CLASS OF 2013....how ya doin?

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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nyanko said:
Well I think the problem here was that one person's perception of a school repeated over and over again is really going to shape the way incoming students and applicants view the place. And while a lot of us know that this person sometimes tends towards the slightly melodramatic, some of the newer folks might not.
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Yes, and a classmate of this person posted a polite message offering a different point of view. No need to make a personal jab.
 
Can I just say that while sumstorm's experience has definitely not been representative of my experience, she is not lying about these occurrences. I can vouch for that. So while I cannot personally say that this is typical, it does happen. Everyone's experience through vet school is just that, personal.
 
Shanomong said:
OH, and I know a few NCSU grads... they loved their school. So try not to worry too much until you get there and see what it's like for yourself
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Because most of us are Type A and tend to worry too much anyway. I know I did...I still do.
 
Chiming in on the 'I Love Vet School' side.

I walked into vet school with piss-poor study habits, and that was an adjustment. The biggest personal issue I went through was trying to figure out if that was a problem for me - do I put a ton of effort into studying to get the As, or do I admit that I'd rather keep doing what I'm doing and take the Bs? I decided on the Bs.

It's all about compromise. Probably the biggest frustration is the disparity in points-to-studying - once you hit a certain level, you can study for hours and only have it mean an extra few points on an exam. I decided, for many subjects, that those few points weren't worth it.

I love my classmates, I've been lucky enough to meet quite a number of people who I know will be close friends for life. Minus midterms/finals weeks, I make it out to the barn 3-4 days a week to see my horse. I see my partner pretty much every weekend.

I also know classmates of mine who pretty much hate vet school and are counting down the days until 4th year already.

Everyone's experiences are different - I'm a very 'roll with the punches' kind of guy (had a few comments in UG from professors about them being surprised that my laid-back attitude produced the grades I got), so that probably has a lot to do with it.

Having a knack for finding the humor in everything helps a lot.
 
*For what it is worth, I would like to say I appreciate all the current student's who have posted comments/suggestions/opinions. Until I am in their shoes can't say I will be able to do the same.

*As for Sunstorm, I have strongly disagreed with her thoughts a few times, but I wouldn't want to ever discourage her from continuing to post. An alternative viewpoint is really important, and even when I disagree, it gives me something to think about. She has some really good points (especially when she agrees with me:laugh:).

*More on point, I think everyone at some point in their lives is going to run into an authority figure who makes disparaging/discouraging comments. Let me tell you, if it is anywhere close to a sensitive issue or during a difficult time, it can be extremely disheartening and even debilitating. For me, there should be a special place in hell for them.

We should probably start a new thread so those of us who have been unfortunate enough to have these encounters can vent about these naysayers!
 
Shanomong said:
👍 Same! I'm guessing that makes a lot of the difference. I'm happy because I'm getting grades I'm OK with while leaving myself enough time to have a full life outside of school.... people who are set on the A's do have it quite a bit rougher 😛
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I know you have to have "competitive grades" to get a residency, but am I correct in assuming that what's good for undergrad (say, 3.7+) isn't the same as "competitive" in vet school? It seems like everyone here is a lot more lax about grades than in UG (as it should be!), I'm just wondering about the discrepancy.
 
Ugh, that's not what I wanted to hear. Does that include LA surgery? There are fewer LA people but there are fewer LA surgery residency spots. I'm sure I'll go through a million changes of mind, but lately I've been feeling more and more addicted to surgery.

ETA: I'm not saying ugh about working hard in vet school, just the stress of feeling pressured to get A's on everything. 🙁
 
eventualeventer said:
Ugh, that's not what I wanted to hear. Does that include LA surgery? There are fewer LA people but there are fewer LA surgery residency spots. I'm sure I'll go through a million changes of mind, but lately I've been feeling more and more addicted to surgery.

ETA: I'm not saying ugh about working hard in vet school, just the stress of feeling pressured to get A's on everything. 🙁
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I started to stress about getting good grades my first semester because I want to specialize in exotics....and I found that once I got over the pressure of trying to get A's and just focus on learning/understanding the material instead and not trying to compete with my classmates, that my grades actually got better!! 😀 So my advice is just do the best with what you can and don't stress too much....because you never know, a lot of people end up in areas they never even imagined possible. And if you can't get it right out of school, you can always come back to residency and whatnot at a later time.
 
