Externships for clinical year

[stephanieb123]

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Anyone have any insight/ experience with any good externships that they did 3rd or 4th year? Starting clinicals in March of 2026 and would like to fill out a couple spots in my schedule- open to Oregon, Michigan, California, Illinois, NY. Interests include: small animal dog and cat general practice/ urgent care, ECC, and would be cool to dip my feet to exotics just to have baseline knowledge about these species. Lots of corporate offer externships near me but really hoping to gain some mentorship and actual learning while I am off campus for externships

 

[battie]

Lots of corporate offer externships near me but really hoping to gain some mentorship and actual learning while I am off campus for externships

I'm corporately owned, but my externship regularly gets full marks from students. We have students see their own cases, do procedures, scrub into surgery. My last student did multiple solo lac repairs, scrubbed into multiple surgeries, averaged 7 cases per shift, and invited to multiple other surgeries and scopes on her days off. She has applied to be a 2026 new grad Mentee. Over a quarter of our doctors are previous externs.

Point being that corporate externships aren't all created equal, no different than anything else. If you're interested in a particular practice, ask around to see if anyone has been there in particular and what their experience is like.

March 2026 might be too soon, but Illinois has the wildlife medical clinic. That was a great experience. However, it might be too late to land a spot.

 

[JaynaAli]

I’ve heard good things on SDN about Leader Dogs for the Blind in regards to GP and some therio…I wann say it was @SkiOtter and @Trilt that did it and posted about it?

I only did a couple clinical rotations and I did them at small, rural, privately owned clinics. One clinic I’d worked at as a tech, and the second clinic the vet from clinic #1 called his buddy/mentor a couple towns over to help me make the connection over there. They basically gave me free rein to do whatever I felt comfortable doing…wellness and developing sick plans, spays/neuters, and even some other surgeries like an amputation, an R&A, and a mass removal (and if I’m totally honest they probably gave me too much free rein like the time when a blocked cat came in while the vet was still working bulls for a different client and he told me and the receptionist who were still at the clinic to do what the cat needed…but we got him unblocked after he talked me through it and I watched a VetGirl YouTube video). So pull on any connections you have and see what people might know about.

Does your school have any sort of list? My school had a binder (I am old I’m sure it’s digital now) with clinics usually ran/staffed by alumni open to taking externs and it had reviews of the experiences.

 

[SkiOtter]

I’ve heard good things on SDN about Leader Dogs for the Blind in regards to GP and some therio…I wann say it was @SkiOtter and @Trilt that did it and posted about it?

Correct! LOVED leader dogs for the blind in Rochester MI!!!! They do GP on all of their dogs in training and in puppy raiser homes that are local and therio stuff. I got to help with a C section and helped with some spays and neuters. They do provide housing and I’ve heard it’s decent and the food is too, but my family lived close by so I just stayed there during my externship. Here’s their page about it.

Careers | Leader Dogs for the Blind

Join Leader Dogs for the Blind to make a difference! Explore inclusive careers that value diversity, teamwork, and a healthy work-life balance.

www.leaderdog.org

I had a couple externships through Mission Vet Partners (one was for dentistry but tbh was mainly watching since it was a lot of specialty procedures, so less useful, but I did learn how to read dental rads better and they brought in cadaver heads for me to extract on). The GP that I went to I did get to see patients on my own and was treated like a real baby doctor. MVP paid for my hotel stay for 2 weeks during each of my externships so that was suuuuuper nice. I don’t remember if there was a stipend too outside of that? It was a handful of years ago at this point and I know they’re currently going through a merger (SVP I think?) so I don’t know if things have changed with the externship program. I don't know if any of the other big corporates will pay for housing, but definitely something to look into.

 

[reyofsunshine]

if you're open to the Bay Area in California there's VCA Encina in Walnut Creek! It's a veterinary referral center but they also do GP, they have IM, oncology, dentistry, surgery, and ER as well. I'm there currently and all of the drs are wonderful and love to teach, they also have a great internship program so if that's something you're interested in I'd recommend checking it out! I believe that they fill up very fast though so i'd recommend reaching out to them as soon as possible.

 

[pp9]

Lots of corporate offer externships near me but really hoping to gain some mentorship and actual learning while I am off campus for externships

This implies that a corp hospital wouldn't be a good place to learn, which isn't true. Not sure if this is what you meant?? Honestly some corp hospitals have actual programs for externs, whereas in my experience that's harder to find in privately owned clinics. Word of mouth will always be your best best though, which you're trying to accomplish here of course.

