Class of 2015... How ya doing?

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scb44f said:
Tomorrow's the day.

In other news, one of the windows on my car was busted while I was hanging out with an old friend this weekend. At least my mom was already going to take it somewhere to get a quote for the damage from hitting that deer... but it sure put a damper on my weekend.
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Good luck!!! YOU GOT THIS!
 
My dog started dry heaving at 4 am. I'm hoping she's just picking up my excitement for today...

p.s. thanks for all the luck 🙂
 
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Got to do half of an incredibly rewarding dental today!

Tomorrow I head back home for court. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and I can go for drinks with my mom afterward. I guess drinks can be had regardless...
 
I'm divorced. Went about as easily as possible. #thankgoodnesswedon'thavekids #26anddivorced #celebratorydrinksallaround
 
scb44f said:
I'm divorced. Went about as easily as possible. #thankgoodnesswedon'thavekids #26anddivorced #celebratorydrinksallaround
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I'm really glad it went smoothly for you. Sorry it had to happen, but glad that at least it is over
 
scb44f said:
I'm divorced. Went about as easily as possible. #thankgoodnesswedon'thavekids #26anddivorced #celebratorydrinksallaround
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I don't think 'congrats' is exactly the right sentiment to convey, but ... I'm glad you can start putting it behind you. 🙂
 
Thanks guys. It is a good feeling to finally have that over.
 
Decided to pick up a community practice rotation in my off block in February. Figured it would be a good idea in case I have to go into private practice if this residency business doesn't work out, which is getting more likely by the day.
 
So ready to delete my Zuku bookmark. NAVLE on Monday, and then 4 weeks of semi-relaxation before heading back into 3 weeks of SA soft tissue surgery. I think we are on Block 15 of 24 right now. I've got the major pains out of the way. Radiology is my weakness. It seems like tea leaves, bones dumped on the ground, and telling time by the position of the sun. I could probably throw darts at a target and come up with the same answers. Actually, that's how I feel on some NAVLE study questions.
 
Armymutt25A said:
So ready to delete my Zuku bookmark. NAVLE on Monday, and then 4 weeks of semi-relaxation before heading back into 3 weeks of SA soft tissue surgery. I think we are on Block 15 of 24 right now. I've got the major pains out of the way. Radiology is my weakness. It seems like tea leaves, bones dumped on the ground, and telling time by the position of the sun. I could probably throw darts at a target and come up with the same answers. Actually, that's how I feel on some NAVLE study questions.
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Hey! Good to see you back armymutt.
Have fun on Monday. Eenie meenie miney mo is a legitimate test taking technique!
 
LetItSnow said:
Am I the only one who goes on vacation and really, really doesn't want to go back? I really like what I'm doing, but .... man .... I want to be out in practice. Tired of this fourth year stuff.
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Not going to lie: I really like fourth year. I like getting to do different stuff every few weeks, I like having the mentorship and oversight of another veterinarian making sure I don't eff up but also letting me learn to fly a little. I'm feeling a little panicky about my future right now so it helps to still have a bit of time left, even though I'm chomping at the bit to just be DONE. Ugh, emotions.
 
LetItSnow said:
Am I the only one who goes on vacation and really, really doesn't want to go back? I really like what I'm doing, but .... man .... I want to be out in practice. Tired of this fourth year stuff.
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I'm really tired of it - fed up with it might be a better description. Some rotations are good, but others are completely pointless, other than being show-and-tell. Having to sit through cataract surgery or cyclosporin implants is a waste of time. I'm extremely unlikely to do that in practice without having done a residency. There are a number of rotations that are like this. I think a more valuable use of our time would be to focus on doing procedures that are routinely done in practice. The catch to that is that most vet schools (all?) are secondary and tertiary care facilities. Most people aren't bringing their pets to the vet school for a spay. For the most part, I feel like I'm getting a lot of experience in writing paperwork for the docs, and being a technician. Not a problem with the latter, but it's not what I'm in school for. At the same time, my knowledge base of common problems and how to treat them is eroding away.
 
