Class of 2021 . . . how ya doin?

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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SkiOtter said:
I think @PippyPony uses an MDF one? I think they’re a bit cheaper than a littmann but I’m not positive what model she uses.
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finnickthedog said:
Some of the MDF models are pretty cheap so very interested in what Pips uses and whether she likes it. But I won't tag her again because she doesn't need extra notifications.
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So, I do have that one that Ski found

And I do like it a lot -- for vet school. It's been a good stethoscope and because of MDF's lifetime guarantee, I was able to be less careful with it than if I had, say, a digital one or something. It has also been put through the ringer a bit, and has a moderate amount of cosmetic damage. On the other hand, I've slammed it into the stall doors in the large animal hospital more times than I would like to admit & it still works, so points for MDF haha. Lastly, it's pretty 😉 I still get compliments on it all the time and it looks sweet with a white coat. There's a reason why they use them in all the Figs marketing materials.

But I recently borrowed my classmate's littman master cardiology to listen to a patient and it was like driving a Maserati. I asked him immediately if it was a fancy cardiology model because I could tell instantly from the sound quality. Vastly superior to anything else I've tried.
 
And yes, they are cheaper than Littmans. Mine was $80 on amazon.

As an additional selling point, the head of our ambulatory clinic good-naturedly teased me for 5 days about my fancy pants stethoscope...but then he tried it at the end of the week and was like "oh wow, that thing actually works pretty darn well -- form and function!"

But he also hurls his stethoscope indiscriminately into a truck with all the check engine lights on all the time, so...
 
PippyPony said:
And yes, they are cheaper than Littmans. Mine was $80 on amazon.

As an additional selling point, the head of our ambulatory clinic good-naturedly teased me for 5 days about my fancy pants stethoscope...but then he tried it at the end of the week and was like "oh wow, that thing actually works pretty darn well -- form and function!"

But he also hurls his stethoscope indiscriminately into a truck with all the check engine lights on all the time, so...
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I wonder who this is :thinking:🤣
 
batsenecal said:
Do you guys do your small animal surgeries in a row as part of the curriculum, or were you just that lucky?
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This is actually just a COVID thing. We temporarily have some split rotations where we did a week and a half online in the summer and then a week and a half in person this fall. Soft tissue and ortho are paired presumably because they're both surgery and it just makes sense. All the "pt I/II" rotations in my signature are ones I did as splits.

Our other split offerings were ECC/Anesthesia (which I couldn't do because I'd already taken the full length ECC) and Cardio/Derm. The split rotations will be over with by the end of this semester.
 
Coopah said:
I'm so ready for ortho to be over. I got home with eight hours until I had to be up again and I hadn't eaten, showered or done the laundry I needed for the next day. How do people do this every ****ing day?
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You got this!!
 
Coopah said:
I'm so ready for ortho to be over. I got home with eight hours until I had to be up again and I hadn't eaten, showered or done the laundry I needed for the next day. How do people do this every ****ing day?
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They only treat students and residents like this. It’s not like that once you’re working.
 
genny said:
They only treat students and residents like this. It’s not like that once you’re working.
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Hmmmm...... hahahahahhahahaha

Not all the time by any means, but I still have a few days that I work that hard
 
Lupin21 said:
Hmmmm...... hahahahahhahahaha

Not all the time by any means, but I still have a few days that I work that hard
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I never have to be at work past 8pm, and never there before 7:30am. There are days when I might not get lunches, but I can always sleep at night. Or I should say that I have the opportunity to sleep. Sometimes I still stay up worrying about patients, but that’s my problem.
 
genny said:
I never have to be at work past 8pm, and never there before 7:30am. There are days when I might not get lunches, but I can always sleep at night. Or I should say that I have the opportunity to sleep. Sometimes I still stay up worrying about patients, but that’s my problem.
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We open and start taking surgeries in at 7am is where it kills me for sure. The insane amount of callbacks is what keeps me late. I've started transitioning people to email so it helps though.
 
cdo96 said:
93 days until NAVLE, and I’ve finally broken into the 30% finished with my Zuku category! :laugh:
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41 days until NAVLE. I was concerned about how I would be able to finish it until I got to these last like 2 weeks where I’m doing 380 questions a week in addition to the section readings. I’m at 56% now- getting close to that coveted at least 80%!!
 
cdo96 said:
41 days until NAVLE. I was concerned about how I would be able to finish it until I got to these last like 2 weeks where I’m doing 380 questions a week in addition to the section readings. I’m at 56% now- getting close to that coveted at least 80%!!
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I dont even want to talk about days. I think I've got 14 now? One of my classmates is taking it a frw days and apparently at some point vetprep stops counting down and just says "good luck mon/tues/whateverday". I assume when it gets to less than a week.
 
