Possible Vet School in Maine

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:laugh:

I am seriously an uber shy person...

Me when I met new people: :scared:
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This feels like such a plot twist...
 
I have trust issues and I am not super confident. I know, it seems odd, but it is the truth.

They are two of the biggest things that I know I need to "work" on and I am much better now with the "shyness" than I was say 7 years ago, but it is a work in progress.

Not odd. Mildly surprising at first... but it's good to hear. I'm sure I'm not the only one on here that can relate either :)
 
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Yes.

Also, while it is great that you might be ok, or your vet mentor is ok, or the vet up the road is doing ok. You should be considerate of the entire profession. You should know the challenges and obstacles that face the others within the profession. Vet med is a very small group of people and we need to work together to make it the best that it can be. Which means, it isn't necessarily about how well you are doing, or your vet friend down the road is doing, but how well the profession is doing as a whole and what problems exist and how might we be able to fix them. This way the profession can flourish and thrive instead of fizzle apart.
I totally 100% agree with you on this. But working to help the profession certainly feels like something of a lost cause when we as individual vet students don't really get a say in whether or not new vet schools open up.
 
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The vet program in Nebraska is exploring changing their program from a 2+2 with Iowa to a 3+1 where your fourth year can be done anywhere. They want to add 25 OOS seats to start if they change the program. We had a meeting with our dean who was explaining this to us. He said that he has had no complaints about this idea at all. All of the vet students then proceeded to point out the fact that we don't need more students graduating right now. His response: "25 more students a year really won't make that much of a difference." I was kind of shocked that he would just completely ignore anything negative that people were saying about the proposed change and just blew off the idea that there currently an oversupply problem.

I heard him talking about that at briefly at the spring lecture series last month. I had no idea the plan included doubling the class size with out-of-state. It isn't surprising though. It was pretty clear during the lecture that the schools are looking at this as a supply and demand problem that will correct on its own. With 2+ applicants per seat there is zero incentive to reduce class sizes. What is worse, there was a belief that the for profit schools will make up any difference in production of students so there is zero incentive for the schools to change.
 
Dr. Richard Panzero, former president of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association: “The fact is, there’s a long list of people willing to pay $50,000 a year to go to vet school.” That perspective marks a divide in the profession, he said. “There are people who feel this is not good for the state, and there are others who feel it will raise the overall level of practice and give needed support to those who are deserving of a degree in veterinary medicine. I just don’t know how a new graduate is going to dig out of that kind of debt to ever buy a house, let alone a practice.

http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=33755
 
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Dr. Richard Panzero, former president of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association: “The fact is, there’s a long list of people willing to pay $50,000 a year to go to vet school.” That perspective marks a divide in the profession, he said. “There are people who feel this is not good for the state, and there are others who feel it will raise the overall level of practice and give needed support to those who are deserving of a degree in veterinary medicine. I just don’t know how a new graduate is going to dig out of that kind of debt to ever buy a house, let alone a practice.

http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=33755

Teach vet students about ethics...

Have a complete disregard to any ethics when it comes to opening new schools and screwing students over.

(Not the guy you quoted above, but those that think more schools is a good thing).

I wish that guy wasn't the "former" president. It seems like he might actually be able to see the issue.
 
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What does it mean to "deserve a degree in veterinary medicine?"
It reads like he knows some people who are of the opinion that there are individuals who would make great veterinarians and would somehow raise the bar for the profession but they cannot currently get into school with so few spots. Sounds like bull to me, but then again, there are some pretty um, interesting points of view on this topic.
 
It reads like he knows some people who are of the opinion that there are individuals who would make great veterinarians and would somehow raise the bar for the profession but they cannot currently get into school with so few spots. Sounds like bull to me, but then again, there are some pretty um, interesting points of view on this topic.

Is 3000+ seats for like 6000 people really that few?
 
"If you love animals, you will do it."

Just to jump off that idea...

There are so many other ways to build a career out of loving animals. Be an ecologist or ethologist or do non profit work or forestry or a bajillion other careers still devoted to the protection and care of animals that - okay may not pay great - but won't land a person in as much debt as a veterinary career will.

Vet med is arguably just as much about looking out for people as it is animals. Granted you don't have to love people, but personally I think vets should get some kind of satisfaction out of helping people with their animals whether that's saving a life, educating, or advocating public health. Everyone has a story about the idiot who walked through the door with such and such problem, but we also have the stories about the differences we made in people's lives whether it's getting someone to realize the importance of vaccinating or being compassionate to someone during a euthanasia... plus a million more scenarios outside of general practice.

So long story short... loving animals is not enough of a reason because it won't sustain the committment needed to get through the hurdles of this career (at least that's the impression/actual advice I've gotten from vets I've known and worked with and all that).
 
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Is 3000+ seats for like 6000 people really that few?
Nope. Not really sure what line of reasoning makes anyone come to that conclusion. I just don't see how someone who is completely willing to ignore massive debt somehow means that they are going to be an awesome veterinarian. I don't know who this man is talking to, but I am glad I have not met anyone with that opinion.
 
Nope. Not really sure what line of reasoning makes anyone come to that conclusion. I just don't see how someone who is completely willing to ignore massive debt somehow means that they are going to be an awesome veterinarian. I don't know who this man is talking to, but I am glad I have not met anyone with that opinion.

$$$$$
 
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Exactly, they're willing to pay the price of admission. Either because they have the family resources to do it, or because they're willing to commit financial suicide. Because opening more seats at $50k per year is definitely NOT giving "needed support to those who are deserving of a degree in veterinary medicine".
 
