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Forcing myself to study cows currently. Crazy how much I’ve forgotten from my first 2 years old school 🥹
Class of 2026... how you doin'?
Started by KarebearDVM
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Same here. I think I just need to make myself some kind of schedule bc I never want to do anything when I get home from school (even if whatever rotation I'm on is magically done super early for the day)
Oh my dog, you graduate next year 😵 There's no way. I swear you were a first year just yesterday
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I know! It doesn't feel real. It feels like I was just in anatomy lab yesterday trying to figure things out 😅
Good luck to all of you on NAVLE!!!! You’ve got this!!!!!!
Taking November 2nd. Panic has set in.
Any words of wisdom?
Don’t second guess yourself. You know more than you think and your first guess is more likely to be correct than if you tall yourself out of it. Take your time and take your breaks, even if it’s just to get up and walk for a minute. Also bring lots of snacks and water.
How is it already NAVLE season 😵
I take mine on Oct 21st 🥲 it doesn't feel real that it's right around the corner
supershorty
Don't look so vexed, toots.
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Do whatever you've found works best for you on exams - don't change your approach just for this one. If you're a person who does well with taking breaks, great. Do that. If you know you'll lose your focus if you take breaks, great, don't take them. Read over your answers normally on exams? Great! Do that. Don't check your answers once you've selected one because you'll change to the wrong one? Don't start checking them now!
For me, that meant not taking breaks (I took one halfway through for a bathroom break, but that was it) and not going back to check over my answers - if there was one I didn't know, I didn't answer it and then went back to it later. I'm historically a fast test taker and finished my NAVLE in a little over 2 hours. If that's you too, don't let yourself get spooked into the "it's supposed to be a 6 hour (or whatever) exam, I need to take longer." You know at this point what works best for you as a test taker. This is just another quiz!
My experience was similar to shortys. Definitely take a break and eat a snack if you need to, but do whatever works for you. I powered through with no breaks, but I am the type of person who just wants to get it done. If you have to travel to a testing center (the closest location to my school was an hour away, which is silly, maybe it’s more widely available now), going down the night before may be worth the expense to avoid any travel related delays or having to get up extra early.
I found the ICVA assessments to be useful, I did one a couple weeks before the exam so I knew where to focus the last few weeks of studying. I don’t know that taking one right at the end does much imo…if you do great it may increase your confidence but if you take one a day or two before the exam and don’t do great there’s no time to improve and it just stresses people out.
Remember that the vast majority of people walk out feeling like they did poorly. If you leave feeling great, that’s great. But despite everyone being warned, it’s almost a near-universal experience of people leaving thinking it was harder than they expected. But the vast majority of people pass.
I found the ICVA assessments to be useful, I did one a couple weeks before the exam so I knew where to focus the last few weeks of studying. I don’t know that taking one right at the end does much imo…if you do great it may increase your confidence but if you take one a day or two before the exam and don’t do great there’s no time to improve and it just stresses people out.
Remember that the vast majority of people walk out feeling like they did poorly. If you leave feeling great, that’s great. But despite everyone being warned, it’s almost a near-universal experience of people leaving thinking it was harder than they expected. But the vast majority of people pass.
Oct 22nd! 10 days left *internal panic*
Oct 23rd lol
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This is one exam where I personally wouldn't sacrifice sleep/mental centering in the 1-2 days prior in order to cram. I have never found last minute cramming to pay off for me, so in the context of how big the navle is, the final 1-2 days were not going to be best spent cramming. I think I looked over a few things, but prioritized rest and hydration in that time. Cramming wasn't going to save me, but being overtired/dehydrated would absolutely have me making silly mistakes like misreading questions/answers.
My favorite thing to remember is that if I didn't know it the night before the exam, I wasn't going to know it the next morning during the exam so I might as well go to bed. But I fully get that there are people that thrive with cramming. I just don't think you can cram for the NAVLE specifically.
Also don't eat something with questionable gastrointestinal consequences the night before. Save that for after. One of my good friends went a little hard on takeout the night before and had issues during her exam.
Holy ****. Y'all graduate soon ☺️😵
>have this baby
>move into a house!
>start my small animal rotating
>hopefully IM residency
I wonder every day how it came so fast
Move back to the east coast, small animal GP job most likely, exact destination TBD!
TBD. I had been thinking of going to do an ER mentorship (and currently have a visit with a hospital set up), but now I'm starting to look into if I want to do a rotating internship since of course I only just finished a rotation (cardio) that has me considering specializing
If the faculty are the same as when I was there, I don't blame you! 😍
I think the faculty is mostly the same. But yes, really fantastic group of people. Got to know them a well (in a good and bad way) during my 3rd/4th years lol
Navle results in December?????!!!!?!???
