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I was in the same exact boat and my practice scores never budged. I did pass by 25 points. So relatively predicative on my end. But doable!
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okay, update. i did a different icva practice exam today since my exam is tomorrow and i was 352 - 444. sucks that I still am in range to fail, but happy I was able to improve my score over studying the last few days. i guess i'll just take a deep breath and see how tomorrow goes
Good luck!!!!! You’ve got this!!!!!
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best of luck!! i hope it went well!!
time is moving so quickly. i'm nearly done with core clinics at my school, nearly done with vet prep, and starting to get antsy about navle too. i've also been getting those '50% chance you may pass, 50% chance you may fail' scores, and i've reached the point where i'm getting annoyed at myself -- which i'm sure won't help anything.
mostly, i'm ready to be done with vet school. the fourth year burnout is so very real.
hope things are going okay for y'all!
mostly, i'm ready to be done with vet school. the fourth year burnout is so very real.
hope things are going okay for y'all!
it was horrible. i sat in the parking lot and cried for what felt like an hour. I have severe test anxiety and while I've been fine with no accomodations at school, I should've looked at getting acommodations for this.
My NAVLE is tomorrow. Power was out most of the week from the bomb cyclone so I got way less review done than I anticipated. Now power’s back on, and I feel like I should be studying, but I’m stress cleaning instead.
I did 100% of VetPrep and all 3 ICVA practice exams so I keep telling myself it should be fine, but I still feel sick to my stomach with anxiety 😭
I also have to drive back to MN this week and I’m v stressed about weather over the passes…
I did 100% of VetPrep and all 3 ICVA practice exams so I keep telling myself it should be fine, but I still feel sick to my stomach with anxiety 😭
I also have to drive back to MN this week and I’m v stressed about weather over the passes…
Update: Well, that was… something. Something majorly f-ed up lol. I don’t know if I want to scream, cry, sleep, or laugh. So instead I will go drink champagne and watch football!
I felt like my navle went terrible and so did most people I know. Sending good vibes to the score gods 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
I think this is normal for NAVLE. It's a horrible test, and absolutely none of my friends in vet school felt like we did well on it, yet we passed.
And if you happen to be one of the unlucky few that doesn't pass on the first attempt, I'm so sorry that you have to go through the experience again. Failing doesn't mean you won't be a good doctor, it just means you have to take it again.
Okay y'all, I'm doing it and asking the question I'm sure many of us are wondering:
Anybody know when we may receive our NAVLE scores? I believe last year the scores first came out on 1/17, but then they had their whole "wrong score reports" kerfuffle too.
I'm getting really antsy waiting for my results even though I know it hasn't been *that* long since the testing window closed.
Anybody know when we may receive our NAVLE scores? I believe last year the scores first came out on 1/17, but then they had their whole "wrong score reports" kerfuffle too.
I'm getting really antsy waiting for my results even though I know it hasn't been *that* long since the testing window closed.
I believe scores have generally been released sometime between Jan 15 and 21? That’s just what I noticed when stalking old threads so I could be off a bit!
According to ICVA they will be released 4-5 weeks after the last date of the testing window, which would put it during the week of January 19th. I feel like I’ve seen scores historically released on Wednesdays, but I can’t find that in writing anywhere, so I’m just guesstimating it’ll be the 22nd.
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hey all, how is everybody doing lately?? graduation is next weekend, and i can’t believe it. it’s wild to begin to close this chapter of my life and to begin to start the next one
I have one week left of clinics and am dying to be finished 🥲 What are everybody’s plans for after graduation? I’m going into a small animal rotating internship- we’ll see how that goes!
i'm still getting my ducks at a row, but looks like i'll be splitting time between the wildlife hospital i started out at, and a gp/exotics clinic. i think first year out will be a lot of work, and still considering specialty internship in the future, but for some family health reasons i'm sticking a little closer to home. i'm all over the place emotionally about it all, but i am excited to get going. and nervous. and still planning fieldwork and mobile endeavors and such for the future, but trying to take it one step at a time for now.
also!! sorry to double post, but congrats on the internship!!
