Extracurriculars and Residency Placement

[sprinkibrio]

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I agree - there are only maybe 1 or 2 of those people in my class, but these superstars do it all; perfect grades, research/pubs, community service and leadership, in a relationship - I imagine these are the same people that end up in the top positions in highly competitive specialties, eventually becoming department heads or president.

Honestly, it makes me think that ECs end up being an excuse rather than a reason for not doing well academically.

In my school those are the people who end up in derm taking lots of vacations. Early burnout?

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

~40 holding/recovery/observation stalls, some ICU/neonate and isolation stalls scattered around, two large animal surgical suites, several radiology suites, and more of all that good stuff. In terms of small animal holding facilities…gosh, I can't even count. I'm a second year and don't get too much hospital time yet…I know we have between 10 and 15 rooms total, some for medium to large dogs (about 6-8 runs per room) and some for small dogs and cats (15-20 cages per room). It tends to vary a lot. Our ICU suite is around 20 cages I believe.

But we don't only treat client animals --- Residents/students have to deal with the school's own "teaching and research" animals too! - so there is a lot of "field work" in addition to hospital work.


We have around 50 dogs and 30 horses that are used as teaching animals (ie, show student show to pass endotrachael tubes, give injections, do blood draws, trim hooves, do physical exams, etc. and are also used in endocrine and allergy studies). We also have a fully operational dairy (hooray! Local milk!) with a good sized herd (in the hundreds after calving season), as well as a beef herd. Also around are two or three dairy and meat sheep flocks, between 6 and 10 dedicated poultry and exotics rooms a few miles off campus, plus our aquaculture center. Tons of lab animal too , mice, rats, rabbit….we have a large infectious disease building where some interesting BSL-3 and BSL-2 research is going on.

So yep...thank goodness it isn't all of the dreadfully boring "So how is Fluffy today" junk.

 

[montessori2md]

Because not all vet students do post-doc stuff (right? you could go directly into practice, if I remember right), it seems like ECs could be a useful way to network with people who have similar interests, get an idea of what your options are, etc. But I wouldn't think that would translate into being a competitive candidate, necessarily. It seems to me that research, especially being published and/or in an area that is interesting to the program you are interested in, could be helpful.

A friend of mine did a vet residency with a USDA type program. She also did the work part-time, vet school thing, and I think she did an internship with the program she ended up doing the post-doc for during the summer after her first year of vet school.

 

[contulusa]

Research is what brings departments money. Community outreach only does so much (or more like does so little). In a day of age where competing for funding is competitive, donors tend to dish out money to places where research is strong because of its potential to help future patients.

You're confusing medical schools with residency programs. It is true that medical school and major research institutions recieve grants (mainly from the government...and to a lesser extent private foundations, pharma), Residency programs make most of their money from filling their slots and the Federal Government pays them. However, if you are strictly talking about donations to medical centers (most affiliated with larger Universities) then experiences that have shaped the donor's life is the key. The largest donations to Universities are from wealthy individuals (e.x. Harvard, Columbia).

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Because not all vet students do post-doc stuff (right? you could go directly into practice, if I remember right),

Yes, we can practice after our 4 years, assuming we pass national and state boards of course. However, some of us are admitted greedy bastards and gluttons for punishment, so we go on to residency for those nice higher salaries 😉 Just kidding of course. Well, half-kidding.

it seems like ECs could be a useful way to network with people who have similar interests, get an idea of what your options are, etc. But I wouldn't think that would translate into being a competitive candidate, necessarily. It seems to me that research, especially being published and/or in an area that is interesting to the program you are interested in, could be helpful.

That is basically what I was thinking. ECs in general (and by this I mean clubs, etc...even professional organizations to some extent) are very overrated. Networking? Yes. Getting you a job? Heck no! Research/publication (at least in vet med) is very helpful if you want to go into research or epidemiology. But if you wanted to become, say, a board certified surgeon, or something, then doing research wouldn't help you diddly-squat.

But man...these people who think they are the bread and butter of the school by holding dinky little offices in 6 different clubs....what are we, in high school? No one cares if you're class president, sorry. No one cares if you are AAEP's fundraiser, or Alpha Psi secretary. But if you had actual experience --- i.e. for example in med school, a surgery residency, you spent a summer working as a surgery assistant, or in vetmed, for equine medicine, you worked as an orthopedic tech....I can see that being much, MUCH more influential.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

We see 40,000+ patients per year in the hospital and in the field, including horses, cows, dogs, cats, pigs, birds....you name it.

There's 365 days in a year.

Assume a 16 hour work day.

40,000 / 365 * 16 = 6.8 animals per hour seen, continuously, with no days off.

I am assuming the 40,000 number is for the hospital, not for a resident!

 

[Blade28]

I am assuming the 40,000 number is for the hospital, not for a resident!

Yeah, that's what I assumed as well.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Yes, yes for the hopsital - that would some some residency hah! I'm not sure about caseload for the residents.