Class of 2021 . . . how ya doin?

[WildZoo]

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People! Stop trying to die! We're almost done and we need to be healthy to fully enjoy the time off, and go do cool things!

Every time I think I'm getting better I crash again 🙁 these overnight shifts at work probably aren't helping...

 

[SkiOtter]

Noooooo 🙁

I knowwwwww

I’ve had an on again, off again cough for the past maybe 5 days
But thankfully not a super stuffy nose which is why only slightly dying

 

[Doctor-S]

@Emily Faith @WildZoo @SkiOtter

Agree with @Coopah and hoping you all feel better soon! 🙂

 

[cdo96]

I’m procrasticleaning so hard that not only am I doing laundry, but I’ve also gone through my entire dresser and reorganized/ refolded/ gotten rid of several articles of clothing. I just cannot this weekend.

 

[twelvetigers]

oh okay! I know where you’re talking about! And the name sounds familiar, but I don’t think I’ve had the privilege to meet him yet.

I've actually heard of him! One of our pathology professors is friends with him and uses a ton of images from him in his lectures, and usually makes a point of gushing over what great pictures they are.

He is a legendary anatomic pathologist. The sort that all the OSU grads from years past have a story for, you know? He wasn't teaching by the time I came through - already an emeritus at that point. But he had an office with piles and piles of literature and slides - haphazard but damned if he didn't know where to find whatever he was looking for. He would (for reasons yet unexplained) toss his keys down the hallway on a regular basis. So here I am, a summer employee running PCRs all day and washing glassware in different labs, and a set of keys just go sliding on past the open door of the lab. Common occurrence. Wait a moment and an old man would shuffle on by, suspenders and all, and scoop up the keys before continuing on his way. You learned to not pick them up or he would hassle you (not unkindly, really, but still).

Apparently if you weren't paying attention in path rounds, he would throw body parts at you. That was before my time.

He also did a lot of woodworking - the bed of the OSU 'vet truck' was made by him.

In his more recent years, I would park myself next to him at Aspen coffee and demand he tell me about whatever he was reading - usually a scientific paper about Mannheimia or something like that, knowing him.

He's been pretty ill lately so I hope he is doing well. Cussing it up at whatever gets him riled up, sporting those suspenders and a pair of slippers, eating a muffing and reading a scientific paper like it's a newspaper.

 

[cdo96]

He is a legendary anatomic pathologist. The sort that all the OSU grads from years past have a story for, you know? He wasn't teaching by the time I came through - already an emeritus at that point. But he had an office with piles and piles of literature and slides - haphazard but damned if he didn't know where to find whatever he was looking for. He would (for reasons yet unexplained) toss his keys down the hallway on a regular basis. So here I am, a summer employee running PCRs all day and washing glassware in different labs, and a set of keys just go sliding on past the open door of the lab. Common occurrence. Wait a moment and an old man would shuffle on by, suspenders and all, and scoop up the keys before continuing on his way. You learned to not pick them up or he would hassle you (not unkindly, really, but still).

Apparently if you weren't paying attention in path rounds, he would throw body parts at you. That was before my time.

He also did a lot of woodworking - the bed of the OSU 'vet truck' was made by him.

In his more recent years, I would park myself next to him at Aspen coffee and demand he tell me about whatever he was reading - usually a scientific paper about Mannheimia or something like that, knowing him.

He's been pretty ill lately so I hope he is doing well. Cussing it up at whatever gets him riled up, sporting those suspenders and a pair of slippers, eating a muffing and reading a scientific paper like it's a newspaper.

Awwww. He sounds like a sweet man! I love hearing people talk about professors they looked up to. One of my professors was talking to me about Dr. Ewing, and call me emotional, but I love being able to see their legacies reflected in the eyes of their peers.

 

[battie]

Between 7 am on Saturday and 10 pm on Sunday, I was on the vet med campus for a combined 24 hours. My phone is going on don't desturb for a full 24 hour period next weekend.

