DISCUSS: News on Future veterinary schools

[pp9]

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Also 2 weeks for large animal is not enough

Going back to battie's idea that we just need longer time in clinics in general. Two weeks for almost anything is not enough. First week alone is spent being confused about what you're supposed to be doing. And then in another week, you're already moving on.

The didactic portion of school is obviously important, but I'm going to estimate that at least 25% of the info covered in first and second year (total) could be seriously condensed, if not potentially skipped altogether. UofI specifically did not need to do all that they did with the 1st/2nd year clinics for the sake of being able to say they have a 'groundbreaking' curriculum or whatever. That's all time that would be better spent in the teaching hospital.

The whole reason med school works with 2/2 is that they know you're going to graduate and just go on to continue your training. In vet school, the majority of us get dumped right into practice with that model and don't continue training, and some schools are not even doing a full two years of clinics. And again, clinical year still is not what it needs to be to graduate a practice-ready vet no matter how much time you spend in it. You just get better chances of seeing/learning things with more time.

 

[soupshark]

Going back to battie's idea that we just need longer time in clinics in general. Two weeks for almost anything is not enough. First week alone is spent being confused about what you're supposed to be doing. And then in another week, you're already moving on.

The didactic portion of school is obviously important, but I'm going to estimate that at least 25% of the info covered in first and second year (total) could be seriously condensed, if not potentially skipped altogether. UofI specifically did not need to do all that they did with the 1st/2nd year clinics for the sake of being able to say they have a 'groundbreaking' curriculum or whatever. That's all time that would be better spent in the teaching hospital.

Yeah I agree with this wholeheartedly. I have a like/hate relationship with the 1st and 2nd year clinics and would prefer if we just did 2/2 like you said. It's a better use of your time when you actually have an idea of what's going on with a case.

It's depressing to think about graduating from a program that doesn't even have their education plan set in stone yet, especially considering improvements at existing schools need to be made. It's not uncommon to hear these stories of people being unprepared for practice out of school and is just even more evidence as to why this is a bad idea.

 

[soupshark]

Okay staying on track with the core point of this conversation

I agree that more wet labs and more time in clinics isn't enough to be fully prepared for practice. I gave those examples to show that even established programs with VTHs still have gaps and opening a new program with even less planning/resources is moving backwards.

Hopefully that's clearer lol

 

[honeypot999]

Even going to an established vet school can be terrible at times. They make choices that you’re thinking “how does this benefit the students?” Because half the time, they’re making things up as they go. I couldn’t imagine going to a brand new school where nothing is figured out

 

[MixedAnimals77]

The partnership with Chewy raises significant ethical questions in my mind.

If you dig far and deep enough many of the private schools are in bed to some extent with the corporates... LMU included.

 

[pp9]

If you dig far and deep enough many of the private schools are in bed to some extent with the corporates... LMU included.

You can't just drop a knowledge bomb like this and not tell us more!!

And for anyone reading that doesn't understand why we cringe at the Chewy thing, you should hit the keyboard and start reading up on why corporations are going to be the death of vet med as we know it.

 

[miriam1216]

And for anyone reading that doesn't understand why we cringe at the Chewy thing, you should hit the keyboard and start reading up on why corporations are going to be the death of vet med as we know it.

I legit wrote one of my vet school application essays about how corporate consolidation is the most serious challenge facing the industry in the next decade. I figured other students would write about burnout, but I wanted to talk about the reason *why* we're seeing increased burnout.

 

[ESD_2029]

You can't just drop a knowledge bomb like this and not tell us more!!

And for anyone reading that doesn't understand why we cringe at the Chewy thing, you should hit the keyboard and start reading up on why corporations are going to be the death of vet med as we know it.

Corporations and private equity are both going to be the downfall of the field

 

[katiemcat]

The address will be 335 Crossing Blvd., Orange Park, Florida to help him look

Estimated completion is listed as late 2026 right now. If you attend anymore informational sessions I would probe about this.