I totally get that, that's nice to have some good variety and balance in your life! And thank you- I'm definitely nervous to start since I don't have a ton of small animal experience, but I really like the program and I think it'll be a good fit for me!
I graduated today!! The whole “I’m a doctor now” thing probably won’t hit me until internship starts, but in the meantime I’m living in the state between ecstatic and terrified haha
It's finally starting to hit me that I am done school forever and all that is left is just doctor. I've been done since the middle of April (I had a vacation for our last rotation) and I've been getting ready to move and went on a trip to the Azores!
Graduation is Monday (idk why, worst day for a grad ever 😒) then I'll be heading to UF for SA rotating (go Gators 🐊)
Get some Bento. I miss Bento at least once a week.
Woohoo go UF!! If you have any questions about the school or the area feel free to lmk!
this part has been gradually sinking in over the last couple weeks for me. i ended up with some post-grad blues for like a week after graduation about it all, which surprised me lol - i've never been a school person, or at least i didn't think i was. and then just intermittent excitement and panic since then. it's such a big change.
congrats on your rotating!! and on your trip to the Azores!! i bet that was amazing
Welcome to the side of life without extended regular breaks. I mean there’s PTO and taking vacations, but I miss the days of 4-6 weeks off at holidays and three months of summer. Congrats y’all! Some of the “real” learning starts now and those first couple years are definitely an adjustment and lots of learning and figuring things out, but you can do it!
supershorty
Don't look so vexed, toots.
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Some of my favorite students will be internmates with you!
Congrats, new grads! Proud to have you all as colleagues. Remember that it's okay to not know. It might feel overwhelming at times, but you can do it
apoptosis09
She/her • tOSU CVM c/o 2029
I've heard multiple Doctors swear by On Clouds. I'm too poor for 1st hand experience though [emoji28]
I’ve worn compression socks + Cloves for 5 years now and that’s the combo I swear by. Some people have issues with Cloves making their feet sweaty, but I don’t really find that to be the case for me and I would take the waterproofing over sweaty feet anyways haha
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i love my hokas; they’re pricy and i originally got them for running, but the way they’ve improved my knee pain and posture is wild.
how are yall liking your internships and work so far??
i started at the wildlife hospital back home and already had a couple surgical cases that went fairly well, but find i need to brush up on eyes a bit. it’s been fun. meanwhile though, my grandma had a health incident in europe, so i had to step away to help out here a bit. she’s still in the hospital, but she’s stable, so i’m still planning to start my gp job and jump back into the wildlife hospital in a couple weeks. it’s been a lot, though, and it’s making me wonder if relief for the gp stuff might be the way to go once i figure out the vet thing a bit more.
i started at the wildlife hospital back home and already had a couple surgical cases that went fairly well, but find i need to brush up on eyes a bit. it’s been fun. meanwhile though, my grandma had a health incident in europe, so i had to step away to help out here a bit. she’s still in the hospital, but she’s stable, so i’m still planning to start my gp job and jump back into the wildlife hospital in a couple weeks. it’s been a lot, though, and it’s making me wonder if relief for the gp stuff might be the way to go once i figure out the vet thing a bit more.
3 people at my small GP clinic all wear hokas too. They’re next on my list to try but I’m looking at the waterproof ones because I have gotten a shoe peed on one too many times for me to want regular ones 😂
valid lol can confirm that my pair are definitely not waterproof 🙃 let me know how you like the waterproof ones -- i'm thinking about getting a second pair so that i'm not wearing my running shoes in the clinic and vice versa
Find a running store that does shoe fitting. Tell them what you need the shoes for and they can help find what will fit your foot well for the activity you need them for.
supershorty
Don't look so vexed, toots.
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I live in my Oofos, they're so comfortable and great OR shoes.
