I believe you, but the admissions director at Western got me all worried. Like, if the slightest thing was off before matriculation, acceptance rescinded. If we listed that we were going to take a non-required class and ended up not taking it but didn’t tell them, they’d rescind our acceptance. Things like that. I’m not even going to Western and that mindset still stuck with me.
Wtf that’s dumb af.
I KNOW! And the director told us that they had to rescind someone’s acceptance last year because of that and just sort of laughed like “sucks for her I guess.”
That's terrifying, I can't believe they can do that!!
My anniversary of accepting my spot is on St Patrick's Day! The fact that it happens to be the same day as a major drinking holiday is coincidental 😛
You could post in the “help deciding” forum. Obviously it’s usually best to go with the cheaper option, but that forum is especially good for deciding between similarly-priced schools. Or if there’s a cheaper school that you just don’t feel quite set on, people can give you reasons for and against it without screaming “it’s cheaper! Go to it!”
Just a thought but if a bunch of people (especially actual vets and people who are already in vet school) are telling you to go to the cheapest schools, they might have a reason behind it.
I was in a somewhat similar situation, the 2 schools I narrowed it down to were fairly close in cost, so it really came down to which one I thought would be the better fit for me. While it's important to try to keep loans to a minimum, you also need to consider your own mental health/well-being and make the choice that feels right for you
I agree that probably 90% of the time it makes total sense to go to the cheapest school. However there are definitely times when it doesn’t. For example, I’m an anxious person. I need a support system. My family are all within 30 minutes of Penn. I have a nephew and two more babies in the family on the way. I want to be around to see them grow up; to start crawling, walking, say their first words, and to know who their uncle is and not just as some guy who lived across the country for their formative years. My girlfriend of 4 years got into Temple for her Masters and we’re finally moving in together. She was my biggest supporter in college and I wouldn’t be here without her. I’m familiar with the city since I’ve lives in or around it my whole life. My best friends are all here. As you said in another thread, vet school sucks no matter where you go. I want to give myself the biggest chance of it not sucking, and the biggest chance of making it through in one piece. I want to be able to get externships in the area I’ll end up practicing in and where I’ll be applying for internships/residencies. I want to make my life here. Yea, Penn was my IS so it’s actually not any more expensive than any of the other schools I applied to, but even if it were I’d still probably go. This reasoning doesn’t apply to everyone obviously but for someone in my situation, there were so many factors in deciding to go to Penn (and withdrawing all my other apps before I even had interviews at those schools) that money ended up not really being a top one.
Try to step back, release the fear, be excited and open minded about vet school. I feel like overall you cant go to "the wrong" school. All schools have positives and negatives. Vet school can be great but at the same time it can also suck and be miserable and horrible. You could even visit both schools get 2 different vibes attend one and have the total opposite experience because class composition I think attributes so much to your atmosphere. My class is so much different than the classes above us. Overall my school is super welcoming and supportive but our class is truly a family but I know the classes above us arent as tight knit which is fine. As long as you are going to an accredited school you'll become a DVM if you put in the time and work. In the end, the 4 years is very temporary (I cant believe I'm almost done with year 1). The debt not so much. Idk about you but I'd like to buy a house, buy a newer car, expand my family even if it's only by fur babies, and go on vacation. Some peoples loans are literally so much they cant afford to do that. Even on IBR they are saving all their pennies to pay off that huge tax hit in the end they dont have extra money.
I live by myself and love it, so does @SkiOtter . I couldn’t imagine living with other people in vet school, I would hate it. I need to sit at home, alone, and unwind from my day. My friends live with roommates and they’re the more extrovert type and they need that like communication and peopleness.
Vet school roomies are pretty awesome. I've had nothing but awesome experiences with them. Classmates bound together and if you live with upperclassmen they can give you all the tips and tricks of first-year. Oh yeah that prof has super specific questions, oh and that one asks questions directly off the learning objectives! Priceless
I pay $600 a month for rent in what feels like a closet...I live by myself and love it, so does @SkiOtter . I couldn’t imagine living with other people in vet school, I would hate it. I need to sit at home, alone, and unwind from my day. My friends live with roommates and they’re the more extrovert type and they need that like communication and peopleness.