 

[vampyrica]

I legit wrote one of my vet school application essays about how corporate consolidation is the most serious challenge facing the industry in the next decade. I figured other students would write about burnout, but I wanted to talk about the reason *why* we're seeing increased burnout.

i think this is such a niche essay topic and i applaud you for discussing it. i was hesitant to write about LAM and research but it turned out to be one of my strongest essays. i hope someone resonates with and deeply appreciates your essay

 

[vampyrica]

Estimated completion is listed as late 2026 right now. If you attend anymore informational sessions I would probe about this.

 

[vampyrica]

Corporations and private equity are both going to be the downfall of the field

this is such a legit question— how do we fight back on this? in a clinical setting, i have only worked for individually owned hospitals or for shelters so i have no clue about the corporate world. what do we do when we graduate??

 

[wooperlooper]

Estimated completion is listed as late 2026 right now. If you attend anymore informational sessions I would probe about this.

Thank you! I will ask about it

 

[battie]

Back from my nap after my random overnight

It sounds like a lot fo time but it truly isn't, especially for people who might have established practices/services/clientele.

My contract states I need to give 60 days notice before leaving. 2 months is definitely not enough for a lot of people to up and leave.

I pointed out that a majority of VTH lose money each year and was told by an applicant on the thread that’s not true, when I know for a fact that it is

When I was in charge for the Illinois student tour program, I went to all of the town halls at the school I could feasible go to. One included the then hospital director listing out the improvements they were doing and streams of funding for the VTH. At the time, Illinois was one of 7 or 8 VTHs that was profitable in any way, and just barely. I can only imagine that has gotten worse.

two weeks working with large animals is simply too little. these guys support and feed MILLIONS of people every year. you gotta know how to help them !!

We had British clinicians at Illinois who emphasized the most important point about being a vet: versatility in time of crisis. He had been a small animal vet for a while before Mad Cow hit. Every single vet was pulled from clinical practice to handle the public health crisis. Literally overnight, everyone became a cow vet.

Now imagine the scale of such a public health threat in the US. It's COVID on steroids, depending on species affected. It's absolutely vital people have exposure to these concepts because they may be called to action to oversee local herds or flocks.

this is such a legit question— how do we fight back on this? in a clinical setting, i have only worked for individually owned hospitals or for shelters so i have no clue about the corporate world. what do we do when we graduate??

There is a new ER opening in Denver that will function as an ESOP that I'm keeping an eye on. I'm curious to see how it goes. They're rare enough in vet med that I'm not willing to take the plunge and abandon ship and risk my financial stability. But they are close enough they would be a viable option for me

 

[JaynaAli]

this is such a legit question— how do we fight back on this? in a clinical setting, i have only worked for individually owned hospitals or for shelters so i have no clue about the corporate world. what do we do when we graduate??

If bring realistic, I honestly think we’ve gotten too far in to change it, and we’re stuck until the bottom falls out of the market and the corporations that care most about money decide it isnt worth it and close or sell their “investments”. Even more clinics are corporate than the average person realizes, there’s a good number of corporations that are “incognito” and don’t rebrand the hospital name.

The easy answer is that more vets should open privately owned practices like they used to in the “olden days”, but that’s way easier said than done when you think cost/availability of real estate, decreased buying power for supplies compared to corporate, need/expectation for equipment, etc. And doesn’t even begin to address whether recent grads with 300k+ student loans would even be considered for a business start up loan anyway…student loans plus new business debt gets astronomical very quickly. But bless those vets who do want to make a go at practice ownership.

When I was in school forever ago one of our professors made a comment once that we should have organized vet med more like human med where every clinic didn’t need their own xray and in house lab and those costs were shared among several nearby practices at a central communal location or outsourced, and I don’t think he’s entirely wrong. I’m not saying that’s the ideal or even super realistic solution, and I think it’s more important we have easy access to labs and imaging because our patients can’t talk and tell us what’s wrong. But it’s just an example how we could have changed the model to decrease costs but now that seems so crazy it’s not really even a viable option.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

You can't just drop a knowledge bomb like this and not tell us more!!