SO TIRED. Started with 3 weeks over overnight ER and 2 weeks of day ER. I was working 16-18 hour days and saw probably close to 200 cases. I've moved onto our hospitalist service for the next two weeks which is great for managing cases (its like ICU Lite) and it's definitely not as chaotic..... I kind of miss the chaos. Some of the ECC residents are trying to talk me into switching to an ECC residency.... and I would be lying if I said I haven't thought about it. 🫣🫨 Starting to struggle a bit with the decision I'll need to make by November when Match apps open.
I second these! Super comfy! I just wish they had better colors/patterns!
@cdo96 for the ECC resident life
The other day, one of my attendings asked if I was safe at home because of my “black eye.” The “black eye” in question? My dark circles and undereye bags lmao. I am safe from physical harm, but evidently not emotional damage haha
Tbh it was nice of them to check and good to know people at my internship care… even if I just looked like the grim reaper at the end of an 18 hour ER day 🙃
Tbh it was nice of them to check and good to know people at my internship care… even if I just looked like the grim reaper at the end of an 18 hour ER day 🙃
My FIL did this to me this afternoon. Asked me if I had a black eye. I told him, "No, but thanks for pointing out the bags under my eyes." For reference, I had just finished weekend 3/4 of overnights.
When I was an intern my roommate invited a first date over to meet at our place before they went to dinner. I was on night shifts at the time and had just dragged myself out of bed to drink coffee in the kitchen before work. This dude comes in to the kitchen, and the first thing out of his mouth (before even saying hello/introductions) was "Oh wow you look so tired".
I shrugged, because he wasn't wrong, but my roommate was so angry on my behalf. He almost cancelled the date and despite ultimately going made it clear there would not be a second one lol.
I shrugged, because he wasn't wrong, but my roommate was so angry on my behalf. He almost cancelled the date and despite ultimately going made it clear there would not be a second one lol.
i blinked and it's october.
how's everyone doing lately? i've been so wiped out. between the two different jobs, and close international family still in the hospital, and still unsure if i'm going to have to fly out again soon, plus the added sadness of jane goodall's death, and losing the daylight and the world right now -- i had a little menty b at work. thankfully everyone was very kind, and i think the tipping point was that i was just.. hungry? just straight up waterworks while i was trying to order lunch. and i'm not much of a crier at all.
otherwise i feel like learning medicine both in the wildlife and gp context has been going okay. i still feel slow and indecisive, but i think i'm getting there. i started playing hockey again to try to get some of the stress out. and i have friends, go to therapy, try to take care of myself. but wow. sometimes life really hits. kind of nice to see the leaves change though, and live close to the water. i'm trying to focus on the little things.
how's everyone doing lately? i've been so wiped out. between the two different jobs, and close international family still in the hospital, and still unsure if i'm going to have to fly out again soon, plus the added sadness of jane goodall's death, and losing the daylight and the world right now -- i had a little menty b at work. thankfully everyone was very kind, and i think the tipping point was that i was just.. hungry? just straight up waterworks while i was trying to order lunch. and i'm not much of a crier at all.
otherwise i feel like learning medicine both in the wildlife and gp context has been going okay. i still feel slow and indecisive, but i think i'm getting there. i started playing hockey again to try to get some of the stress out. and i have friends, go to therapy, try to take care of myself. but wow. sometimes life really hits. kind of nice to see the leaves change though, and live close to the water. i'm trying to focus on the little things.
Hang in there! Time seems to be flying, I feel like I’ve come a long way but also people are starting to ask me what I want to do next year and I’m like, idk I just got here?! I started seeing emergencies on my own October 1st, and oh boy have I been busy on call. Plus, the show season is winding down and my brain has to transition from “haha needle in joint go brrrr” to “well **** this lameness just blocked out I hope I can find the lesion on imaging”
Rotating internship life has been basically what I expected, hard work and long hours but overall not too inhumane lol. My biggest stressor currently is my plethora of research projects in varying stages of completion that have been hanging over my head for months 😵💫 I’m enjoying being on an out-rotation and getting to do what I love for once. It’s crazy to think I’m already more than 25% done with my rotating internship… I feel like I’m back in vet school counting down the semesters again!
