Dumb question about schools

[nohika]

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Okay, this is probably a really, really stupid question/s. I have searched through several old threads, but have been unable to find exactly what I was looking for. 😳 So I'm looking at the schools to do pre-reqs for, and was going to try to pick a school out based on what I would like to do.

So...can anyone tell me what school would be best for Emergency Medicine/Critical Care (SA)? The two I've seen mentioned were Tufts and U-Penn, but that was a thread that kind of, uh, degenerated after a bit, so I wasn't sure. I know Tufts has an EM/CC internship, as well...

Oncology is another interest...though that would have to be an internship/residency afterwards, right? Then being boarded?

Anyways. Thanks in advance, guys! 🙂 I really do try not to be clueless!

 

[amom427]

Emergency med/critical care is also internship/residency afterward and then board certified. Although I believe you can have an e-clinic without being certified.

Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question though.

 

[rileyroo]

i worked at a large emergency/cc clinic that had over 10 doctors on staff. each one went to different vet schools for their DVM then completed their residency in emergency/cc at different hospitals. for three of them i know of, one went to purdue, another to ohio state, and another to tennessee. from my experience, for that specialty, it doesn't matter where you go to get your dvm. you would just want to do a residency in that area afterward if that remained your interest.

 

[Electrophile]

You don't need to be boarded to work in an emergency clinic. Nor do you have to go to a vet school with a special program. In fact, IMO it's a waste of money to go to a particular school with a special program unless you're already in state because you'll likely only get a few weeks on elective rotation or something with ECC wherever you go, so unless you get a job in the overnight ICU or something, where you go is not that critical. It's kinda like people who just HAVE to go to an Ivy League school for undergrad. When you're an undergrad, you're not a unique and special snowflake no matter where you go if some school has some amazing program. You'll get much more one on one mentoring in grad school or in a post doctoral fellowship. Same kind of thing where you'll match for a residency. Do the residency at the "best" place and save money for vet school itself. Cause in vet school, you can probably do a really awesome externship for a couple weeks at the institution of your choice while still paying less money.

 

[sumstorm]

You don't need to be boarded to work in an emergency clinic. Nor do you have to go to a vet school with a special program. In fact, IMO it's a waste of money to go to a particular school with a special program unless you're already in state because you'll likely only get a few weeks on elective rotation or something with ECC wherever you go, so unless you get a job in the overnight ICU or something, where you go is not that critical. It's kinda like people who just HAVE to go to an Ivy League school for undergrad. When you're an undergrad, you're not a unique and special snowflake no matter where you go if some school has some amazing program. You'll get much more one on one mentoring in grad school or in a post doctoral fellowship. Same kind of thing where you'll match for a residency. Do the residency at the "best" place and save money for vet school itself. Cause in vet school, you can probably do a really awesome externship for a couple weeks at the institution of your choice while still paying less money.

And I will give the opposite view of this. I think for ECC you can have sucess pretty much everywhere (pretty much because I don't know if there are any exceptions) particularly if your considering SA ECC. When you move out of SA, or into unique subspecialties of SA, is where things can get tricky. IE Florida is the place for veterinary forensics. Zoo med and food animal and equine (as I currently understand it) can vary a lot between schools and then the programs may be more important towards obtaining residency. That isn't to say that attending a school without a focus will keep you out of the field, but you may have more hurdles to leap before getting into a preferred residency.

Of course, my opinion may be affected by being a 'unique and special snowflake' at the undergrad level. I attended a small private lib arts school where research was expected and my average class size was 10 students and a 98% grad/professional school acceptance rate on first application cycle. For me, the choice to transfer undergrads was the difference between dropping out and graduating magna cum laude with research honors.

Either way, as far as I know, there isn't a definitive listing of 'x school is excellent in Y, average in G, and poor in V.' I believe most schools have an emergency hospital (I could be wrong on this one) and will provide a solid education to pursue a residency/internship. What you pursue outside of classes may make the difference on residency/internship/job opportunities.

 

[sunshinevet]

Okay, this is probably a really, really stupid question/s. I have searched through several old threads, but have been unable to find exactly what I was looking for. 😳 So I'm looking at the schools to do pre-reqs for, and was going to try to pick a school out based on what I would like to do.

So...can anyone tell me what school would be best for Emergency Medicine/Critical Care (SA)? The two I've seen mentioned were Tufts and U-Penn, but that was a thread that kind of, uh, degenerated after a bit, so I wasn't sure. I know Tufts has an EM/CC internship, as well...

Oncology is another interest...though that would have to be an internship/residency afterwards, right? Then being boarded?

Anyways. Thanks in advance, guys! 🙂 I really do try not to be clueless!