And for anyone reading that doesn't understand why we cringe at the Chewy thing, you should hit the keyboard and start reading up on why corporations are going to be the death of vet med as we know it.

Meet the lawyer working to reshape the veterinary landscape

For better or worse, Mark Cushing's influence spans education to telemedicine

news.vin.com

Lots of it on VIN its just about connecting the dots-who knows who and $. This guy is one of them.
In a vet school/not vet school related similar tune, the big candy company was/is a big push behind VPA and supported LMU's masters program before VPA even became an actual thing in CO.

 

[miriam1216]

i think this is such a niche essay topic and i applaud you for discussing it. i was hesitant to write about LAM and research but it turned out to be one of my strongest essays. i hope someone resonates with and deeply appreciates your essay

Thank you so much, that means a lot. I really hope it helps me stand out. Unfortunately, it was only appropriate for one of the schools' prompts, but its also the one I want the most 🤞

 

[battie]

Meet the lawyer working to reshape the veterinary landscape

For better or worse, Mark Cushing's influence spans education to telemedicine

news.vin.com

Lots of it on VIN its just about connecting the dots-who knows who and $. This guy is one of them.
In a vet school/not vet school related similar tune, the big candy company was/is a big push behind VPA and supported LMU's masters program before VPA even became an actual thing in CO.

He wanted to be AVMA pres a year or so ago. I contacted everyone I could that had influence in CO delegates to tell them they absolutely could not vote for him

 

[ESD_2029]

He wanted to be AVMA pres a year or so ago. I contacted everyone I could that had influence in CO delegates to tell them they absolutely could not vote for him

I wish there was a puke response option but as there isn't....

 

[supershorty]

I wish there was a puke response option but as there isn't....

🤮

 

[Mr.Smile12]

ICYMI, we posted
Mars, Inc: Candy, Clinics, and the Consolidation of Veterinary Medicine | Student Doctor Network | SDN

Anyone want to write a similar or follow-up, let me know. 🙂

 

[vampyrica]

There is a new ER opening in Denver that will function as an ESOP that I'm keeping an eye on. I'm curious to see how it goes. They're rare enough in vet med that I'm not willing to take the plunge and abandon ship and risk my financial stability. But they are close enough they would be a viable option for me

hmm maybe i need to make the drive down there and check it out. can you PM me the name?

 

[allygator13]

If bring realistic, I honestly think we’ve gotten too far in to change it, and we’re stuck until the bottom falls out of the market and the corporations that care most about money decide it isnt worth it and close or sell their “investments”. Even more clinics are corporate than the average person realizes, there’s a good number of corporations that are “incognito” and don’t rebrand the hospital name.

The easy answer is that more vets should open privately owned practices like they used to in the “olden days”, but that’s way easier said than done when you think cost/availability of real estate, decreased buying power for supplies compared to corporate, need/expectation for equipment, etc. And doesn’t even begin to address whether recent grads with 300k+ student loans would even be considered for a business start up loan anyway…student loans plus new business debt gets astronomical very quickly. But bless those vets who do want to make a go at practice ownership.

When I was in school forever ago one of our professors made a comment once that we should have organized vet med more like human med where every clinic didn’t need their own xray and in house lab and those costs were shared among several nearby practices at a central communal location or outsourced, and I don’t think he’s entirely wrong. I’m not saying that’s the ideal or even super realistic solution, and I think it’s more important we have easy access to labs and imaging because our patients can’t talk and tell us what’s wrong. But it’s just an example how we could have changed the model to decrease costs but now that seems so crazy it’s not really even a viable option.

Interestingly, the private practice I did my radiology specialty internship at was initially developed for that exact reason. It was the central hub for imaging and ER services that a few private GP hospitals in the area partnered up to build and use, and was still working that way in addition to the expansion into specialty services. Was a pretty cool set-up honestly.