Armymutt25A said:
I'm really tired of it - fed up with it might be a better description. Some rotations are good, but others are completely pointless, other than being show-and-tell. Having to sit through cataract surgery or cyclosporin implants is a waste of time. I'm extremely unlikely to do that in practice without having done a residency. There are a number of rotations that are like this. I think a more valuable use of our time would be to focus on doing procedures that are routinely done in practice. The catch to that is that most vet schools (all?) are secondary and tertiary care facilities. Most people aren't bringing their pets to the vet school for a spay. For the most part, I feel like I'm getting a lot of experience in writing paperwork for the docs, and being a technician. Not a problem with the latter, but it's not what I'm in school for. At the same time, my knowledge base of common problems and how to treat them is eroding away.
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We have a community practice rotation at school where it's more like GP. Go figure it everyone's favorite. We can also do externals where a lot of people go to GP situations. For people like me not interested in general practice, I can't complain too much.
 
jmo1012 said:
NAVLE...check. goodness that was pretty much the most demoralizing exercise i've ever been through. realllllllly hope i dont have to do that again in april.... :-/

now onto serious VIRMP stuff. i look forward to mid-december getting here already!
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Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about it.

I alternate between "Ok. <EVERYBODY> says not to worry, that's just how you feel when you take it" and "No, really... guys.. I, like, failed the thing."
 
LetItSnow said:
Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about it.

I alternate between "Ok. <EVERYBODY> says not to worry, that's just how you feel when you take it" and "No, really... guys.. I, like, failed the thing."
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yeah it went something like this: 'HAHAHA who the heck would know that?!' 'no clue.' 'um.' 'nope not this one either.' 'OOO OOO I KNOW THIS...wait, wheres my answer??' 'what would i do next? well actually i'd do all of those simultaneously...'
at least on the one where i didnt know what species they were talking about, they were kind enough to later reference the fact that it was a bird. i was definitely gonna go with exotic breed of horse otherwise.
and my very last question i started reading it and was like oh! i can cure that! and then in the next sentence it got euthanized 🙁 what a way to end it all haha
 
jmo1012 said:
yeah it went something like this: 'HAHAHA who the heck would know that?!' 'no clue.' 'um.' 'nope not this one either.' 'OOO OOO I KNOW THIS...wait, wheres my answer??' 'what would i do next? well actually i'd do all of those simultaneously...'
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OMG, that's awesome. I pretty much had every single one of those thoughts at one point or another. I really loved the "Yes! Yes! Yes! I know this!!!!! ..... wait.... my answer isn't here. *@!%^*". Those questions were awesome.

Ah well. I take a minor bit of comfort knowing it appears to be a fairly ubiquitous feeling. There are jussssst enough people wandering around talking about how easy it was to be annoying, but most people seem to fall into the "well, that sucked" group.
 
jmo1012 said:
NAVLE...check. goodness that was pretty much the most demoralizing exercise i've ever been through. realllllllly hope i dont have to do that again in april.... :-/

now onto serious VIRMP stuff. i look forward to mid-december getting here already!
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I want to join this party too. Lol.
 
Armymutt25A said:
Most annoying was the GRE'ers clacking away on their keyboards. They should install 1950s era typewriters - it'd probably cut down on the noise.
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keyboard? What backwater did you take your test in? I had touch screen for my GRE back in the glorious year of 2009!
 
StartingoverVet said:
keyboard? What backwater did you take your test in? I had touch screen for my GRE back in the glorious year of 2009!
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:uhno:

I could not imagine having to type out the essay portions of the GRE on a touch screen.... that would suck so bad. There is no way I would finish in the time allotted.
 
DVMDream said:
:uhno:

I could not imagine having to type out the essay portions of the GRE on a touch screen.... that would suck so bad. There is no way I would finish in the time allotted.
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hmmmm. now i recall there was a keyboard as well.

