Cut out for Veterinary School?

[BumbleBeeDrew]

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I'm a second-year student at Colorado State University. I'm also Pre-vet. And I'm worried that I'm already drowning. I've had to re-take a class already, I've never had a total number of classes below 15 credits, and I'm not doing great. In my mind when I first started I went to Pre-vet because working with animals is my dream. I have a 2.2 GPA which is god-awful, I know, and I'm struggling to make it better. So my question is; If taking five classes in semester and having constant tests ever other week is something I'm struggling with; is vet school for me? Does anyone else have this problem? I can't afford to take classes in the summer, which i'm told is something I need to do to get my credits to graduate with what I want. It's just all too much right now and it's worrying me a lot. Some feedback would be great, if Vet School isn't for me, then that's okay, I just want to keep my Equine Major at least, and possibly work with horses.
Sorry this is long and rant-y. Just need some good-old advice. 🙂

 

[Awapi]

I'm in my first semester of vet school, we have >18 hours of required coursework and I think we've only had 2 or so weeks the entire semester without an exam (so basically an exam at minimum each week, some had more than one, some with additional quizzes, etc on top of the exam(s)). I think only you can really decide if it's something you can handle or not, but just my two cents that - even though different vet schools have different structure to their curriculum - overall the course load/exam schedule is likely to be more rigorous in vet school. That said, a lot of people struggle early in undergrad and then find their stride later. It's possible that even though it's a struggle now, you might be able to work on study skills/time management/etc and get more comfortable with that type of load. If you aren't already, I would take advantage of whatever resources are available to you for improving your overall approach to classes (as opposed to tutoring or help associated with a particular class, think about it bigger picture) to see if you can get into a groove that works.

 

[PppermintTwist]

I agree that you may find your stride later. If vet school is really what you want then ask for help. Get a tutor, go to teacher office hours, join a study group. Find a different way to learn.

What is your learning style? Listen? Writing? Doing?

How do you study now?

In vet tech school I would write flash cards and quiz my friends. Being quizzed by other people didn't help me, but quizzing other people helped me. Writing the cards helped me. Rewriting my notes more neatly helped me. So I'd say writing things down is my learning style. My friends learning schedule was to be quizzed, writing things down didn't help them.

So figure out what works for you.

Colorado I believe will really look at your grade trend. So as long as you go up from here you could have a chance.

Are you also working or doing other activities?

Tech school is cheaper (less debt!) although pays less. You get lots of hands on animal time though.

 

[LetItSnow]

I'm a second-year student at Colorado State University. I'm also Pre-vet. And I'm worried that I'm already drowning. I've had to re-take a class already, I've never had a total number of classes below 15 credits, and I'm not doing great. In my mind when I first started I went to Pre-vet because working with animals is my dream. I have a 2.2 GPA which is god-awful, I know, and I'm struggling to make it better. So my question is; If taking five classes in semester and having constant tests ever other week is something I'm struggling with; is vet school for me? Does anyone else have this problem? I can't afford to take classes in the summer, which i'm told is something I need to do to get my credits to graduate with what I want. It's just all too much right now and it's worrying me a lot. Some feedback would be great, if Vet School isn't for me, then that's okay, I just want to keep my Equine Major at least, and possibly work with horses.
Sorry this is long and rant-y. Just need some good-old advice. 🙂

Here's the thing - there's a few ways to answer that and without knowing you well, and knowing your school and life circumstances, it's hard to help, yanno?

But - most (or at least 'many') people find the college load to be exhausting. OMG - a test every other week - how will I survive?! That's normal. And when you stand where you are and compare that load to the much higher workload of professional school, it's normal to ask "how could I possibly do that?" But the thing is, you adapt as you go. You change your study habits, you change your expectations, you get better at learning more efficienty/quickly/retaining, etc. The more you drink from the firehose, the better you get at it. People frequently start vet school, get overwhelmed, and by year 2 or 3 they are on track and managing the load.

So one answer is "don't sweat it - you'll grow to manage it."

