Class of 2020... how you doin?

[LyraGardenia]

Our finals start next week. We have Comm final Monday, para lab final Tuesday, and tox plant lab final Wednesday. Then lecture finals for para, radiology, tox and epi T-Th the week after.

Studying for tox is going well, but I really need to get my butt in gear for para next week. Especially when we’re being tested on things we haven’t gone over in lecture yet -.- Then once those are done somehow study for rad so I don’t fail.

I can’t believe 2nd year is almost done

You have a lab for tox?? Interesting! As much as I complain about my tox professor, I do appreciate that he doesn't make us identify plants.

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[WildZoo]

You have a lab for tox?? Interesting! As much as I complain about my tox professor, I do appreciate that he doesn't make us identify plants.

I talked about my plant book here before right? Oh tox...that book is the only reason I passed that class. Our first exam had like 10 plants on it we had to identify (and then answer more questions after) and I didn't know what basically any of them were...

 

[WildZoo]

Endocrine final tomorrow, then one more week of classes before the other four finals. Throw in a quiz and a project and probably something else I'm forgetting about. But basically 15ish more days and 2nd year is over!

 

[Caiter92]

You have a lab for tox?? Interesting! As much as I complain about my tox professor, I do appreciate that he doesn't make us identify plants.

I talked about my plant book here before right? Oh tox...that book is the only reason I passed that class. Our first exam had like 10 plants on it we had to identify (and then answer more questions after) and I didn't know what basically any of them were...

I'm actually not really worried for our plant final haha. It's a mixture of ID and toxic principles of the plants, and she's been pretty clear about what plants we need to be able to ID and those she'll just ask questions about. Our tox prof is amazing, and with big concepts she wants use to know for exams she's literally like THIS WILL BE ON YOUR EXAM

 

[Teepster87]

We had a whole exam over plants that we basically had to start studying for during last summer. The test was like the second week of the semester and we'd had 1 lecture over it. SO terrible.

Done with 2.5 classes already. 1 more week of classes and 5 finals. Can't wait to be done!

 

[supershorty]

So much clin path in the next few days. So. Much.

 

[Teepster87]

So much clin path in the next few days. So. Much.

We just finished ours on Tuesday. So glad to be done!

It is pretty cool though, I think I probably learned the most from clin path this semester than anything else I'm taking right now

 

[WildZoo]

We just finished ours on Tuesday. So glad to be done!

It is pretty cool though, I think I probably learned the most from clin path this semester than anything else I'm taking right now

That's how I felt about clin path too. It's probably one of the most well-taught classes here.

 

[raf2769]

Same! Clin path has definitely been my favorite class this semester. They’ve made learning it pretty fun and I think a lot of it actually stuck!

We also have our tox exam including toxic plants this coming Wednesday. Haven’t even listened to the lectures yet, soooo that feels good yanno


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[Squeaksmom]

Week one of exams is done. Four more. Thursday at 11 I'll be home free.

 

[Teepster87]

Just found out a scholarship I received this year is renewable, so I'm getting it the next 2 years also. I'm completely floored. People's generosity is amazing.

 

[supershorty]

Choosing to do a fluid & drug therapy calculations quiz at 1 in the morning might not have been one of my better life choices. Basic algebra shouldn't be this hard.

 

[WildZoo]

Choosing to do a fluid & drug therapy calculations quiz at 1 in the morning might not have been one of my better life choices. Basic algebra shouldn't be this hard.

I did that with a pharm quiz. Bad idea.

 

[supershorty]

I did that with a pharm quiz. Bad idea.

Apparently at this hour of the night, I think solution percentages are calculated in mg, not g. Not shockingly, you get an absurd number.

 

[supershorty]

We just finished ours on Tuesday. So glad to be done!

It is pretty cool though, I think I probably learned the most from clin path this semester than anything else I'm taking right now

Agreed, I learned a ton and for the most part, enjoyed the class - I like how it's a window into the disease process(es). We're just getting hit hard with it right now - had 2 case writeups and an exam on Friday, an optional quiz over the weekend, and then our 2 part final is this coming week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

[equijumper2]

Finished finals on Friday. Second year is over! Hello third year and being 1/2 doctor

 

[LyraGardenia]

We just finished ours on Tuesday. So glad to be done!