I feel like it's finally starting to click, especially for the more common inpatients. Still facing some indecision with things like day to day diagnostics for monitoring or making a sedation protocol for a fractious cat (I had the cat from hell today with seizures/syncopal episodes that I didn't want to give as assload of dexmed IM or alfax to knock down and torb/midaz wasn't cutting it), but I've managed some really critical cases mostly on my own with guidance from faculty/residents, including a megaesophagus/suspect Myasthenic case that got terrible aspiration pnuemonia.... it didn't end well (def cried after the euth and I am not a crier either, I just wanted to fix that dog so badly) but it was a really great learning experience (enough to make me finally decide on making the switch to ECC). Match season is coming and I. AM. NOT. READY. 😂
All in all I'm having a good time and think I'm generally "okay". I've been trying to take care of myself more (working out, eating better) but DAMN it sure is hard after a long day when all I want is Orange Chicken from Panda Express
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Hey guys, almost one year out, how is everyone feeling? I’m almost 75% done with my rotating internship and I’ve really hit a slump. I’m still doing fine at work, but I am so drained from everything that I’ve been doing a lot of doomscrolling in my scant free time, which doesn’t really help me feel less drained lol. I really can’t wait for this year to be over and to move onto the next stage 😵💫
I feel that so hard, I am TIRED to the point that it takes me a full 24 hours of doing nothing to recover and feel "normal" after my shifts (mostly for ER/hospitalist as I work 16+ hour days 5 days in a row with 2 days off, on other services I don't experience this). I'm currently on my last ER rotation now so I think I'm extra in my feels about this.
I have 77 days left (but who's counting), and looking back I know I've grown so much but daily I'm reminded that there's so much that I don't know. I feel confident in working up things we see more commonly, but if it's something I haven't seen, I still feel like I struggle to make a diagnostic/treatment plan. I also feel like I still haven't found my independence yet, while I'm comfortable prescribing fluids and basic supportive care meds, sedation, etc and working up many things, I still feel like for more complex or critical cases I'm still relying on my faculty/senior residents to guide me, especially when I don't have time to look up things myself (which is often given our overwhelming caseload). I have to run plans by them because academic internship 🤷♀️, but I also really struggle with decision making (both personally and professionally) and lowkey stress if I have to make a decision about something I haven't done before.
All of this is incredibly draining and allows self-doubt and imposter syndrome to creep in. In talking to my peers, this seems like a normal feeling, but damn is it exhausting. They really expect me to be a resident after I'm done here? I'm just a baby, I am not ready! 🥺
Hey! Congrats on being almost done -- light at the end of the tunnel. What are you planning to do next?
As for me, I'm exhausted. I'm still trying to maintain some degree of anonymity on here so forgive the weird vagueness of the way I'm wording this, but I had a close international family member fall ill over the summer. She passed away late last year, and I spent quite a lot of time going back and forth between the States and my other country. After this family member passed, it left me in this sort of identity crisis and unsure of where I belong, where I want to live, or what I even want to be doing.
I love my wildlife work. I still don't feel totally independent, but I'm managing more on my own. Applying for grants, developing research projects -- I'm struggling the most with those parts of the gig -- just in finding the time to do all that. If I didn't have time in the off-season, I'm skeptical that I'm going to find time and space to work toward these in the rapidly approaching busy season. My facility also sees students, so being put into a teaching role has been a little bit of a trip lol.
On the other hand, I've been really emotionally struggling with GP work. I've come a long way, but I'm hard on myself. What's worse is I already find myself struggling with compassion fatigue. I crumple under the weight of client hopes. Some days, it feels like I break hearts for a living. Internal medicine cases stress me out. Sometimes I find myself almost begging owners to take their pets someplace that can hospitalize them, because sometimes, there's very little -- if anything -- I can do on an outpatient basis to help in certain situations. That, coupled with long days -- nowhere near as many as yall have in internship but enough to wear on me -- has me concerned that I'm already teetering on the edge of burnout.