Yup! They moved up the testing windows starting this cycle so there’s 3 windows per year now. First window tests Oct-nov and hears back in Dec instead of testing in Nov and hearing in Jan.
ER mentorship in Southwest Florida!
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Officially doing an ER mentorship!
I just read something interesting today in the Debt Free Vets fb group that may affect upcoming grads I felt you all should know.
The group admin/veternarian who is also a loan planning professional stated that with the new regulations and the BBB, advice is changing about loan consolidation. In the past, people planning to go the forgiveness route would often be advised to consolidate their loans right after graduation in order to waive the 6 month grade period and get started on loan repayment (since payment is often zero because you made no money as a fourth year) so forgiveness comes 6 months sooner. And so you could claim no income (because you hadn’t started working yet) and make your payments 0 for the first year. Or there may have been other reasons to consolidate, like to make an HPSL loan eligible to be paid under income based programs. HOWEVER, a consolidation loan is technically considered a “new” loan, so it’s likely that by consolidating, you’d probably be considered to have loans after the July 1 2026 BBB cutoff (since it’s unlikely your consolidation would be processed fast enough to squeak in under the deadline after graduation), and that “new” consolidation loan would only be eligible for RAP or standard repayment, not IBR. And for most new grad vets (though not all), IBR is often going to have lower total costs because it’s a shorter repayment term compared to RAP’s 30 years.
All that to say, if you read online advice that said a new grad should consolidate after graduation, that may no longer be a good decision.
The group admin/veternarian who is also a loan planning professional stated that with the new regulations and the BBB, advice is changing about loan consolidation. In the past, people planning to go the forgiveness route would often be advised to consolidate their loans right after graduation in order to waive the 6 month grade period and get started on loan repayment (since payment is often zero because you made no money as a fourth year) so forgiveness comes 6 months sooner. And so you could claim no income (because you hadn’t started working yet) and make your payments 0 for the first year. Or there may have been other reasons to consolidate, like to make an HPSL loan eligible to be paid under income based programs. HOWEVER, a consolidation loan is technically considered a “new” loan, so it’s likely that by consolidating, you’d probably be considered to have loans after the July 1 2026 BBB cutoff (since it’s unlikely your consolidation would be processed fast enough to squeak in under the deadline after graduation), and that “new” consolidation loan would only be eligible for RAP or standard repayment, not IBR. And for most new grad vets (though not all), IBR is often going to have lower total costs because it’s a shorter repayment term compared to RAP’s 30 years.
All that to say, if you read online advice that said a new grad should consolidate after graduation, that may no longer be a good decision.
Not going to lie, I never consolidated because I've been doing the "pay off the highest interest rate loan" game instead to reduce the total amount I would pay in interest. When I made an excel sheet for it, this came out cheaper and I pay off my loans 8.5 months faster.
I didn’t consolidate either because I knew I would pay mine off after residency was over. But it wasn’t something I’d thought about until I saw the post today, so I thought I’d share here in case people in c/o 2026 thought they were totally free from BBB repercussions.
How's everyone feeling with graduation around the corner? Any fun plans for any time off before starting work?
One week left I am THRILLED
Does everyone have finalized plans after graduation?
I graduated yesterday. It took 5 years of vet school, and an additional 10 years of college to prepare. My best friends from undergrad, my best friends from vet school, my parents, and my sister were all with me. I am still hungover, still in my makeup, and cannot stop grinning like a maniac. WE DID IT YALL!!!!
I hope you get to enjoy SO MUCH time with your sweet baby after graduating and before starting work🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷
Also, happy first Mother’s Day!!!!!
Graduated yesterday as well!!!! Headed back to the east coast, privately owned small animal GP. Not starting til mid-july, using the time to move/unpack and visit some family and friends. Excited to make up for lost time - while I tried to have a life during vet school, many events and get togethers were still missed!
So proud of everyone, I still can't really believe it!!!!
So proud of everyone, I still can't really believe it!!!!
How is it going everyone?? I feel like after 4 years of constantly being graded and critiqued it is difficult to gauge how I'm doing.. some appts feel good, others I'm like what am I even talking about 😂 I suppose that is the life/struggle of a new grad!
I am so tired, but my program also has me working long weeks. Definitely in a similar boat though. Some cases I feel pretty good going in, and others I've found I need a minute to organize my thoughts between what I just talked about with the vet who is supervising me through my cases and going in with the owners to make sure I'm not forgetting anything
Constantly wonder if I made a mistake after I go home LOL but I’ve been enjoying so far