 

[mmmdreamerz]

Last week of first-year classes and then finals. So. darn. close.

 

[PippyPony]

Can't tell if exams are getting easier, if I'm actually learning stuff/figuring out how to study, or if school has killed me and I'm in a strange not-quite-heaven where my procrastination pays off in dividends.

I'm suspicious it's the latter because I also got free candy and free coffee yesterday.

Regardless, I feel like it's luring me into a false sense of security, and my exam on Wednesday is just going to level me like a bug under an 18 wheeler.

 

[Coopah]

Can't tell if exams are getting easier, if I'm actually learning stuff/figuring out how to study, or if school has killed me and I'm in a strange not-quite-heaven where my procrastination pays off in dividends.

I'm suspicious it's the latter because I also got free candy and free coffee yesterday.

Regardless, I feel like it's luring me into a false sense of security, and my exam on Wednesday is just going to level me like a bug under an 18 wheeler.

So what you're saying is that it might miss you and everything will be fine . Good luck on exams peple

 

[finnickthedog]

Here goes nothing on this next exam...

 

[cdo96]

Here goes nothing on this next exam...

Me, going to take any exam at this point.

 

[Coopah]

Day one of GI and metabolism and we're getting dental lectures... I mean I guess that makes sense if I squint and tilt my head just right. The weird part is they acknowledge it doesn't really fit and it's not going to be on any exam. Yay? My entire first day, save one lecture, will not be tested... why am I not in bed right now?

 

[finnickthedog]

Me, going to take any exam at this point.

I did not fail.

Me, setting the bar low

 

[Coopah]

I did not fail.

Me, setting the bar low

 

[cdo96]

Day one of GI and metabolism and we're getting dental lectures... I mean I guess that makes sense if I squint and tilt my head just right. The weird part is they acknowledge it doesn't really fit and it's not going to be on any exam. Yay? My entire first day, save one lecture, will not be tested... why am I not in bed right now?

Oh yeah. We had dental things before getting started in GI stuff!

 

[vetmedhead]

Day one of GI and metabolism and we're getting dental lectures... I mean I guess that makes sense if I squint and tilt my head just right. The weird part is they acknowledge it doesn't really fit and it's not going to be on any exam. Yay? My entire first day, save one lecture, will not be tested... why am I not in bed right now?

I think dental makes a ton of sense for your GI section - it is where the whole rodeo starts. I'm surprised it's not on your exams given how common dental problems are in practice.

 

[cdo96]

I think dental makes a ton of sense for your GI section - it is where the whole rodeo starts. I'm surprised it's not on your exams given how common dental problems are in practice.

Esp. the giant self destruct animals (horse)

 

[Coopah]

Oh yeah. We had dental things before getting started in GI stuff!

If it was normal dental things I would agree with you, but as it was mostly embyologic dental shenanigans I'm confused. Nothing about extractions or how cavities are formed, or basically anything clinical. I mean, I'm sure it makes sense I'm just annoyed because nothing made sense and he talked about things we didn't know and then didn't explain and I don't have the time to spend on something that's not going to be tested. Grrr

 

[cdo96]

If it was normal dental things I would agree with you, but as it was mostly embyologic dental shenanigans I'm confused. Nothing about extractions or how cavities are formed, or basically anything clinical. I mean, I'm sure it makes sense I'm just annoyed because nothing made sense and he talked about things we didn't know and then didn't explain and I don't have the time to spend on something that's not going to be tested. Grrr

Yeah I’ve only done that- nothing about cavities (are cavities big in vet med?) or extractions (reserved for junior surgery or our SA General Practitioner wetlab). Fret not, I’ve had to deal with it too!

 

[WildZoo]

Day one of GI and metabolism and we're getting dental lectures... I mean I guess that makes sense if I squint and tilt my head just right. The weird part is they acknowledge it doesn't really fit and it's not going to be on any exam. Yay? My entire first day, save one lecture, will not be tested... why am I not in bed right now?

