Class of 2010-Your Thoughts

[Sheltie]

I know it has only been a little over a month for some and less for others......but so far..........
What are your thoughts and impressions regarding your vet med education?

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[PAThbrd]

It is one of the hardest, most demanding (long-term) thing I've ever done!

Some days I love it, some days it really really sucks. Some days I feel like I know a lot, the next I feel like I know nothing. But all in all, its a hell of a lot better stressing about exams and classes than this time last year when I was stressing about even getting in to vet school!

 

[JIKJen124]

I'm glad somebody beat me to the punch... I've been wondering the same question myself! Is there anything you've already realized you wish you knew before you started?

 

[UKYWildcat]

I'm glad somebody beat me to the punch... I've been wondering the same question myself! Is there anything you've already realized you wish you knew before you started?

Yeah. How to live without taking time to eat or sleep. You'd get so much more time to study that way.

I second what Deanna said though...some days it's great, some days it really sucks.

 

[PAThbrd]

I'm glad somebody beat me to the punch... I've been wondering the same question myself! Is there anything you've already realized you wish you knew before you started?

That I should have paid more attention in all those stupid pre-reqs because, believe it or not, you are not done with the biochem, or the cell biology, or the histology, or the genetics, or the embryology, etc, etc, that you thought you were done with when you got in.

Another thing, try to develop a hobby that you really really love thats not too time consuming, but will force you to carve a little time out of your schedule to do something non-vet school. For me, its agility with my dog. It gets us out of the house a couple times a week and doing something active and totally not vet school. Grey's Anatomy is also an excellent break from studying! (Those are about the only 2 non-vet school things Ive done in the last month)

I cant think of any more light bulbs that have come on in the past few months, other than I wish I wasnt such a procrastinator, but Ive know that since about 3rd grade

 

[eaglemeag]

- I wish I'd gone to an undergrad institution that would have better prepared me for vet school. My school was great, and I feel like I have a good solid foundation of biology... but not nearly enough as I should have had, as I see many classmates who went to good pre-vet schools who are doing a lot better than I am. Everyone in high school told me it didn't matter what school I went to and THAT IS A LIE.
- I wish I'd taken biochem instead of molecular bio to fulfill my biochem requirements. (It's a long story, but my school's molecular bio class was supposed to be the exact same thing as the biochem class but at a better time in the schedule... but it didn't cover the material it was supposed to.) I wouldn't have done so poorly on the first biochem test had I had more of it in undergrad.
- Ditto on the learning not to sleep / eat / etc. You all will probably remember my post earlier this summer about being concerned about money... well, it's a non-issue now because I don't have time to spend money!

 

[laurafinn]

I'm almost at the end of my first semester - Massey started in July. I'm glad I go to school that believes in cumulative exams, no pop quizes. It makes a huge difference in my stress level and my ability to catch the Simpsons on a regular basis.

I'm surprised at how much I can review by drawing and coloring. I'm still a second grader at heart.

I'm finding my favorite subject is Anatomy. Biochem, not so much.

Lecture Powerpoint slides posted on WebCT make me happy.

 

[PAThbrd]

**FYI -- The posts that were in this thread about choosing an undergrad school have been moved to a thread on the Pre-Vet forum, "Choosing a good pre-vet school"**

 

[are_jay]

-
- Ditto on the learning not to sleep / eat / etc.

I found one of the most important things I've learned how to do this semester is make time for eating and sleeping. I don't fall asleep in class when I have enough sleep, and I actually retain info better now that I eat _something_ 3x/day. I wish I had been better about this in undergrad.

Oh and Grey's Anatomy is practically a religion in vet school... even the guys like it! My friend at a different vet school says they have Grey's Anatomy tv-watching parties. No studying takes place during that hour on Thursday night.

Back to impressions. Yeah it is hard but we are all in the same boat more or less. Every time we think it is too hard we remind ourselves of why we are here. When someone tells me they are not sure they can do it, I remind them there is a committee of people in their school who thought they could. But wow it is such a rush. Sometimes I still can't believe I'm here.

