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[deleted1207342]

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[supershorty]

I'm a UMN alum and while I loved my program, based on cost alone, you should strike it off your list, even though it ticks many of your other boxes.

OSU has the highest caseload of the remaining ones (and nationally AFAIK). The students here don't really track, as far as I can tell, or at least their tracking still requires that they do a significant amount of crossover rotations between small and large animal, so that might appeal to you. Columbus is a fun little city to live in with a lot to do. The curriculum is undergoing a transition right now to bring the students onto clinics sooner, but the current 3rd years are the first iteration, so unknown yet how it goes.

 

[supershorty]

Do you have any experience with Wisconsin's program? I am having a harder time finding student's perspectives with that one.

Sorry. I don’t.

 

[Cowsrcool]

The cost of dublins program would sell it for me lol

 

[prevet1234]

I went to UW for undergrad and worked at the vet hospital there for 3 years. While I dont know too much about the curriculum all of the faculty i met while I was there were so nice and willing to answer all of my questions/show me their cases as they knew I wanted to go to vet school. All of the students that I met rotating through the department i was in also had good things to say about the program. Madison as a town is amazing also so that doesn’t hurt.

 

[prevet1234]

Thank you! Do you know what their elective choices are like and what is their veterinary hospital like? What kind of cases do vet students get to see there?

I was in oncology so most of what I know is in that area. The students seemed to get a lot of exposure to things like communicating with owners, getting to do FNAs and looking at the slides, presenting at rounds and the residents and faculty were very open to letting them do whatever. There were also students from other earlier years that would come down and learn about a case from the doctors probably so they could apply the lecture materials to an actual case. The hospital itself just got a whole brand new wing which finished right as i graduated and is super nice.

 

[ali9280]

Hey, fourth year UCD vet student here. I would not advise you to attend this program.

I am curious as to why this is, if you wouldn't mind elaborating? Do you think it is because the Irish education system is different than the US education system, and so that is an adjustment? Was it always like this, or has it gotten worse? In terms of tuition, the total cost for a non-resident to attend Dublin is actually in the bottom ~1/4 of all accredited vet schools according to the AVMA (as of 2024).

 

[pp9]

Hey, fourth year UCD vet student here. I would not advise you to attend this program. It’s an expensive, poor quality program with minimal student supports and an erratic curriculum….and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. If you got into more than one program, I’d recommend you pick the other programs. If UCD was the only school to accepted you, wait until next year and apply to other schools. I strongly advise you against enrolling here

If you're going to join to randomly join SDN (edit: and Reddit) to semi-anonymously copy/paste a post saying your school sucks and post it to multiple threads (months after these OP's would have made decisions), you're gonna need to do more than cite exceptionally vague things as the reason why.

But then I found this post:

The education system is certainly and adjustment but I think in different hands that would be an easy enough gap to bridge. There are certainly large difference between the American educational style and the European educational style. One major notable difference is that here, rather than your final grades being based on several components like in the USA, instead between 80-100% of you grade for a given class is based entirely on one final 2hr exam. It’s a lot of pressure….but you get used to it. No, the reason I would steer you away from this programs a bit more insidious than just an adjustment in education style. That on its own would be manageable. As mentioned, the quality of education is poor, the curriculum is erratic and changes year to year to often very niche topics that reflect professor research interest and have limited pragmatic application. Theirs is also a bigger issue in that the school program office often seems a bit overconfident it’s doing everything well and that change is neither necessary nor worth considering. However, cheating is rampant, failure rates for some classes have been as high as 30%, and NAVLE pass rates have remained below the required pass rate of 80% needed for AVMA certification for several years (the school had been downgraded to “provisional accreditation” for two years and if NAVLE scores do not reach 80% this coming year, it is AVMA accreditation may be revoked) However despite all this, the school really dose not seem to want to change anything. It’s very self assured of its effective as despite signs to the contrary. Lectures continue to use the same approaches and PowerPoints they’ve been giving since the early 2000s, content between different professor is very frequently directly contradictory to each other making studying difficult, Additionally, just from my own experience, over the past four years it been is extremely clear the school is not very interested in student feedback. There are lots of serious, discouraging examples of this, but one that’s a bit lighthearted that I remember somewhat fondly for the ridiculousness of the situation was that last year there was a classroom that was much too cold. I kid you not, after several weeks of complaining it took a petition signed by *ninety* (90) students to get them to change them thermostat…and then two weeks later they changed it back. You get the idea- student voice is not a priority. You know that quote “Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it?” Well…UCD, or rather specifically the vet school, is kinda the opposite of that. That being said, it think the school is sinking in its unwillingness to change or adapt, and unfortunately this mixed with a self assurance that things are going well. I think either big changes or rude awakenings are on their way, and I wouldn’t recommmen being on the ground when that day comes.

Based on some things you've said here, it sounds like you went to this school without any real understanding of their curriculum. There are multiple US schools with similar/the same problems and concerns that you've cited here though, FWIW. If you can find me a school that has 100% student satisfaction, I'll be truly shocked.

