Undergrad vs. Vet School??

[AniSci]

I KNOW vet school is no walk in the park---I know it's occasionally not quite so bad for some as it is for others, but it's definitely a TON of work and a TON of stress.

But I'm also wondering if, compared to vet school, undergrad is any more difficult? Right now, I'm an upperclassman animal science major who's also of course juggling the prereqs for vet school. Lately I've just been feeling worn down, unsatisfied, and completely hopeless because it's like I've GOT to study to do well, but I never have enough time to study everything.

And I KNOW vet school is very very similar--exams every week along with juggling everything else for classes and labs and like not starving to death or rotting from your own stench lol. But vet school, the actual medicine aspect you've spent so many years and tears working toward isn't struggling with actual classes like organic chemistry and physics and random economics classes that you don't want to be taking ever.

YES, I know what you learn in undergrad carries over into medical/vet school, but honestly it's the overall aspect of the classes, and often not the nit-picky details that you were required to know for the exams in those classes.

So...what would you say? Would you say, in some crazy way, vet school is easier and more enjoyable than undergrad??

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[Ashgirl]

For me, vet school is much, much, much harder than undergrad. In undergrad, I took 18-21 credits a semester, was in research 10 hours a week, multiple clubs, and worked 20 hours a week. That was nothing (to me) compared to what the monster of vet school is. In undergrad I was busy, but I still had some time to live a life and really enjoy myself. In vet school I wake up, go to class, go home, study until bed, and rinse and repeat every day. It's exhausting and after so long you start to burn out.

That being said, I do love what I'm learning compared to undergrad. It's a little easier to spend 5 hours studying for physiology versus say physics. However, it's just so draining, and the pace is just ridiculous to where there is no way to enjoy what I am learning. At the end of the day I still like vet school, it just has a great way of making it difficult to enjoy even what you love to do.

 

[AniSci]

For me, vet school is much, much, much harder than undergrad. In undergrad, I took 18-21 credits a semester, was in research 10 hours a week, multiple clubs, and worked 20 hours a week. That was nothing (to me) compared to what the monster of vet school is. In undergrad I was busy, but I still had some time to live a life and really enjoy myself. In vet school I wake up, go to class, go home, study until bed, and rinse and repeat every day. It's exhausting and after so long you start to burn out.

That being said, I do love what I'm learning compared to undergrad. It's a little easier to spend 5 hours studying for physiology versus say physics. However, it's just so draining, and the pace is just ridiculous to where there is no way to enjoy what I am learning. At the end of the day I still like vet school, it just has a great way of making it difficult to enjoy even what you love to do.

That was a really good answer, and very helpful to put into perspective! In undergrad now, I already do the "rinse & repeat" lifestyle. I study hard because I'm not one of those lucky ones that can just skate through. But in my senior year, I'm already very burned out. Luckily, I graduate a semester after I'm supposed to (so I'll be done in December of 2015), and so if everything goes as planned (and I don't fail any classes...) I'll hopefully have a semester off before vet school to just breathe and build myself back up.

 

[Escalla]

I think a component of what makes vet school more difficult is the fact that the majority of your time is being monopolized by the same thing -- class and studying.

In undergrad, you have other options. Whether that's sports, clubs, work, what have you. But sometimes mixing it up can make such a huge difference.

I agree with Ashgirl in that at least the material is generally easier to study from an interest perspective (mostly).

 

[CalliopeDVM]

Wow, vet school was so much harder and more time consuming -- it's incomparable to my undergrad degree (even in 4th year). That said, I'd say it was also more enjoyable (on the whole) -- the work I was doing was more focused, and there was a social/interpersonal aspect that was missing from my undergrad years. While you have friends and roommates in undergrad that you might share some classes with or some schedules with, the smaller vet school classes do almost everything together (they may not all be in the same classroom at the same time, but they are learning the same things, facing the same challenges, and progressing through at the same time).

No way is vet school easier than any year of an undergrad degree, but it was - on the whole - more enjoyable. There were days I was reduced to tears from weariness and frustration, so every day wasn't an enjoyable day, but I felt more mentally challenged (to actually think and contextualize) and more involved than I ever did during my undergrad degree. Maybe it depends on your experiences with undergrad (where you went and what you took), but I would say it wasn't easy, but it was more satisfying and enjoyable.

