Class of 2022...how you doin'?

Veterinary School Application Advising Ad
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members do not see this ad.
Lupin21 said:
Ugh. I certainly respect those who go through the extra training, but I like my paycheck. I love surgery as well, and am sad I only get one day a week. Some small procedures here and there with lac/abcess/hematoma etc, but still. I value my surgery mornings for sure. haha
Click to expand...

Can’t miss what you’ve never had haha
 
ajs513 said:
I was at the surgery talk as well. He’s talking about the current surgical residents. I believe out of four, one did a specialty internship after a rotating. The rest (as well as the attendings) just did a rotating.
Click to expand...

If you’re at Penn I know the one who did a specialty and she’s awesome lol. But also, I love to hear that there’s hope of matching without a specialty internships 🙂
 
that redhead said:
@SocialStigma is a surgical resident 🙂

@Lupin21 I like surgery too. I think a big part of my love of my surgery days is that I don't have to deal with clients directly :laugh:
Click to expand...
Mine are mondays, so definitely a preferred way to restart the week. lol
 
mmmdreamerz said:
If you’re at Penn I know the one who did a specialty and she’s awesome lol. But also, I love to hear that there’s hope of matching without a specialty internships 🙂
Click to expand...
I can honestly say all of the residents I’ve met at Penn have been phenomenal.

Takeaways from last night: it’s less the fact that you’ve done an internship and more the quality of the internship. Academic internships are overall well regarded. Private practice ones are good too as long as they’re well known and/or have a track record of getting people matched to residencies. Beyond that, do well in school, try to have a little research experience (not a ton necessary and not the most important factor), and don’t worry too much about getting prior surgical experience. And make good connections. Don’t look at your internship as a means to a residency. Practice good medicine in every department and make good relationships with all of the clinicians you work with in it. You never know who is going to get called as a reference.
 
that redhead said:
@SocialStigma is a surgical resident 🙂
Click to expand...

No longer a resident 🙂!! Just finished in July and will be off work in a few weeks to study for boards now..last hurdle before becoming a DACVS.

@mmmdreamerz I matched to an academic surgical residency straight out of a private practice rotating internship. It is still possible but it is becoming increasingly more common to have to complete 1 or even multiple surgical internships. All you can do is apply widely and hope for the best! Feel free to PM me if you want.
 
SocialStigma said:
No longer a resident 🙂!! Just finished in July and will be off work in a few weeks to study for boards now..last hurdle before becoming a DACVS.

@mmmdreamerz I matched to an academic surgical residency straight out of a private practice rotating internship. It is still possible but it is becoming increasingly more common to have to complete 1 or even multiple surgical internships. All you can do is apply widely and hope for the best! Feel free to PM me if you want.
Click to expand...

Congratulations and good luck on boards! :hardy:

ajs513 said:
Beyond that, do well in school, try to have a little research experience (not a ton necessary and not the most important factor), and don’t worry too much about getting prior surgical experience. And make good connections. Don’t look at your internship as a means to a residency. Practice good medicine in every department and make good relationships with all of the clinicians you work with in it. You never know who is going to get called as a reference.
Click to expand...
I think this is good advice for basically all further specialty training, especially the last part. Connections and good work ethic/attitude will go a long way.
 
Miranda Senft said:
Question for you my dear 🙂 did you go right into emergency after graduating? Internship? You doing a residency?
Click to expand...
I went into emergency right after school. I couldn't afford an internship financially or mentally so I looked for an ER job that offered mentorship. It was actually a lot easier than I thought, though it might be location/hospital dependent of course. And no, I am not doing a residency, because I like cutting my emergency surgeries wayyyyy too much and prefer outpatient work as compared to mostly sticking to the ICU.

I am happy to answer any other questions!
 
Ashgirl said:
I went into emergency right after school. I couldn't afford an internship financially or mentally so I looked for an ER job that offered mentorship. It was actually a lot easier than I thought, though it might be location/hospital dependent of course. And no, I am not doing a residency, because I like cutting my emergency surgeries wayyyyy too much and prefer outpatient work as compared to mostly sticking to the ICU.