It is pretty cool though, I think I probably learned the most from clin path this semester than anything else I'm taking right now

Clin path is interesting and our professor is basically an angel, but it's probably the hardest class for me this semester. I understand individual concepts, but putting it all together and looking at a bunch of lab results and trying to identify what's going on is a struggle for me. The weekly online quizzes in that class are saving my grade!

You will learn more when you are exposed to different feelings every day.

Ummm what?

 

[vetmedhead]

Clin path is interesting and our professor is basically an angel, but it's probably the hardest class for me this semester. I understand individual concepts, but putting it all together and looking at a bunch of lab results and trying to identify what's going on is a struggle for me. The weekly online quizzes in that class are saving my grade!


Ummm what?

 

[RoryCat]

Finished finals on Friday. Second year is over! Hello third year and being 1/2 doctor

I can’t wait until I can join you in saying that but I still have three weeks left!

 

[Vannandy]

Sames. 1 week of cramming then 2 weeks of finals =P

 

[supershorty]

You will learn more when you are exposed to different feelings every day.

Vet school crushed my ability to have feelings last semester.

 

[Teepster87]

Vet school crushed my ability to have feelings last semester.

I lost all my feelings a long time ago. I'm more machine now, than man

 

[supershorty]

Came out of our clin path final going "wow, I learned a lot this year." It's a good feeling.

 

[raf2769]

pharm is OVER

I had grand plans of trying to catch up on other classes today after the exam. I took a nap, then listened to about 3 minutes of a lecture before I decided that there was absolutely no way any work was going to get done. Took another nap.

 

[Caiter92]

3/7 finals down

Next round starts Tuesday. 9 more days till summer!

 

[deleted676737]

So, so proud of everyone here who is now or is very close to being 1/2 DVM! Just keep swimming and best of luck with finals!

 

[WildZoo]

I listened to one of the 4 neuro lectures I was supposed to listen to tonight. Whoops.

 

[missdarjeeling]

Vet school crushed my ability to have feelings last semester.

I skipped the numb part and went straight to anger.

Ask me what I think about "wellness."

 

[DVMdreamcometrue]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

 

[RoryCat]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

I did nothing vet related during my summer. We have the next 30ish years to work hard with maybe 2 week vacations to be had. Enjoy one of your last summers doing what YOU want to do....

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much fun during the summer as I helped my mother move cross country with 25 years worth of junk. I wouldn’t recommend doing that for your summer.

 

[flameshock]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

Totally your call. I did the banfield program and loved it, but I also worked very long days so I could have extended weekends at the beach. I also had several weeks of traveling

 

[raf2769]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

I worked all last year and am planning to work again all this summer. But this is honestly YOUR decision. I'm just not good with not doing anything for more than like 3 days at a time. I've worked as a tech for years, but I like getting back to it and remembering that yes, indeed, I still am able to place a catheter. I plan this summer to try to use it to really solidify things that I've learned this year. BUT remember, second year is no better than first year, if anything, it's worse. So you don't want to work yourself so much that you didn't get the break you really needed before getting back to school. So make sure you take enough time to feel like you are relaxing and sleeping and HAPPY

 

[Squeaksmom]

Well that was fun.... Assuming I passed everything, I'm half a vet.

 

[LyraGardenia]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

I didn't do anything vet-related last summer either, I went home for part of the time, and gave a bunch of tours of the vet school, but for the most part I just relaxed! If you plan on specializing I think it's more important to work on making connections and getting experiences, but if not I highly recommend taking the mental health break.

 

[Caiter92]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

I worked last summer and am this summer, but it’s largely cause I need the money, not because I particularly want to.

If you want to take the summer off, do it. Plenty of people do and there’s nothing wrong with it. Second year was so much more stressful and busy than first year here, and I wish I had had a relaxed summer to recharge.

Also, this is one of those times where it’s a good idea to not compare yourself to your classmates. I promise you won’t be behind some how relaxing this summer

 

[LyraGardenia]

I survived this insane week of 3 exams! It remains to be seen if I passed the latter two, but I got a B on my sys path exam from Monday that I thought for sure I failed, so that's nice. Now I'm taking the weekend off from doing anything school- related before I have to start studying for finals.

 

[Squeaksmom]

Passed the one class I was really worried about. Bring on summer!

 

[Trilt]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

l went to south africa and basically did hard labour for five weeks working at a seabird/penguin rehab, then traveled a bit then came home and worked a lil. It was fantastic and I regret absolutely nothing about it.