*bump*

I just realized I never said thanks for the advice/virtual pat on the back. 🙂
 
Thanks for the bump. I kept meaning to post here after finals ended and then I forgot. I still love vet school. Is it extremely mentally and emotionally draining? Yes. But somehow I still love it. I have found some mentors for myself in the older classes and I have learned how to set reasonable goals for myself in terms of grades. I am very thankful for the summer break but also excited about 2nd year.
 
Summer is definitely a much-needed break! The only downside so far is this nagging feeling that I should be studying instead of sitting around... :laugh:
 
LVT2DVM said:
After all these years, I wish I could say I love vetschool but- I can't.

Dont get me wrong--Im thrilled to be a vet student. But with so many years practicing as a tech, knowing how the "real vet world" works, its difficult having to sit in classes 8 hours a day, learning mountains of minutia, thinking "why are we learning this again?

Small Animal anatomy was pretty decent, but large animal anatomy was horrible. 102 students in a lab built for 50, with 12 specimens, and a professor that likes to pull random parts of the GI tract through a slit in a garbage bag as a test question. 😡 Grrrr.

Honestly, I'm just not academically inclined. And for the most part that is what we do here the first 2 years. I was warned about this before I started, so Im not that shocked or disappointed.

Overall to stay motivated, I focus on the longterm goal...Graduation. 🙂
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This is a good sum of my opinion too. I'm a hands on learner and all the book learning and sitting down doesn't put me on cloud nine - I want real world application. I am honestly a bit burnt out. Disliked fall semester, spring semester was much more interesting to me but the exam schedule still was busy. I also feel like some labs are too crowded.

Working a crap ton fall quarter wasn't the best idea in the world but I love my job. I scaled back work hours during spring quarter to have some down time which was nice... but that left me with $17 to make it through the last 2-3 weeks of school.

I don't notice much background noise, but I tend to keep in my own little la-la-land. Many of my classmates have really enjoyed second year. I personally liked first year much more, second year I'm glad to be done with. I know that I'm very hands on, so I was kind of expecting this. First year I at least got to handle cadavers. Second year you get to handle... bacteria and some poop for parasitology.
 
Bumping this bad boy. Time for updates from c/o 2013 now that you have finished your first year. We need the good/bad/ugly. Oh, and Congrats...you are now second years!!
 
flyhi said:
Bumping this bad boy. Time for updates from c/o 2013 now that you have finished your first year. We need the good/bad/ugly. Oh, and Congrats...you are now second years!!
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who's finished? i still have my last exam tomorrow. 🙁
 
Oops... Yeah, but you get to start much later this year 😀

Good Luck on your exam!! :luck::xf::luck: Let us know how your first year was once you are finished.
 
TSUJC said:
I love this quote!!!! Thanks david594
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And if you ever meet anyone from OSU just ask them what they think of K3(who the quote is from). He is an interesting personality.
 
There's another related quote that I like that I think is relevant to vet school, mayhaps vet med as a whole too:

"From the outside looking in you can't understand it and from the inside looking out you can't explain it"


It's more related to my undergrad and some of the different things we do, but I don't know if that's the origin.
 
hmmm...always fun to check back on this board.

Disclaimer: Nyanko thought I should never have existed a year ago, so I'm not suprised by the current evaluation.

I personally feel there is a strong emphasis placed on the forum for 'love' to be the defining quality of a vet student. If you don't love vet school, or love some aspect of vet med, or you don't love the concept of giving away services to animals, you are somehow less worthy of being a vet. I could be wrong, but I have heard that concept pop up several times.

I admit I am more sensitive to some things than others. I am also aware that some of the drama isn't as obvious to all. For example, some of the anatomy drama that occured wouldn't have been in IvyLynx's visual spectrum because her lab table was near the place instructors stood; her view of some of the theatrics would not have enabled her to see the second professor standing in the office mocking the first. I may have been exposed to some extra stuff because some professors seem to think they could complain to one of my lab partners about each other.