 

[ESD_2029]

🤮

Yeah - I meant as a "like" option on the post itself 🙂 I saw the emojis but they didnt pack the punch i wanted

 

[vampyrica]

there’s a well-known admission guidance account that just posted an article stating there are “currently no veterinary schools located at Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” and then proceeds to promote a new veterinary school proposed at a HBCU.

uhh… Tuskegee is a HBCU. It’s literally on their website and is well known as the only current vet school at a HBCU…I’m actually very disgusted to read such misinformation promoted to pre-vets. I commented and said Tuskegee is a HBCU and shared a screenshot from their website.

This is so disappointing especially to come from someone people pay to receive advice and guidance from. I can privately PM the link if anyone wants to read it and discuss, I’m literally fuming about this.

 

[vampyrica]

to follow up: they write in bold “currently no veterinary schools located at Historically Black Colleges and Universities” but then the second paragraph says “Tuskegee the undergrad is an HBCU with a vet school on campus but the vet school isn’t classified as a HBCU vet school by federal funding”

That still contradicts your opening statement, no? The claim is “there are currently no veterinary schools located at HBCU” and then the literal next paragraph is “well Tuskegee has a vet school, and it’s an HBCU, but it’s not an HBCU vet school”

Which is it?

 

[battie]

Does..... Does this person not realize the HBCU Tuskegee owns the vet school?

Someone on VIN suggested that Tuskegee potentially should go the "start all over" route. If terminal accreditation is upheld, then apply for accreditation as if they're a brand new school.

I honestly love this idea and can't see how it wouldn't work.

 

[vampyrica]

Does..... Does this person not realize the HBCU Tuskegee owns the vet school?

Someone on VIN suggested that Tuskegee potentially should go the "start all over" route. If terminal accreditation is upheld, then apply for accreditation as if they're a brand new school.

I honestly love this idea and can't see how it wouldn't work.

I’ll dm you the “article”. I basically reads as a paid-for promo

 

[honeypot999]

there’s a well-known admission guidance account that just posted an article stating there are “currently no veterinary schools located at Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” and then proceeds to promote a new veterinary school proposed at a HBCU.

uhh… Tuskegee is a HBCU. It’s literally on their website and is well known as the only current vet school at a HBCU…I’m actually very disgusted to read such misinformation promoted to pre-vets. I commented and said Tuskegee is a HBCU and shared a screenshot from their website.

This is so disappointing especially to come from someone people pay to receive advice and guidance from. I can privately PM the link if anyone wants to read it and discuss, I’m literally fuming about this.

You can literally tell she used ChatGPT to write the article. I know that because it’s in the same format and emojis that ChatGPT writes my study notes in. I hate this because Tuskegee isn’t terminally accredited yet (even though they likely will unless the audit turns up significant bias) so saying a not even opened school is the answer is not good advice

 

[honeypot999]

Does..... Does this person not realize the HBCU Tuskegee owns the vet school?

Someone on VIN suggested that Tuskegee potentially should go the "start all over" route. If terminal accreditation is upheld, then apply for accreditation as if they're a brand new school.

I honestly love this idea and can't see how it wouldn't work.

They’d probably have to wait until the new clinic is finished and then rehire every single faculty member

 

[vampyrica]

You can literally tell she used ChatGPT to write the article. I know that because it’s in the same format and emojis that ChatGPT writes my study notes in. I hate this because Tuskegee isn’t terminally accredited yet (even though they likely will unless the audit turns up significant bias) so saying a not even opened school is the answer is not good advice

They’ve been incorrect about a few things. @katiemcat was baffled as to why they would label UF as “holistic” just because they apparently have “no minimum GPA requirement”

 

[JaynaAli]

They’d probably have to wait until the new clinic is finished and then rehire every single faculty member

As annoying as that would be, it might honestly be a good chance for salaries to be adjusted. Academia is notorious for underpaying, and it’s also hard to get a significant raise without changing jobs. A new “employer” and new contracts could potentially be a good thing for their employees.

 

[indysadventures]

I’ll dm you the “article”. I basically reads as a paid-for promo

Can you PM it to me too? This is actually insane and I want to make sure I have this on my radar.

