CLASS OF 2014...how ya doing?

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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Passed! Go figure they came on Satuday when I almost never check the mail. I'm sure anyone who saw me got a good laugh at me flying out to the mailbox in my pjs in the freezing cold this morning after I saw all of the FB posts.
 
Well I passed, CA does it weird and just posts a ghetto list of ID and "Pass" or "Fail" and then the actual results get mailed to us.

I did like, 17% of the zuku q's and 8% of the vetprep ones or something like that, but I did 2 of the self-assessments from NBVME - one in September and one the week before I took the exam, basically to gauge whether I needed to put more effort into it or not. I passed the one the week before the exam pretty handily so didn't bother going over much more after it.

Welp that's my story. Probably as usual never ever take my advice.

quantized said:
I'll miss nyanko, but I'm pretty sure she'll still regularly call me old and tell me to go suck a dick via facebook and make fun of stupid people with me, so it should all work out.
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the magical experience
 
^^^and more to the point, for most clinical specialties (I think path and lab animal are 2 of the only ones for which this is not true..) we've gotta do a rotating internship first. so still waiting to find out where I'll be for that next year.
 
Been away from these forums for a while but creeping back on now that match is over and senioritis is kicking in like crazy 🙁. I'll be heading to University of Georgia for a small animal rotating internship in June. Anyone else going to Georgia or know somebody going?
 
zxz130 said:
Been away from these forums for a while but creeping back on now that match is over and senioritis is kicking in like crazy 🙁. I'll be heading to University of Georgia for a small animal rotating internship in June. Anyone else going to Georgia or know somebody going?
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A friend of mine is going there!
 
zxz130 said:
Been away from these forums for a while but creeping back on now that match is over and senioritis is kicking in like crazy 🙁. I'll be heading to University of Georgia for a small animal rotating internship in June. Anyone else going to Georgia or know somebody going?
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I know a resident there and she's awesome.
 
Hey guys, I'm looking for ideas on what to get a couple of my friends in the class above me for graduation gifts. Anything that you would like that isn't super expensive and isn't "money." I understand the need for money, but I was hoping to do something more personal.
 
Bearby said:
Hey guys, I'm looking for ideas on what to get a couple of my friends in the class above me for graduation gifts. Anything that you would like that isn't super expensive and isn't "money." I understand the need for money, but I was hoping to do something more personal.
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I got my friends dog tags to put on their stethoscopes. Dr. blank blank, DVM or whatever 🙂
 
zxz130 said:
Been away from these forums for a while but creeping back on now that match is over and senioritis is kicking in like crazy 🙁. I'll be heading to University of Georgia for a small animal rotating internship in June. Anyone else going to Georgia or know somebody going?
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Congrats!! Don't know any of your internmates but my best friend is an imaging resident there. UGA is a great place 👍

On a similar note, anyone else out there headed to AMC? Or have any advice for living in Manhattan on such a laughable "salary"? Recommendations for the nicest subway stations where I may take up residence? :laugh:
 
Today I found a house to live in! Super excited, fenced yard (PRIVACY FENCE!:soexcited:), amazingly remodeled kitchen (WITH A DISHWASHER 😍), including a washer/dryer:highfive:, and pet friendly!!! assuming the credit check goes through, I won't be homeless in 2 months!!!

super excited my clinician let me bail early today to go check it out...there were 6 other people coming after me, and the house only was listed yesterday!!! it's definitely a landlord's market right now!
67 days until graduation and it's starting to FINALLY feel real!!! i get to be a real person making real money and with a real job!!! so so so so happy.
 
Belated congratulations to everyone who matched!! I'm such a lurker/intermittent poster on this site, but I love keeping an eye on all the 2014 people and seeing everyone get jobs/internships and such. I'm a late bloomer to the announcement of internships, but I found out in November that I got the Rood and Riddle internship in Saratoga NY. July cannot come fast enough!
 
