Facilities

[Buttons1786]

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Does anyone have any input on which school has the most impressive facilities? Thank you!

 

[Minnerbelle]

Does anyone have any input on which school has the most impressive facilities? Thank you!

For what?

 

[Buttons1786]

Lab rooms, classrooms, teaching hospital

 

[TooLove]

I find this an interesting question.

Generally, the only people who see the interior workings of a teaching hospital are going to be the staff and students. So the functionality of the facilities would take precedence over how grandiose they are. You should choose a school based on its reputation, how well it jives with you/your learning style, etc, not how impressive it looks.

 

[Psorophoraferox]

Our restrooms could use some improvement, actually. 😉

 

[cowgirla]

Our restrooms could use some improvement, actually. 😉

Important crap happens in there.

 

[jmo1012]

I find this an interesting question.

Generally, the only people who see the interior workings of a teaching hospital are going to be the staff and students. So the functionality of the facilities would take precedence over how grandiose they are. You should choose a school based on its reputation, how well it jives with you/your learning style, etc, not how impressive it looks.

also, unless you've been to every single vet school (whats the updated number nowadays? i keep saying 28 because i know there are more but don't actually know how many), no one can really say. and schools are always in the works of adding new facilities, updating old ones, and building spectacular new things. what's impressive today probably wont be the most impressive once you matriculate into a class just because of the time factor

 

[BlackDog17]

Not to mention that you really don't need anything more than "functional" to get a good education. State of the art is great and all, but students rarely get to play with the expensive toys, at least until 4th year. And as jmo said, by then it will all be outdated again anyway.

All accredited schools are held to the same basic standards. Base your decision on logical things like the school's accreditation status, location, and cost, not how pretty its buildings are.

 

[Buttons1786]

Thanks. I am not basing entire decision on how new everything is, but one of the schools I have been accepted to seemed underwhelming in comparison to others, even though it's very well established. I have four more interviews and just wondered if anyone had any opinions on schools they have visited. Iowa clearly seems to have updated and auburn I've heard is either already done or in the process.

 

[LetItSnow]

I find this an interesting question.

Generally, the only people who see the interior workings of a teaching hospital are going to be the staff and students. So the functionality of the facilities would take precedence over how grandiose they are. You should choose a school based on its reputation, how well it jives with you/your learning style, etc, not how impressive it looks.

Well. "Impressive" can mean a lot of different things (including function); it doesn't just mean nice 'looking', the OP might be referring to capabilities (equipment) and number of cases (for the hospital), implementation of A/V equipment and 'collaborative learning environments' for classrooms, etc.

It's not a really unreasonable question for a pre-vet to ask, I guess, but now that I'm in school I'd say the facilities aren't really a huge huge deal. An anatomy lab from the 50s works just as well for cutting up cadavers as a neat, cool, shiny new one. (For the most part.) It's not like as a plain old vet student you're going to be marching around the MRI much, so that sort of stuff probably doesn't matter. Except maybe for attracting staff. But that doesn't mean they can teach.

So all in all, I'm kinda 'meh' on the facilities question. I think it's kinda a bit of sleight of hand - it's nice for attracting students but not actually all that important.

All that said, they re-furnished our teaching operatory over the last summer, and having new working tables that adjust properly with new bright shiny lights with drop-down LCDs in the ceiling hooked up to overhead cameras on one of the surgery tables .... it is pretty useful.

To the OP: I doubt many of us here have toured enough vet schools to really tell you which are more 'impressive'. And, you didn't define 'impressive'. So I don't think you asked a question for which you can get a useful answer. Plus, you can only go to the schools that accept you, so you're probably the best person to do a side-by-side comparison of those specific schools.

 

[TooLove]

Not to mention that you really don't need anything more than "functional" to get a good education. State of the art is great and all, but students rarely get to play with the expensive toys, at least until 4th year. And as jmo said, by then it will all be outdated again anyway.

All accredited schools are held to the same basic standards. Base your decision on logical things like the school's accreditation status, location, and cost, not how pretty its buildings are.

Keep in mind as well that while it's great to have access to the fancy equipment, the majority of hospitals where you would potentially be practicing after graduation won't. You'll have to know how to work with the resources that you have, and with many clinics just getting digital radiology, ultrasound, and lasers you won't be ordering MRI's at the drop of a hat. What's most important will be your foundational knowledge of medicine, and you'll get that from a good program regardless of its aesthetics.

LIS, you do have a point. To me the original post read as what school's had the biggest "wow factor", but perhaps the OP didn't mean it that way.

 

[twelvetigers]

Davis was decidedly huge compared to what I'm used to. But yanno.

 

[Buttons1786]

I wasn't really talking wow factor- just more so functional, clean, and modern. Not even including fancy equipment- just generally where students will be working and studying (class rooms, labs, etc). Only asking bc I was surprised with one of the more expensive schools I saw. I understand funds are allocated in productive ways elsewhere. I was only trying to see if anyone was pleasantly surprised by some of the schools they had visited.