hey DV, Will you share your experience on the thread? I know there are several lab animal vets to be cruising SDN that would love to see! ( Also its a good way to advertise Mizzou and all its offrings!! )
No problem at all!
To start off, I'm more research oriented than clinical, so I tend to aim moreso for research-y experiences, but I've gotten great exposure to both aspects of LAM.
As far as opportunities to gain extra practical experience in LAM, I've had absolutely no trouble at all at Mizzou. The office of animal resources (OAR) at the University is extremely receptive to interested students (OAR is basically the university sector in charge of veterinary care of the research animals, reviewing research protocols, etc). Last summer, I was involved with our summer research program, but had some spare time. They let me sit in on clinical case discussions, protocol reviews, and really anything I wanted to.
For my first block of clinical rotations, I did a 6 week lab animal elective. That basically entailed helping the lab animal clinicians with their daily health monitoring and such (we have everything from mice to african green monkeys here), doing necropsies, experimental surgeries (helped with thymectomies on mouse pups!), attending rodent path rounds, clinical rounds all in addition to working on a research project. I'll also be completing similar off-campus preceptorships during my free clinical blocks at Colorado State and University of Arizona.
NETWORKING!!!! Obviously super important. The director of Mizzou's lab animal/comparative medicine residency is awesome!! Feel free to look him up (Craig Franklin). I went to the National AALAS meeting with him last year, and he was great about introducing me to some of the other lab animal folk. He's exceptionally personable, and will go out of his way to help anybody who's interested in the field. I would highly encourage anybody that's interested in getting some experience in the field to get in touch with him. He also runs the the veterinary research scholars program (VRSP), which is our summer research program. Even if you don't intend to pursue research, it's a great way to get some diverse experience, and meet tons of people in lab animal in addition to other fields across the board. Lots of students do it because it gives you the required income to gain in-state residency.
Since I'm particularly interested in research (immunology/animal modeling), I'm looking into programs that have a heavy research emphasis, and have a dual PhD/lab animal residency. It's looking more and more like I'll be staying at Missouri for the PhD/LAM, but I'm also considering Colorado State, MIT and Stanford. Honestly, I still have quite a bit of work to do in deciding where exactly I want to apply beyond Mizzou (It's getting to that crazy time for us 4th years, where we need to think about state licensing, NAVLE, internships/residencies, clinical rotations all at once!!
)
Another opportunity to mention is the nearby diagnostic laboratory, RADIL. When I started at Mizzou, it was entirely a university entity, but is now privatized. However, they still lease out some of the building space to UM. I was actually introduced to the field during my first two years as a tech in the cryo lab. I think quite a few students interested in the field become involved at RADIL in some capacity, and it's certainly a great way to get some exposure during your first two years of vet school.
That's all I've got for now, but feel free to ask any specific questions you all might have.
--DVP
I haven't had a chance to visit yet either, but I have heard nothing but awesome things about the program, area and faculty so I'm also hoping to get my hiney out there for an interview 
So if anyone else had an interest in the field, just let me know!