I am happy to answer any other questions!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! I may definitely hit you up in the future 🙂 I'm completely fine with doing an internship because I've heard ER vets get paid more that way and I want to work in a busy hospital more supervised than just get thrown into work. But I've been debating on whether or not I would like to do a residency in CC. 🙂
 
Miranda Senft said:
Thank you so much! I may definitely hit you up in the future 🙂 I'm completely fine with doing an internship because I've heard ER vets get paid more that way and I want to work in a busy hospital more supervised than just get thrown into work. But I've been debating on whether or not I would like to do a residency in CC. 🙂
Click to expand...
Huh. I've never heard an ER internship allowing you to get paid more, though honestly even though I'm sure it's true in some cases I would wonder if you would really be making more if you consider how much money you would be losing in that first year as an intern. I personally make as much as my colleagues with internships, though again, I's sure it's hospital dependent.

If you are debating, you should definitely schedule some electives or externships with places that have both ER vets and criticalists. That way you can pick the brain of both and see the difference between the two. For me, it wasn't until my clinical year and lots of different ER hospitals before I discovered I would much rather be an ER vet than an criticalist.
 
staff_wielder said:
We had a panel last of the surgeons and the residents talking about the whole process and everyone's path etc. Everyone did a rotating and then started their surgery residency. Why do you guys automatically think you'll have to be the ones who do a rotating and then a specialty and holyballs a second specialty possibly before getting into a surgery residency? I guess mostly asking Coop, since K is already in lab animal. Wow almost done!! Exciting 🙂
Click to expand...
Even 1 year of an internship was too much for me - making less money than I did before vet school with just a bachelors degree, working ridiculously long hours, and having to rotate through areas I have very little interest in were not worth it, especially since I prefer soft tissue surgery specifically. That plus I came into vet school really wanting to do lab animal, surgery just tempted me to the dark side for a teensy bit. But hopefully I'll get a job that lets me do surgery all the time in lab animal and then I win!
 
staff_wielder said:
We had a panel last of the surgeons and the residents talking about the whole process and everyone's path etc. Everyone did a rotating and then started their surgery residency. Why do you guys automatically think you'll have to be the ones who do a rotating and then a specialty and holyballs a second specialty possibly before getting into a surgery residency? I guess mostly asking Coop, since K is already in lab animal. Wow almost done!! Exciting 🙂
Click to expand...
It depends. Specialty internships are on the rise but certain places don't want them. Some places want people straight out of a rotating internship so they "don't have any bad habits" according to the residency director here. Other places want you to be able to hit the ground running so they prefer a second internship.

I'm hopeful I can just get a residency straight after a rotating, but I'm not expecting it. I have my research experience and my connections so I'm hoping that's enough. If I manage it I'm sure you'll hear about it because I'll be screaming from the rooftops for weeks.
 
Last edited:
kcoughli said:
Even 1 year of an internship was too much for me - making less money than I did before vet school with just a bachelors degree, working ridiculously long hours, and having to rotate through areas I have very little interest in were not worth it, especially since I prefer soft tissue surgery specifically. That plus I came into vet school really wanting to do lab animal, surgery just tempted me to the dark side for a teensy bit. But hopefully I'll get a job that lets me do surgery all the time in lab animal and then I win!
Click to expand...

Makes sense. The lab animal director here is tempting me to forego the internship and hop straight into a lab animal residency as well, given the several years I spent at NIH before Vet school and says that he does all sorts of portal shunt/cardio surgeries. He recommended being attached to a medical school (as that's where the $ is) and I could very well have the flexibility to do some range of surgery types. I just don't think I could go back to research... although, I don't know anything about industry and what kind of opportunities are available since most of my exposure was government. Can I hit you up to talk about the industry side of things/what you've heard?

Coopah said:
It depends. Specialty internships are on the rise but certain places don't want them. Some places want people straight out of a rotating internship so they "don't have any bad habits" according to the residency director here. Other places want you to be able to hit the ground running so they prefer a second internship.