Lupin21 said:
Hmmmm...... hahahahahhahahaha

Not all the time by any means, but I still have a few days that I work that hard
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yeah, honestly for me, first 2-3 years I worked multiple days a week where it was a good 16 hr work day... I worked 4 days a week, but those were ****ing long days. Learned a ton, but it was long.

my first 6 months was hell, and I was way overworked. Scheduled for 14 hr days, in reality was like 18-20 hrs. My one day off being right after over an overnight... and barely ever had any days off ever. Likely illegal. They made it seem like it was my fault.
 
finnickthedog said:
Feet want to cry. But I got to watch a mandible get teeny tiny plated today so that was cool. Worth it I guess.
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One of my patients in fourth year was a 1ish kg toy poodle puppy that got booped too hard by the Golden Retriever housemate. They tried to plate it but she was too small so they abandoned ship for an ex-fix. It was a memorable case :laugh:
 
that redhead said:
One of my patients in fourth year was a 1ish kg toy poodle puppy that got booped too hard by the Golden Retriever housemate. They tried to plate it but she was too small so they abandoned ship for an ex-fix. It was a memorable case :laugh:
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Oh goodness. This was just a kitty mandible. I can't even imagine how tiny 1kg puppy jaw is.
 
Coopah said:
I'm so ready for ortho to be over. I got home with eight hours until I had to be up again and I hadn't eaten, showered or done the laundry I needed for the next day. How do people do this every ****ing day?
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I worked about 90 hours last week which is a so-so week for me. Not the longest week, not the easiest week. I eat a lot of frozen food. I try to make a giant pan of something edible if I get part of a weekend off. I usually save all my laundry to bust out on one day and it almost never actually gets hung up or put away because there isn't enough extra time to dedicate to that. I do manage to shower 99% of my days, but I prioritize that over eating.

It's not easy, and it is not sustainable for forever. I try to protect students from this lifestyle as much as possible before they're out in the real world. I'm really sorry that you're having this experience 🙁
 
I just took half of an official NAVLE prep test and almost swiped my computer off the table. They asked a "what is the most common x" type question and I was very surprised to see that they did not list the answer choice I was looking for, because I felt pretty darn sure I knew the answer.

And then I ****ing googled "most common x dogs" right then and there while I was taking the practice test, and right there on the interwebs, it listed the answer I wanted to choose, but could not choose, because it was not an option.

If this happens on the actual NAVLE, I'm going to lose my mind with frustration in the middle of it, and then probably get so off track from anxiety that I won't be able to answer basic questions about kitten sniffles. Aaaahh.
 
I wish I could say whether or not such questions occur on the NAVLE (or at least whether they did for me) but I have tried recently to remember really anything about that test and I can't. Can't even remember the specifics of the weird fish questions I got, just that the fish questions existed.

Those official practice tests are, to my understanding, actual old tests that have been retired. So I would just hope questions like that are why they don't use that form of the test anymore.
 
WildZoo said:
I wish I could say whether or not such questions occur on the NAVLE (or at least whether they did for me) but I have tried recently to remember really anything about that test and I can't. Can't even remember the specifics of the weird fish questions I got, just that the fish questions existed.

Those official practice tests are, to my understanding, actual old tests that have been retired. So I would just hope questions like that are why they don't use that form of the test anymore.
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They definitely still had them, I have already blacked out almost the entirety of NAVLE but they definitely did still have some stuff on there that made me go ?????

I do think from the anxiety perspective there is definitely something to be said for trying your best to shrug it off and knowing that most if not all people leave that test feeling like they failed. The first section of my exam was so frickin hard I legitimately wondered if I had made a huge mistake in signing up to take it so early, and I'm a very good test taker so that's saying something

There were also more than a few questions that mostly engendered a "wtf is this? Was I supposed to know this? Eff this, I'm just picking something and never looking back because hell if I know the right answer" response from me lol
 
vetmedhead said:
They definitely still had them, I have already blacked out almost the entirety of NAVLE but they definitely did still have some stuff on there that made me go ?????

I do think from the anxiety perspective there is definitely something to be said for trying your best to shrug it off and knowing that most if not all people leave that test feeling like they failed. The first section of my exam was so frickin hard I legitimately wondered if I had made a huge mistake in signing up to take it so early, and I'm a very good test taker so that's saying something

There were also more than a few questions that mostly engendered a "wtf is this? Was I supposed to know this? Eff this, I'm just picking something and never looking back because hell if I know the right answer" response from me lol
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The fact that this is my general attitude towards all exams ever is probably why I didn't feel any particular way when I left that exam :laugh:

But yeah, agree with shrugging the weirdness off. Your brain will try to overemphasize the weird questions you struggle with, and will make you forget about all the ones you answered without a problem. Don't let the evil brain win 😛
 
I figured out how to find old procedure in our EMR system. My surgery rotation just got *soooooo* much easier.
 
cdo96 said:
Right? It’s crazy!! I’m nervous, excited, and tired all at the same time!
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SAME!!!! I'm on necropsy duty now and really like it! What are you planning on doing after graduation?
 
cheathac said:
SAME!!!! I'm on necropsy duty now and really like it! What are you planning on doing after graduation?
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cdo96 said:
:shrug:
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I want to go into either ER or critical care. I definitely want to do a SA rotating internship buuuuut I’m still on the fence about residency or nah :laugh:
 
Posting here since a lot of you guys are dealing with this right now and we’re about to get charmed by both companies: Zuku or VetPrep?