So, I talked with management about it and I'm planning to cut my hours. And hoping that the free time will lend itself to more rest, less anxiety, and maybe more creativity. I hope I don't just spend the extra time worrying about work. I'm considering switching into non-profit full time, and admittedly somewhat privileged to have opportunities to consider doing so, but I'm already so wiped out that making any kind of change at all feels overwhelming. So I think part-time might be the place to start. Ultimately, I know whatever choice I make will disappoint people. And I'm struggling with that part, too.
I'm not in an internship, but all of this resonates me. I'm sure you're doing great -- it sounds like you're managing a lot.
I feel all of this so hard. I fear all I do is end up upsetting people who their GP sent here but they can't afford my estimates OR I give them a different, significantly worse, diagnosis. GP is such hard work because you have to not only be there for wellness, you have to play ER vet, Internist, Oncology, etc to people who don't have access to specialty care. I feel like GPs get a lot of ****, but they're ultimately they do so much on a daily basis to help work up our patients first and get specialists/referral valuable diagnostics.
It sounds like you're taking all the right steps to take care of yourself though! It's 100% ok to be like "this isn't for me" and keep trying new adventures until you find something that fit you, your lifestyle, and your goals. I fully understand the feeling of disappointing people, but you NEED to do what's best for you in order to be the best doctor you can be for your patients. If people can't understand that and are disappointed, **** em. Anyone who's worth your energy will want you to do what's best for YOU because they care about YOU, not how many hours a week you work.
The burnout from not being able to help is very very real, no matter if you're in internship or out in the real world in GP. I feel like for some reason lately I've been seeing really really really sick patients who have been sick for a long time and were finally referred to my teaching hospital for care but the owners have no money or are absolutely unrealistic.
Rant about that because it's been on my mind, I know y'all will understand. Feel free to skip.
I had to try to convince an owner for 4 hours to euthanize her cat with a sodium of 198, a potassium of 8, and an unreadable BUN/CREA who was recumbent, cold, with a heart rate of 80 and a BCS of 1/9 and MCS of 1/3 (not blocked, probably an AoCKD). She sat with it in the quiet room because she wasn't sure if she wanted me to stabilize it (I gave it dextrose, a fluid bolus, and some Cal Gluc, but not insulin because its BG was 66... probably should have done some terbutaline now that I think about it) or euthanize it and I kept telling her "It's time to let him go, he's suffering, he will die in hospital." ..... the cat died as soon as we made the decision to euthanize and I went to get drugs.
I keep thinking about how that cat suffered for hours because the owner had unrealistic expectations and keep thinking about what I could have said to make her make a decision sooner. That particular night, I had 16 patients come in between 10p-2am and it was just me and another intern recieving AND I had to go to ultrasound for an hour with another doctor's patient to run sedation, so I wasn't checking in on her as often as I should have. I felt bad because I felt like I was being pushy about euthanasia, but it was the best thing for that cat; however, this owner had some emotional problems and was having a hard time letting go. The outcome was how it should be but damn it ****ed me up a bit.
End Rant.
I cannot count how many times a day I say this right now. Two weeks of vacation cannot come soon enough.
Hey all, how’s everyone doing lately?
I left my GP job 😅 and while I’ll still be at the wildlife hospital, I’m taking a month or so off of companion animal medicine to travel and mentally regroup. It’ll be tight financially, but I think it’ll work. I have an opportunity at a spay/neuter clinic I may pursue too; surgery is my favorite part of being a vet, and I think being minimally client-facing will be a little better for my brain.
Who knows how it’ll go though. I figure all I can really do is try a bunch of things til something feels right.
I left my GP job 😅 and while I’ll still be at the wildlife hospital, I’m taking a month or so off of companion animal medicine to travel and mentally regroup. It’ll be tight financially, but I think it’ll work. I have an opportunity at a spay/neuter clinic I may pursue too; surgery is my favorite part of being a vet, and I think being minimally client-facing will be a little better for my brain.
Who knows how it’ll go though. I figure all I can really do is try a bunch of things til something feels right.