I do think each person's experience is going to be very personal; IvyLynx hates one of the professors I think is awesome. I hate Anatomy lab, not just because of the professors, but because it was crowded and loud, which is a hard environment for me to learn in.

Having said all that I have, I am not dropping out, or even transferring. I have seen the school address concerns extremly well over the last year. We will have Fall break again (which was on the chopping block last year) which I think is really valuable for student health. Other professors have really shined through as amazing, dynamic individuals leading both by example and by instruction.

Like any other environment, vet school has its' good points and its' bad points. I do believe I am getting an excellent education at a pretty reasonable cost. If anyone is in a class where there isn't a person without personality issues, or a devastating issue hasn't struck someone in the class, or there has never been a professional conflict, I personally would wonder how aware they are of what is happening around them. Some of the stuff that has impacted my perceptions include losing students because a loved one was killed or because they have cancer.

I have some tremendous oppurtunities, but I don't think anything improves if problems aren't confronted. I would, even with all of that, encourage anyone to attend NCSU. I have personally encouraged interested students to apply for transfer into our class. If nothing else, a student or a few students can have an impact, considering the size of vet students. For me, while everything isn't stellar, there is enough good to balance the bad. I am ambivalent about vet school.

Back to the black bear research.
 
sumstorm said:
Disclaimer: Nyanko thought I should never have existed a year ago, so I'm not suprised by the current evaluation.
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Way to disprove the 'melodramatic' thing. 😉

I'm glad things are a bit better for you than they were, sumstorm. Neutral's better than bad.

I don't have any illusions that I'm going to like, love my first year. I already know that most of the classes we take in first year are the type of classes I really, really don't like. Just hoping to get through and come out okay on the other side. 🙂
 
I know I will love parts of vet school. I will definitely hate biochem and other things. I'm just hoping that when I get to my breaking point, I can take a deep breath, think about what else I'd rather be doing career wise, and then realize this was still meant to be. If I can have that mind set, i'd call that loving vet school (even with all the nervous break downs, crying, drama, etc 🙂 )

thanks for the update sumstorm!
 
I am sooo envious of all of you on summer break! Here at Ross we go year-round so I am in my third semester (of course we finish a semester early but right now I am a little burnt out so I am wishing I had a "real" summer.) Anyway, class of 2013 update from the island...

As I posted on another thread, I am transferring to Tufts this fall and I absolutely cannot wait. It's been a really tough year for me and I really hesitate to put it so black & white as to whether I "love" or "hate" vet school. I love the learning. Classes are fascinating and I am enthralled with the subject matter. I don't even mind that we have not gotten "clinical" very much yet because I totally support the notion that you have to know "normal" to know "abnormal." The academic pressure I loathe. There is a very high failout rate here at Ross and fear infiltrates every aspect of academia. St. Kitts I am not fond of although I have classmates that love it. It is a developing country and there is a crime rate here that I am not comfortable with. Moreover, as an older student (40 next week, yikes!), I used to have a very full, rich life where I owned a house, had friends from undergrad, grad school, several jobs, volunteer work, etc. I lived in the DC area where there was a lot of culture that I could partake in. Here, not only is there no such thing, but everything revolves around studying. If I am not studying, I feel guilty so even when I am taking a break, I feel stressed. So that I don't like. I enjoyed my life of coming home from work and relaxing. At school, I never relax. I miss the life I had.

Overall I may not be happy but I am not unhappy. I also want to mention that I don't dislike Ross. In fact, I am extremely grateful to the school. There are a lot of wonderful students here who are going to be really great vets that weren't given a chance by State schools because of low GPAs. I appreciate that Ross has given us a chance to prove that we can do it. In that respect, I am okay with the academic rigors. But it is still scary and stressful. And I can't wait to come home!😀
 
My advice to the incoming class would be... don't expect to LOVE vet school. You may not even LIKE it. My initial enthusiasm at being accepted was worn down throughout the year and eventually replaced with stress and severe burnout at the end (some of this was due to personal circumstances at the time.) Time off from classes this summer has been spent working as a tech in both a large and small animal hospital, and it's been a great way to recharge my batteries, and remind myself of why I wanted to do this in the first place.