 

[Squeaksmom]

I want to ask the Class of 2020 how did you spend the summer after your first year?

My classmates are either having summer jobs or doing research projects. I also have a research opportunity, but am thinking of giving it up to just relax and spending time with my new (rescue) dog who is having some behavior issue that I want to correct. But if I do that, I will feel guilty as if I'm "falling behind" my classmates. They would have learnt more and done more than I have when we start our second year.

Am I crazy for doing nothing school work related in my first summer?

I'm a career changer, and the first summer I went back to my pre-vet school job. It paid better than anything I could have gotten in the vet realm. This year I'm taking the pay cut and working in a vet clinic, and I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[Vannandy]

It really depends on your personality. I don't like staying still and get bored really quickly so I knew I wanted to work. I ended up doing the USDA internship over the summer and got to travel across the country for my duty station. You can totally email a bunch of clinics and ask to shadow them for a couple of weeks. That was my plan B if I didn't get the internship I wanted this summer.

Although this is just my opinion, I think that if internships/residencies are part of your career goals, breaks should not be wasted by staying at home. Assuming it won't burn you out, leading to decreased academic performance in the upcoming fall semester.

In the end to each their own. There's no right or wrong decision. Whatever makes you happiest.

 

[Lab Vet]

I think that if internships/residencies are part of your career goals, breaks should not be wasted by staying at home.

Agreed. If you see a role for advanced training in your future, I highly recommend that you use your summers and elective blocks wisely to demonstrate interest in your field(s) of choice. Even if an internship/residency is not in your future, summers and breaks should be used wisely to shadow/work in clinics for two reasons: (a) to get a better handle on what you're looking for in a practice environment (b) to make the connections that will eventually land you a job. Many people in my graduating class secured jobs at practices they had worked at previously. Although I don't have the stats in hand, I would guess that this is true for a large percentage of folks. One of my classmates in my own discipline secured his dream residency in the program where he completed a summer externship. As mentioned previously, it's your decision what you plan to do with your breaks. As someone who's just about to graduate in a few weeks (and recently survived the residency application process), you will be competing with people who have invested literally years into demonstrating interest in not just vet med, but a very specific subset of the profession. It would be wrong for me to say you can't be competitive with less experience, but I think it would be an uphill battle. I'd hate for folks to look back and say 'I should have, or I wish I would have.' I guess that goes the other way as well, for folks who wished they had taken more time off. You'll probably get strong opinions on both sides. Good luck!

 

[Squeaksmom]

Just found out I passed the only two courses I was seriously worried about. Bring on summer, and then bring on third year!

 

[Squeaksmom]

So proud of you, squeaks!

Thank you Elkhart!

 

[supershorty]

I find it frustrating when the expected answers on exams are not in line with the reality of practice.

I know, I know... exams are supposed to be on the ideal way, not the way you'd necessarily be doing it in practice...

 

[Cephal0pod]

Last final tomorrow and it’s a doozy. Got a Taco Bell nachos bell grande on the way home to eat my feelings about it.

I ate the entire thing and it was glorious.

Most delicious feelings ever.

 

[vetmedhead]

Last final tomorrow and it’s a doozy. Got a Taco Bell nachos bell grande on the way home to eat my feelings about it.

I ate the entire thing and it was glorious.

Most delicious feelings ever.

My brain glitched when I was reading this and I thought you were saying your last final was on Taco Bell. I was thinking that couldn't possibly be difficult because Taco Bell has been my go-to struggle meal this whole semester.

 

[Squeaksmom]

Last final tomorrow and it’s a doozy. Got a Taco Bell nachos bell grande on the way home to eat my feelings about it.

I ate the entire thing and it was glorious.

Most delicious feelings ever.

You're almost there... kill it!

Also @Elkhart I see my reply didn't tag you... silly phone!

 

[WildZoo]

Halfway through finals. I guess I'm still alive but I'm definitely dead inside.

 

[Teepster87]

Halfway through finals. I guess I'm still alive but I'm definitely dead inside.

It's already been the longest week. Been going hard since last wednesday. I hope we can all keep it up through this week!

 

[Teepster87]

Finals week is like a testament to the resiliency of the human body. I've never gotten so little sleep, and filled myself with so much crap in my life. Just one more day to go, and maybe 30 hours of straight sleep.