every night.

The didactic portion is highly structured/organized. The instructor is a very methodical teacher. She's not a crazy fun wild teacher in the 'entertaining' sense, but she's thorough, SUPER organized, and I really appreciated it. She approaches it anatomically, covering corneal pathology first and working backwards in the eye. That 'method' worked well for me. Her tests are not entirely multiple choice (at least at UMN, the majority of tests are bubble sheet multiple choice) and include fill-in-the-blank and short-answer kind of stuff, along with slide photos that you have to answer questions about ("describe all the lesions in this photo", "what are appropriate treatments choices for this condition", etc.). I can't remember what grade I got in her class, but I don't care because it was well-taught. (As an aside, she just released a small clinically-oriented book ... I think she chose this type of book because she loves taking pictures and has some awesome photos.)

Still, I wouldn't get too attached to what you think you're interested in. It's kinda a joke how many people come in sure they want to do one specialty and leave doing something completely different. There are definitely those "I've wanted to do this my entire life and that's that" people that know from the start, but..... I bet it's MORE common to switch. I wanted to do GP. Now I'm doing ECC (though I dunno if I'll stick it out long term - the work is great, and my techs are mostly amazing, but the hours they sure do suck). Buddy of mine wanted to do Ophtho. Now he's GP. Another friend - wanted to do surgery. Now doing ER. I know another person who came in SA and went out Equine. Another one that wanted to do dairy - doing SA. Etc.

If it were me, and I felt confident in my long-term relationship - i.e., it's actually long-term and committed - then I'd probably go to WI. Why separate yourself from your partner?

That said, there's a pretty big risk there: If his family is paying the rent, and you and he go your separate ways, there's a crap-ton of emotional baggage there. You have to find a new place, you'll still see him every day at school, etc.

But you have to weigh that yourself. Plenty of people will tell you how vet school ruins relationships, but meh.... plenty of them survive it, too. And plenty of them are formed there. So it's a crapshoot.

Staying near your family is nice, but... well... you're an adult now. Family is great, but might be time to try a little space.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Hello! I am looking for advice as to which vet school I should attend in the fall--MN or WI.

I was accepted right away to MN, my in state school, and I accepted the seat in the spring. However, I just got the call that I got off of the waitlist to WI, and I need to make a quick decision.

There are a variety of pros and cons for me for each school. Obviously, MN in my in state school, meaning I will pay in state tuition (totaling 120k over 4 years versus 150k over 4 years at WI). My family is also in MN, and would of course love to see me stay. However, my long term boyfriend will be attending WI vet school, and would be a great daily support system for me in WI. I would also save of living costs, as his family offered to pay our rent for our apartment. This brings the difference in cost from 30k between the two schools to about 15k.

I have received advice from a variety of different angles, and am looking to hear from people from each school as to the pros and cons of MN and WI. I am also specifically interested in potentially specializing in ophthalmology after getting my DVM--does one of these schools seem like a better choice for ophthalmology?

For me it really comes down to cost, the difference in how good each program is, particularly in ophthalmology, and a personal decision of being closer to family and having daily support from my partner. I am very torn and will take any perspective I can get!

Thanks!

As a caveat, many institutions do not like to take on their own graduates as residents. They want fresh blood, so to speak. So it may actually work against you in some ways to attend the same school you also wish to pursue residency at. The positive would be, however, if there was a well-established optho program that could get you experience via externships and such that would make you a competitive applicant to any general program. But do not choose a school based on thinking you will get a residency there.

In terms of optho path, though, WI is baller. Check out the COPLOW.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comp...aboratory-of-Wisconsin-COPLOW/187304944629162

http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/dubielzig/pages/coplow/main.html

I would also never make a major move for an SO unless I had a ring on my finger....just sayin. I would not make that a bigger factor than it has to be.