I'm hopeful I can just get a residency straight after a rotating, but I'm not expecting it. I have my research experience and my connections so I'm hoping that's enough. If I manage it I'm sure you'll hear about it because I'll be screaming from the rooftops for weeks.
Click to expand...

Ah yeah, the bad habits thing was mentioned as well during the talk. Please, if there is an ethereal being out there, let us all get selected by one of those residencies, hahaha!
 
staff_wielder said:
Makes sense. The lab animal director here is tempting me to forego the internship and hop straight into a lab animal residency as well, given the several years I spent at NIH before Vet school and says that he does all sorts of portal shunt/cardio surgeries. He recommended being attached to a medical school (as that's where the $ is) and I could very well have the flexibility to do some range of surgery types. I just don't think I could go back to research... although, I don't know anything about industry and what kind of opportunities are available since most of my exposure was government. Can I hit you up to talk about the industry side of things/what you've heard?
Click to expand...
Happy to chat about lab animal things anytime. From my experience I've worked with vets at two different places that were 100% surgery - both in industry positions (medical devices and pharma). And most lab animal programs don't require or even want people with a rotating internship - yes its clinical practice but most is not the same type of thing you'll be dealing with in the lab animal world. There are a couple of lab animal internships that exist (most of which are advertised after the match results come out) but I think usually are done by people who don't manage to match to a residency. If lab animal is your goal, an internship before residency is the exception rather than the rule.

Feel free to PM me and we can talk more about things 😀
 
Hey, as a non-traditional student, I have no clue as to what are some of the good/better externships. For example, Providence in PA and ASPCA in Asheville, NC. Would anyone like to share some of the ones that are recommended to try and get a spot at? I know some of these places get filled up way in advance! Thanks 🙂
 
staff_wielder said:
Hey, as a non-traditional student, I have no clue as to what are some of the good/better externships. For example, Providence in PA and ASPCA in Asheville, NC. Would anyone like to share some of the ones that are recommended to try and get a spot at? I know some of these places get filled up way in advance! Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...
ASPCA will start booking for CO 2022 May 1st! Just FYI 🤣
 
SkiOtter said:
ASPCA will start booking for CO 2022 May 1st! Just FYI 🤣
Click to expand...
.... OK, great? 😵 Providence in PA is already filled till May 2022.

Do you know of any others that are recommended to try and get a spot at?
 
staff_wielder said:
Hey, as a non-traditional student, I have no clue as to what are some of the good/better externships. For example, Providence in PA and ASPCA in Asheville, NC. Would anyone like to share some of the ones that are recommended to try and get a spot at? I know some of these places get filled up way in advance! Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...

Not that I have any recommendations regardless... but since it might help others who can offer suggestions are you interested in anything specific?
 
staff_wielder said:
.... OK, great? 😵 Providence in PA is already filled till May 2022.

Do you know of any others that are recommended to try and get a spot at?
Click to expand...
The laughing emoji was because I’ve already tried to apply to the aspca one and was recently told May 1st was when they’ll start booking for our class. They also fill quick haha
And @Trilt always will recommend leader dogs for the blind in Rochester hills Michigan. I spent 2 weeks there this summer and it was 10/10
 
finnickthedog said:
Not that I have any recommendations regardless... but since it might help others who can offer suggestions are you interested in anything specific?
Click to expand...

Makes sense! I don't even know what all the categories are, but I'd say off the cuff, I'm interested in surgery (I'm assuming that means shelter types one where they do spay and neuters and not the URI/parvo/ringworm/Felv/Fiv type shelter ones). Also, emergency would be great to get some good exposure to that. Beyond that, may be Cardiology? What are your interests?? Sports med?

Side note, I know I should also do ones at places that I have an interest in doing an internship at, and I've got a couple on my list so far. As well as maybe a Banfield one just in case all hell breaks loose and I don't get an internship -- might be good to have a GP option as backup where they've seen my face and hopefully liked me.