MSUspartan said:
Today I found a house to live in! Super excited, fenced yard (PRIVACY FENCE!:soexcited:), amazingly remodeled kitchen (WITH A DISHWASHER 😍), including a washer/dryer:highfive:, and pet friendly!!! assuming the credit check goes through, I won't be homeless in 2 months!!!

super excited my clinician let me bail early today to go check it out...there were 6 other people coming after me, and the house only was listed yesterday!!! it's definitely a landlord's market right now!
67 days until graduation and it's starting to FINALLY feel real!!! i get to be a real person making real money and with a real job!!! so so so so happy.
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As someone currently living without a dishwasher, washer or dryer, this sounds extra amazing! 😀
 
Also, question to you all in general: what's your view-point on vacation time on rotations? So long as we meet the required credits, we're free to schedule our free time as we please (and we get time off for Christmas/NY built in). Is it a completely bad idea to lump my free blocks and have a big vacation before graduation or should I at least attempt to find a couple free weeks here and there?
 
that redhead said:
Also, question to you all in general: what's your view-point on vacation time on rotations? So long as we meet the required credits, we're free to schedule our free time as we please (and we get time off for Christmas/NY built in). Is it a completely bad idea to lump my free blocks and have a big vacation before graduation or should I at least attempt to find a couple free weeks here and there?
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I liked spreading mine out. I gave myself a summer with 2 months in July/August and did a few last min internships. Had October off to study for the NAVLE. And I will have April off to get my life in order.

Shrug.
 
Lissarae06 said:
God, how much time do you get off? We got a 3 weeks rotation off and one week as Christmas. I'm jealous of everyone that has the last rotation off.
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4 months...though keep in mind I had an extra year of lectures. We also have to do 26 weeks of externships, but I finished mine early, so that meant more holidays.
 
Lissarae06 said:
God, how much time do you get off? We got a 3 weeks rotation off and one week as Christmas. I'm jealous of everyone that has the last rotation off.
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We're required to have a minimum of 39 credit hours for fourth year, between May 3rd (2014) and April 19th (2015). We don't graduate until May 9 (2015) so it seems we get an extra three weeks of vacation tagged on there.
 
that redhead said:
Also, question to you all in general: what's your view-point on vacation time on rotations? So long as we meet the required credits, we're free to schedule our free time as we please (and we get time off for Christmas/NY built in). Is it a completely bad idea to lump my free blocks and have a big vacation before graduation or should I at least attempt to find a couple free weeks here and there?
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I have most of my off campus before graduation, and my vacation is my vet last one. I'm thrilled to be done on campus now but at te same time, I could have used a break months ago. so either way it works.
 
cowgirla said:
I have most of my off campus before graduation, and my vacation is my vet last one. I'm thrilled to be done on campus now but at te same time, I could have used a break months ago. so either way it works.
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I think I can manage a week or two break in the middle before Christmas, so I may go for that just to attempt to maintain some sanity.
 
Barring any catastrophes, I think I have my vacation weeks spread out reasonably well. I have 2 weeks off in July, 2 weeks off just before the NAVLE (okay, those aren't really vacation blocks, but I'm not actively doing anything like some people), the weeks we get for winter break after the NAVLE, and then 3 weeks off in February (which is always my worst "I hate everything and don't want to do anything but sleep" time of year.)
 
My vacay is most of November, so... yep, NAVLE crunch time. Glad to have the time for it but it won't be as much of a vacation as it would be in like, February. Eh.

I have preceptors in Aug/Sept, a small one in October and then another small one in February.
 
For those of you that matched, What advice do you have for a first year who is interested in doing a rotating internship and potentially a residency? Looking back is there anything you would have done different or highly recommend doing during your school career?
 
Kpowell14 said:
For those of you that matched, What advice do you have for a first year who is interested in doing a rotating internship and potentially a residency? Looking back is there anything you would have done different or highly recommend doing during your school career?
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study ALOT.
 
Kpowell14 said:
For those of you that matched, What advice do you have for a first year who is interested in doing a rotating internship and potentially a residency? Looking back is there anything you would have done different or highly recommend doing during your school career?
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Haven't matched, but networking is important.
 