 

[vampyrica]

Can you PM it to me too? This is actually insane and I want to make sure I have this on my radar.

done!

 

[pp9]

I’ll dm you the “article”. I basically reads as a paid-for promo

me too, please! I'm curious if this is going to be the same account I see that doesn't even use their real name when providing services...

Edit: oops nvm found it I think. It is not the person I was referring to.

Edit x2: Gonna just speak this to the void, but you do not need to hire a consultant to get into vet school. Seriously. This person also appears to have no specific qualifications or experience beyond being a vet herself, similar to most people who try to start up an admissions consulting business. Like I can guarantee these people aren't saying anything differently than what you can find out on your own. They don't have insider info. At best, you might be paying someone to proofread your written portions +/- interview practice, both of which are often provided for free at universities through career centers.

 

[vampyrica]

me too, please! I'm curious if this is going to be the same account I see that doesn't even use their real name when providing services...

Edit: oops nvm found it I think. It is not the person I was referring to.

Edit x2: Gonna just speak this to the void, but you do not need to hire a consultant to get into vet school. Seriously. This person also appears to have no specific qualifications or experience beyond being a vet herself, similar to most people who try to start up an admissions consulting business. Like I can guarantee these people aren't saying anything differently than what you can find out on your own. They don't have insider info. At best, you might be paying someone to proofread your written portions +/- interview practice, both of which are often provided for free at universities through career centers.

they ended up changing the wording of it but i have a screenshot of the OG- i’ll send them to you!

this particular person was an adcom member for a school, but does use their real name

 

[pp9]

this particular person was an adcom member for a school

This isn't directed at you:

A lot of these pay-to-play 'advisors' have been on adcoms, true, but really that still isn't a huge qualification imo because 1) it's usually only one school that you worked/volunteered for 2) unless you are actively on that school's adcom, you are not privy to what they are looking for on a year to year basis. And things majorly change over time, even year to year, as we know. And if you do have a seat at that table, it would be unethical/conflict of interest to have a side hustle like this anyways. 3) Most, if not all, of what these 'advisors' sell as advice is not anything groundbreaking that you couldn't find on your own or by talking to people who do this as a hobby of sorts (SDN). I just can't imagine charging hundreds or more for me to say the same stuff I say in the WAMC threads.

Shoot, when I was applying I had a phone call with an ex dean of admissions for Cornell who had an advising business at the time. Had a booth at the APVMA conference and everything. He told me precisely nothing I didn't already know. Like there really aren't 'secrets' or 'hacks' to vet med admissions imo, you just have to know yourself/your app and know the schools. And know when you just aren't a competitive applicant so should anticipate several cycles and/or making big changes to your stats.

I just think the whole idea is kinda silly. I think that's why a lot of these services don't stick around very long. There isn't much demand, people can't afford it on top of already expensive admissions, and they truly aren't necessary.

Derail over? lol

 

[honeypot999]

Rep. Cleaver Raises Concerns Regarding Systemic Abuse at American Veterinary Schools, Calls for Information from Institutions

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) raised concerns about allegations of systemic abuse at numerous veterinary schools across the country. In a letter to 36 veterinary medicine schools, Congressman Cleaver called on the institutions to provide information...

cleaver.house.gov

Aw heck here we go again. Hopefully something comes out of this because exploitation in the name of education is what is going to keep happening when we add predatory schools

 

[pp9]

Rep. Cleaver Raises Concerns Regarding Systemic Abuse at American Veterinary Schools, Calls for Information from Institutions

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) raised concerns about allegations of systemic abuse at numerous veterinary schools across the country. In a letter to 36 veterinary medicine schools, Congressman Cleaver called on the institutions to provide information...

cleaver.house.gov

Aw heck here we go again. Hopefully something comes out of this because exploitation in the name of education is what is going to keep happening when we add predatory schools

At least those predatory schools don't have teaching hospitals...that might be the only saving grace for those students. Especially because I assume their teaching hospitals would end up being for-profit/essentially private practices.