...Why isn't it going to be on an exam?
We started every section* of our Alimentary class (which is essentially GI class) with dental things. Because all the food things start there, ya know?

*Actually, lies, we started small animal with oral and esophageal things, and went back to dental later. Which was on the test with surgery stuff. That was weird organization. But anyway, equine and farm animal sections both started with dental stuff.

 

[WildZoo]

I think dental makes a ton of sense for your GI section - it is where the whole rodeo starts. I'm surprised it's not on your exams given how common dental problems are in practice.

I should finish reading threads before I post in them

 

[WildZoo]

If it was normal dental things I would agree with you, but as it was mostly embyologic dental shenanigans I'm confused. Nothing about extractions or how cavities are formed, or basically anything clinical. I mean, I'm sure it makes sense I'm just annoyed because nothing made sense and he talked about things we didn't know and then didn't explain and I don't have the time to spend on something that's not going to be tested. Grrr

If I recall, cavities aren't typically something you worry about with most animals.
Embryologic stuff...hmmm, I feel like we got that at some point but I honestly don't remember. Must have been last year, maybe in phys or anatomy.
Idk it's hard for me to correlate sometimes the things you guys get with the things we get because the curriculum setup is so different 😛 Sucks that they felt it was important enough to spend time teaching but not important enough to test you on though.

 

[Coopah]

If I recall, cavities aren't typically something you worry about with most animals.
Embryologic stuff...hmmm, I feel like we got that at some point but I honestly don't remember. Must have been last year, maybe in phys or anatomy.
Idk it's hard for me to correlate sometimes the things you guys get with the things we get because the curriculum setup is so different 😛 Sucks that they felt it was important enough to spend time teaching but not important enough to test you on though.

If I remember today, horses get cavities a lot, don't know what to do about them but I know they defiantly get them. I honestly have no idea why it's not on the test, other than it was the professor's request.

I guess I'm just really confused

 

[WildZoo]

If I remember today, horses get cavities a lot, don't know what to do about them but I know they defiantly get them. I honestly have no idea why it's not on the test, other than it was the professor's request.

I guess I'm just really confused

I clearly paid attention in equine GI

But it's ok, I haven't been tested on that yet 😉

 

[vetmedhead]

If I recall, cavities aren't typically something you worry about with most animals.
Embryologic stuff...hmmm, I feel like we got that at some point but I honestly don't remember. Must have been last year, maybe in phys or anatomy.
Idk it's hard for me to correlate sometimes the things you guys get with the things we get because the curriculum setup is so different 😛 Sucks that they felt it was important enough to spend time teaching but not important enough to test you on though.

Our embryologic stuff was focused a lot on how the layers of the tooth are formed so we understood why enamel is not constantly produced/replenished on the teeth of most adult animals. We also talked a little about weird developmental tooth problems (like anodontia, heterotopic polydontia, supernumerary teeth, and enamel dysplasias).

 

[cdo96]

I clearly paid attention in equine GI

But it's ok, I haven't been tested on that yet 😉

I HAVE been tested on equine GI and still have no idea

 

[SkiOtter]

If I remember today, horses get cavities a lot, don't know what to do about them but I know they defiantly get them. I honestly have no idea why it's not on the test, other than it was the professor's request.

I guess I'm just really confused

Horses do everything defiantly (mostly mares)

 

[cdo96]

Me, trying to get through these next 14 days of lecture before finals and trying to keep it together while simultaneously falling apart.

 

[WildZoo]

Our embryologic stuff was focused a lot on how the layers of the tooth are formed so we understood why enamel is not constantly produced/replenished on the teeth of most adult animals. We also talked a little about weird developmental tooth problems (like anodontia, heterotopic polydontia, supernumerary teeth, and enamel dysplasias).

Yes ok I remember these things! Still not sure what class it was though...