Kpowell14 said:
For those of you that matched, What advice do you have for a first year who is interested in doing a rotating internship and potentially a residency? Looking back is there anything you would have done different or highly recommend doing during your school career?
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Over breaks, work at as many different practices as you can and start networking/getting a good idea of what you want.
Get to you know your clinicians really well-you need good if not great recs from them.
I'm really glad I did research between 3rd and 4th year, because it looks good on your resume, and you work very closely with a few clinicians.
Keep your resume up to date.
Talk to the interns and residents at your school! They are a valuable resource, have just gone through it, and can help you figure out the best path for you.
Study, study, study....but don't burn yourself out.
 
Private vs academic internships? how do you go about picking places / ranking them? What about doing externships beforehand to see the places your interested in? Stuff like that.
 
Kpowell14 said:
Private vs academic internships? how do you go about picking places / ranking them? What about doing externships beforehand to see the places your interested in? Stuff like that.
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I guess it depends on what field you want to go into. The equine world is...different. So my experience with the match is odd. I applied to private practice first, and all of my externships were there. I only had about a month in between submitting my app and the rank list deadline to visit places, and even then I only saw a few, usually for a day.

You can look at the previous years lists of practices on VIRMP, read about them, and base your externship calendar on those in which you are most interested.
 
Kpowell14 said:
For those of you that matched, What advice do you have for a first year who is interested in doing a rotating internship and potentially a residency? Looking back is there anything you would have done different or highly recommend doing during your school career?
Click to expand...

I spent a lot of time talking to residents and interns about what internship committees place emphasis on. The number one piece of advice that I heard from multiple interns/residents, was make sure that you have confidence in your letters of recommendation. I applied to small animal rotating internships, and therefore sought out letters of recommendation from people that could speak to my clinical ability. For the rotating internships, most have you spending a lot of time in medicine, surgery, and emergency med. At the beginning of these rotations, let your clinicians know that you are planning to apply for internships; let them know that you are looking for letters of recommendation. This will allow them to watch you more closely throughout the rotation. If you feel you did well, ask them for a letter of recommendation (ask if they are able to write an excellent one). I also asked someone who I had known for years to write me a letter, as they could speak to more personality characteristics. If you have more than four people (max # of reference letters allowed through VIRMP), then you can include contact information for others on your CV. Remember --- it's a fine line between providing useful contacts, and being over-the-top.

Private practice vs academic: I applied only to academic, because of my goals after the internship. What do you ultimately want to do? There are great private practice internships, and there are great academic internships. As people above said --- connections/networking is a very large part of this process.

Before ranking places, I called/emailed every institution on my list and asked for them to forward my email information on to their current interns. I talked to at least one intern from each place before ranking, because I wanted to know what was beyond the printed program description. Internship years are difficult - we all know that. The majority of interns I talked to were happy with their programs. There were several programs that I chose not to rank, due to what the interns relayed. Planning externships/preceptorships at places you're interested in during your fourth year (before the match) would also help you decide which programs to rank (keep in mind that's a two way street).

As a first year - work to keep your GPA/class rank up, join clubs that you're passionate about and can be involved in (don't just join to join). Get involved in research. I contacted professors in the specialty I'm interested in and asked if they had any small projects I could work with them on. Don't study all the time - make time for friends, family, and fun! 🙂
 
The post above mostly lists a lot of things that I did not do, and I did not match at any of my top choices, though as always it ended up fine. I planned a lot for me, and had a great list of what I was interested in and what was important to me but I have a problem where I absolutely HATE asking people for help or advice for whatever reasons, and I was unsure about contacting places beforehand, so I was a total unknown to everyone and combined with the fact that I'm pretty much middle of the pack in class ranking I didn't really stand out. I got interviews at places but had researched so thoroughly on my own that I actually couldn't come up with questions that wouldn't sound contrived at interviews so people probably assumed I'm not that interested.

I probably screwed myself over by the stuff that I didn't do and racccjlm basically describes a whole litany of things that I thought of after the fact and should have done differently, so definitely listen to that advice as it is good!!
 
In my case, I'm unable to really visit places (externships booked already) that I'll be applying to. Do you recommend emailing to get more info before the applications are even due and getting your name out there or is it better to wait until interviews? The virmp descriptions are pretty detailed already so it isn't as though I know nothing; plus, I imagine all of my questions can be asked at interviews or following up after interviews before I rank. Thoughts?
 
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