We have discussed this in another thread somewhere (someone from RVC (maybe?) also randomly joined SDN to talk **** on their school), but there is no real reason for a foreign school to make the NAVLE their north star. Not being AVMA accredited would only affect interest and enrollment from two countries. There's an entire world outside of North America.

ETA: Also quoting a post I literally just made in another thread that's relevant:

Idk what it is about vet school, but there is always the handful of people in the class that have literal meltdowns over stuff. Literal. Meltdowns. Like does this happen in med school? Dental school? Ophtho school? It has to, right?

I'm sure you've all experienced similar, but we had 2-3 in my class that would literally stand up with hands raised to b*tch about something to our course coordinator whenever she was around. Or send massive emails to admin with everyone cc'd, or interrupt lecture, fire up the class FB group, there was always something they were freaking out about. One in particular used to say stuff like "I'm not paying all of this tuition money just for you all to _______.' Downright embarrassing, so much second-hand cringe.

Unsurprisingly, the same people had repeat issues throughout clinics. Makes me wonder how they fared once they got out into practice.

 

[_rae_]

someone from RVC (maybe?) also randomly joined SDN to talk **** on their school

It is RVC and I run into them an unfortunate amount. Every time they show up I want to be like "they are an outlier literally ignore them"

 

[_rae_]

There are lots of serious, discouraging examples of this, but one that’s a bit lighthearted that I remember somewhat fondly for the ridiculousness of the situation was that last year there was a classroom that was much too cold. I kid you not, after several weeks of complaining it took a petition signed by *ninety* (90) students to get them to change them thermostat…and then two weeks later they changed it back.

My backpack blanket has entered the chat. I don't think there's a classroom on planet earth that is warm enough because if it is, someone or everyone is going to be absolutely sweating by the end of the day.

Oh and in terms of the tuition, yes the tuition is low but the cost of living is among the highest in all of Europe. It’s very typical to pay around €1200-1500 a month in rent with a 45 minutes commute from campus. I know relatively few people who live closer to campus than that, and those that do usually pay even more in rent. Food prices are also extremely high, and the conversion rate between dollars and euros is not always in the dollars favor, so though tuition is less, trust me, money will stay tight

That's cheaper than my current rent in Minnesota. I'm currently paying $1800 for a two bedroom in a stand alone duplex to be 15 minutes from school (E1555). I'd kill to have a full apartment sub $1400 (which is the low end of those euros).

 

[pp9]

My backpack blanket has entered the chat. I don't think there's a classroom on planet earth that is warm enough because if it is, someone or everyone is going to be absolutely sweating by the end of the day.

That's cheaper than my current rent in Minnesota. I'm currently paying $1800 for a two bedroom in a stand alone duplex to be 15 minutes from school (E1555). I'd kill to have a full apartment sub $1400 (which is the low end of those euros).

A lot of us brought blankets to lecture at UofI too. like it's really not an unusual thing for a lecture hall to be freezing.

Also this, the cost....all things you should have looked into before going to a different country for school (I'm assuming here).

I am sorry you are unhappy but most of what you've said here are not unique problems that points to this specific school being 'bad,' the rest sounds like you made a big decision with minimal research/preparation? I could complain about UofI's curriculum (from c/o 2019 perspective) all day. We had some pretty terrible education in certain areas, and actually no education in 1-2 very important areas that I can recall. Our admin was disorganized at best. Dumb stuff happened all the time. We didn't even have classrooms during first year and had to have lectures in our anatomy lab. Every school has issues.

 

[battie]

Also this, the cost....all things you should have looked into before going to a different country for school (I'm assuming here).

This is something to strongly emphasize here. As much as people have felt pain in the US since COVID, our economy recovered much more readily and quickly than pretty much everyone else in the world. We are also the currency on which the world is based, so we get shielded from a lot of issues a lot of other countries deal with.

Just like with all vet schools, all countries and their pros/cons is heavily dependent on perspective. Europe is dealing with some **** lately and it's definitely having an effect.

 

[pp9]

It is RVC and I run into them an unfortunate amount. Every time they show up I want to be like "they are an outlier literally ignore them"

Wait backing up, you run into them in real life?

This is something to strongly emphasize here. As much as people have felt pain in the US since COVID, our economy recovered much more readily and quickly than pretty much everyone else in the world. We are also the currency on which the world is based, so we get shielded from a lot of issues a lot of other countries deal with.

Just like with all vet schools, all countries and their pros/cons is heavily dependent on perspective. Europe is dealing with some **** lately and it's definitely having an effect.

Right like as much as we complain about the US housing crisis....I'm pretty sure literally every other country has it worse right now

 

[battie]

Wait backing up, you run into them in real life?


Right like as much as we complain about the US housing crisis....I'm pretty sure literally every other country has it worse right now

Mr. Bats looked into Australia (because we watch so much Bluey). And it would have been almost impossible to buy ourselves a house because they absolutely prioritize their own citizens first. Not to mention getting the pittie there too.

 

[_rae_]

Wait backing up, you run into them in real life?

Oh good god no. I just end up on a lot of the same threads as I think the people who apply to European schools tend to also apply to Tufts, MN, and UPEI, which are the three I know anything about.