I dont know about any of you - but i found 2nd year to be the worst year ever.............. honestly, i think i hated it!
good thing i've been told that it gets better from here!
good thing i've been told that it gets better from here!
2nd year of vet school sucks
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Yeah second year was a pain. Congrats on finihing itdvm'08 said:
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id actually heard second year was better than first year!!
aw nuts!
aw nuts!
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ReinaDeLuz said:
lol..that's sort of what I heard too. I thought though that in part that was because you're still not getting a lot of direct animal interaction the first year and people just get a little frustrated with that aspect.
ReinaDeLuz said:
nope - 2nd year is brutal. i dont think you get to touch any live animals until half way through 3rd year.
I'm sure this varies from school to school, but in general: 2nd year consists of you sitting at a bench looking down a microscope... pathology slides, micro slides, virology, animal hubandry (which absolutly SUCKS ASS), pharmacology, and a whole host of $hit that is, at first somewhat interesting, but quickly becomes a 4 inch binder full of crap you need to know pretty much everything about - and let me tell you, they will test the hell out of you.
ugh. definitly - worst year ever.
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We get hands on animal experience (live animals) from day one. 2nd year is pretty much the most tedious and difficult of all years at any school. Some people think first year is hard because of the adjustment between the amount of work you need to do in undergrad vs vet school, but at least I can say at my school first year is a cakewalk compared to second year. I just finished 3rd year yesterday and we are in clinical rotations in third year. It is not easier but definately keeps you interested and reminds you why you came to vet school. Now its off to 4th year anddvm'08 said:
boards 
I can't believe I am almost done 
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Second year in US speak is probably the same as third year in the UK.
We had pharmacology, pathology, virology, bacteriology, and parasitology (all the "-ologies") that year. It is known as the "sink or swim" year here. You make it or you don't - and if you can pass 3rd year you generally are fine until the end. Here in the UK, many vet students fail exams and even have to re-sit entire years. It's not like in the US where failing is unheard of. So it's scary!
A lot of people hated and had a hard time with pharmacology. I loved it, found it interesting, but it was a lot to memorize (on top of everything else).
Pathology was the toughest for me. I *hated* histopathology, and we were in the histo lab for hours on end each week. I wasn't too excited by gross pathology either (all that public health-like stuff and hours of doing necropsies in the cold ice-box like PM room - no fun). Pathology was just too much to know in depth for me - I had trouble with the essay questions. But I managed to survive.
Microbiology (virology and bacteriology) was interesting enough, but lectures were sleep-inducing. I enjoyed memorising all the organism names but hated the nitty-gritty details of virology (like who cares if it's an RNA or DNA virus and if its genome is single or double stranded?). I did best in this and parasitology (similar: sleep-inducing lectures).
The only hands-on animal work in 3rd year was with dead animals in the PM room. But we had hands-on in first and second years with our animal husbandry class.
IMO, third year is when vet school FINALLY became interesting.
We had pharmacology, pathology, virology, bacteriology, and parasitology (all the "-ologies") that year. It is known as the "sink or swim" year here. You make it or you don't - and if you can pass 3rd year you generally are fine until the end. Here in the UK, many vet students fail exams and even have to re-sit entire years. It's not like in the US where failing is unheard of. So it's scary!
A lot of people hated and had a hard time with pharmacology. I loved it, found it interesting, but it was a lot to memorize (on top of everything else).
Pathology was the toughest for me. I *hated* histopathology, and we were in the histo lab for hours on end each week. I wasn't too excited by gross pathology either (all that public health-like stuff and hours of doing necropsies in the cold ice-box like PM room - no fun). Pathology was just too much to know in depth for me - I had trouble with the essay questions. But I managed to survive.
Microbiology (virology and bacteriology) was interesting enough, but lectures were sleep-inducing. I enjoyed memorising all the organism names but hated the nitty-gritty details of virology (like who cares if it's an RNA or DNA virus and if its genome is single or double stranded?). I did best in this and parasitology (similar: sleep-inducing lectures).
The only hands-on animal work in 3rd year was with dead animals in the PM room. But we had hands-on in first and second years with our animal husbandry class.
IMO, third year is when vet school FINALLY became interesting.
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dvm'08 said:
dvm'08, what school are you attending?
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dvm'08 said:
I'll be a first year at UGA in the fall.
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dvm'08 said:
Well then I guess im going to enjoy 2nd year because I love pathology (have my own hisotlogy slide collection), love parasitology and virology.
How do you not love the microscope? Its so freaking awesome. And histopathology, even better. But I guess for those who just want to do small animal or 'practise' it isnt much fun. Or maybe I have just had really awesome pathologists teach me and that is why I enjoy it.
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dvm'08 said:
lol ....we're all probably a little nutty in an analogous way.
Personally I think histo is neat, but 5 years of research and preping and looking at that stuff sorta bored it out of me...
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Im definetly thinking about going into pathology as a career choice. And why not have histo slides? I have the ability to see awesome cases such as ethlene glycol poisioning in a raccoon and I got extra slides made for me, along with many other cases. Did I mention I also have some awesome enteroliths . They are more of a california occurence.
You should be glad I love pathology so that maybe when I become a veterinary pathologist and you submit a sample, or carcass for me to determine cause of death I will do a great job...Or I could just be a complete nut job
. They are more of a california occurence. You should be glad I love pathology so that maybe when I become a veterinary pathologist and you submit a sample, or carcass for me to determine cause of death I will do a great job...Or I could just be a complete nut job
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birdvet2006 said:
Really? We generally have around 5 people fail each year (either first or second semester) and have to take an advancement test. Then if they don't pass that they have to retake that class the following year. I'm not sure what passing is at other schools but it's 70% here and anything below is failing.
Here I've heard that 2nd semester of first year and 1st semester of 2nd year are the worst. We have gen path, parasitology I, and histo are first year. Second year we celebrate being out of anatomy and physiology which has consumed our very souls already. And 2nd year along with parasit, clin. path. and pharmacology we get mixed in clinical techniques, diagnostic imaging, anesthesiology, and some other non-microscope laden classes plus our first electives.
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I don't know about it being the worst... I really liked second year. I liked realizing why we had to learn everything we did first year, and everything makes more sense to me now! I can actually read the VIN message boards and understand what people are saying (for the most part). You are a lot busier and stressed out, and you have way more responbility in extracurriculars you are invoved with, but it's a heck of a lot more interesting! The year went by ridiculously fast... maybe due to my lack of any free time. 
Third year may be the worst as I don't want to think about being at school at 6am for surgery... ugh.
Third year may be the worst as I don't want to think about being at school at 6am for surgery... ugh.
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Im in my fourth week of second year right now. Its pretty dull right now but everything is obviously relavant. Its just boring sitting in a lecture hall the entire day when first year you get to be in labs at least.