Just depends on the kind of person you are!
$1400 is really high though... makes me glad stillwater’s COL is so low.
One bedrooms/studios run about 1300-1600, 2 beds are about 1900+, and three bedrooms are about 22-2500? There are also larger houses with 4+ bedrooms but I would die first world problems. So hypothetically I could save ~400 to split a 2 bedroom, or like 7-800 to split a bigger place. Which is where the logical side of my brain is like DUH, DO THAT.
If @Coopah has a place for $600 find her secret!
I feel like she lives with roommates?
So first year I was in class from 9am- 12. An hour for lunch (stayed at school). and class/ lab 1-5 pm. I drove home zombie eyed, sit on my couch, open a bottle of wine and start studying. I like quiet study time. I like being able to come home and know that my house is clean and all of my obsessive tendencies aren’t going to annoy anyone (my last roommate thought my frequent lock checking was annoying and unnecessary)
Varies a bit school to school and also year to year. Like here you have progressively less free time as you get further in. First year I had a lot of days where I was done at noon. Last semester I was in class 8 to 5 nearly every day.
First year we pretty consistently had class until 5 thanks to anatomy labs. As I got farther in they'd start to have split lab sections in some classes so sometimes you'd be in the 1-3pm group and sometimes in the 3-5 lab session so you'd either get a 2-hour break or get done 2 hours earlier. I spent most free afternoons in the clin path lab though (I wanted to do[/am doing] a clin path residency), especially since alphabetically I usually ended up in the 3-5 lab sessions. I took one weeknight and one full weekend day for myself, but for the most part I did the 8-5 class, break, then 2-3 hours studying a night pretty consistently all three classroom years.
I promise you, you learn REAL QUICKLY what it means lol
I don't really knows many people who aren't in some way connected to the school but you can certainly make time to do things that aren't school related if you want (and I definitely do).Hey guys! Just got my call for Auburn yesterday so I’m a little late to the game, but I’m super excited to be part of this class!
I keep hearing a lot about how all in vet school is - it seems like most people spend all day either at school or studying with their classmates, and I am really looking forward to the tight knit community I’m sure this will make. But I’m also someone who loves getting out in the community in general and doing things that aren’t necessarily school related, haha. Is this even possible in vet school or should I just go ahead and prepare to think about nothing but vet med for the next four years?
Is this even possible in vet school or should I just go ahead and prepare to think about nothing but vet med for the next four years?
I'm too type B to function and have still hung around the 50% mark for class rank. You'll very likely be fine.
You can 100% have a life outside school and still do fine academically. I would probably do worse if I cut back on my extra-curriculars. Being happy and sane leads to more effective studying (in my experience, anyway), plus just having a life outside of studying makes life more pleasant. @DRider13 can vouch for both her and my type B tendencies, and we are both doing well.
10% luck
On the other hand, I am extremely introverted and have lived with 1-2 roommates for my whole vet school career. It's been nice because they do things like make sure I'm still eating when I'm depressed, get sushi with me, have movie nights, and so on which is nice. They also respect when I go into my cave (their loving term for my room) and don't come out until the next morning or for a whole weekend. I get plenty of time to unwind just from being able to go home and shut my door with no questions asked, so living with people is still doable even if you're really introverted.I live by myself and love it, so does @SkiOtter . I couldn’t imagine living with other people in vet school, I would hate it. I need to sit at home, alone, and unwind from my day. My friends live with roommates and they’re the more extrovert type and they need that like communication and peopleness.
Just depends on the kind of person you are!
$1400 is really high though... makes me glad stillwater’s COL is so low.
I think average day in the life definitely depends on whose life we're talking about. I hardly study at all day-to-day because I hate it and can get by with cramming it into shorter periods of time, but I have classmates who study basically until 10 PM every night after class gets out. It depends on where the balance is struck for you, and it can take some time to find it once you start school
I can't. Had a midterm at 8am this morning and when I woke up at 4:30am I still hadn't even seen some of the material before.10% luck
20% skill
15% concentrated power of will
5% pleasure
50% pain
and a hundred percent overpowering mental disease