 

[cdo96]

Yes ok I remember these things! Still not sure what class it was though...

Ours was histo and then anatomy and then GI phys.

We have a lot of overlap in our curriculum...

 

[Coopah]

Our embryologic stuff was focused a lot on how the layers of the tooth are formed so we understood why enamel is not constantly produced/replenished on the teeth of most adult animals. We also talked a little about weird developmental tooth problems (like anodontia, heterotopic polydontia, supernumerary teeth, and enamel dysplasias).

This all sounds like I vaguely should know this.

 

[vetmedhead]

This all sounds like I vaguely should know this.

It's okay, embryology stuff is really dense and it certainly took me more than a few passes to even recognize most of the words when we learned it last semester. You'll certainly be getting more than enough dental information in your future and I wouldn't get too hung up on the difference between ameloblasts and odontoblasts, lol.

 

[Coopah]

It's okay, embryology stuff is really dense and it certainly took me more than a few passes to even recognize most of the words when we learned it last semester. You'll certainly be getting more than enough dental information in your future and I wouldn't get too hung up on the difference between ameloblasts and odontoblasts, lol.

Yes I heard those words!

 

[twelvetigers]

I find embryology as a whole highly irrelevant. Maybe like, therio? Maaaaybe? Otherwise who the hell cares. No practical application. Closest you ever get is aging based on US or rads.

 

[ResoluteMike]

Today sucked. Some idiot backed his truck in my Jeep. Only dented the license plate, but somehow took out my sound system. And we had a pop EXAM in physiology! Comprehensive for the entire semester. It was to measure our retention and not worth any points, but it showed how much I am apparently not remembering from this semester. Lets make us all feel dumb right before some really nasty tests later this week. ARGH!!!

 

[Coopah]

Today sucked. Some idiot backed his truck in my Jeep. Only dented the license plate, but somehow took out my sound system. And we had a pop EXAM in physiology! Comprehensive for the entire semester. It was to measure our retention and not worth any points, but it showed how much I am apparently not remembering from this semester. Lets make us all feel dumb right before some really nasty tests later this week. ARGH!!!

Ooooh that's AWEFUL! I am angry on your behalf!

 

[Emily Faith]

Got to give blood today to make up for Monday. But it was for my own sake. 😡 I had to leave lab early today because I got too dizzy and decided I might as well use the time to go the doctor. Everything came back normal besides my kidneys claiming I’m dehydrated. I had been putting off studying because I assumed I would be better by now. Nope.

I have a fun two days ahead of me before this phys exam.

 

[cdo96]

Got to give blood today to make up for Monday. But it was for my own sake. 😡 I had to leave lab early today because I got too dizzy and decided I might as well use the time to go the doctor. Everything came back normal besides my kidneys claiming I’m dehydrated. I had been putting off studying because I assumed I would be better by now. Nope.

I have a fun two days ahead of me before this phys exam.

I guess it’s a good thing we’re not doing kidney physiology anymore? So you can’t hate your kidneys while your kidneys hate you?

We’re just doing metabolism and endocrine... and speaking of metabolism I just realized I didn’t eat dinner. vet school, man.

 

[Coopah]

I guess it’s a good thing we’re not doing kidney physiology anymore? So you can’t hate your kidneys while your kidneys hate you?

We’re just doing metabolism and endocrine... and speaking of metabolism I just realized I didn’t eat dinner. vet school, man.

Ugh I'm doing metabolism now too. Thank god for groupmate who is doing his PhD in metabolic diseases. I literally go over every lecture sitting next to him if possible and ask him to explain EVERYTHING. Inevitably he will and I have to say "make it stupider" because while I know it's grammatically incorrect, it just fits

Thank dog for allowing people like him to have the patience to explain things to people like me.

 

[cdo96]

Class of 2022 and beyond, don’t read the spoiler!!! I don’t want my cynicism to impede your excitement!