SkiOtter said:
The laughing emoji was because I’ve already tried to apply to the aspca one and was recently told May 1st was when they’ll start booking for our class. They also fill quick haha
And @Trilt always will recommend leader dogs for the blind in Rochester hills Michigan. I spent 2 weeks there this summer and it was 10/10
Click to expand...

Ok. Thank you for being helpful. Where else have you applied? Are you willing to share?
 
staff_wielder said:
Ok. Thank you for being helpful. Where else have you applied? Are you willing to share?
Click to expand...
Haven’t applied anywhere else. We don’t get too many free blocks that we can use for small animal stuff off campus, sadly. And there are certain on campus things that count towards free blocks too that I’m wanting to do, so I’m looking at only 1 maybe 2 free blocks to do OC stuff, unless I want to use vacation blocks too.
 
staff_wielder said:
Makes sense! I don't even know what all the categories are, but I'd say off the cuff, I'm interested in surgery (I'm assuming that means shelter types one where they do spay and neuters and not the URI/parvo/ringworm/Felv/Fiv type shelter ones). Also, emergency would be great to get some good exposure to that. Beyond that, may be Cardiology? What are your interests?? Sports med?

Side note, I know I should also do ones at places that I have an interest in doing an internship at, and I've got a couple on my list so far. As well as maybe a Banfield one just in case all hell breaks loose and I don't get an internship -- might be good to have a GP option as backup where they've seen my face and hopefully liked me.



Ok. Thank you for being helpful. Where else have you applied? Are you willing to share?
Click to expand...
Are you interested in specialty surgery or surgery as it relates to shelter/GP?
 
mmmdreamerz said:
Are you interested in specialty surgery or surgery as it relates to shelter/GP?
Click to expand...
Well, I don't have much surgery experience beyond the IVF/inter-cranial transplant/organ stuff I was doing at NIH for mostly mice and rats. I was thinking of getting my hands dirty with the GP/Shelter experience (and would be good if I had to go the backup route of GP), and then try out a few of the specialty ones and see what floats my boat. Have you hit clinics yet? Where are you at school? What kind of externships are you doing/planning on doing?
 
staff_wielder said:
Well, I don't have much surgery experience beyond the IVF/inter-cranial transplant/organ stuff I was doing at NIH for mostly mice and rats. I was thinking of getting my hands dirty with the GP/Shelter experience (and would be good if I had to go the backup route of GP), and then try out a few of the specialty ones and see what floats my boat. Have you hit clinics yet? Where are you at school? What kind of externships are you doing/planning on doing?
Click to expand...

A reasonable approach. I’m a third year at Ohio, so I’ll start clinics in April. My interest is surgery, so I have a mixture of academic/private practice surgery externships lined up.
 
@staff_wielder I think any type of surgical experience is good at this point in your career. The protocol obviously isn’t the same for a spay vs a tail amputation but a lot of the general principles (Hemostasis, gentle tissue handling, etc) and fine motor stuff is pretty similar across the board. I feel like the more surgery I do, the better I become overall, and it helps me not freak out as much when faced with a new procedure 🙂
 
I am tired. I have been running an Olympic sprint for what seems like infinite time now. I have yet to knock a hurdle down. I should be happier with the outcome, but really I'm just tired and want to sleep and hibernate away from people for a few days. Thanksgiving break cannot come soon enough!
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
I am tired. I have been running an Olympic sprint for what seems like infinite time now. I have yet to knock a hurdle down. I should be happier with the outcome, but really I'm just tired and want to sleep and hibernate away from people for a few days. Thanksgiving break cannot come soon enough!
Click to expand...

I feel you! Our exam schedule kinda sucks. I’m exhausted and know nothing about pharm.
 
For all you Penn students, Penn is known for taking surgery residents straight out of a rotating internship and so you're getting a little bit of a biased view. It is much more common to do a second internship than it is to not, if your goal is a surgery residency. When applying for match, I did gather information about which institutions are more likely to take people without a second internship and it affected my applications.
 