But the other answer is - yeah, 2.2 is too low. You need to fix that, and you need to fix it now while you still can. So you have to figure out what's going on and manage the problem. In my experience, the <vast> majority of people who struggle in undergrad aren't putting in the effort they think they are. They aren't studying as much as they should, or their study time is incredibly inefficient (more time talking with friends, texting, facebooking, etc., than actually studying). It's really hard to be objective about evaluating yourself, so ask someone else to do it. Ask someone who is a good studier to study with you and give you feedback. Take advantage of your school's resources, whatever they are, to get you on track. Get on track now, and you still have time to be a great vet school applicant.

The thing NOT to do is to just keep muddling through it using the same study techniques and banging your head on the wall. You need to figure out why you're not doing well and make changes until you're doing better. That can take some pretty hard, honest, critical evaluation of what you're doing.

Don't worry about the summer issue. If you have to take longer to get through undergrad, then do it. It's not a race, although keeping costs down is ideal.

If you want more specific advice, you need to tell us what you're doing to "make it better". What kind of study habits do you have? How much are you studying? How are you studying? What changes have you tried? What school resources do you have available? Have you utilized them fully?

 

[pp9]

People frequently start vet school, get overwhelmed, and by year 2 or 3 they are on track and managing the load.

This. Just the other day, I was thinking about how my entire class was practically crying on a daily basis during our very first quarter of vet school. Now we are all the presidents of the clubs, many have jobs/research/etc., we have our surgery course (which in my school is a fairly substantial time suck), and we get a lottttt of material third year. It is never 'easy,' but one day you realize that you've been doing it all for months and haven't totally exploded yet.

I just want to add my own opinion on what LIS said-he's totally right, I just want to mention that when people "manage" vet school material, I don't think it has to mean they're getting amazing grades (LIS, you didn't imply this or anything). In my experience, pre-vets as well as some of my classmates think that if you aren't getting only 'good' grades (A's, B's) in vet school, you're not trying and/or you must not be cut out for vet school/the career. BS.

Getting some low grades in undergrad doesn't have to mean you can't handle vet school (can any of us really handle it? 😛). You just need to kick it into high gear to prove to schools that you are capable of doing well with a heavy work load. If you think about it, losing a vet student = losing their tuition and possibly not replacing them with a transfer. Schools don't want to bank their budgets on students who don't have evidence that they can pass these classes. You just have to send them a transcript that says 'Hey, I started out in a bad position, but look at me now!'

 

[SportPonies]

But the other answer is - yeah, 2.2 is too low. You need to fix that, and you need to fix it now while you still can. So you have to figure out what's going on and manage the problem. In my experience, the <vast> majority of people who struggle in undergrad aren't putting in the effort they think they are. They aren't studying as much as they should, or their study time is incredibly inefficient (more time talking with friends, texting, facebooking, etc., than actually studying). It's really hard to be objective about evaluating yourself, so ask someone else to do it. Ask someone who is a good studier to study with you and give you feedback. Take advantage of your school's resources, whatever they are, to get you on track. Get on track now, and you still have time to be a great vet school applicant.

The thing NOT to do is to just keep muddling through it using the same study techniques and banging your head on the wall. You need to figure out why you're not doing well and make changes until you're doing better. That can take some pretty hard, honest, critical evaluation of what you're doing.

All of LIS's response is really good, but the part I bolded is so important. That was me. I didn't struggle, per say, but I definitely got some Cs here and there just because I didn't commit the time to classes like I should have. There are definitely students that aren't made for pre-health fields, but generally speaking, the ones not doing well in pre-health courses are the ones that just aren't studying as much as they need to.

 

[JustPaws]

Here's the thing - there's a few ways to answer that and without knowing you well, and knowing your school and life circumstances, it's hard to help, yanno?

But - most (or at least 'many') people find the college load to be exhausting. OMG - a test every other week - how will I survive?! That's normal. And when you stand where you are and compare that load to the much higher workload of professional school, it's normal to ask "how could I possibly do that?" But the thing is, you adapt as you go. You change your study habits, you change your expectations, you get better at learning more efficienty/quickly/retaining, etc. The more you drink from the firehose, the better you get at it. People frequently start vet school, get overwhelmed, and by year 2 or 3 they are on track and managing the load.

So one answer is "don't sweat it - you'll grow to manage it."