I know that either will work, but what are the main differences and what makes you like one over the other?

I didn’t have the energy to search for this on the search bar because I just can’t with online lectures this week. We’re 110+ lectures in and the semester is only half over.
 
jaboo said:
Posting here since a lot of you guys are dealing with this right now and we’re about to get charmed by both companies: Zuku or VetPrep?

I know that either will work, but what are the main differences and what makes you like one over the other?

I didn’t have the energy to search for this on the search bar because I just can’t with online lectures this week. We’re 110+ lectures in and the semester is only half over.
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Ask me again in 22 days lol

No real complaints about Vetprep. No experience with Zuku. Either will likely get the job done
 
jaboo said:
Posting here since a lot of you guys are dealing with this right now and we’re about to get charmed by both companies: Zuku or VetPrep?

I know that either will work, but what are the main differences and what makes you like one over the other?

I didn’t have the energy to search for this on the search bar because I just can’t with online lectures this week. We’re 110+ lectures in and the semester is only half over.
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From what I've heard, Zuku is more geared towards visual learners (more pictures and things?) and vetprep is designed to present you with things in a way that is more similar to the NAVLE itself (aka all the images are ****ty lol).

I had Vetprep premium, did not do enough to get much use out of the premium features.

I think @cdo96 did Zuku so may be able to tell you more about specific features there.

Almost my entire class had Vetprep and I think it's just because they Vetprep rep came and talked to us and did trivia nights and we didn't hear from Zuku really at all.
 
jaboo said:
Posting here since a lot of you guys are dealing with this right now and we’re about to get charmed by both companies: Zuku or VetPrep?

I know that either will work, but what are the main differences and what makes you like one over the other?

I didn’t have the energy to search for this on the search bar because I just can’t with online lectures this week. We’re 110+ lectures in and the semester is only half over.
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The main thing I remember from checking out a classmates zuku is I think zuku has more questions and vetprep has a more detailed breakdown of your accuracy (ie zuku just breaks it down by species, vetprep breaks it down within each species so you can see not only your equine accuracy but your equine dermatology accuracy for example).

There were other differences but those are the two I remember for whatever reason.

As a personal preference I like the aesthetics of vetprep better.

I bought vetprep mainly bc I already got zuku questions of the day and I knew people from last year who had vetprep and liked it. I just didn't know anyone who had zuku to give me their thoughts.
 
My roommate in vet school and I each bought opposite ones and then "shared" the resources. Personally I'm glad I went with VetPrep almost entirely because the aesthetics were nicer in my opinion. Also I hated that Zuku's question of the day you had to actually scroll to see if you'd gotten it right vs. VetPrep it just told you right at the top of the screen.

In case that wasn't clear enough, the differences don't really matter in a meaningful way unless one bothers you so much you can't use it at all.
 
I picked Zuku cause the regional VetPrep manager that presented to us was very unprofessional in my opinion.

Zuku does have more images, but they are absolute trash most the time lol. I bought premium.

I honestly wish I hadnt gotten either and just done self study off the ICVA list. They're essentially the same product and were the exact same price when I was looking at them. I would argue that theyre a luxury in that the vast majority (>95%) of vet students did diligent self-study, they'd pass the NAVLE (or maybe that's a high hope; it's based off of how so many of us only finished 20-30% and still oass) If my NAVLE is cancelled and I can't reschedule before 12/31, I'm not going to renew it and just use the disease list for an April test.
 
@jaboo I got vetprep for 2 reasons:

1. Zuku seems to have more "goofy" answers interspersed into their question bank, at least from what I've seen from friends who use it. I generally like having humor/fun mnemonics as a way of studying, but I didn't want my test prep software to throw me softballs because I'm guessing the actual NAVLE is not into having giggle moments with test takers

2. @SARdoghandler told me she liked the VetPrep mobile app a lot, and I agree. Zuku doesn't really have much on the mobile front afaik, and I use my phone a LOT for these kinds of things. It's easier to do a couple questions while I have some downtime than if I had to get out my laptop every time.

On the flip side, I do think that zuku seems to have better answer choice explanations most of the time.
 
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