 

[DVMDream]

1. Vet school is much harder than undergrad
2. Vet school is not always interesting
3. You often don't have time to enjoy the things that are interesting.
4. You will be tested on nit-picky details on probably every exam at least one question. (I was seriously asked what is the maximum degree that a ramp can be when loading pigs onto a truck).
5. Vet school goes into way more detail than undergrad. Way. more. detail.

I mean, yes I do enjoy some things of vet school, but I often don't have time to really enjoy things some weeks... I can have 3 different exams in a week and a quiz every day. I don't have time to go "oh I really enjoy cardiology, I want to study this more" because I also have equine med to study for and surgery and reproduction.

Bottom line, vet school is much harder than undergrad.

 

[LetItSnow]

Yeah. I totally think vet school is a cakewalk compared to undergrad.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I think it depends on the person and their background. For me, vet school was easier than undergrad in that I spent less time studying for vet school and got much better grades than I did in undergrad. But a big part of that is because grades in vet school is like 90% rote memorization for your didactic years. I had a super strong science background (like 10 upper level science classes beyond requirement) and have scary good memory. All I needed to do was start studying from scratch (after never attending class) 2-3 days before an exam and I rarely got below a 90 on an exam. That gave me like 2 whole days a week to go out and spend time getting clinical experience and doing research, so that let me get ahead in that regard. That was much more enjoyable than UG for me where I was constantly writing paper after paper, doing lab after lab, and finishing project after project. No time to do anything else really. And exams were very detailed and questions much deeper than you would get in vet school. My UG classes were such that you may have just a few people in the class receive a solid A.

 

[SocialStigma]

Vet school is definitely harder than undergrad for me, there is way more material involved and also double the number of courses (I went to a semestered school in undergrad but OVC operates on terms, so we take the same 8-10 courses year-round). That being said, I'm doing better academically in vet school. I never managed to get a 4.0 even for one semester in undergrad, but my cGPA in vet school is 4.0 (go figure). I'm definitely working harder than I was in undergrad, but the material is also more relevant/interesting to me (for the most part)..as much as I hate pigs, I'd still rather study swine than be forced to take chemistry as part of my program's curriculum.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Yeah. I totally think vet school is a cakewalk compared to undergrad.

Right on bro #chestbump

 

[DVMDream]

Right on bro #chestbump

You used a hashtag... I am disappoint...

 

[Bracco Pointer]

I think there is a lot of individual variation. I'm currently in second year, and I study more in vet school than in undergrad (which isn't saying much because my study habits back then were terrible), but vet school is a lot more interesting for me and my grades have been much better. I was the person that honestly thought undergrad chemistry was going to kill me, and vet school has been awesome in comparison.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

You used a hashtag... I am disappoint...

Yet you reward me with a Tom Hiddleston gif.

 

[DVMDream]

Yet you reward me with a Tom Hiddleston gif.

A disappointed Tom Hiddleston... you have made him disappoint too...

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

A disappointed Tom Hiddleston... you have made him disappoint too...

 

[david594]

Vet school was far easier than undergrad. Its pretty much all rote memorization. I gave myself 2 full days prior to every exam to review all of the material twice and that was more than adequate for a decent grade. My undergrad was in computer science and I'd end up spending hours on end debugging code figure out why stuff wouldn't work.

To me the difference was for vet school knowing 85% was great and you got a B for it. In undergrad having 85% of the code still gave a program that likely did 0% of what you were to be graded on. So at the end of the night in vet school id feel fine saying "This should be good enough" and going to bed where as in undergrad I'd still be pulling all nighters.

 

[Fly Racing]

As a non-trad (2nd career, 2nd degree) undergrad student, I was pretty burned out of undergrad the last 3 semesters. I stressed myself out so much with "MUST get A's" that I pretty much began to demise classes and being surrounded by a younger/generally less mature crowd. In retrospect many of my undergrad professors were nuts (for lack of better description). We'd have questions on exams that were not covered in lecture, not in the text, and you'd have no way of knowing. Then the professor shrugs and tells you to "try harder." That was stressful. I agree with david594 in that if you know 85%, you'll get a B.