I still love vet med, but school sometimes sucks. Vet med is a big part of my life, but it's not the ONLY part of my life, and it can start to feel that way when you are being bombarded by exam after exam and countless hours of lecture. You will ALWAYS have something you should be studying, but you have to learn to say "**** it" and just go out and have fun at LEAST one night a week.

I hope this doesn't sound too depressing. Ultimately, I am still grateful for the opportunity to be part of this career. 🙂
 
WOW, 2nd year is CRAZYYYY!! Talk about a dramatic change. The amount of material we are responsible for on a single test has increased substantially.

BUT, I love second year way more than first year. We are actually learning things that clinically correlate and are beginning to be made to think like a clinician. Absolutely love it! 😀
 
TurtleLover said:
WOW, 2nd year is CRAZYYYY!!
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Same here! I feel like I've barely had time to breathe, let alone do anything else like study! We pretty much hit the ground running on day 1 and haven't slowed down at all. But I am definitely liking it a billion times better than first year... we're starting to see clinical correlations, things like path no longer seem like a foreign language, and I cannot fully express in words how happy I am to be done with anatomy and histo.

Now back to studying path... first test of the semester is tomorrow.
 
I am in full agreement ^. I like this years classes WAY more than last year- they seem so much more clinically relevent! I do NOT envy the first year's trudging down to the anatomy dungeon every afternoon! 🙂 It doesn't seem possible but the amount of material is actually greater this year than last but I feel more accustomed to the chronic level of stress that goes along with it and I think I've found a better balance of school/work/socializing this year.
 
turnandburn said:
I am in full agreement ^. I like this years classes WAY more than last year- they seem so much more clinically relevent! I do NOT envy the first year's trudging down to the anatomy dungeon every afternoon! 🙂 It doesn't seem possible but the amount of material is actually greater this year than last but I feel more accustomed to the chronic level of stress that goes along with it and I think I've found a better balance of school/work/socializing this year.
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Glad to hear it!

We're still excited about anatomy, so it's ok. 🙂 Plus pretty much anything is better than our terrible interprofessional class...
 
parietal said:
Glad to hear it!

We're still excited about anatomy, so it's ok. 🙂 Plus pretty much anything is better than our terrible interprofessional class...
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*shudder* interprofessional class...
 
I'm definitely glad I am in 2nd year too. I do not envy the long days of anatomy and histology lab of the first years. I also am so glad I just know my way around the building and how clubs work etc. All of the logistic stuff was just an added stress last year. 2nd year days aren't as long as first year ones either and that makes me super happy. I have no idea how I did that last year.

In terms of the material, so far I don't think it is any more or any harder than last year. I am plenty overwhelmed by the amount, but I was last year too. That may change though. The year is still young.
 
Just finished up fall semester of my second year and all I can say is...Loving it! Some courses I like better than others, but overall the courses are awesome.
This semester our cores were Pharm, General Path, Parasitology, Derm and Epidemiology with 5 weeks of electives. And my absolute fav was Dentistry. The worst was my 7 AM 🙂eek🙂 Food Animal Health elective, which actually is a pretty decent course if you can stay awake. [insert your favorite coffee shop endorsement here)

I never thought I would be here and now things seem to be moving so fast. Only 3 more semesters until clinical rotations. I still catch myself (as I am walking up the walkway to the school entrance saying.."Hey you, yeah you..YOU ARE IN vetschool....[goose bumps].

Much love to everyone...😍 I really have some catching up to do around here.

Happy Holidays
 
Aww good to hear from you LVT! I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying second year 🙂 definitely spend some time here and tell us more about how your vet school experience is going!
 
its good to hear that it gets better than first year 😀 thanks for posting LVT! maybe you will spark some more life into this thread! where did all you second yrs go?? lol
 
LVT, we love you and we're so happy that you're doing well! 🙂 I think you're still the inspiration story of the century!

