Class of 2016....how ya doing?

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I am done!!!! 😀 😀 😀 :soexcited:

It will still be another 4 weeks before I know if I even passed, but for now I am done!!! 😀 😀 😀

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Good luck everyone who's still plugging along. I've been out since end of April 🙂. I think second year is gonna be by far my favorite year of vet school. I loved it compared to first year! Kinda was sad to see it end 🙁. Really happy for summer, though, rehabbing like there aint no tomorrow. I got a job at the wildlife center where I've volunteered for 10 years. I'm nursery manager for the summer and can't wait to get in there and show them how to actually rehab baby mammals. Currently their success rate is less than 50% and they don't even take in eyes closed babies. I get to call all the shots and take charge in the nursery, I'm super excited about it. Gonna be the awesomest summer ever!
 
So, how is everyone's 3rd year set up? Ours, we have classes until mid-february, then get our short white coats, then start clinics. I'VE MISSED YOU GUYS...second year sucked!
 
abbercadaver said:
So, how is everyone's 3rd year set up? Ours, we have classes until mid-february, then get our short white coats, then start clinics. I'VE MISSED YOU GUYS...second year sucked!
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Abbers!!!! I also have a similar schedule to 3rd year. We have our finals & then white coat is end of Feb and we start in March with clinics. When does everyone start? We're back on August 18th
 
abbercadaver said:
So, how is everyone's 3rd year set up? Ours, we have classes until mid-february, then get our short white coats, then start clinics. I'VE MISSED YOU GUYS...second year sucked!
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Classes all year (until early May), and then straight into clinics. Our white coat ceremony was before first semester, so nothing really to signify the movement from classroom to clinics.
 
Trilt said:
Classes all year (until early May), and then straight into clinics. Our white coat ceremony was before first semester, so nothing really to signify the movement from classroom to clinics.
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Same except we get blue coats instead of white coats at the start of the program. White coats come at graduation.

First day back is August 25th. 2nd year was good for me in terms of academics but personally it was one of my worst years ever. Looking forward to a better year 🙂
 
ky261682 said:
Same except we get blue coats instead of white coats at the start of the program. White coats come at graduation.

First day back is August 25th. 2nd year was good for me in terms of academics but personally it was one of my worst years ever. Looking forward to a better year 🙂
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I honestly wish we did that, I don't like the white coat ceremony being before you've even stepped foot in a classroom. Means quite a few people get "welcomed to the profession" who don't end up getting through vet school.
 
We have classes until the end of April, then white coat, then clinics in early May (holy crap--we're almost 4th years!). Lots of labs (and surgery) this year, very few academic classes. A lot of elective opportunities which is nice.
 
ky261682 said:
Same except we get blue coats instead of white coats at the start of the program. White coats come at graduation.

First day back is August 25th. 2nd year was good for me in terms of academics but personally it was one of my worst years ever. Looking forward to a better year 🙂
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We shall have to get together!
 
Anyone else feeling a bit left behind? All of my classmates are doing awesome things, and I haven't gotten the opportunity to do anything like that yet. I've been on a couple of externships but they were at specialty hospitals, so I didn't get to do much hands on. I feel like most of my friends have done at least a few surgeries at this point (we don't have sx until third year). My friend from the shelter I volunteered at is back there this summer (I've been having some health issues so I haven't been back) and she's from a school that has sx second year. So I'm sure she is so much more knowledgeable about procedures and stuff. I feel like I don't want to go back because I'll be compared to her and it bums me out a bit. Feeling a bit inadequate. :/
 
NStarz said:
Anyone else feeling a bit left behind? All of my classmates are doing awesome things, and I haven't gotten the opportunity to do anything like that yet. I've been on a couple of externships but they were at specialty hospitals, so I didn't get to do much hands on. I feel like most of my friends have done at least a few surgeries at this point (we don't have sx until third year). My friend from the shelter I volunteered at is back there this summer (I've been having some health issues so I haven't been back) and she's from a school that has sx second year. So I'm sure she is so much more knowledgeable about procedures and stuff. I feel like I don't want to go back because I'll be compared to her and it bums me out a bit. Feeling a bit inadequate. :/
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I feel the same way and I did get to do a few things on my externship back in March/April. I still feel very inadequate and that I am behind.
 
I'm equal parts excited to begin third year and exhausted at the prospect.

Y'know, I used to be a positive person. I used to be a whole lot more fun, too.

I'm just gonna chalk this up to the fact that construction under my window woke me up at 5 this morning... maybe it's just lack of sleep putting me in this mood. :/
 
We start back on August 18. A week after starting, we have our first radiology test on normals. We were given stuff to study over the summer. I, of course, haven't touched it.

We go until mid March, have finals and a week of transition seminars, then start clinics in April. We'll have 3 weeks of overlap with the class of 2015 so we can get a little extra guidance.

