Current Vet Students

[Equus caballus]

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So, tell us! How has the journey been? Where do you go to school? How have you classes been going? Are you happy where you are? What have been your struggles? What has surprised you? What have you learned about yourself? Anything you'd like to share! 🙂

 

[frozen_canadian]

Besides the vast amount of information I have learned in vet school, I think the most interesting thing I have learned about myself is the ability to let go. Vet school puts so much stress on you that after a while you learn to worry less (or at least I do). I do as much as I can for a class, and then close the books at 10 the night before a test. I'm through with the all-nighters and the stress of worrying about school. Because of this, vet school has taught me to be more easy going in life in general. I no longer worry about trying to change the world and everyone in it. Things that used to bother me before no longer do. I guess I'm a more relaxed person because of vet school, which I did not expect at all. Its wierd, because while this is the case for me and some of my friends, other people in my class have become more uptight as time goes on. Just depends on your personality I guess! 😉

 

[sofficat]

well, i can't say much about vet school b/c i'm starting in the fall. what i can say, though, is that i am SO ecstatic about starting. i live in Florida and i will be going to auburn univ (alabama).

the journey so far has been great. i wanted to punch my husband in the face when he said "well, that was pretty easy" after i got accepted 😉. what he really meant was that the whole process went by pretty quickly. it seems like only last year we graduated high school and moved to tampa to go to usf and now we are already moving to AL to start vet school! (actually, 4 years has gone by).

i'm very eager to see what vet school will bring and how i will adapt and change to the struggles that are eminent.

one of the reasons i am SO happy about going to vet school this year is that i don't have to re apply or take the GRE again! woohoo!

am i happy with where i am in life? hell yeah! i just celebrated my 1 yr anniversary with my hubby, i got into vet school on the first try, i took time this summer to enjoy myself (camping, going to the beach, horseback riding, etc). life is wonderful 😀

frozen canadian-i love what you said about vet school. i definitely want to try to relax and just do the best that i can w/o freaking out and pulling all nighters. thanks for your input!

equus- what is your story? applying soon?

 

[Equus caballus]

Congratulations, sofficat! It sounds like things are really falling in place for you, and I hope vet school is everything that you hope for.

Well, I honestly don't have much of a story yet! I'm about to be a sophomore Bio major at the University of Colorado, and I think it would be really awesome if I can work toward becoming a equine veterinarian one day. This year I decided to actually get into the idea and see where it takes me. I'm volunteering/shadowing at a small animal clinic, and I have worked with horses since I was about 11 years old. Hopefully in a few more years I'll be in your shoes! 🙂

I just thought it would be a cool idea to open a thread where vet students can come and share some of their experiences and maybe some advice as well!

Thanks for sharing as well, frozen_canadian!

 

[PAThbrd]

Hey guys,

Im going to move this thread to the Vet forum since thats theoretically where the vet students cruise around. 🙂 There should be a link still on the pre-vet board to it, but Ill double check on that.

Moving thread.

 

[Equus caballus]

Oh, right! Good call!

 

[OsuVet2010]

Hey, I will be entering my 2nd year at Ohio State; and I couldn't agree more with frozen_canadian. My first quarter I was stressing myself so much that my personal life took a toll. Luckily I realized that in the end it just wasn't worth it, and I learned to make time for important things and most importantly I learned that you can't know everything (well at least I can't...) so do your best on the test and in the end you'll do fine even if that means getting a B or C. I also realized that all nighters don't improve your grade, and you feel completely hung over for the test which then hurts your grade.
If I have one advice to the incoming first years is: make time for the things and people that are important in your life because vet school is only 4 years and there are a LOT more important things in life!
Also I found that my boyfriend and my family were a HUGE support during my small meltdowns (especially during finals😉). Beside that, I have never regretted going to vet school. It's hard, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Make the most of your first year; meet your professors; go to club meetings; meet tons of new people (because after all, they are your future colleagues😀); and most of all make sure you enjoy it!

 

[Spartanvet4cows]

Love it, love it, LOVE IT! I'm going to be starting my second year at Michigan State in August. I originally had my heart set on dairy medicine. I mean I was hard core! But then I met an army recruiter, a friend that was joining, and a veterinarian that had served. So, now I'm joining the Army. I think I'll end up doing a pathology residence while I'm there.