I was really intimidated by starting vet school. I wasn't sure if I would cut it, letting down all the people that supported me to that point. That stressed me out! Then I got half way through the first anatomy exam and realized I could potentially ace this test. Low and behold, the exam was on the exact material we were taught/told to learn; no tricks or trying to make sure people would flunk. There is a lot of information, which comes down to putting the effort in, but the material is not abstract rocket science. Additionally, since a lot of material will help us become the best vets we can be (unlike much of ochem), it is both interesting and easier to stay motivated to study for. Screwing up a physics assignment will affect your grade, but screwing up pharmacology may lead to killing a patient, so the motivation is different.

This may not be true of all schools, but I was pretty much shocked after starting school. The professors WANT you to succeed and learn as much as possible. They see a student's success as a reflection of their success. My first impression of vet school was that my professors were "professional teachers". They KNOW how to teach. We also have video lecture recording, which I have learned makes a big difference for me. I listen to lectures again before the exam in marathon style and find I retain the information really well and pick up a lot of new information the 2nd time.

Everybody that has gotten into vet school already knows how to work really hard, work through stress and have survived "weed out classes". Honestly, I think a lot of success in vet school comes down to mental game... don't let it stress you out, know you're smart, and stay on top of material. I'm a big believer that your mental game, like stress, is under your control. It may not be easy to control, but you absolutely can do it. I do not believe vet school should be "TONS and TONS of stress." One of our professors told us that there is not enough at stake in vet school to live in a state of deep stress and if we have problems with the material to visit the professor, because every one of us was selected because we can succeed in this program. Then we had a physio lecture that included why stressed students don't do as well among other negatives. We also had 6 hours of lectures on stress management as part of our intro to vet med class, so the school recognizes it an issue with vet students that should be addressed.

In general I would say vet school is "better," which makes it easier despite the material and work load not being easier.

 

[DVMDream]

My first impression of vet school was that my professors were "professional teachers". They KNOW how to teach. We also have video lecture recording, which I have learned makes a big difference for me. I listen to lectures again before the exam in marathon style and find I retain the information really well and pick up a lot of new information the 2nd time.

.

We have had some horrid professors that absolutely should not be teaching. It always brings me great, erm, "joy" when they get in the resident that is doing some random research in oncology about some odd receptor or whatever and 90% of your oncology lecture turns into a talk on his research...

 

[lailanni]

I can see both sides of the coin on this.

Vet school is better because it isn't graded on a curve (at least mine wasn't, I'm not sure if any are?) so everyone could do well, theoretically. There wasn't just a small handful of 4.0s that only a small percentage of the class could get, leading to a fairly cut throat environment. Because everyone could succeed it was a bit more relaxed that way. The classes are in some ways easier to study for since it is vastly memorization as others have mentioned. (There are still exams you don't know what they hell they're going to test on, but I felt it was less often like that compared to undergrad). C=DVM in vet school. C will not = vet school admission. So that pressure is gone. Unless you're gunning for an internship/residency thing. Then it's still on

Vet school is much worse because your time is not your own. Even your free time is not your own (on call rotations), you'll put in way more hours physically at school (80-90 hr long weeks when it's bad), and your clinical actions will have real repercussions (who's nervous about their spay dog tearing out their suture and eviscerating themselves? I sure was.) It's higher stakes in a few ways. It's more physically exhausting (what kind of undergrad program requires several weeks of overnight and on-call shifts?). It's mentally tiring. Some people thrive like ducks in water, but for me I don't ever remember being more exhausted and burnt out in my life.

Vet school is a weird mix of initial enthusiasm "Yay, you can do it! Everyone can be successful!" which later seems to turn into apathy and survivalism - "You think you're tired now? Try a residency! I had to go through the same/worse in my training, so you can too."

But bottom line it really just depends on your personal mindset, experiences, and what you deem stressful/how you can deal with it.

 

[Fly Racing]

I can see both sides of the coin on this.

