Choosing a clinical school with diversity

[CafecitoAndCats]

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Hello! I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but here goes. I'm a rising 3rd-year vet student at St. George's University, and in the fall I have to list my top 5 school choices for my fourth year/clinicals. I am only interested in small animal medicine and either GP or shelter medicine. I am originally from CT and am a woman of color, so I would prefer a school that is not isolated/rural and has a diverse community both inside and outside the vet school. So far, these are the schools that I'm thinking about out of the selection they gave us:

• Colorado
• Cornell
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• NC State
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Purdue
• Tennessee
• Texas A&M
• Tufts
• Washington State
• Wisconsin

Which schools do y'all think would be best for me? I'm more concerned about the diversity around the school/in the town, so I want more insight on this. I haven't been to any of these states, so I don't know what I would expect. Thank you.

 

[beans2020]

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer - all of the listed schools have great teaching hospitals as far as I know.
Ohio State and Purdue both have very nice hospitals - I can't say anything about their caseload or rotations, but they have gorgeous facilities.
Mizzou is a 2+2 program so some of our rotations are longer than they are at other schools. I'm not sure how this translates over to students from the island schools. For example, our shelter medicine, community practice, anesthesiology, and ECC rotations are all 3-4 weeks while I believe they are 2-3 weeks at most schools (correct me if I'm wrong!)
Perhaps you could take some time to research some of the different teaching hospitals and see if any them align well with your interests? I'm not really sure which schools to suggest to you as all of these schools should offer good community practice and shelter medicine rotations.

 

[CafecitoAndCats]

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer - all of the listed schools have great teaching hospitals as far as I know.
Ohio State and Purdue both have very nice hospitals - I can't say anything about their caseload or rotations, but they have gorgeous facilities.
Mizzou is a 2+2 program so some of our rotations are longer than they are at other schools. I'm not sure how this translates over to students from the island schools. For example, our shelter medicine, community practice, anesthesiology, and ECC rotations are all 3-4 weeks while I believe they are 2-3 weeks at most schools (correct me if I'm wrong!)
Perhaps you could take some time to research some of the different teaching hospitals and see if any them align well with your interests? I'm not really sure which schools to suggest to you as all of these schools should offer good community practice and shelter medicine rotations.

How is the diversity at Missouri and the surrounding area?

 

[beans2020]

How is the diversity at Missouri and the surrounding area?

To be completely honest, we are not the most diverse vet school. There are not a lot of students who are people of color in any of our classes, though I would say the surrounding area does have a little more diversity. Columbia is absolutely a college town so it is a little at the mercy of the current student body. That being said, I don't know that we are any less diverse than some of the other schools on the list. I wouldn't say there are negative feelings towards people of color or anything like that though.

I hope that helps!

 

[battie]

How is the diversity at Missouri and the surrounding area?

Unfortunately, the vast majority of vet schools are going to be majority white women with the exception of Tuskegee. While I was attending Illinois, my class was 22 men, 112 women, probably 30 or fewer people of color across all non-white races.

However, college towns as a whole are generally more diverse as a trend, even if in a rural area. So if you want to network, there's opportunity via student groups on campus.

 

[CafecitoAndCats]

I'm a rising 3rd-year vet student at St. George's University, and in the fall I have to list my top 5 school choices for my fourth year/clinicals. I am a woman of color and have not visited a lot of states, so I would like input on what the diversity is like around these vet schools as it's an important factor to me. So far, these are the schools that I'm thinking about out of the selection they gave us:

• Colorado
• Cornell
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• NC State
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Purdue
• Tennessee
• Texas A&M
• Tufts
• Washington State
• Wisconsin

Which schools do y'all think would be best for me? Thank you!
(extra info: I am only interested in small animal medicine, either GP or shelter medicine, and would prefer a school that is not isolated/rural)

 

[JaynaAli]

What do you consider isolated/rural? I am from a town of 800 people in the middle of nowhere Midwest/South where it’s 30 miles to a Walmart and 2.5 hours to a metropolitan area with a hospital, so a town like Columbia, MO or Pullman, WA feels like a bustling city to me. But for someone from a big city like Atlanta or NYC or something, they might feel extremely isolated and rural.

All vet schools are going to be predominantly white and female without a lot of diversity, with the exception of Tuskeegee. Most college towns even in super “red states” are “blue bubbles”. That’s not to say you won’t run into a racist bootyhead sometimes, and I won’t pretend that my experience as a cis het white woman is anything like what you may experience, but I think you’ll likely find inclusivity and good people anywhere.

 

[CafecitoAndCats]

What do you consider isolated/rural? I am from a town of 800 people in the middle of nowhere Midwest/South where it’s 30 miles to a Walmart and 2.5 hours to a metropolitan area with a hospital, so a town like Columbia, MO or Pullman, WA feels like a bustling city to me. But for someone from a big city like Atlanta or NYC or something, they might feel extremely isolated and rural.

All vet schools are going to be predominantly white and female without a lot of diversity, with the exception of Tuskeegee. Most college towns even in super “red states” are “blue bubbles”. That’s not to say you won’t run into a racist bootyhead sometimes, and I won’t pretend that my experience as a cis het white woman is anything like what you may experience, but I think you’ll likely find inclusivity and good people anywhere.

I'm from Hartford, CT, which is urban/suburban, so a town where you have to drive like 20 minutes out for groceries or there isn't much to do except like a few bars feels isolated to me.

 

[supershorty]

Duplicate threads have been merged.

 

[BlackCatsRuleTheWorld]

I would recommend Minnesota! The Twin Cities are fairly diverse and the school seems welcoming as far as I can tell, though I am white so I cannot speak on account of experiences of people of color. Best of luck!

 

[vampyrica]

Fort collins is a very cute, inclusive town! so far from what I have experienced, CSU CVM is very inclusive and diverse

 

[ESD_2029]

I am not sure about diversity but Ohio State is in the middle of Columbus, which is a city the the same size as Charlotte NC.

 

[battie]

I'm from Hartford, CT, which is urban/suburban, so a town where you have to drive like 20 minutes out for groceries or there isn't much to do except like a few bars feels isolated to me.

I don't think any of the vet schools on your list are rural on this level.

 

[clembear]

NCSU CVM and the Raleigh/Durham area is pretty diverse and inclusive! Raleigh is a city with plenty to do.
— current house officer (and woman of color)

 

[mw1356]

I am not sure about diversity but Ohio State is in the middle of Columbus, which is a city the the same size as Charlotte NC.

There’s a pretty decent amount of stuff to do in/around Columbus! I’m from Boston and wanted to go to vet school in a city and I haven’t been disappointed. I feel like the area is kinda middle of the road on diversity, but the vet school has several cultural student groups (jh bias black affinity group, asians in vet med, latinx in vet med) that are pretty active and host a lot of events.