Okimo said:
For all you Penn students, Penn is known for taking surgery residents straight out of a rotating internship and so you're getting a little bit of a biased view. It is much more common to do a second internship than it is to not, if your goal is a surgery residency. When applying for match, I did gather information about which institutions are more likely to take people without a second internship and it affected my applications.
Click to expand...
What was your experience if you don't mind me asking?
 
Coopah said:
What was your experience if you don't mind me asking?
Click to expand...
I matched straight out of rotating lol. Kind of a counter to my own point, huh?But, again, not the norm! Most of my friends in surgery residencies did two internships, and a most of the people in my program did two internships. It does happen, and definitely try to be the exception. Just don't expect it.
 
Okimo said:
I matched straight out of rotating lol. Kind of a counter to my own point, huh?But, again, not the norm! Most of my friends in surgery residencies did two internships, and a most of the people in my program did two internships. It does happen, and definitely try to be the exception. Just don't expect it.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks! What programs do you know of that prefer two rotations?
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
I am tired. I have been running an Olympic sprint for what seems like infinite time now. I have yet to knock a hurdle down. I should be happier with the outcome, but really I'm just tired and want to sleep and hibernate away from people for a few days. Thanksgiving break cannot come soon enough!
Click to expand...

Just want to say I 1000% relate to this. Its so close though...you can do it! 🙂
 
We got our pharmacology midterm marks back today and I'm really happy with how I did!! :happy: I'm actually really enjoying all of our classes that deal with pharm! The sad part is that I don't feel like I can share this with my classmates, because I don't want them to rain on my parade (as they tend to sometimes do).

Hopefully you are all keeping up with the grind! Christmas break is going to come fast!
 
Last edited:
DRider13 said:
We got our pharmacology midterm marks back today and I'm really happy with how I did!! :happy: I'm actually really enjoying all of our classes that deal with pharm! The sad part is that I don't feel like I can share this with my classmates, because I don't want them to rain on my parade (as they tend to sometimes do).

Hopefully you are all keeping up with the grind! Christmas break is going to come fast!
Click to expand...
You can always come share over here if you want to share your joy, I don’t grade shame nor care if people did better than me.
 
DRider13 said:
We got our pharmacology midterm marks back today and I'm really happy with how I did!! :happy: I'm actually really enjoying all of our classes that deal with pharm! The sad part is that I don't feel like I can share this with my classmates, because I don't want them to rain on my parade (as they tend to sometimes do).

Hopefully you are all keeping up with the grind! Christmas break is going to come fast!
Click to expand...
It can be hard, when people are struggling through classes, for them to hear that others are doing well. Not as a conscious thing where they hate you for your success or anything, it can just make them feel a little bit worse about themselves than they already might, triggers some imposter syndrome, all of that. My agreement with my friends in my class was always that we would say if we were ok or happy with how a test turned out, or not, and not talk about specifics. If I needed or wanted to share specifics I'd chat with non-vet student friends or family members. I'd even sometimes be careful here because even though we're at different schools, there are always people struggling and there can be similar internalized reactions as when you share grades with classmates. I think the way you did it here was perfect - saying you're happy with where you're at is always a little kinder than straight up posting your grades, imo.

Just a little perspective of where others may be coming from, and certainly not to say that you shouldn't be extremely proud of your accomplishments. Glad to hear that things are going well for you 🙂
 
I get happy when my classmates do better than me because 1) good for them. They put in the work to get the grade they wanted and 2) I get motivated to try harder next time. I understand the desire to not know how your colleagues did, but I think it's a beneficial learning experience to accept that you didn't do as well as you hoped and figure out a different way to approach it next time. Gross anatomy was challenging for me and I was more than happy to hear from my classmates who got A's because I got great study advice out of it and was able to do much better on exams as a result.
 
johnsmith123 said:
I get happy when my classmates do better than me because 1) good for them. They put in the work to get the grade they wanted and 2) I get motivated to try harder next time. I understand the desire to not know how your colleagues did, but I think it's a beneficial learning experience to accept that you didn't do as well as you hoped and figure out a different way to approach it next time. Gross anatomy was challenging for me and I was more than happy to hear from my classmates who got A's because I got great study advice out of it and was able to do much better on exams as a result.
Click to expand...
That is wonderful for you, that you are able to keep that perspective, and it is a great perspective to have. I just think it is also good to keep in mind that not everyone reacts to things the same way emotionally, and we never know what others may be going through both in the realm of vet school and in life outside of it, and how those things may impact those emotional reactions. Just my two cents.
 
