Failing out of Vetetrinary School please help

[laughingoctomom]

Hi guys I really need some help, I feel so lost.

From a young age the only thing I wanted to do was be a veterinarian and now it seems like that career path is dead and buried. All throughout my schooling I consistently performed at a high level (ie achieving “A”s) in order to make it into vet school. I graduated with a finishing score that would’ve let me do most courses available and I got into my first preference.

I am currently in veterinary school but I already failed an anatomy course once (in my first year) and I’m almost certain that I also failed an anatomy course in my second year (now). The first time I failed I re-evaluated how I was studying anatomy and when I came back to repeat the subject, I spent lots of time in the labs with the cadavers and doing practical stuff instead of just working off theoretical stuff. It worked, barely. I scraped a 50%. This year I tried to re-use the same method and it didn’t work. Over the past semester I’ve been feeling like a total failure because it seems no matter how hard I try, no matter how many hours I put in, I just can’t learn anatomy. My school is also trying to reduce the number of graduates and thus the pass mark has become dependent on the performance of the cohort (the majority of which perform well above average)

It’s not because I’m lazy or I don’t try hard enough – I spend hours upon hours studying, making flash cards and fake questions, I go to every class and always take good notes and ask the lecturers about things I don’t understand. My problem is that I just cannot perform in exams that well and I really struggle with application of anatomy into the clinical field and I guess the idea of pulling concepts together. Even if I achieve high grades in on-course assessment, I either barely scrape through or fail outright in exams. As it currently stands I have 2 options: I can either flunk out completely and go down an entirely different career path or I have the option of taking a semester off and re-starting next year with the new 2nd years. If I flunk out the issue is I feel so lost in life and I never really thought about that fact I might need a plan B), additionally, my current grades due to the past failures are extremely low which gives me limited options to go into. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve been thrown off the road I was on and I’m just running around blindly trying to find some sign.

The second option, repeating the subject again is just making me more torn. The more I learn about the stresses, the mental health struggles and the turmoil that begets the veterinary career, the more I don’t know if I can handle it. I still adore the profession but I simply don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I feel so ashamed in all this. How do you explain to your family that your life-long dream is ending because you just aren’t smart enough? How do you describe to your friends who are already graduated that you’ve wasted 3 years of your life?

I just need some help or some advice from someone I don’t know who can look into my situation a bit objectively. I’d be especially appreciative if anyone else who’s been through the same thing (ie failing a course, realising your dream is just not realistic) can describe what they did, how they coped and how they moved forwards.

Thanks in advance everyone, sorry for my sob-story.

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[LetItSnow]

Hi guys I really need some help, I feel so lost.

From a young age the only thing I wanted to do was be a veterinarian and now it seems like that career path is dead and buried. All throughout my schooling I consistently performed at a high level (ie achieving “A”s) in order to make it into vet school. I graduated with a finishing score that would’ve let me do most courses available and I got into my first preference.

I am currently in veterinary school but I already failed an anatomy course once (in my first year) and I’m almost certain that I also failed an anatomy course in my second year (now). The first time I failed I re-evaluated how I was studying anatomy and when I came back to repeat the subject, I spent lots of time in the labs with the cadavers and doing practical stuff instead of just working off theoretical stuff. It worked, barely. I scraped a 50%. This year I tried to re-use the same method and it didn’t work. Over the past semester I’ve been feeling like a total failure because it seems no matter how hard I try, no matter how many hours I put in, I just can’t learn anatomy. My school is also trying to reduce the number of graduates and thus the pass mark has become dependent on the performance of the cohort (the majority of which perform well above average)

It’s not because I’m lazy or I don’t try hard enough – I spend hours upon hours studying, making flash cards and fake questions, I go to every class and always take good notes and ask the lecturers about things I don’t understand. My problem is that I just cannot perform in exams that well and I really struggle with application of anatomy into the clinical field and I guess the idea of pulling concepts together. Even if I achieve high grades in on-course assessment, I either barely scrape through or fail outright in exams. As it currently stands I have 2 options: I can either flunk out completely and go down an entirely different career path or I have the option of taking a semester off and re-starting next year with the new 2nd years. If I flunk out the issue is I feel so lost in life and I never really thought about that fact I might need a plan B), additionally, my current grades due to the past failures are extremely low which gives me limited options to go into. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve been thrown off the road I was on and I’m just running around blindly trying to find some sign.