Some of the quotes in the linked articles (within what you linked) are horrifying. I definitely had some crappy rotations, I definitely would have days where I was at school for 16+ hours, but idk if I was ever there from like 530-midnight unless I got in a crappy on-call situation. Can absolutely relate to eating whatever random food you can get your hands on. Also being treated like a kennel attendant, sitting there staring at the wall when there were no appts/no clinician, etc. I really hope it gets better because this is all more evidence that fourth year is no longer about teaching fourth years.

 

[JaynaAli]

Unfortunately, the solution is hiring more support staff, which will mean spending more money, which will just get passed down to students via tuition increase. And support staff are hard to hire and retain in vet med anyway. Not saying there shouldn’t be change, but this is a no win situation to me.

 

[kitzsuna]

At least those predatory schools don't have teaching hospitals...that might be the only saving grace for those students. Especially because I assume their teaching hospitals would end up being for-profit/essentially private practices.

Some of the quotes in the linked articles (within what you linked) are horrifying. I definitely had some crappy rotations, I definitely would have days where I was at school for 16+ hours, but idk if I was ever there from like 530-midnight unless I got in a crappy on-call situation. Can absolutely relate to eating whatever random food you can get your hands on. Also being treated like a kennel attendant, sitting there staring at the wall when there were no appts/no clinician, etc. I really hope it gets better because this is all more evidence that fourth year is no longer about teaching fourth years.

So this was sent to all of the schools listed in the link? A bit unnerving since all 5 schools to which i applied are on there 😀 but schools i applied to have teaching hospitals so im a bit confused by the “predatory schools dont have teaching hospitals” bit

Just trying to weigh decisions as acceptances (hopefully) come to me in the next few months

 

[supershorty]

o this was sent to all of the schools listed in the link? A bit unnerving since all 5 schools to which i applied are on there

On a quick skim, it looked like they sent that to every school tbh, but that's based off me reading it on my phone shortly after I woke up this morning.

 

[supershorty]

“predatory schools dont have teaching hospitals”

When people talk about predatory programs, they're referring to programs that are charging as much or more tuition while offering less educational benefit for students. Many of us feel that it's unacceptable for a program to NOT have a teaching hospital and have tuition anywhere near equivalent to a program that does.

To be clear, this isn't me saying that I think all distributive models are predatory, but I do have a real issue with them charging what they do, and I do think that it's a detriment to their students to not have a teaching hospital.

 

[kitzsuna]

When people talk about predatory programs, they're referring to programs that are charging as much or more tuition while offering less educational benefit for students. Many of us feel that it's unacceptable for a program to NOT have a teaching hospital and have tuition anywhere near equivalent to a program that does.

To be clear, this isn't me saying that I think all distributive models are predatory, but I do have a real issue with them charging what they do, and I do think that it's a detriment to their students to not have a teaching hospital.

Thanks for the clarification, i thought this was specifically referencing schools with reputations of less than ideal treatment to students

 

[pp9]

So this was sent to all of the schools listed in the link? A bit unnerving since all 5 schools to which i applied are on there 😀

It appears he just sent the letter to all AVMA accredited veterinary schools en masse, even though some of those schools do not have a teaching hospital where this is even going to be an issue. Edit: which probably suggests that this person has minimal to no knowledge about vet schools/vet education/all the stuff we gripe about on here. Not that it should prevent someone from caring, just worth noting

Thanks for the clarification, i thought this was specifically referencing schools with reputations of less than ideal treatment to students

this kinda isn't a new problem. It might be weird for me to say this, but I think you'd really be limiting yourself if you hypothetically only applied to schools that have never had some type of complaint about student treatment. I remember hearing stuff as a first year about what UofI's c/o 2015 had to deal with during fourth year. I'm sure classes before that at multiple schools had issues too.