So now I have to retract my comment to armymutt.

Damn. Being wrong is no fun.
 
Coquette22 said:
I did my GRE in 2010 and I had a keyboard in the "backwater" of Halifax. 😛
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I assume armymutt did his in Raleigh, so my comment was sarcastic.... as much of what i say is...

I think I will leave now, before I get myself in EVEN MORE TROUBLE>
 
StartingoverVet said:
hmmmm. now i recall there was a keyboard as well.

So now I have to retract my comment to armymutt.

Damn. Being wrong is no fun.
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:laugh:

I took the GRE on some old ass computers that reminded me of the old apple mcintosh computers of what... the late 80's, early 90's??

Gave us this old clicking mouse and some loud, obnoxious keyboard.

And I was in the "backwaters" of Phoenix... :laugh:

But they gave you some really styling, super nice noise cancelling head phones... I don't get why they can't update the computers...
 
DVMDream said:
:laugh:

I took the GRE on some old ass computers that reminded me of the old apple mcintosh computers of what... the late 80's, early 90's??

Gave us this old clicking mouse and some loud, obnoxious keyboard.

And I was in the "backwaters" of Phoenix... :laugh:

But they gave you some really styling, super nice noise cancelling head phones... I don't get why they can't update the computers...
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I just took my ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) exam on a computer that was probably as old as you are. Not sure how they can keep that thing running. And the "noise cancel headset" was some foam piece of garbage. I mean, everyone taking the exam probably has an expensive real noise cancelling headset they need for flying, so it was kind of ironic.
 
Armymutt25A said:
Most annoying was the GRE'ers clacking away on their keyboards. They should install 1950s era typewriters - it'd probably cut down on the noise.
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It's like you were sitting next to me.

Well. Not next to me. Because that was some GRE'er cranking away.

I couldn't believe that in a place that specializes in computerized testing:
a) They didn't use quieter keyboards; and
b) Their sound-dampening headsets were so incredibly crappy; and
c) They obviously didn't install sound-dampening material in/around the room.

I mean, you could have two people put on those headsets and sit there and have a conversation with each other at normal volumes.

The place I was at had construction going on in a nearby area of the building, so that noise was cranking away. And people in the lobby were clearly audible.

All in all, I was super unimpressed with Prometric's sound-management. It wasn't even as much as an afterthought for them. And it really stressed me out during the exam.
 
StartingoverVet said:
I mean, everyone taking the exam probably has an expensive real noise cancelling headset they need for flying, so it was kind of ironic.
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Do they allow you to bring in your own set of headphones though? The Prometric testing centers are rather anal about you not bringing in ANY personal items but ID. Because I just might put some notes in my headphones... 🙄
 
DVMDream said:
Do they allow you to bring in your own set of headphones though? The Prometric testing centers are rather anal about you not bringing in ANY personal items but ID. Because I just might put some notes in my headphones... 🙄
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of course not...... just seemed ironic to me.

Speaking of bad testing conditions...

I remember MrsSoV had to take the TOEFL on a close to 100 degree summer day in a place with no air conditioning and no windows in the test taking room. She felt faint (it is "only" 4 hours I believe) and walked out and cancelled the test. They actually allowed her to retest for free on that one after she complained.
 
StartingoverVet said:
of course not...... just seemed ironic to me.

Speaking of bad testing conditions...

I remember MrsSoV had to take the TOEFL on a close to 100 degree summer day in a place with no air conditioning and no windows in the test taking room. She felt faint (it is "only" 4 hours I believe) and walked out and cancelled the test. They actually allowed her to retest for free on that one after she complained.
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That is bad, glad they allowed her to test at a later day for free... they really do need to improve testing centers and conditions. I tend to be one of those people that can drown out everything around me and if I can get distracted it is probably horrible for people who can't do that...
 