 

[PAThbrd]

Oh and Grey's Anatomy is practically a religion in vet school... even the guys like it! My friend at a different vet school says they have Grey's Anatomy tv-watching parties. No studying takes place during that hour on Thursday night.

Its a religion here, too. I cant think of anyone in my class who doesn't watch it and there are multiple Grey's parties on Thursday nights. In fact, "Grey's and Chinese" (food) has become a ritual at my house already with about 7 of us and growing

"It's the doctor thing. Four years of high school, four years of college, four years of [vet] school. By the time we graduate, we're in our late 20s, and we've never done anything except go to school and think about science. Time stops. We're socially ******ed. I'm a total freak. I'm that girl in the back of the class who eats her hair. We're all 17 years old. This is high school with scalpels."

But Ill stop being off topic now!

 

[Medmaid]

More off topic...

Did anyone want to throw something at the TV when Christina gave her whole "a vet's not a real doctor" rant? Christina is my favorite character, but not on that episode...

Sadly, I think her attitude is shared by a lot of doctors out there.

 

[PAThbrd]

More off topic...

Did anyone want to throw something at the TV when Christina gave her whole "a vet's not a real doctor" rant? Christina is my favorite character, but not on that episode...

Sadly, I think her attitude is shared by a lot of doctors out there.

There is actually a whole thread on that further down on the board http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=278726

 

[HorseyVet]

Its a religion here, too. I cant think of anyone in my class who doesn't watch it and there are multiple Grey's parties on Thursday nights. In fact, "Grey's and Chinese" (food) has become a ritual at my house already with about 7 of us and growing

The only medical show I watch (and really have ever watched) is House...and often I just DVR that and watch it on the weekend....I haven't watched Grey's but House is better...

 

[nessaf7]

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[birdvet2006]

ER was our thing during vet school. I've lost touch with it, and was a year behind on it anyways (because all the American shows are a year behind in the UK). I also used to watch Desperate Housewives - *way* behind on that one.

I've only seen about 3 episodes of Gray's Anatomy (the first 3 or so). I tried watching it recently but just can't get into it. It doesn't matter - I rarely have time in the evenings to even be home, let alone watch TV.

 

[HorseyVet]

This thread is being highjacked again

I'm not in vet school, or even in pre-vet yet, so I have a little bit more time to watch all these doctor shows. I'm addicted to Grey's Anatomy haha but I love House too!

Did you see last's week episode? I thought it was so good and I was so excited to actually know what they were talking about! (But I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't watched it yet, so I won't go into details!)

Haha, thanks.......I love my DVR......... that extra couple of bucks is WELL worth it.

 

[miltonmcdougall]

The biggest challenge for me has been trying to successfully do the balancing act between sleep, food, studying, and still trying to have some semblence of a social life. Eating right is so hard in Vet school. I feel like I live at school, and there are vending machines all over the place. I think the biggest surprise for me has been the closeness that's developed among the people in my class. It's kind of like camp mentality. You're stuck with the same people day in and day out, and by day 2, you have like, 70 new friends. It's hell some days, but I'm having a GREAT time in hell

 

[eaglemeag]

Eating right is so hard in Vet school. I feel like I live at school, and there are vending machines all over the place.

I agree, that's been *really* hard for me too. I've NEVER been one to eat out of a vending machine, but nowadays I do it several times a week (and several times a week more than I need to!). It' just a PITA to have to think far enough ahead to pack breakfast, lunch, AND dinner for the day, because that's how long I'm going to be at school. Good thing I only live 5 minutes away, so worst-case-scenario I can come home real quick to grab something to eat, and then head back if I need to.

One thing that *has* helped... I usually cook twice a week, and I'll always cook something that makes several servings. I'll put a few in the freezer so they don't go bad, and then individually-tupperware the rest. I do this for individual servings of veggies too. So, in the mornings, I grab one of each container for my lunchbag, and bam, there's dinner. I've been sticking to snack items like fruit and crackers for lunch and between-meal snacks. It's not a perfect system, but it has helped some.