But the other answer is - yeah, 2.2 is too low. You need to fix that, and you need to fix it now while you still can. So you have to figure out what's going on and manage the problem. In my experience, the <vast> majority of people who struggle in undergrad aren't putting in the effort they think they are. They aren't studying as much as they should, or their study time is incredibly inefficient (more time talking with friends, texting, facebooking, etc., than actually studying). It's really hard to be objective about evaluating yourself, so ask someone else to do it. Ask someone who is a good studier to study with you and give you feedback. Take advantage of your school's resources, whatever they are, to get you on track. Get on track now, and you still have time to be a great vet school applicant.

The thing NOT to do is to just keep muddling through it using the same study techniques and banging your head on the wall. You need to figure out why you're not doing well and make changes until you're doing better. That can take some pretty hard, honest, critical evaluation of what you're doing.

Don't worry about the summer issue. If you have to take longer to get through undergrad, then do it. It's not a race, although keeping costs down is ideal.

If you want more specific advice, you need to tell us what you're doing to "make it better". What kind of study habits do you have? How much are you studying? How are you studying? What changes have you tried? What school resources do you have available? Have you utilized them fully?

This is such a solid response.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using SDN mobile

 

[that redhead]

I'm a second-year student at Colorado State University. I'm also Pre-vet. And I'm worried that I'm already drowning. I've had to re-take a class already, I've never had a total number of classes below 15 credits, and I'm not doing great. In my mind when I first started I went to Pre-vet because working with animals is my dream. I have a 2.2 GPA which is god-awful, I know, and I'm struggling to make it better. So my question is; If taking five classes in semester and having constant tests ever other week is something I'm struggling with; is vet school for me? Does anyone else have this problem? I can't afford to take classes in the summer, which i'm told is something I need to do to get my credits to graduate with what I want. It's just all too much right now and it's worrying me a lot. Some feedback would be great, if Vet School isn't for me, then that's okay, I just want to keep my Equine Major at least, and possibly work with horses.
Sorry this is long and rant-y. Just need some good-old advice. 🙂

The most important thing to do is stop allowing poor performance to further tank your GPA. If that means taking a semester off, do it. Time off will also give you the chance to consider what you want to do in your future. If you decide you do want to pursue vet med, you won't have as deep a hole to climb out of.

Have you worked directly with a veterinarian? You could work with animals outside of vet med and without the academic rigors and financial burdens. Perhaps taking a semester off to work (perhaps with horses like you mention) outside of vet med may help you network and find a job that you would enjoy more. Consider talking to professors in the Animal Science department about what they do aside from teaching and what other options are out there for you.

 

[BumbleBeeDrew]

Thank you all, your different perspectives and advice are helpful. I'm still finding out what helps me study the best, I feel after this semester I'll be much more on track with studying. I also need to work-study, which puts a huge dent in my time, and I'm still figuring out how to work around it as well, since it's a new job.
I probably am not putting as much work into my classes as I think I am, that is mostly likely true, and I need to kick my butt into gear about that. I just get very overwhelmed by my work, and that causes me to freak out and keep putting it off (I don't know why). I also struggle with balancing out my work load and what I should work on more.

 

[BumbleBeeDrew]

Oh yes, and to answer questions on my studying, I'm extremely hands-on and visual. I've always been an artistic person and things being explained in-depth and step-by-step help me a lot. Diagrams and arrows help me a lot as well. I just struggle to apply these things to my studying habits.

 

[LetItSnow]

Oh yes, and to answer questions on my studying, I'm extremely hands-on and visual. I've always been an artistic person and things being explained in-depth and step-by-step help me a lot. Diagrams and arrows help me a lot as well. I just struggle to apply these things to my studying habits.

Maybe group study with someone similar would help. Both in undergrad and grad school there were times where I and classmates would study together using white boards to diagram everything, work problems together, etc. Very visual-oriented.

The hard part for me was finding people who were serious about studying. Too many people bring their cell phones (and Facebook and Pinterest and ....) and other baggage into the study session with them, and that can make it incredibly inefficient in a heartbeat. On the other hand, a really focused study group can be a HUGE help - especially if you can explain things to other people and they can explain them to you. Sometimes it just takes hearing or seeing things a little differently than the teacher explained it.