Preparing for first semester/quarter

My advice: don't study anything. Let your brain take a rest. It'll be working hard enough...soon enough.

Plus, I really don't believe that you can possibly learn anything over the summer in as much detail (or know how much detail you should focus on certain things) until you're already in class. Even anatomy.

I had a labmate who had literally memorized the anatomy textbook before we started school (don't ask--a special talent of his). He STILL ended up studying his butt off and spending hours and hours reviewing in the lab. It's just not the same without a cadaver in front of you.

You'll get to it soon enough, don't worry.

alliecat44 said:

My advice: don't study anything. Let your brain take a rest.

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Whew! My laziness this summer is completely justified.

I'm reviewing vet med terminology. Mostly because I am doing a lot of painting, and it is something simple to review and memorize while cutting in and rolling, otherwise I go bonkers noticing every flaw while painting. I know a lot of terms from working in a clinic, but I don't necessarily have the prefix/root/suffix down. I guess (?) we have an online anatomy review before classes, but I haven't heard anything about that, and we start early August.

I guess it couldn't hurt to review things like lateral/ventral, distal/proximal, err... I woke up at like 6am so my brain gave up for the day. Those terms. For anatomy, it seems like reviewing or learning some of the bones would be practical? The difference between pictures in a book and a skeleton are somewhat minimal.

Just my thoughts. I'm all for not studying at all... just enjoy your summer!

twelvetigers said:

I guess it couldn't hurt to review things like lateral/ventral, distal/proximal, err... I woke up at like 6am so my brain gave up for the day. Those terms. For anatomy, it seems like reviewing or learning some of the bones would be practical? The difference between pictures in a book and a skeleton are somewhat minimal.

Just my thoughts. I'm all for not studying at all... just enjoy your summer!

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twelvetigers, sure, you can learn the names of the bones and the orientation words (lateral/medial, proximal/distal, axial/abaxial, palmar/plantar, etc). But remember that each bone will have about 20 different parts that you'll have to learn--and you'll really have to hold the bone in your hand to learn/review those parts.

Doesn't hurt to try, but personally I'd recommend using your time more wisely (e.g., having fun) instead of on such a low-yield exercise.

alliecat44 said:

twelvetigers, sure, you can learn the names of the bones and the orientation words (lateral/medial, proximal/distal, axial/abaxial, palmar/plantar, etc). But remember that each bone will have about 20 different parts that you'll have to learn--and you'll really have to hold the bone in your hand to learn/review those parts.

Doesn't hurt to try, but personally I'd recommend using your time more wisely (e.g., having fun) instead of on such a low-yield exercise.

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I am spending the summer with a bunch of vet student so I have picked up a few things from them. Learning your prefixes and suffixes will make life easier. That way if you don't know what a word means you can generally figure it out. Ex: Macroglossia-macro means large and glossia means tongue.

But I agree with Alliecat that it's a good idea to have fun. I have noticed the vet students Im working with are doing just that

I'm doing a (non-detailed) read-through of my physiology textbook. Just so that it's not a totally foreign language when I listen to the first lecture. Interspersed with healthy bouts of video-game playing and piano playing.

alliecat44 said:

But remember that each bone will have about 20 different parts that you'll have to learn

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It's normal at this point to be questioning whether my brain is up to this task, right?

I have started reading my books. I only work 2-3 days a week(13hrs/day), and recently moved in with my parents (and all my friends moved away) who work when Im not working, so I am literally bored to tears. Ive read every trashy romance novel my mother owns and was really craving some intellectual material.. so I started reading the textbooks I ordered on amazon. Cant hurt to have a solid base to start off with I figure. I am not pushing myself, just reading when I feel like it and learning quite a bit. Its better than droning out in front of HBO 5 days a week. Plus, I am a slow reader, so I figure if I start out ahead on reading at the begining of the semester, Ill finish just a little behind.

UT sent us a letter asking us to read the book "Veterinary Medical Terminology" by Dawn Christensen and take the self-quizzes at the end of each chapter over the summer. I kinda flipped through it when I got it and wasn't really planning to take it that seriously, but then I started reading it and it's a pretty decent basic review book. Pretty easy read and most of it you probably know if you've taken vet pre-reqs, but there's a lot of little stuff in it that I didn't realize I'd kinda forgotten. I'd recommend it.

BTDT, take the summer off and enjoy yourself. Your life is going to be extremely full for the next four years so take off whatever time you can and have fun.

Also, if you have any projects you're working on, like sorting through your stuff for a garage sale or some craft project or something, do your best to finish it now. You won't have much spare time during your first year.

Good luck to all of you. I absolutely HATED my first year of vet school and I hope you all will have more positive experiences.

I would also advise every one of you to join VIN as soon as you get your official student status. Membership is free while you are a student and it is an invaluable resource for finding out what veterinary practice is really like. Plus lots of specialists who can answer just about every question you might have.

veterinary terminology...good idea. But I have no time so that's prob not going to happen

OK, are there any conferences we should consider going to first year? Would we have time?
This one comes to mind: SAVMA Symposium 2010 – University of Wisconsin – March 10-14, 2010??

dgm said:

It's normal at this point to be questioning whether my brain is up to this task, right?

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Yes. If you don't question that, you are in big trouble. Just remember that there is no way you can learn everything they throw at you, so figure out how to prioritize what is important (will vary with every class and prof) and what method of studying works for you.

You don't have to carry everything in your head when you are actually practicing--obviously you need to know a lot, but you also need to know when you don't know something, not be afraid to admit it, and know where to look it up.

You will have to learn a lot of parts of bones, muscle attachments, obscure blood vessels, etc. That's the bad news. The good news is that, unless you do a surgical residency, you will never need to know most of them again after you graduate.

BeagleOne said:

I would also advise every one of you to join VIN as soon as you get your official student status. Membership is free while you are a student and it is an invaluable resource for finding out what veterinary practice is really like. Plus lots of specialists who can answer just about every question you might have.

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Here I was wondering if you were from VIN. Are you a lawyer also? Just trying to put 2 and 2 together.

Do not study on this break!!! Go out, visit people, finish any projects you have!!! Trust me you will have plenty of time spent studying (to the point of neglect of other things) when you are in school.

Uh huh....refreshing terminology is more interesting than counting paint strokes! I am biking twice a day hoping to build up enough endurance to commute by bike. twice a day, half an hour at at time, I am up to 5.3 miles. However, the safest bike route looks to actually be 6 miles. So now I am left to decide: chance the exit/entrance ramps to an interstate on a busy road or go 2 miles out of the way (with a big hill.) Bike riding to tone legs, painting to tone arms...what a great workout! Going to Bon Aire. I am trying to decide if I should consider reviewing anything before hand, though, since I haven't had most of my pre-reqs in over a decade.

GeeQued said:

Yep I already joined VIN. I guess I'm just bored out of my mind this summer, my last day at work is tuesday and Im moving to Davis wednesday. I've made sure to pack as much fun stuff into this summer as I could which I have but I still enjoy reading stuff so I figured I could at least read an anatomy book or something while im at the beach.

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GeeQued, are you bringing your horses with you when you move up? I am here in Davis almost all summer working a few days/week at the VMTH, so we should get together and meet before school starts! I would love to go meet your horses if they are coming, or you could come and meet my Evie

I also recommend DO NOT STUDY OVER THE SUMMER! Relax, do hobbies, projects, sports, etc. If you must, page through a terminology book or an anatomy coloring book/something fun like that. You'll just get overly stressed ahead of time if you try to study, and you won't learn enough to get ahead in class or make a difference anyway.

Well, I now have the official before school terminology class to focus on! Not required, but recommended.