Vet school is better because it isn't graded on a curve (at least mine wasn't, I'm not sure if any are?) so everyone could do well, theoretically. There wasn't just a small handful of 4.0s that only a small percentage of the class could get, leading to a fairly cut throat environment. Because everyone could succeed it was a bit more relaxed that way. The classes are in some ways easier to study for since it is vastly memorization as others have mentioned. (There are still exams you don't know what they hell they're going to test on, but I felt it was less often like that compared to undergrad). C=DVM in vet school. C will not = vet school admission. So that pressure is gone. Unless you're gunning for an internship/residency thing. Then it's still on

Vet school is much worse because your time is not your own. Even your free time is not your own (on call rotations), you'll put in way more hours physically at school (80-90 hr long weeks when it's bad), and your clinical actions will have real repercussions (who's nervous about their spay dog tearing out their suture and eviscerating themselves? I sure was.) It's higher stakes in a few ways. It's more physically exhausting (what kind of undergrad program requires several weeks of overnight and on-call shifts?). It's mentally tiring. Some people thrive like ducks in water, but for me I don't ever remember being more exhausted and burnt out in my life.

Vet school is a weird mix of initial enthusiasm "Yay, you can do it! Everyone can be successful!" which later seems to turn into apathy and survivalism - "You think you're tired now? Try a residency! I had to go through the same/worse in my training, so you can too."

But bottom line it really just depends on your personal mindset, experiences, and what you deem stressful/how you can deal with it.

This is a really great post!

 

[Great Dane]

I KNOW vet school is no walk in the park---I know it's occasionally not quite so bad for some as it is for others, but it's definitely a TON of work and a TON of stress.

But I'm also wondering if, compared to vet school, undergrad is any more difficult? Right now, I'm an upperclassman animal science major who's also of course juggling the prereqs for vet school. Lately I've just been feeling worn down, unsatisfied, and completely hopeless because it's like I've GOT to study to do well, but I never have enough time to study everything.

And I KNOW vet school is very very similar--exams every week along with juggling everything else for classes and labs and like not starving to death or rotting from your own stench lol. But vet school, the actual medicine aspect you've spent so many years and tears working toward isn't struggling with actual classes like organic chemistry and physics and random economics classes that you don't want to be taking ever.

YES, I know what you learn in undergrad carries over into medical/vet school, but honestly it's the overall aspect of the classes, and often not the nit-picky details that you were required to know for the exams in those classes.

So...what would you say? Would you say, in some crazy way, vet school is easier and more enjoyable than undergrad??

 

[Great Dane]

Hey Fly Racing,

Vet school is just different. I would do the best you can and have as many experiences in undergrad. I didn't go right to vet school and that was probably for the best- it gave me time to figure out what I wanted to do/how I learn best, etc. My name is Dan and I am a vet student at Michigan State. I blog for the Merck Vet Manual. Check out my blogs, there might be some useful information for you there/hopefully encouragement. If you have some burning questions/ideas that you want me to address let me know and I will write about them!

Best,

Dan

 

[Armymutt25A]

So far, vet school hasn't been too bad. I try to compare it to my undergrad experience, but can't. Too much has changed. In undergrad, we didn't have Power Point slides that required a few notations here and there. Instead, you were furiously scribbling what was written on an overhead projector or written in chalk on a board. The hardest thing I've had to deal with is memorization. I'm a systems flow kind of guy. In physiology, I was the annoying guy who could run through the respiratory system with ease. In anatomy, well, I still can't tell you which bone is which in the equine carpus, or tarsus, for that matter. Don't discount those "other" classes that you have to do in UG. You'd be surprised at how handy an understanding of physics can be in several different vet courses. On the other hand, I have yet to use organic chemistry.

 

[Jonah93]

It's very common to be burnt out from school regardless of it being undergrad or vet school. I feel that it's all about your mentality and perspective. Our brains are incredibly resilient haha. If you can somehow find the bright side in every ****ty academic situation (huge workloads, etc) and just keep on chugging on, you'll be okay. And I guarantee you there is ALWAYS a bright side; the fact that you are privileged enough to even receive an education is a bright side in and of itself! Just train your patience, and train your mental resilience. Your brain won't melt and it's simply a matter of will power. Hypnotize yourself into actually enjoying what you're doing regardless of the amount of work it takes.

To me, vet school seems easier in the sense that your grades isn't the motivating factor for studying, it's to succeed at learning the material that will help you fulfill your passion of becoming an excellent veterinarian. The pressure shifts from accumulating inconsequential (from a life perspective) grade point averages to making sure you retain all that you learn. And so, at least to me, in vet school your drive to learn is rooted in a deeper foundation of motivation.