For any new people on here, LVT was accepted on her 7th try. It was probably the biggest spike in forum traffic ever as we rushed in to congratulate her. 😀
 
You know, I still get kind of teary-eyed when I think about when LVT got in, and I am NOT much of a crier. It's great to hear from you!!
 
twelvetigers said:
For any new people on here, LVT was accepted on her 7th try. It was probably the biggest spike in forum traffic ever as we rushed in to congratulate her. 😀
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Not to mention that she was accepted via personal call from the director of admissions (I think?) after initially receiving a rejection letter from the school...definitely a huge inspiration!!
 
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I'll join the "glad to hear from LVT2DVM" club 🙂

5 finals, 4 days, maybe 19 hours of sleep, and possibly one ulcer later -- it is finally break and I am so effing GLAD this semester is over! This is supposed to be our hardest one and so far I agree. And it was intense!

Our "biggest" classes (anatomic path II, parasit, and micro) were in some sort of race or something to see which could throw the most information at us. It was a bit more like trying to drink from ten fire hoses than just one. Micro, for instance... that final was probably the most fear-inducing and soul-killing exam I have ever taken in my life. So many bugs and so much minutia. Just thinking about it is painful.

I honestly don't know how I survived the semester. But I did!
 
LVT!!! I was JUST thinking about you like an hour ago wondering how you were doing!!! Great to hear from you.
 
😳 Thanks you guys...ya'll are too much.

Yeah, BlackKat I was wondering where everyone is myself.

Nyanko, you are correct about the phone call...best phone call of my life!
 
LVT2DVM -- so glad to hear from you and know that things are going so well for you! 🙂

BlacKAT33 said:
where did all you second yrs go?? lol
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An excellent question, really!

I can't speak for everyone, but we're definitely keeping busy in and out of school! I just got back from another 2 week VIDA trip to Costa Rica & Panama with 16 other UCD vet students (including a few SDN members) and now I'm just trying to spend as much of my free time as possible rock climbing to prepare for a competition in January 😀

Oh...and school...😛...school starts back up on Jan. 3rd and it is supposed to be the hardest quarter at Davis, so we'll see how it goes! :xf:
 
Pomona2006 said:
I can't speak for everyone, but we're definitely keeping busy in and out of school!
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Isn't this the benefit of second year though? We've finally figured out how to strike the balance between vet school and all the things in life we neglected first year? Brought the skis back this year and cannot wait to get out there.

Personally I'm still loving vet school, and since we've gotten into our systems courses the stuff were learning actually feels relevant. Also got to spend the first week of winter break down in a North Carolina shelter learning some spay/neuter techniques with 3 amazing classmates. Half the time I was thinking "Shouldn't we have adult supervision for this?" and the other half "At least you can't sweat through surgical gloves". A bit of a trial by fire sorta deal, but totally awesome. 😀

This quarter will be hard, but we have the SAVMA symposium to look forward too at least! 👍👍 It's during our spring break, so we can spend a solid week out in California.
 
david594 said:
...we have the SAVMA symposium to look forward too at least! 👍👍 It's during our spring break, so we can spend a solid week out in California.
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Definitely looking forward to symposium, I couldn't attend last year. But alas, UGA has our spring break the week before...so stupid😕
 
Well, I just completed what is notoriously known as the hardest semester at LSU, and I survived! It was the roughest semester yet, but I'm glad it's over and I'm super excited for this spring semester!

We just had our first day back today, and its going to be an amazing semester, despite the 28 semester hours and 14 classes I'll be taking. The topics are more relevant to our career now, and they seem really interesting. I'm especially excited for our exotic animal medicine class! I can honestly say, I've never been more excited about vet school until now, and I love it!

Not to mention, I'm going to symposium, and LSU gave us off 2.5 days so we could go. And we get off for Mardi Gras for 2.5 days too! I love the spring semesters.

Only 2 semesters and 4 weeks left until I'm in clinics. In 13 months I'll be getting my white coat and entering clinics! EEEeeek so exciting, I can't believe how fast time has gone by already!!!

Hope to see some of you at symposium 😀
 
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