Do american vet students get tracking into small or large?

[Cornish]

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I am a UK vet student and here we are not tracked...we must learn large and small animals at the same level of detail for the entire length of the course. Do american students get tracked in the sense that after a certain length of time they can take more courses on large or small?

 

[RazorDoc2010]

Some US schools track, some don't. My school (Missouri) does not track and we learn small and large animal topics in just about equal depth.

 

[Jochebed]

I go to the Virginia-Maryland Regional CVM and we do tracking. Our "core" classes are varied and include material on all species, but then we choose a track and take more advanced classes on those species. It's similar to going to an undergraduate liberal arts college - everyone takes the same core liberal arts classes (and is responsible for knowing that material), but then you choose a major and take your advanced classes within your major. I really enjoy this approach because I do get large animal experience, but since I'm a small animal tracker I can focus more in depth on dogs and cats - what I will eventually be practicing on. There's a lot of flexibility though. I may be a small animal tracker, but if I want to take Large Animal Therio I can. I can take Large Animal Medicine or Equine Medicine or the Public/Corporate classes, so long as I can handle the workload. So if you have interest in knowing a little more about large animals just in case you can still add those classes to your small animal track curriculum. I really like it. 🙂

 

[rachroo]

How does that work then when you have boards?

 

[StealthDog]

You learn enough about the hot board topics to get through the large animal parts of boards, then promptly dump all the info once you know you passed 🙂

 

[aretoo]

What year do schools track in? OVC (Ontario) tracks for 4th year rotations only.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

we choose a track second year, and generally take one or two track classes per semester, and then two or three track classes per semester third year. Then for fourth year, everyone does the required core clerkships, and then you have required "track" clerkships, and then electives to do whatever you want. I'm a "Public Corporate" tracker, but I am taking everything from Small Animal Surgery to Bovine Ambulatory to Adv. Histopath.

So we aren't missing out on anything, because everyone takes the same 6 or 7 or 8 or whatever core classes that cover ALL species, and everyone does the same core blocks. Tracking really is kinda like a "directed elective" thing....it's not that we don't learn things in certain areas, we learn more in certain areas. Does that make sense?

 

[ShelterGirl]

We have to choose a track during second year.

 

[KittyRex]

We have to choose a track during second year.

ShelterGirl, Does that mean that UC Davis's first year curriculum is similar to the above students' description of Virginia-Maryland Regional CVM? (broad core classes then more specific upper divis?)

I am pretty confident that I will practice small animal medicine. However, I am also very interested in participating in vet medical aid trips abroad throughout my career and it would be nice to have some basic knowledge of LA medicine.

Thanks!