Spoiler

I don’t know if vet school (or the fact that we lost 15% of our class last semester- 16 students) beat the optimist out of me, but my friend got accepted to the class of 2022 and everyone’s commenting that she’s going to be a doctor. And you know, a lot of people said they were going to be a doctor in April. They were all super excited to start vet school, they were all thrilled. It makes me sad. And it’s not just my school, there’s a pretty high first year fail out rate nationwide. It’s not that we don’t have smart students, so then what? How do we celebrate the incoming class when we realize that at the current trend, 15% of them will be gone in a semester?

 

[LyraGardenia]

Class of 2022 and beyond, don’t read the spoiler!!! I don’t want my cynicism to impede your excitement!

Spoiler

I don’t know if vet school (or the fact that we lost 15% of our class last semester- 16 students) beat the optimist out of me, but my friend got accepted to the class of 2022 and everyone’s commenting that she’s going to be a doctor. And you know, a lot of people said they were going to be a doctor in April. They were all super excited to start vet school, they were all thrilled. It makes me sad. And it’s not just my school, there’s a pretty high first year fail out rate nationwide. It’s not that we don’t have smart students, so then what? How do we celebrate the incoming class when we realize that at the current trend, 15% of them will be gone in a semester?

I still think it's so unfortunate and sad that your school (and it sounds like one professor in particular) is okay with that attrition rate. In my class we had I think 20 people who were failing first semester physiology going into the final, but they must have curved the final grades because we only lost 4 people first semester, and only 2 of those were because they failed physiology. My class has only lost one person permanently due to grades, 4 others have left for personal reasons and 5 people have joined c/o 2021. I'm not sure what the exact answer is for classes/schools with higher attrition rates, but I definitely think something has to change at the administrative/professor level, because there's no way THAT many people just aren't trying hard enough. I think it's so important that the schools be invested in helping those students they admitted make it through the program, and even here I've heard of some really disheartening things faculty have said to students who failed a class, or had to take time off for personal reasons (comments along the lines of "maybe vet med isn't for you." To a third year student who failed a class by only a couple of points? Really???).

 

[cdo96]

I still think it's so unfortunate and sad that your school (and it sounds like one professor in particular) is okay with that attrition rate. In my class we had I think 20 people who were failing first semester physiology going into the final, but they must have curved the final grades because we only lost 4 people first semester, and only 2 of those were because they failed physiology. My class has only lost one person permanently due to grades, 4 others have left for personal reasons and 5 people have joined c/o 2021. I'm not sure what the exact answer is for classes/schools with higher attrition rates, but I definitely think something has to change at the administrative/professor level, because there's no way THAT many people just aren't trying hard enough. I think it's so important that the schools be invested in helping those students they admitted make it through the program, and even here I've heard of some really disheartening things faculty have said to students who failed a class, or had to take time off for personal reasons (comments along the lines of "maybe vet med isn't for you." To a third year student who failed a class by only a couple of points? Really???).

Wait, this caught my eye. What are y’all a policies on that?

I’m confused because it sounded like if you failed you can join the class below.

Here’s our policy: if you get an F, you’re out. If you want back in, you reapply through VMCAS.

If you get a D (and have a certain GPA and haven’t had a D before) you can take a cumulative exam of the course and if you pass, you stay in the program. You can only get like 2 D’s total and they can’t be consecutive semesters. You’re also then put on strict probation. If you don’t pass, you’re out (same rules apply, I’d have to apply for VMCAS for class of 2023)

 

[cdo96]

Follow up, we got a new Dean, and he seems incredibly upset with our attrition rates. I’m not pointing fingers or saying our program is bad (which it’s not), but I believe change is in the air.

 

[Emily Faith]

Class of 2022 and beyond, don’t read the spoiler!!! I don’t want my cynicism to impede your excitement!