WildZoo said:
It can be hard, when people are struggling through classes, for them to hear that others are doing well. Not as a conscious thing where they hate you for your success or anything, it can just make them feel a little bit worse about themselves than they already might, triggers some imposter syndrome, all of that. My agreement with my friends in my class was always that we would say if we were ok or happy with how a test turned out, or not, and not talk about specifics. If I needed or wanted to share specifics I'd chat with non-vet student friends or family members. I'd even sometimes be careful here because even though we're at different schools, there are always people struggling and there can be similar internalized reactions as when you share grades with classmates. I think the way you did it here was perfect - saying you're happy with where you're at is always a little kinder than straight up posting your grades, imo.

Just a little perspective of where others may be coming from, and certainly not to say that you shouldn't be extremely proud of your accomplishments. Glad to hear that things are going well for you 🙂
Click to expand...

That's why I never share specifics; the numbers don't matter to me. It's more so about whether or not I felt that I understood the content. I tend to be a very below average student though, so me being happy about "doing well" usually equates to marks that are still below the personal standards of my classmates.

ETA: There's also a lot of backstory that I haven't shared. It's not about marks or grades; lately I feel like I have to mute myself because certain classmates are negative about even the most innocuous things I might be happy about. For example, the other day I commented that it was beautiful outside and I received a strongly-worded chorus of all the reasons I was very wrong.
 
Last edited:
DRider13 said:
That's why I never share specifics; the numbers don't matter to me. It's more so about whether or not I felt that I understood the content. I tend to be a very below average student though, so me being happy about "doing well" usually equates to marks that are still below the personal standards of my classmates.

ETA: There's also a lot of backstory that I haven't shared. It's not about marks or grades; lately I feel like I have to mute myself because certain classmates are negative about even the most innocuous things I might be happy about. For example, the other day I commented that it was beautiful outside and I received a strongly-worded chorus of all the reasons I was very wrong.
Click to expand...
Definitely on the flipside of things, it can be hard not to let the general stress and negativity get to you when everyone is in dark cloud mode. There were definitely times where I just needed to get away from some of my classmates because every little thing turned into a complaint and it would start to bring me down too. So I sympathize for sure.
 
@DRider3 I agree with WZ that some people just like to wallow in misery. There were always people that seemed to love to complain how hard it was being a vet student. It’s definitely no cake walk, and I’m generally an optimist overall, but I don’t think it’s worth complaining all the time. Just going to drag yourself and everyone else down mentally. Might want to see if you can group up with the less pessimistic people 🙂
 
Last edited:
I can now say that vet school classes have been cancelled TWICE in a mere 1.5 years of study; once first year for the polar vortex at my old school, and now tomorrow because of insane icing & snow at my current school.
 
Path lab final tomorrow, clin path lab final Friday, then 4 finals next week

I’m so done with this semester, so done with school, and very ready to go home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

overcastkidjuno
Class of 2028... how you doin?
Replies
22
Views
4K
BioAg22
BioAg22
IvyMoose
Class of 2027... how you doin'?
2 3
Replies
114
Views
15K
thenontraveler
thenontraveler
K
Class of 2026... how you doin'?
3 4 5 6 7
Replies
316
Views
39K
pp9
pp9
PhiloslothicalStudent
Class of 2025... How you doin’?
6 7 8 9 10
Replies
494
Views
84K
sheepcowdoghorse23
sheepcowdoghorse23
K
Online, Self-Paced Animal Nutrition Class?
Replies
5
Views
845
Koffeekat
K
Top