Seriously Chickpea, you just decided you wanted to be a vet for real 🙂 Slow down, take a deep breath, and just go knock over the general prereqs, while getting as much experience as you possibly can, as widely as you can. You can't make any desicions til then - and a lot of people change their mind during vet school, so dw. 🙂

 

[BlacKAT33]

Seriously Chickpea, you just decided you wanted to be a vet for real 🙂 Slow down, take a deep breath, and just go knock over the general prereqs, while getting as much experience as you possibly can, as widely as you can. You can't make any desicions til then - and a lot of people change their mind during vet school, so dw. 🙂

👍

after you have experience in at least 3 types of vet med, then, maybe... you'll know what specifically you want to do. til then, just enjoy the experiences 😀

 

[nohika]

Seriously Chickpea, you just decided you wanted to be a vet for real 🙂 Slow down, take a deep breath, and just go knock over the general prereqs, while getting as much experience as you possibly can, as widely as you can. You can't make any desicions til then - and a lot of people change their mind during vet school, so dw. 🙂

😳 I am very much a huge fan of "getting all my ducks in a row". So it's hard for me to just "let things go", especially when I have no control anymore of the grades coming out on my transcript. Least not this quarter. Ah, well...two books down, one to go (currently reading "Tell Me Where it Hurts"). Reading will keep my mind off things.

...is there anyone that would mind taking a look at my resume? I've not written one in a long time, so I'm a bit nervous about it...I take my driver's test December 16th, though! 😱

 

[rileyroo]

😳 I am very much a huge fan of "getting all my ducks in a row". So it's hard for me to just "let things go", especially when I have no control anymore of the grades coming out on my transcript. Least not this quarter. Ah, well...two books down, one to go (currently reading "Tell Me Where it Hurts"). Reading will keep my mind off things.

...is there anyone that would mind taking a look at my resume? I've not written one in a long time, so I'm a bit nervous about it...I take my driver's test December 16th, though! 😱

i think the overall idea isn't to just sit back and let things happen. i think maybe it's more of...don't stress out about residencies and specializing NOW... you need to focus on prereqs and gaining experience in different areas of veterinary medicine -- do you have a lot of experience in veterinary emergency/cc or oncology? it's a good idea to find opportunities to shadow/volunteer/work in those areas to get a better understanding of each. i thought i was definitely an emergency/cc person. but once i worked there, i found that it DEFINITELY wasn't for me at all. i gained a ton of clinical experience, but i had no interest in continuing to pursue that area. but who knows...that could change once i get in vet school.

the idea of "go to a school that has a strong program in your area of interest" is debatable on this forum. some will say the school matters, while others will say it doesn't. you have time to figure that out - but get experience first...as much as you can. and see where that takes you.

it never hurts to search around the profession and find out about different areas and specialties. but keep an open mind, as you just decided to pursue this and there are a lot of different opportunities within the field itself.

 

[BlacKAT33]

😳 I am very much a huge fan of "getting all my ducks in a row". So it's hard for me to just "let things go", especially when I have no control anymore of the grades coming out on my transcript. Least not this quarter. Ah, well...two books down, one to go (currently reading "Tell Me Where it Hurts"). Reading will keep my mind off things.

...is there anyone that would mind taking a look at my resume? I've not written one in a long time, so I'm a bit nervous about it...I take my driver's test December 16th, though! 😱

Maybe you could "get all your ducks in a row" by thinking of where to apply to get experience and which months you'll be able to do them in. And plan it out on a calendar to see if you can fit all the experience in that you want to have before you apply. Since I get the feel that you aren't interested in LA, maybe you can look into SA clinic, SA emergency clinic, research, lab, or wildlife. I think picking a couple of those to get behind your belt before you apply is good.

I'd be happy to look at your resume! PM me

 

[nohika]

Maybe you could "get all your ducks in a row" by thinking of where to apply to get experience and which months you'll be able to do them in. And plan it out on a calendar to see if you can fit all the experience in that you want to have before you apply. Since I get the feel that you aren't interested in LA, maybe you can look into SA clinic, SA emergency clinic, research, lab, or wildlife. I think picking a couple of those to get behind your belt before you apply is good.

I'd be happy to look at your resume! PM me

When I started (like whatever weeks ago) I wasn't super-interested in LA, but after reading the books I have (If Wishes Were Horses and Equine ER) and kind of learning more about what it entailed, I definitely wouldn't mind shadowing a LA vet at all. One of my friends rides horses all the time, etc, and she's going to see about getting me a list of the vets she knows. I'm working on keeping an open mind - somedays it's just harder than others.

I'll definitely do that - the calender idea sounds fantastic. 🙂 Thank you guys so much. I love this site.

 

[deleted266066]

i thought i was definitely an emergency/cc person. but once i worked there, i found that it DEFINITELY wasn't for me at all. i gained a ton of clinical experience, but i had no interest in continuing to pursue that area. but who knows...that could change once i get in vet school.