Basically it all boils down to the fact that in undergrad, you retain absolutely nothing. That kind of "educational" environment favors regurgitation over retention unless you stumble across those extra rare classes where the professor actually gives a damn about the students actually learning something in a meaningful sense. In vet school, the very fact that all of it matters and that you're not attending it just to get good GPAs in and of itself promotes retention of what you learn. Why else are you in vet school you know what I mean? Also, a lot of the PBL courses, hands on experiences, case studies, smaller class sizes, etc, all promote a more intimate connection between you and what you're learning.

This is pretty long winded and I'm definitely rambling at this point, but I do feel like I have a few good nuggets of wisdom in this mess of a post.

Also... I haven't started vet school yet (starting in August of 2015), but I feel that I'm pretty much hitting the nail on the head regardless of that fact hehe.

Cheers,

Jonah

 

[Coquette22]

Also... I haven't started vet school yet (starting in August of 2015), but I feel that I'm pretty much hitting the nail on the head regardless of that fact hehe.

Sorry, but no. There's plenty of regurgitation in vet school. Swine and poultry? I cram into my head just long enough to take the test. Not everything is relevant to every student and there will be plenty of stuff you don't care about. The sheer amount of information in such a short amount of time means you usually end up with no choice but to regurgitate. Sure, clinics and PBL reinforce the information, but I think setting yourself up to think you'll retain everything is setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

 

[DVMDream]

It's very common to be burnt out from school regardless of it being undergrad or vet school. I feel that it's all about your mentality and perspective. Our brains are incredibly resilient haha. If you can somehow find the bright side in every ****ty academic situation (huge workloads, etc) and just keep on chugging on, you'll be okay. And I guarantee you there is ALWAYS a bright side; the fact that you are privileged enough to even receive an education is a bright side in and of itself! Just train your patience, and train your mental resilience. Your brain won't melt and it's simply a matter of will power. Hypnotize yourself into actually enjoying what you're doing regardless of the amount of work it takes.

To me, vet school seems easier in the sense that your grades isn't the motivating factor for studying, it's to succeed at learning the material that will help you fulfill your passion of becoming an excellent veterinarian. The pressure shifts from accumulating inconsequential (from a life perspective) grade point averages to making sure you retain all that you learn. And so, at least to me, in vet school your drive to learn is rooted in a deeper foundation of motivation.

Basically it all boils down to the fact that in undergrad, you retain absolutely nothing. That kind of "educational" environment favors regurgitation over retention unless you stumble across those extra rare classes where the professor actually gives a damn about the students actually learning something in a meaningful sense. In vet school, the very fact that all of it matters and that you're not attending it just to get good GPAs in and of itself promotes retention of what you learn. Why else are you in vet school you know what I mean? Also, a lot of the PBL courses, hands on experiences, case studies, smaller class sizes, etc, all promote a more intimate connection between you and what you're learning.

This is pretty long winded and I'm definitely rambling at this point, but I do feel like I have a few good nuggets of wisdom in this mess of a post.

Also... I haven't started vet school yet (starting in August of 2015), but I feel that I'm pretty much hitting the nail on the head regardless of that fact hehe.

Cheers,

Jonah

I love the people that comment as if they have done something but haven't. Your opinion on a lot of what you stated will change in vet school.

 

[Jonah93]

Sorry, but no. There's plenty of regurgitation in vet school. Swine and poultry? I cram into my head just long enough to take the test. Not everything is relevant to every student and there will be plenty of stuff you don't care about. The sheer amount of information in such a short amount of time means you usually end up with no choice but to regurgitate. Sure, clinics and PBL reinforce the information, but I think setting yourself up to think you'll retain everything is setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

I love the people that comment as if they have done something but haven't. Your opinion on a lot of what you stated will change in vet school.

I was just trying to give OP some words of encouragement, sorry if I said something to offend you. It's just the impression I got from researching and talking to people. Excuse me for being a couple years behind lol but I'd rather enter vet school with my frame of mind than yours. Plus, setting a goal for myself for complete retention doesn't mean I'm going to be setting myself up for disappointment and frustration. Obviously, there are things that I won't remember after learning them and there are things that I'm learning that I won't necessarily care about, but unlike undergraduate school, where I literally retained NOTHING, vet school will be different. I'm going to leave that school with knowledge that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. "No Jonah, you don't even know. You haven't even gone to vet school yet, you don't even know man!" Save it haha, any education will be better than the one I received at undergrad. In vet school, you don't have professors trying to weed out students with fails left and right. And from what I understand, the educational environment doesn't promote competition for the highest grades. Pressures and priorities shift.

