Look at VIN's "getting though the night" and "getting through the day" CE series which are archived and free to look at with a membership (free as a student!). Essentially goes through common presentations of all sorts of GP and ER things and what to do with them. Also how to go through your wellness stuff too. Great because they go through practical ways to look at them, quizzes you along the way, talks about common pitfalls, etc... Essentially it's seasoned veterans talking to newbies about common things and going over pearls of wisdom while going over basics. You can even sign up for the CE webinars the year you get out (and up to 3 years I think) and get CE credit for FREE. I don't think I would have survived my first DKA, IMHA, and bad HBC that I had to manage on my own with little guidance (scary as hell and really not fair for patient, but outcomes were good!) without this resource.
Plumbs, I just get electronically through VIN. It's always the current up to date version that way and easy peasy to search. I just have VIN open at work all day.
I'm personally a Cote clinical vet advisor type of person. Used it all the time my first four months out. Never cracked the 5 min consult. This is kinda like the vet prep vs. zuku type of thing. Both I'm sure work well, I'd take a peek at both and see which works best for you.
For procedures, google "clincian's brief _______" and there are beautiful step by step easy to follow guides for many many things, AND it's free. For example: enucleations, FHO, amputations, gastropexies, chest tubes, etc... You can subscribe for free and they will even send you a hard copy monthly free of their journal, which has excellent overviews of many common conditions and new products and such. As a member (again, free), you can sign in and look at all sorts of their articles about everything from kennel cough to diabetes. I've attached an example of one of the procedures manuals.
http://www.cliniciansbrief.com/sites/default/files/Forelimb Amputation.pdf
VIN also has a procedures manual page, complete with videos and descriptions and tips.
For dentistry, Brett Beckman's extraction webinar (he also has radiography, canine and feline fundamental dentistry courses) was the best $500 I've ever spent. Really 5 hours of videos about extractions, and he goes over every type of tooth in dogs and cats and how to safely extract them. Also gives you lists of tools you should have.
Start with those. They will really get you comfortable with common things you'll encounter in practice, and they are mostly free or really worth it. I would wait until you're actually at the practice to buy other books because your practice will probably already have the staples like Ettingers and Fossums and Plumbs and cytology books. You can decide what books you absolutely need. Hnilica's veterinary dermatology atlas is really good to have around if your practice doesn't have it. But teally, wait to buy textbooks because while many of them are nice, likely not worth the price tag for the number of times you'll be referring to them. And you can usually get them on the hospital's dime through your CE money.