This coming semester is another one where we tend to lose people, as cardio and radiology are some of the hardest subjects we have.
 
We have our white coat ceremony in November and then enter blocks or early entry in Januarary. We also have junior surgery this semester.I'm looking forward to this ssemester because we get to take more electives (yay exotics). Im a little bummed I didn't get into the micro class I wanted though.
 
3 weeks from now I'll be sitting in a classroom instead of enjoying the sun. I have surgery this semester and the nightmares have already started. I'm hoping I'm not the only one anxious about surgery; everyone seems so eager and excited.
 
ky261682 said:
3 weeks from now I'll be sitting in a classroom instead of enjoying the sun. I have surgery this semester and the nightmares have already started. I'm hoping I'm not the only one anxious about surgery; everyone seems so eager and excited.
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I was both super anxious and super excited before our surgery class, especially because I was the first to do a spay in my group. It works out fine, just prep well (which nobody really has to be told) and it'll go well. 🙂
 
ky261682 said:
3 weeks from now I'll be sitting in a classroom instead of enjoying the sun. I have surgery this semester and the nightmares have already started. I'm hoping I'm not the only one anxious about surgery; everyone seems so eager and excited.
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I was terrified before, during and after my semester of junior surgery. I absolutely dreaded Thursdays. I got some more procedures under my belt in community practice, though, and that helped me immensely. Confidence is too strong a word for what I feel now, but I definitely don't feel the panic that I did before getting some more experience.
 
ky261682 said:
3 weeks from now I'll be sitting in a classroom instead of enjoying the sun. I have surgery this semester and the nightmares have already started. I'm hoping I'm not the only one anxious about surgery; everyone seems so eager and excited.
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I was terrified before juniour surgery. Some people may seem eager and excited but they're probably more nervous then they let on, or they'll get more nervous the closer it gets. But you will be fine. It will be a few weeks before you do actual surgery. Hopefully, you get a good group; having a solid group can do wonders for your sanity and your confidence. Besides that, just try not to throttle your non-surgery-having classmates when they flounce in to the classroom at 1:30 in the afternoon and you've been there since 6 AM.
 
Also terrified about surgery. You're definitely not alone!
 
Our schedule has us doing clinical stuff in the mornings and classes in the afternoon every day, then we start senior rotations in May.

I have that same feeling of dread that I had last year because of our darn Capstone exam over everything from last year. Apparently we have one in May as well right after finals before we enter clinics. I hate that damn test!
 
I completely checked out of any thing school related post exams in May, including SDN. Hi everyone! Hope summer was awesome and relaxing for y'all as well🙂
I am equal parts super excited to begin 3rd year and terrified at the prospect of 2 straight years of school/clinics, then being a veterinarian. Whoa!
Speaking of surgery-I got to do my first 2 this summer at an internship. A dog and cat neuter. It was really awesome guys, don't be scared. The first neuter (the dog), I spent the morning scrubbed in on spays, then a dog neuter during which the vet was like "watch closely, cuz you're going to do the next one". I hadn't even seen one before! I spent my lunch hour practicing suturing, then came in and rocked that neuter! The dog recovered great, and I removed my closure suture on him 10 days later.
Honestly, I didn't even have time to be scared. My advice is just focus on what you're doing, go slowly and breathe. It will all be fine.
We don't start for 2 more weeks, so back to serious loafing around I go.....
 
Yay we finally got our schedules for next year! I am so excited! There is nothing like seeing weeks and weeks of subjects that make you excited to be a veterinarian laid out.
I second Can't Hardly Wait Surgery isn't bad just go slowly and do your research before hand. Practice your sutures and you will do great. There will always be a clinician there in the beginning to take over if things aren't going well. Oh and don't get bummed out if they take over; just get back in that ring the next time.
 
I have two planned so far: One for this February and one in July. I have a few more I'm considering (especially since I want to skip large animal block) but I don't know if I want to try to space them out more for the next 1.5 years or use more in this upcoming winter. Also, quite a few I was interested in require LORs and I feel like I don't know any professors well yet.
 
orca2011 said:
I have two planned so far: One for this February and one in July. I have a few more I'm considering (especially since I want to skip large animal block) but I don't know if I want to try to space them out more for the next 1.5 years or use more in this upcoming winter. Also, quite a few I was interested in require LORs and I feel like I don't know any professors well yet.
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I need to contact places still, it makes me feel like I am behind. I agree with you on the LORs as well.
 