 

[Ashgirl]

I was just trying to give OP some words of encouragement, sorry if I said something to offend you. It's just the impression I got from researching and talking to people. Excuse me for being a couple years behind lol but I'd rather enter vet school with my frame of mind than yours. Plus, setting a goal for myself for complete retention doesn't mean I'm going to be setting myself up for disappointment and frustration. Obviously, there are things that I won't remember after learning them and there are things that I'm learning that I won't necessarily care about, but unlike undergraduate school, where I literally retained NOTHING, vet school will be different. I'm going to leave that school with knowledge that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. "No Jonah, you don't even know. You haven't even gone to vet school yet, you don't even know man!" Save it haha, any education will be better than the one I received at undergrad. In vet school, you don't have professors trying to weed out students with fails left and right. And from what I understand, the educational environment doesn't promote competition for the highest grades. Pressures and priorities shift.

It's perfectly fine to have a positive attitude going in to vet school (and believe me, you will need it), but unfortunately things do change. While I absolutely love what I'm learning, the pace and volume that it's presented in makes it almost impossible to learn and retain it all in the short amount of time they give us. Yes, having clinical correlates and hands-on will help solidify it, and hopefully I will retain a lot of what I am learning, but there's some things that will slip in the cracks. Vet school really is drinking out of a fire-hose/sprinting a marathon.

While you are correct that the competitive atmosphere is pretty much gone, there is still plenty of pressure (some want competitive residencies), and for some people they truly struggle with all of their might to just pass. Priorities and pressures might shift, but for me at least, it definitely doesn't make it any easier.

 

[dyachei]

I was just trying to give OP some words of encouragement, sorry if I said something to offend you. It's just the impression I got from researching and talking to people. Excuse me for being a couple years behind lol but I'd rather enter vet school with my frame of mind than yours. Plus, setting a goal for myself for complete retention doesn't mean I'm going to be setting myself up for disappointment and frustration. Obviously, there are things that I won't remember after learning them and there are things that I'm learning that I won't necessarily care about, but unlike undergraduate school, where I literally retained NOTHING, vet school will be different. I'm going to leave that school with knowledge that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. "No Jonah, you don't even know. You haven't even gone to vet school yet, you don't even know man!" Save it haha, any education will be better than the one I received at undergrad. In vet school, you don't have professors trying to weed out students with fails left and right. And from what I understand, the educational environment doesn't promote competition for the highest grades. Pressures and priorities shift.

any educational experience is what you make of it. If you retained nothing from undergrad, that's on you.

Vet school is entirely different in so many ways. It depends on the vet school for the type of learning, but I guarantee that there will be classes where you don't care.

 

[DVMDream]

I was just trying to give OP some words of encouragement, sorry if I said something to offend you. It's just the impression I got from researching and talking to people. Excuse me for being a couple years behind lol but I'd rather enter vet school with my frame of mind than yours. Plus, setting a goal for myself for complete retention doesn't mean I'm going to be setting myself up for disappointment and frustration. Obviously, there are things that I won't remember after learning them and there are things that I'm learning that I won't necessarily care about, but unlike undergraduate school, where I literally retained NOTHING, vet school will be different. I'm going to leave that school with knowledge that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. "No Jonah, you don't even know. You haven't even gone to vet school yet, you don't even know man!" Save it haha, any education will be better than the one I received at undergrad. In vet school, you don't have professors trying to weed out students with fails left and right. And from what I understand, the educational environment doesn't promote competition for the highest grades. Pressures and priorities shift.

The bottom line is what you have already made very clear: you have zero experience with vet school, so why comment like you do? It doesn't provide encouragement it is just misleading. I thought the same things, oh it will be better than undergrad I'll be learning in order to retain info for my career blah blah blah. The truth is, you have to pass exams in vet school too (or you get kicked out) and often times (most of the time) they aren't asking questions that are in some super clinically relevant scenario. A lot of exams is regurgitation of facts. As dyachei said if you didn't remember things from undergrad that is on you. I sure remembered things. However a lot of vet school is biting your tongue and just getting through. You don't have time to enjoy the subjects you do like, you just don't. And no professors in vet school aren't looking to intentionally fail people but there are many that aren't afraid to tell you how stupid you are.