I was doubting myself when I got rejected my first application cycle (my $50 secondary application fee got in 2 days late d'oh!) and really started to wonder if vet med was where I wanted to be. My first year answered that question with a resounding YES! The professors are awesome, the classes are incredible, and as long as you pass, you're fine! Unless you're planning on doing an internship/residence, your grades don't have to be stellar. I'm still trying to wean myself from that "gotta get an A" attitude, but at least I know if I get a B or C it's certainly not the end of the world. (That, and one or 2 won't hurt because you're taking so many credits, it hardly dents the GPA!)

I will say this, there is a fair bit of "drama." You'll notice that sticking around 100 (depending on your school, our class has 111) people that have been extremely competitive with each other for the last 4-8 years into a high stress situation for hours upon hours each day can take its toll. Think high school. Being married during vet school also brings about its own set of challenges. My husband is a PhD student, and I actually think he stays busier than I do. Those weekends before a test can get mighty hectic when all your SO wants to do is spend some precious time with you, and you're trying to auscultate him, or you're chasing the cat around with a thermometer or your anatomy textbook. If you have pets, they will get palpated (not rectally 😛) at some point your first year!

Overall, I'd say it's totally worth it! It's definitely a lot of hard work, but it's also SO MUCH FUN! You'll call your parents almost constantly to say "guess what I did today!"

 

[jfitzpatri8]

Hi all:
I go to school with spartanvet. She and I had very different experiences during our first year here. She seemed to take it better. Maybe bc she is from MI, where I am a SoCal girl, born and raised. Also, I had the additional stress of having moved across the country to an economically depressed area with a hubby that had no job lined up. We starved for the first 8 months.

But, now that I am through and passed into the next year, I am feeling a little less anger and disappointment at my plight. I really spent all of last year asking anyone who would listen "whose grand idea was this? why are we here? what is the point?" I don't tell you these things to scare you or to push off of the path to veterinary medicine, just to be perfectly honest with you about how hard it really is. Spartanvet and I have a lot in common, and we get along well. Not so much with many others in the class- think middle school mean-girl cliques. But worse. Because middle school grades didn't count as much.

Lots of medical and veterinary students end up being diagnosed with depression during their tenure in professional school. Be prepared, find support early, and do your best. You will change your mind about what type of medicine to practice. Everyone does. I was, like spartanvet, HARD CORE, but about exotics. Now I'm all about horse feet. Spartanvet, get the joke?

So, OT for a minute- SV, when are you coming over to sew? I even have extra fabric for you to make the baby blankie for Amanda! Let me know, dear!

Back on track- join clubs, eat free food, don't sell your soul to the drug reps, and you will do fine! And, make your summer plans early. Good opportunities get missed by procrastinators... and I am making money through the NIH this summer learning lots about brains!

Jenn

 

[LittleBit]

Well, I just finished my 2nd year at LSU. I'm definitely glad that I'm in Vet school & overall it's been awesome...

But...
Despite knowing that vet school was hard when I got in, I found 1st year was crazier and harder than I could have imagined. (It didn't help that we had the freaking ocean dumped on us Fall semester either...) 2nd year, I expected to be harder than 1st, but once again was a step beyond what I could have imagined.
Now that I'm officially done with 2nd year, I can really "see" clinics (we start in mid spring 3rd year & go through till we graduate), which really puts the light at the end of the tunnel for me.

Vet School really does remind me of High School, or even Middle School. All of a sudden, you're dumped into a tight fit classroom with your 80 (for us) classmates that you spend most of your waking hours with for the first 3 years. Whether you want to or not, you know everyone's business.

I've met a ton of awesome people while in Vet school, from classmates to the interns & residents, faculty and students from other schools. One of the things I find so great about the profession is that we really are small in the grand scheme of things, so chances are, you'll bump into multiple classmates or hear about a friend of a friend (or a colleague of a colleague) many times. Definitely stay on at least a professional friendliness with your classmates because you never know who will become the boarded specialist you need to refer to someday.

I've found that getting involved in clubs & going to meetings (like Symposium and AAV), as well as hanging out with classmates is important, but keeping a life outside of vet school to gain some perspective and balance is key. Vet School's awesome, but can way too easily take over your life. This last semester two of my friends were even arguing over when we had our last test (it was a week ago), one of them was certain it had been at least a month. 😳

Anyway, I had a direction when I began typing this, and I think it boils down to this:
I don't regret for one second my decision to go to vet school, it's hard and lots of weeks/days/moments suck, but overall I'm learning more than I could have imagined and that excites me, meeting great people, discovering more about myself (think trial by fire 😉) as well as having a seemingly endless amount of options for when I graduate and being able to try new fields through each class. 🙂

Sorry my post was so long, it's hard to wrap my feelings about vet school in a concise & coherent paragraph.