DVMDream said:
I need to contact places still, it makes me feel like I am behind. I agree with you on the LORs as well.
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I have about 5 different draft emails typed up to send to places, but they all just sound super cheesy and stupid, so I haven't sent them yet. I know I could probably get one with a clinic down in MD that is just a spay/neuter place through connections but the two I already have signed up are pretty similar and I feel like I need to do something different. The one is with a local SPCA that I've volunteered at and everyone speaks highly of the externship and the other is with spay/neuter non-profit that sees a pretty high case load. The vet used to work with the Humane Alliance and everyone who had done it has spoken highly of it, so I'm pretty excited.

I tried to get one with the zoo I interned at in undergrad, but they didn't have any openings in the winter. I could probably still try to get one for 6 weeks during the year at some other point, but they required 2 LORs and I have no idea who to ask. I'm also interested in checking of LAM ones, but they all require LORs too. Why am I not one of those people who asks a ton of questions to get to know professors?
 
orca2011 said:
I have about 5 different draft emails typed up to send to places, but they all just sound super cheesy and stupid, so I haven't sent them yet. I know I could probably get one with a clinic down in MD that is just a spay/neuter place through connections but the two I already have signed up are pretty similar and I feel like I need to do something different. The one is with a local SPCA that I've volunteered at and everyone speaks highly of the externship and the other is with spay/neuter non-profit that sees a pretty high case load. The vet used to work with the Humane Alliance and everyone who had done it has spoken highly of it, so I'm pretty excited.

I tried to get one with the zoo I interned at in undergrad, but they didn't have any openings in the winter. I could probably still try to get one for 6 weeks during the year at some other point, but they required 2 LORs and I have no idea who to ask. I'm also interested in checking of LAM ones, but they all require LORs too. Why am I not one of those people who asks a ton of questions to get to know professors?
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I will probably send out some emails this weekend/next week. I just feel awkward scheduling something so far in advance.
 
DVMDream said:
I will probably send out some emails this weekend/next week. I just feel awkward scheduling something so far in advance.
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Don't. I got burned by waiting too long; I thought 15 months was enough notice for one externship, but nope. When in doubt, it's much better to err on the side of too early than too late. If it's just a regular private practic clinic, you can probably wait, but for anything specialty, get it set up now because lord knows when people will actually get back to you.
 
I don't have my rotation schedule yet, so I can't work out any externships. :/
 
Do you guys have any ability to change your schedule once you get it? We can juggle with classmates, so it might be worth booking an external and then just working it out later.
 
NStarz said:
I don't have my rotation schedule yet, so I can't work out any externships. :/
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I think we get our rotations scheduled around externships, but I'm honestly kind of confused by this whole process. I know externships from Jan 5th to like March 20th have to be submitted and approved by sometime in October and then externships that occur during our actual 4th year I think just have to be submitted by sometime January. I should probably read all the info that's online, but I feel like last time I did that, it just confused me more.
 
Technically, we can switch our rotations with classmates, but it's a whole big process, lol. And I'm trying to work around the match, too, so that makes things extra complicated.
 
NStarz said:
Technically, we can switch our rotations with classmates, but it's a whole big process, lol. And I'm trying to work around the match, too, so that makes things extra complicated.
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What do you mean by working around the match? Do you just want to do externships at possible places you want to match at?
 
DVMDream said:
What do you mean by working around the match? Do you just want to do externships at possible places you want to match at?
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Yup, that's basically it. I have 3 externship slots and I want to have at least 2 of them before the match. Also, I want to have my emergency rotation before then if possible as well (if not, can probably switch this one) so I can get a good LOR since that's what I want to go into.
 
NStarz said:
Yup, that's basically it. I have 3 externship slots and I want to have at least 2 of them before the match. Also, I want to have my emergency rotation before then if possible as well (if not, can probably switch this one) so I can get a good LOR since that's what I want to go into.
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Yeah, I would like to go into either emergency or surgery. Would be nice to have a couple externships lined up in one or both of those prior to then.
 
How are you guys picking externships? Are you only doing those that you want to go into, or is it ones that you are just interested in? I feel like I don't know anything about externships. Are you doing as many as possible?
 
Fireflysushi said:
How are you guys picking externships? Are you only doing those that you want to go into, or is it ones that you are just interested in? I feel like I don't know anything about externships. Are you doing as many as possible?
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I am probably not going to do as many as possible, because I think having at least one of your scheduled breaks as time off or time to study for NAVLE is important. But I have just been researching externships related to what I am interested in.

ETA: I am still a bit lost on the externship thing still, but figure it can't hurt to just go ahead and email places.
 
Fireflysushi said:
How are you guys picking externships? Are you only doing those that you want to go into, or is it ones that you are just interested in? I feel like I don't know anything about externships. Are you doing as many as possible?
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I'm kind of looking at ones in the areas I'm interested in, or aren't as strong at.my school. I also was looking at some that people rated well/spoke highly of or just seemed interesting. My biggest hurdle so far seems to be who I will ask for LORs if I pursue some of these.
 
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