Also looking back, the articles linked in honey's article are from 2023. So it doesn't seem that something 'new' has happened despite this congressman getting involved? Change would be good of course but why now? unless they were petitioned by their constituents or have a relative/friend going through vet school currently? Just seems random

 

[miriam1216]

It appears he just sent the letter to all AVMA accredited veterinary schools en masse, even though some of those schools do not have a teaching hospital where this is even going to be an issue. Edit: which probably suggests that this person has minimal to no knowledge about vet schools/vet education/all the stuff we gripe about on here. Not that it should prevent someone from caring, just worth noting

this kinda isn't a new problem. It might be weird for me to say this, but I think you'd really be limiting yourself if you hypothetically only applied to schools that have never had some type of complaint about student treatment. I remember hearing stuff as a first year about what UofI's c/o 2015 had to deal with during fourth year. I'm sure classes before that at multiple schools had issues too.

Also looking back, the articles linked in honey's article are from 2023. So it doesn't seem that something 'new' has happened despite this congressman getting involved? Change would be good of course but why now? unless they were petitioned by their constituents or have a relative/friend going through vet school currently? Just seems random

As someone who used to be around members of Congress a LOT, this letter basically means nothing. An individual house rep sending a letter has no legal authority and he doesn’t have any leadership positions that would give him more weight. I doubt most schools will even respond. This prob got sent because one random staffer in his office got interested in the issue, nothing more.

 

[purrlywhites]

Only heard bad things about LMU-OPCVM from this thread, is it worth going at all if it’s my last choice? I think the only nice thing is the start date for the uncapped loans. And why does a teaching hospital affect the chances of getting into specialty?

 

[JaynaAli]

Only heard bad things about LMU-OPCVM from this thread, is it worth going at all if it’s my last choice? I think the only nice thing is the start date for the uncapped loans. And why does a teaching hospital affect the chances of getting into specialty?

Letters of recommendation (and who is writing them) are a significant factor in specialty program applications. You need at least one specialist in that specialty supporting you. When there is a teaching hospital, you have 3-4 years of time to develop relationships with people who are going to champion your cause in letters of rec. There’s also usually multiple specialists in any given specialty to appropriately staff a teaching hospital, so there are more options for people to get to know and learn under. In a distributive model, it’s going to be harder to develop meaningful relationships. It’s not impossible by any means, but if you’re going a private specialty hospital and working with someone for just 2-3 weeks on a rotation, you can see how their letter might be more superficial compared to someone you’ve hung around and done courses and cases and projects with for years. Again, that’s not to say that you can’t make meaningful relationships in a distributive model, I just think it’s harder and if everything is equal, I would absolutely go somewhere with a teaching hospital. At a school with a teaching hospital you can still do outside rotations and expand your network with short term experiences too, it just gives you easier and more access to specialists, imo.

My biggest issue with the schools that don’t offer teaching hospitals is that they still charge the same tuition as places without a hospital. Hospitals are expensive to run and they should theoretically be cheaper if schools don’t have that expense. But they don’t see to be passing those savings to students, they’re still charging you the same and providing less.

As for whether you should go or not, that’s not something we can say. Looks like total estimated cost of attendance is 360k, which is higher than I personally think the degree is worth and not an amount of student loan debt I would want to take on, even with the governmental repayment options. But not everyone agrees with me on that, and that’s fine.

 

[JaynaAli]

This isn’t exactly related to new school, but it’s still an interesting development in the realm of schools and accreditation. Sounds like this has been in the works for several years now, but I find it rather interesting in light of the accreditation issues. It’ll be an interesting situation to see how this unfolds and what happens.

Tuskegee University breaks ground on veterinary medicine expansion project

Includes new preclinical building, new small animal teaching hospital.

www.bdcnetwork.com

 

[MixedAnimals77]

This isn’t exactly related to new school, but it’s still an interesting development in the realm of schools and accreditation. Sounds like this has been in the works for several years now, but I find it rather interesting in light of the accreditation issues. It’ll be an interesting situation to see how this unfolds and what happens.

Tuskegee University breaks ground on veterinary medicine expansion project

Includes new preclinical building, new small animal teaching hospital.

www.bdcnetwork.com

I was also reading where mackenzie Scott is the main donor for it which I thought was interesting...