Spoiler

I don’t know if vet school (or the fact that we lost 15% of our class last semester- 16 students) beat the optimist out of me, but my friend got accepted to the class of 2022 and everyone’s commenting that she’s going to be a doctor. And you know, a lot of people said they were going to be a doctor in April. They were all super excited to start vet school, they were all thrilled. It makes me sad. And it’s not just my school, there’s a pretty high first year fail out rate nationwide. It’s not that we don’t have smart students, so then what? How do we celebrate the incoming class when we realize that at the current trend, 15% of them will be gone in a semester?

Honestly, I think about this a lot. I think that poor of an attrition rate wasn’t too great for our overall morale. Showing up to class on the first day of second semester to nearly an entire row of empty seats that were 100% filled the semester before is not something I’ll soon forget.

I would definitely love to see some changes with our new dean!

 

[mmmdreamerz]

Wait, this caught my eye. What are y’all a policies on that?

I’m confused because it sounded like if you failed you can join the class below.

Here’s our policy: if you get an F, you’re out. If you want back in, you reapply through VMCAS.

If you get a D (and have a certain GPA and haven’t had a D before) you can take a cumulative exam of the course and if you pass, you stay in the program. You can only get like 2 D’s total and they can’t be consecutive semesters. You’re also then put on strict probation. If you don’t pass, you’re out (same rules apply, I’d have to apply for VMCAS for class of 2023)

15 students seems like so many. I can’t even imagine that. Does your school consistently lose that many during first year?! I’m not aware of the specifics of what happens if you fail a class, but I know there’s people who have moved to the classes below here in the past.

 

[cdo96]

15 students seems like so many. I can’t even imagine that. Does your school consistently lose that many during first year?! I’m not aware of the specifics of what happens if you fail a class, but I know there’s people who have moved to the classes below here in the past.

Well this year we had an increase in OOS class size. Went from 88 to 106. So it’s hard to say. 5 left before finals either because they didn’t want to do vet med anymore/ they were close to failing and they didn’t want to fail/ had to defer a year for health reasons. Then 11 people failed a course and didn’t pass the end-of-year make up exam. For reference I believe 12(? can’t remember the specifics) people got a D in our difficult course, and then 8 people got a D in histo. There’s some overlap between the two, but still resulted in losing 11 more.

Honestly, I think about this a lot. I think that poor of an attrition rate wasn’t too great for our overall morale. Showing up to class on the first day of second semester to nearly an entire row of empty seats that were 100% filled the semester before is not something I’ll soon forget.

I would definitely love to see some changes with our new dean!

it’s really going to stink getting all of those new island transfers. That’s a lot of people they’re adding to get us back to 106

 

[vetmedhead]

Class of 2022 and beyond, don’t read the spoiler!!! I don’t want my cynicism to impede your excitement!

Spoiler

I don’t know if vet school (or the fact that we lost 15% of our class last semester- 16 students) beat the optimist out of me, but my friend got accepted to the class of 2022 and everyone’s commenting that she’s going to be a doctor. And you know, a lot of people said they were going to be a doctor in April. They were all super excited to start vet school, they were all thrilled. It makes me sad. And it’s not just my school, there’s a pretty high first year fail out rate nationwide. It’s not that we don’t have smart students, so then what? How do we celebrate the incoming class when we realize that at the current trend, 15% of them will be gone in a semester?

I still think it's so unfortunate and sad that your school (and it sounds like one professor in particular) is okay with that attrition rate. In my class we had I think 20 people who were failing first semester physiology going into the final, but they must have curved the final grades because we only lost 4 people first semester, and only 2 of those were because they failed physiology. My class has only lost one person permanently due to grades, 4 others have left for personal reasons and 5 people have joined c/o 2021. I'm not sure what the exact answer is for classes/schools with higher attrition rates, but I definitely think something has to change at the administrative/professor level, because there's no way THAT many people just aren't trying hard enough. I think it's so important that the schools be invested in helping those students they admitted make it through the program, and even here I've heard of some really disheartening things faculty have said to students who failed a class, or had to take time off for personal reasons (comments along the lines of "maybe vet med isn't for you." To a third year student who failed a class by only a couple of points? Really???).