Not sure where you want to be in MI but there are several Bluepearls in metro Detroit and one in GR. Whether or not they currently take externs, you'll have to verify. I externed at the Southfield location for IM/imaging and thought it was pretty good for that. They would be good places for ECC. There's also MSU's vet schooll, I don't know if they take externs but you can contact them too.

Illinois has a popular VCA for rotating internships (Aurora), you might check them out for externships and see what they offer. Also worth contacting UofI's vet school to see if they take externs these days. U of I definitely took externs when I was there (c/o 2019) so it's worth a shot, especially since they could check off all areas you're trying to get exposure.

 

[medo1]

Since surgery is part of ECC you may be interested in shelters for mostly spay neuter experience at both front street animal shelter or the san jose shelter. San jose is hard to get so and I didnt get it. At front street I was able to assist with a hind limb amp and did my own enucleation, doctors there were super nice. These are in California.

 

[stephanieb123]

I'm corporately owned, but my externship regularly gets full marks from students. We have students see their own cases, do procedures, scrub into surgery. My last student did multiple solo lac repairs, scrubbed into multiple surgeries, averaged 7 cases per shift, and invited to multiple other surgeries and scopes on her days off. She has applied to be a 2026 new grad Mentee. Over a quarter of our doctors are previous externs.

Point being that corporate externships aren't all created equal, no different than anything else. If you're interested in a particular practice, ask around to see if anyone has been there in particular and what their experience is like.

March 2026 might be too soon, but Illinois has the wildlife medical clinic. That was a great experience. However, it might be too late to land a spot.

Thanks so much for this insight! I appreciate the information. I start clincals in March 2026 but will have some openings throughout until May 2027, I will definitely look into some of the corporate externships offered.

 

[stephanieb123]

This implies that a corp hospital wouldn't be a good place to learn, which isn't true. Not sure if this is what you meant?? Honestly some corp hospitals have actual programs for externs, whereas in my experience that's harder to find in privately owned clinics. Word of mouth will always be your best best though, which you're trying to accomplish here of course.

Not sure where you want to be in MI but there are several Bluepearls in metro Detroit and one in GR. Whether or not they currently take externs, you'll have to verify. I externed at the Southfield location for IM/imaging and thought it was pretty good for that. They would be good places for ECC. There's also MSU's vet schooll, I don't know if they take externs but you can contact them too.

Illinois has a popular VCA for rotating internships (Aurora), you might check them out for externships and see what they offer. Also worth contacting UofI's vet school to see if they take externs these days. U of I definitely took externs when I was there (c/o 2019) so it's worth a shot, especially since they could check off all areas you're trying to get exposure.

Thank you! Didn't mean to give off that message, oops! Some students that I've worked with have just mentioned some of the corporate ones they have been at have not been super hands on and more of a shadow experience. Im glad to hear that is not the case with all of them. I appreciate the information, I will be reaching out to these hospitals!

 

[stephanieb123]

Correct! LOVED leader dogs for the blind in Rochester MI!!!! They do GP on all of their dogs in training and in puppy raiser homes that are local and therio stuff. I got to help with a C section and helped with some spays and neuters. They do provide housing and I’ve heard it’s decent and the food is too, but my family lived close by so I just stayed there during my externship. Here’s their page about it.

Careers | Leader Dogs for the Blind

Join Leader Dogs for the Blind to make a difference! Explore inclusive careers that value diversity, teamwork, and a healthy work-life balance.

www.leaderdog.org

I had a couple externships through Mission Vet Partners (one was for dentistry but tbh was mainly watching since it was a lot of specialty procedures, so less useful, but I did learn how to read dental rads better and they brought in cadaver heads for me to extract on). The GP that I went to I did get to see patients on my own and was treated like a real baby doctor. MVP paid for my hotel stay for 2 weeks during each of my externships so that was suuuuuper nice. I don’t remember if there was a stipend too outside of that? It was a handful of years ago at this point and I know they’re currently going through a merger (SVP I think?) so I don’t know if things have changed with the externship program. I don't know if any of the other big corporates will pay for housing, but definitely something to look into.

I was actually looking into MVP! Its really helpful to have a lot of housing covered- how did you like your other experiences outside of the dentistry one?