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- Jan 30, 2015
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Hello all,
As I finish my second year of Veterinary school and can't help but think back to this time last year when life was awful and I thought I would fail out of Vet School and now am getting grades that I never thought I would get.
What's different about this year? I think a lot of it has to do with second year material conceptually making more sense but I'd love to share tips/advice to struggling first years and encourage others to share their tips.
1.) If you have a school therapist, course coordinator, academic and student affairs office ->talk to one of those people about your struggles. Your school wants you to succeed even if it doesn't feel that way. I am lucky to have a counselor that works for the Veterinary hospital that I could talk to and point me in the direction of an on campus therapist and a tutor.
-I met with the on campus therapist a few times about my struggles in Veterinary school, (bad grades, not focusing, not sleeping, stress) and through him I got an appointment with the Disability Resources and Education Services center on my campus. I took tests given by them and was diagnosed with ADD. They told me a large amount of people with ADD are not diagnosed until Graduate school because high school and undergraduate were easy for them to cram and get good grades because of our high intelligence. Regardless of all of that, being on medication made a tremendous improvement in my ability to focus in class, stay on task and study in a methodical manner.
Other people may suffer from depression or anxiety or addictions but because they are Veterinary students their personalities do not allow them to admit to other people their faults, if that is you seriously just go see a therapist it will make a world of difference in your life. You should not have to struggle and feel horrible every day, you deserve to be happy.
2.) If you are doing poorly in school where you think you might fail out of school, seriously- quit your extracurriculars, quit your job, quit volunteering places. Medical students characteristically have difficult times saying no to people or disappointing people but it is an important trait to learn. Two students in my class failed first year and had been student volunteers at the on campus wildlife clinic, an extremely time consuming position which is filled with amazing clinical opportunities but having clinical experience means nothing if you fail your didactic classes. There is plenty of time in your future to hone clinical skills, trust me.
3.) Don't talk to your friends about the exam or your grades- if your veterinary school friends only talk about veterinary school try making some friends in other classes. My friends all got better grades than me, all stressed out immensely around exam times and all always talked about class and the exams. This made me feel horribly inadequate and stressed out constantly. I was lucky enough to become close friends with a girl in the class above me because of common non-veterinary interests and even if we talked about vet school it did not stress me out because we were at different levels of learning.
4.) If your roommate or housing situation is a source of unhappiness in your life, get a single apartment or a different roommate. I know singles are expensive but my mental health has significantly improved since living alone and not living with a classmate who I sat next to everyday, hung out with everyday and went out with.
5.) Studying everyday doesn't correlate to better grades.
Last year I studied all the time, always stressed out and sad. This year I don't talk to my friends about what they're studying or when they are, I have my own schedule. And honestly I do most of my learning/memorizing the week before the exam anyways. I know that I can go to a concert and have fun and work extra hard the next day. Sometimes I sit at home and watch tv all night and don't look at my school work. Finding things you enjoy and doing them, whether it be working out, watching tv, music, going to church - do it. Your happiness from those activities allows you to be a healthier person.
6.) If the thought of going to school everyday makes you unhappy and being a veterinarian isn't fulfilling to you in a deep sense, have a serious conversation with yourself if this is what you really want to do. Even if you are a year of tuition in debt don't make that force you to stay in school if you are going to be unhappy because of it. Your own happiness and mental health are the most important things in the world- I know two students who have dropped after/during first year and are incredibly happy with their decision because of how awful they felt veterinary school was.
What i'm not saying though is if your whole life you dreamed of being a veterinarian and now you hate vet school you should quit- because you shouldn't. If this is your life's passion then stick with it because it does get better, but if this is something you decided to do on a whim or your parents told you to apply for- you could have another passion out there.
This is all I can think of- I hope other people add to it. I hope everyone passes their finals and gets to second year, it has been a 360 in how I feel about Veterinary school and how happy I am to be here.
Good luck!
As I finish my second year of Veterinary school and can't help but think back to this time last year when life was awful and I thought I would fail out of Vet School and now am getting grades that I never thought I would get.
What's different about this year? I think a lot of it has to do with second year material conceptually making more sense but I'd love to share tips/advice to struggling first years and encourage others to share their tips.
1.) If you have a school therapist, course coordinator, academic and student affairs office ->talk to one of those people about your struggles. Your school wants you to succeed even if it doesn't feel that way. I am lucky to have a counselor that works for the Veterinary hospital that I could talk to and point me in the direction of an on campus therapist and a tutor.
-I met with the on campus therapist a few times about my struggles in Veterinary school, (bad grades, not focusing, not sleeping, stress) and through him I got an appointment with the Disability Resources and Education Services center on my campus. I took tests given by them and was diagnosed with ADD. They told me a large amount of people with ADD are not diagnosed until Graduate school because high school and undergraduate were easy for them to cram and get good grades because of our high intelligence. Regardless of all of that, being on medication made a tremendous improvement in my ability to focus in class, stay on task and study in a methodical manner.
Other people may suffer from depression or anxiety or addictions but because they are Veterinary students their personalities do not allow them to admit to other people their faults, if that is you seriously just go see a therapist it will make a world of difference in your life. You should not have to struggle and feel horrible every day, you deserve to be happy.
2.) If you are doing poorly in school where you think you might fail out of school, seriously- quit your extracurriculars, quit your job, quit volunteering places. Medical students characteristically have difficult times saying no to people or disappointing people but it is an important trait to learn. Two students in my class failed first year and had been student volunteers at the on campus wildlife clinic, an extremely time consuming position which is filled with amazing clinical opportunities but having clinical experience means nothing if you fail your didactic classes. There is plenty of time in your future to hone clinical skills, trust me.
3.) Don't talk to your friends about the exam or your grades- if your veterinary school friends only talk about veterinary school try making some friends in other classes. My friends all got better grades than me, all stressed out immensely around exam times and all always talked about class and the exams. This made me feel horribly inadequate and stressed out constantly. I was lucky enough to become close friends with a girl in the class above me because of common non-veterinary interests and even if we talked about vet school it did not stress me out because we were at different levels of learning.
4.) If your roommate or housing situation is a source of unhappiness in your life, get a single apartment or a different roommate. I know singles are expensive but my mental health has significantly improved since living alone and not living with a classmate who I sat next to everyday, hung out with everyday and went out with.
5.) Studying everyday doesn't correlate to better grades.
Last year I studied all the time, always stressed out and sad. This year I don't talk to my friends about what they're studying or when they are, I have my own schedule. And honestly I do most of my learning/memorizing the week before the exam anyways. I know that I can go to a concert and have fun and work extra hard the next day. Sometimes I sit at home and watch tv all night and don't look at my school work. Finding things you enjoy and doing them, whether it be working out, watching tv, music, going to church - do it. Your happiness from those activities allows you to be a healthier person.
6.) If the thought of going to school everyday makes you unhappy and being a veterinarian isn't fulfilling to you in a deep sense, have a serious conversation with yourself if this is what you really want to do. Even if you are a year of tuition in debt don't make that force you to stay in school if you are going to be unhappy because of it. Your own happiness and mental health are the most important things in the world- I know two students who have dropped after/during first year and are incredibly happy with their decision because of how awful they felt veterinary school was.
What i'm not saying though is if your whole life you dreamed of being a veterinarian and now you hate vet school you should quit- because you shouldn't. If this is your life's passion then stick with it because it does get better, but if this is something you decided to do on a whim or your parents told you to apply for- you could have another passion out there.
This is all I can think of- I hope other people add to it. I hope everyone passes their finals and gets to second year, it has been a 360 in how I feel about Veterinary school and how happy I am to be here.
Good luck!