Basically, you'll realize soon enough that we have been or are currently there and that we aren't saying these things to be mean or discouraging. We are just stating the truth, it might seem disappointing but my job isn't too sugar coat how things really are. I'm on this forum to provide realistic info to people. It does no good to tell people about how you think it is our how you think it should be. It is much better to give them info on how it really is.

 

[Jonah93]

Thanks for the discussion and words of wisdom!

 

[Doktor Timo]

While it's true that vet school is much harder than undergrad in virtually every way, I feel like there's more to the story than that. Because when I look back, I would much rather be doing what I'm doing right now than go back to being an undergrad. While there definitely are some classes that still seem pretty pointless, there are a lot more classes that interest me than there were in undergrad. And even though the schoolwork is stressful, I don't feel the stress of having to be a perfect student like I did in undergrad. Back then, I couldn't let my guard down because every bad grade could mean not getting to pursue my dream. Nowadays, a couple grades below what I want don't bother me, because at the end of the day I'm still going to get my degree.

I don't want to make it sound like vet school is all sunshine and roses. It isn't. The most stressful days of my life have all happened since I started vet school. I've probably had a few days where I've been far more depressed than I ever was before vet school. But I guess I would rather suffer toward a fixed goal that I want instead of wasting time taking random gen ed classes in undergrad in pursuit of a degree I'll probably never get to use.

So, to answer the original question: Is vet school easier than undergrad? Hell no. Is it more enjoyable? In my opinion, absolutely.

 

[CombatVeteranVeterinarian]

As a non-trad (2nd career, 2nd degree) undergrad student, I was pretty burned out of undergrad the last 3 semesters. I stressed myself out so much with "MUST get A's" that I pretty much began to demise classes and being surrounded by a younger/generally less mature crowd. In retrospect many of my undergrad professors were nuts (for lack of better description). We'd have questions on exams that were not covered in lecture, not in the text, and you'd have no way of knowing. Then the professor shrugs and tells you to "try harder." That was stressful. I agree with david594 in that if you know 85%, you'll get a B.

I was really intimidated by starting vet school. I wasn't sure if I would cut it, letting down all the people that supported me to that point. That stressed me out! Then I got half way through the first anatomy exam and realized I could potentially ace this test. Low and behold, the exam was on the exact material we were taught/told to learn; no tricks or trying to make sure people would flunk. There is a lot of information, which comes down to putting the effort in, but the material is not abstract rocket science. Additionally, since a lot of material will help us become the best vets we can be (unlike much of ochem), it is both interesting and easier to stay motivated to study for. Screwing up a physics assignment will affect your grade, but screwing up pharmacology may lead to killing a patient, so the motivation is different.

This may not be true of all schools, but I was pretty much shocked after starting school. The professors WANT you to succeed and learn as much as possible. They see a student's success as a reflection of their success. My first impression of vet school was that my professors were "professional teachers". They KNOW how to teach. We also have video lecture recording, which I have learned makes a big difference for me. I listen to lectures again before the exam in marathon style and find I retain the information really well and pick up a lot of new information the 2nd time.

Everybody that has gotten into vet school already knows how to work really hard, work through stress and have survived "weed out classes". Honestly, I think a lot of success in vet school comes down to mental game... don't let it stress you out, know you're smart, and stay on top of material. I'm a big believer that your mental game, like stress, is under your control. It may not be easy to control, but you absolutely can do it. I do not believe vet school should be "TONS and TONS of stress." One of our professors told us that there is not enough at stake in vet school to live in a state of deep stress and if we have problems with the material to visit the professor, because every one of us was selected because we can succeed in this program. Then we had a physio lecture that included why stressed students don't do as well among other negatives. We also had 6 hours of lectures on stress management as part of our intro to vet med class, so the school recognizes it an issue with vet students that should be addressed.

In general I would say vet school is "better," which makes it easier despite the material and work load not being easier.

I say, well said!