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I don't know why it double posted my response...
 
Yeah, cause it was that awesome.
 
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How much do you think I can make if I open up the first vet school for dragons, unicorns and other magical creatures?
I'll apply!! I deserve a degree in magical creature medicine!

I hope there's a Kneazle medicine elective. :D
 
And plus, what kind of crappy caseload will this school have in Podunk Maine? Even if Tufts' large animal service has a craptastic caseload, I can't imagine it being that much better up there...
 
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It's not even purely greed. There's a lot of backup in the pipeline that is leading to this.

State and federal funding for public universities is pretty bad right now. The schools are scrambling to make dough any way they can. Hell, you'd be surprised at the debt most large universities carry themselves (Ohio State, for example, carries over 6 billion in debt).

Not saying what they are doing is the right solution at all, and there has absolutely been a lot of misplaced university spending in terms of making themselves seem fancy and attractive to students (i.e. do we really need more gourmet dining halls, fancy sports complexes, tanning booths, spas, etc.) but there is a long history behind what we are seeing today. The solution isn't just dealing with the schools themselves, it is dealing with the lack of funding for education as a whole.

I encourage EVERYONE to watch this documentary (trailer below). It asks a lot of hard questions. Really opened my eyes to how money flows through a uni into the wrong places in an attempt to attract even more people and money, a vicious cycle as funding keeps decreasing, and how that affects us as students. What used to be places dedicated to learning and growth for the next generation have been devolved into business conglomerates that no longer serve their original pedagogic purposes.

 
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It's not even greed. There's a lot of backup in the pipeline that is leading to this.

State and federal funding for public universities is pretty bad right now. The schools are scrambling to make dough any way they can. Hell, you'd be surprised at the debt most large universities carry themselves (Ohio State, for example, carries over 6 billion in debt).

Not saying what they are doing is the right solution at all, and there has absolutely been a lot of misplaced university spending in terms of making themselves seem fancy and attractive to students (i.e. do we really need more gourmet dining halls, fancy sports complexes, tanning booths, spas, etc.) but there is a long history behind what we are seeing today. The solution isn't just dealing with the schools themselves, it is dealing with the lack of funding for education as a whole.
Yes, the schools' need of monies is definitely a known problem, so the issue that I have with some of the statements being made is that the argument is geared towards the students who are perceived as gaining opportunities to be in a field in which they can somehow enhance the profession. These schools/people need to stop giving false hope to the starry eyed youngins who have no idea the state Veterinary medicine is actually in. They need to say that they are attempting to bring in funds to keep education going and then have the debate of a more feasible way to address the problem of school funding. I know it will never happen, but it does get tiresome to keep kicking a profession when it's down just because there is enough naivety to hide the true reason behind more schools/increased seats etc.
 
@WhtsThFrequency, I wanted to watch the whole CNN thing with "Ivory Tower" but ended up working that night. Thanks for posting the trailer!

The trailer is something that every parent and every high school student needs to see and every parent and student needs to ask one universal question in the first place: "Does my child/Do I need to go to college?" My high school's motto was, "Every Blazer graduates college ready!" Well, we as a society don't need every citizen to have a bachelors, or maybe even an associates. It really depends on what you want to do with your life. I hate how society is now pressuring kids with college when not everyone needs to go to school. There just aren't enough jobs to support everyone in my generation and later to have a degree and the debt that goes with it (not counting trade schools in this; just considering the "traditional" route of college). Vet med and other specialties become a compounding issue after that.
 
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Threads like this are why I don't check SDN that often anymore. It makes me sad to see legislators and administrators preying on the hope of pre-vet students with no consideration of what their futures will be like.
 
I miss seeing you post around here. How are you doing?
I'm doing good! My little monster just turned 2. I have been working a lot (my boss was out for 3 weeks for medical leave leaving me in charge). Going to Florida on Thursday for a much needed long weekend with my husband's family.
 
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Here's one question on the issue that I've never found an answer to: What should incoming vet students be focusing on to prepare themselves for an over-saturated market? Do things like class rank play much of a role in landing a job post-DVM?
 
Here's one question on the issue that I've never found an answer to: What should incoming vet students be focusing on to prepare themselves for an over-saturated market? Do things like class rank play much of a role in landing a job post-DVM?

Networking x43431235324. Unless you are looking for an internship or residency your class rank won't matter. The best thing you can do for yourself is to network. Get to know professionals via meetings, clubs, externships, volunteering, etc, etc. The more people you get to know and work with, the more you might have an "in" somewhere or at least some decent letters of recommendation.
 
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Here's one question on the issue that I've never found an answer to: What should incoming vet students be focusing on to prepare themselves for an over-saturated market? Do things like class rank play much of a role in landing a job post-DVM?
Unless I'm mistaken, most GPs (if that's what you want to be) don't care what your rank or GPA is. They even tell us to not put it on our resume. Now residencies on the other hand.. that's a different matter.
 
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I've spoken with several veterinarians at different events and a conference or two, and rank or grades never came up when it came to the hiring process. Experiences during vet school, including electives, labs, conferences attended, etc. seemed important, as well as solid references. The only thing I can think of where grades are important are for scholarships and internships/residencies post-DVM.

Edit: What they said! :cool:
 
I am planning on applying for a residency, but I imagine that once the residency is done, networking becomes the #1 most important thing, same as the other cases.
 
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