Not to hijack this thread, but how were you able to get emergency experience? I'm quite interested in emergency vet medicine but it seems the places I have asked around at don't take any shadows/volunteers... should I try applying for a job within an animal hospital? And what kind of job would give me exposure to the emergency setting?

 

[CookieBear]

Not to hijack this thread, but how were you able to get emergency experience? I'm quite interested in emergency vet medicine but it seems the places I have asked around at don't take any shadows/volunteers... should I try applying for a job within an animal hospital? And what kind of job would give me exposure to the emergency setting?

You already tried approaching any overnight/24 hour/emergency (nights & weekends) vet clinics in your area?

You can have large, bustling e-clinic facilities, with multiple docs and techs (and/or board certified critical care/emergency vets), or you can have the smaller, 1-2 doctor, perhaps 1-3 techs, that work the graveyard shifts and/or weekend eves/nights.

It's that kind of place where you will want to walk in, be nice to the receptionist, and inquire about tagging along/shadowing or - if you have to beg - volunteer kennel cleaning.

If it's the smaller-scale place, the folks that work overnights tend to be a close-knit bunch, and hopefully a well-oiled machine. So they may not jump for joy at someone who wants to shadow... but worst case is they just say No.

If you're too nervous about walking in, in person, then try calling. But if you can make a good first-impression as a walk-in, you might have some luck! Even if it's simply dropping off the resume (or application) and being nice and patient with the front-desk person.

(That front-desk person may often be the reason why you will/will not get called back!)

 

[david594]

Not to hijack this thread, but how were you able to get emergency experience? I'm quite interested in emergency vet medicine but it seems the places I have asked around at don't take any shadows/volunteers... should I try applying for a job within an animal hospital? And what kind of job would give me exposure to the emergency setting?

I'd apply for anything they have open. I worked as a a vet assistant in an E-Clinic for like 2 years and really got to love it. They would hire people with no experience for my position. Biggest part of my job was dealing with the clients. Put them in a room, get a history, TPR the animal, then go tell the doc. They do the exam, and then I come back with estimates for treatment options and have the owners sign any needed paperwork. Beyond that I would just assist with a lot of stuff.

 

[rileyroo]

Not to hijack this thread, but how were you able to get emergency experience? I'm quite interested in emergency vet medicine but it seems the places I have asked around at don't take any shadows/volunteers... should I try applying for a job within an animal hospital? And what kind of job would give me exposure to the emergency setting?

i was hired on at an emergency/specialty hospital full time at the beginning of a summer and then continued there through school. our hospital didn't allow for volunteers or shadowing. if yours doesn't as well, i would recommend applying for a paid position when you can.

 

[turnbackhelly]

Not to hijack this thread, but how were you able to get emergency experience? I'm quite interested in emergency vet medicine but it seems the places I have asked around at don't take any shadows/volunteers... should I try applying for a job within an animal hospital? And what kind of job would give me exposure to the emergency setting?

I'm going on my third year working at a large SA emergency/referral practice... as a receptionist. I actually started working there before I decided I wanted to go to vet school, but it has been a great "in through the back door" type of way to gain shadowing experience. I work weekends, so what I see is pretty much exclusively emergency, cardiology, and radiology (although I have a working knowledge of the other specialty services in our hospital - internal medicine, derm, optho, neuro, etc. etc.). I have developed great relationships with all of the ER doctors (some boarded, some not) and nurses with whom I work. They all know I want to go to vet school and have applied this year, so they will typically seek me out to show me interesting radiographs, bloodwork, or PE findings, go over an interesting case, look at specimens under the scope, etc. I'm also often able to stick around after my reception shifts to watch emergency surgeries or other procedures. Now that I have good relationships with them, the ER doctors also welcome me coming in to the hospital on days when I am not scheduled to work to shadow them, so I have gotten a lot of hours that way too. I feel that I have a unique and valuable vantage point of the profession from my position as an ER receptionist - I get to observe the medicine, the business, and how the vets interact with our clients. Although I don't have a ton of hands on experience (at this particular clinic, at least), I have still been able to observe A LOT working as a receptionist for an emergency clinic, and this is something that I really played up in my applications this cycle.

So, I guess my point here is just to echo what some others have already said - get in the door any way you can! Just because you may not be given a tech position doesn't mean the experience won't be valuable, or won't lead to other opportunities in the future.

 

[VeganSoprano]

You should be able to apply for a receptionist or assistant position at a 24 hour hospital. Lack of experience is unlikely to be a problem. If you have intelligence and work ethic, they will teach you what you need to know. It's physically and mentally tough work, but if it's right for you then you will love (almost) every minute.