I was going to say, I believe my class has lost one person permanently so far and it was because she realized vet med wasn't for her. We lost another classmate to the class of 2022 due to medical reasons. We're likely to lose maybe a couple more this semester, but it's because our spring semester is super rough (so many -ologies!), and when I say "lose" I mostly mean out of our class itself rather than out of the program entirely.

Wait, this caught my eye. What are y’all a policies on that?

I’m confused because it sounded like if you failed you can join the class below.

Here’s our policy: if you get an F, you’re out. If you want back in, you reapply through VMCAS.

If you get a D (and have a certain GPA and haven’t had a D before) you can take a cumulative exam of the course and if you pass, you stay in the program. You can only get like 2 D’s total and they can’t be consecutive semesters. You’re also then put on strict probation. If you don’t pass, you’re out (same rules apply, I’d have to apply for VMCAS for class of 2023)

Spoiler: 2 much text 4 me

Here if you don't pass the class but are within a certain cutoff close to the passing grade (say, you needed a 70% to pass and you got like a 69% or something), you would take a remediation exam for that class. If you pass the remediation exam, you pass the class and can carry on for next year. I believe you can only remediate like one class (don't quote me on that), and the professors are usually very good about trying to help you get up to speed on what you need to know for that exam (I am aware of at least two anatomy professors who came in over break - sometimes on weekends - to work with some of my classmates and help them study).

If you don't qualify for remediation, then you have meetings with our administration about why you didn't pass. From my understanding they will usually have you draft up a plan for how you'll address the original deficiencies (that is, what are you going to do about the reasons you identified for why you didn't do well) and most students will be dropped into the class below them and repeat the year (or the semester if they didn't pass something in the spring semester). We currently have three students in our class who were originally in 2020 (2 have been with us since the start of the school year and 1 just joined us at the beginning of the spring semester) and we will likely pick up a few more when we start second year.

On a different note, students in good academic standing can also take a year's leave of absence due to medical or personal reasons and drop to a class below them, so it's theoretically possible for us to pick up a student or so at the beginning of every year if there was a lot going on for someone. Dropping to the class below you is only really done once unless you have some fabulously outstanding circumstances, but most students figure out where the disconnect was during their repeat year and go on to do just fine in the rest of the program, so our overall attrition rates (that is, leaving the program entirely) are fairly low.

I just poked through some data on our school's website and the highest absolute attrition rate they've had in the past ~10 years was a little over 4% (so like 6 students), and that number included students who transferred to a different school or withdrew for personal reasons. I'd be interested to see some data on what percentage of our relative attrition (so students who drop to a class below them) turns into absolute attrition, but I'd have to imagine it's not a ton of them or they probably wouldn't allow students to do it anymore.

But overall, veterinary students are an investment on the part of the program educating them. The time to select against candidates who are likely to not succeed in the program or the profession is during the admissions process, not after they've already been chosen and enrolled in classes.

 

[vetmedhead]

15 students seems like so many. I can’t even imagine that. Does your school consistently lose that many during first year?! I’m not aware of the specifics of what happens if you fail a class, but I know there’s people who have moved to the classes below here in the past.

Yeah, this rate would have been equivalent to my class losing 21 people in first semester alone, which is huge. At OSU (which is where I think you go, right 3M?) that would be roughly equivalent to losing about 23 students in a semester.

 

[battie]

On the same stream of thought, I'm not entirely sure it's entirely on the class size increase Illinois 2020 was accidently 161. One girl deferred cause she got on the Voice. One dude deferred before our first midterm. One girl left for med reasons at the end of first semester. Then three of us failed into 2021. All 6 of us are in 2021, along with a 2019 girl who needed to defer and repeat first year as well. Out of 161, losing only six isn't that bad, all things considered. It's less than 5%.