DVMDream said:
That is bad, glad they allowed her to test at a later day for free... they really do need to improve testing centers and conditions. I tend to be one of those people that can drown out everything around me and if I can get distracted it is probably horrible for people who can't do that...
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yeah....not much bothers me during a test. I thrive on chaos.
 
We took it in Greensboro - about an hour or so from Raleigh I think. Raleigh didn't have any dates until Dec. Back when I took my first GRE, there was no essay portion - just a bunch of filling in ovals with a #2 pencil.

We were mostly thankful that we didn't have to write a paragraph in cursive. Wonder what they will do in 20 years when none of these kids can write in cursive. A lot of schools want to drop it.
 
So... yesterday... community practice was on the slow side. I saw another student's cat and was done pretty quickly, so I decided to help one of my classmates with her renal failure patient, because I've never managed such a case before. It turned out to be a pretty intense case, so when her second appointment walked in, the doctor and one of the techs decided to ask some other students to see the case. One might think they would do the logical thing and say, "Hey guys, I know a lot of you aren't busy right now. Who wants to see this case?"

No.

We can't do that.

Let's throw scb on the case, while 4 of her classmates are sitting in the hallway doing vetprep, or looking at maps of St. Louis, or whatever else they're doing that's not seeing cases because theirs were done for the day also.

So instead of learning from the renal failure case, I got to help another student give vaccines. And by help, I mean the dog was angry so I handed her the vaccines while she gave them very quickly.

I f-ing hate this rotation.

Edit: I lied. I did the fecal float. And did an impression smear. Wow. What learning I had when all were negative...
 
Armymutt25A said:
We took it in Greensboro - about an hour or so from Raleigh I think. Raleigh didn't have any dates until Dec. Back when I took my first GRE, there was no essay portion - just a bunch of filling in ovals with a #2 pencil.

We were mostly thankful that we didn't have to write a paragraph in cursive. Wonder what they will do in 20 years when none of these kids can write in cursive. A lot of schools want to drop it.
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i can barely write in cursive. Haven't used it in decades. Not sure it will be such a loss (except maybe signing your name, and by then we will all use avatars. right? )
 
StartingoverVet said:
I assume armymutt did his in Raleigh, so my comment was sarcastic.... as much of what i say is...

I think I will leave now, before I get myself in EVEN MORE TROUBLE>
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ah we had the pleasant experience of driving 150 miles round trip in greensboro because the testing center in raleigh (ya know, the one right down the street from the vet school) couldn't be bothered to have a decent number of allocated spots. :annoyed:
 
DVMDream said:
Do they allow you to bring in your own set of headphones though? The Prometric testing centers are rather anal about you not bringing in ANY personal items but ID. Because I just might put some notes in my headphones... 🙄
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you have to keep your feet on the floor at all times (no tucking them underneath you or sitting cross legged) because you might write things on the bottom of your socks and shoes. :annoyed:
 
I talked to one of my mentors about residencies today. After asking if I had heard any good news from residency programs (which I haven't), she basically told me to hurry up and apply for the match at the last minute just in case I don't get chosen for a residency straight out of school. I guess most serious applicants they had this year had done internships (which are not required but valued for clin path). I'm disheartened and really freaking out that I might not get chosen. Now I have to find a clinician willing to write me a letter of recommendation in the week after Thanksgiving and research internships. Ugh. Thank goodness I don't have to deal with NAVLE anymore on top of all this stress.
 
jmo1012 said:
you have to keep your feet on the floor at all times (no tucking them underneath you or sitting cross legged) because you might write things on the bottom of your socks and shoes. :annoyed:
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Yeah, because after 4 years of vet school hell someone is going to take the chance of being caught cheating during NAVLE... 🙄

And even if someone is that dumb, the place I was at for the GRE had cameras above each station and a large window in which the proctor could see everything that was going on... there was no way you could cheat even if you had wanted.

And really, answers on your shoes/socks???? Because people can't write them on a wrist/arm/inside of glasses/etc.... If someone wants to cheat, they are going to find a way no matter the rules in place.
 
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