The second option, repeating the subject again is just making me more torn. The more I learn about the stresses, the mental health struggles and the turmoil that begets the veterinary career, the more I don’t know if I can handle it. I still adore the profession but I simply don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I feel so ashamed in all this. How do you explain to your family that your life-long dream is ending because you just aren’t smart enough? How do you describe to your friends who are already graduated that you’ve wasted 3 years of your life?

I just need some help or some advice from someone I don’t know who can look into my situation a bit objectively. I’d be especially appreciative if anyone else who’s been through the same thing (ie failing a course, realising your dream is just not realistic) can describe what they did, how they coped and how they moved forwards.

Thanks in advance everyone, sorry for my sob-story.

It's not a sob story - you're in a crappy spot in life, unsure what to do, and feeling pretty upset over it. All very reasonable.

So when you "re-evaluated how you study" did YOU re-evaluate how you study? Or did you go looking for help from upperclassmen, classmates, the dean's office, the services your school probably provides? It's incredibly hard - almost impossible - to be objective enough all by yourself to truly fix things. Way too easy to say "I was sitting in front of my notes for 4 hours, so therefore I was studying!" when really it was 3:30 minutes of daydreaming, facebooking, emailing, pinterest, etc., and 30 minutes of study. I can't *count* how many people I know who struggled in school who INSISTED they were using their time well ... but really weren't.

I mean, I'm just playing the odds. For every 10 people I hear talk about how they really buckled down and tried hard .... when I've dug deep, it turns out 9 of them really haven't been using their time well. They talk about putting in hour after painstaking hour ... but really it turns out to not be time well spent.

I once studied with a girl in vet school ... she started out vet school ahead of me. I think she finally graduated two years behind me, if I heard right. She asked to study for a big exam. I said sure. We met after school. First she wanted to go to dinner ... ok, that's an hour wasted. Then she sat in front of the tv while studying, spending half her time laughing at sit coms. Then she went to bed, having gotten halfway through the material.

Then she failed. And promptly complained: "After all that effort we put in, I should have done better!" Yeah. Right. [Note: I'm not advocating sleepless nights cramming, even though I did it for the first two years before I got smart - sleep is HUGE and you need lots of it in vet school.]

It is just THAT hard to objectively self-evaluate. It really is. Your brain will do anything to not accept that maybe you didn't try as hard as you could have.

I'm not saying that's you necessarily, though. Like I said, I'm just playing odds. But I didn't see anything in there about what resources you sought out to help improve your studying and make it more effective and efficient. Just that you "re-evaluated." Like it or not you're going to have to pass exams, so you need to figure out what it's going to take. And you can't just rely on yourself to do that because that obviously isn't working.

As hard as it is, you need to make the decision that's right for YOU. Don't become a vet because you're embarrassed to change course midstream and worried about how your family will react. Their your family - they either love you enough to accept what you do without hesitation, or they aren't worth worrying about anyway. Ditto to friends. They all are either in your court - and support whatever decision you make - or their opinion isn't worth losing sleep over. If you think the stresses of this field are going to make it unrewarding for you, get out now while you can - no sense dumping MORE time and money into it.

I'm two years out and I sure wouldn't criticize anyone for jumping ship while they can. If anything, I think that might be a smart move. But there are plenty of vets who just love being vets and wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

[aussiegrl08]

I feel like anatomy is one of those subjects that you either get or you don't. I struggle big time as a student, yet I flew through anatomy with no problem. However, a lot of my friends that excel in other courses struggle with anatomy. Yes, it's a very important subject. However, my friends that struggled are still doing very well in other courses and they pick up on the anatomy slowly as we cover it with other topics. If you are doing well in your other courses, don't let anatomy be the judge to change your life long dream. I did a lot of drawing in anatomy. Very rough, no details. Mainly with a white board. I used that to get the basics down. Then when I was in front of the dog etc, I would review everything but then make condensed videos pointing everything out. Although in the video I explained what everything was and what it did and why it was important, I would watch the video over and over on silent and talk myself through it out loud. I'd watch a couple minutes then rewind and turn the volume on to see if I covered everything. Hearing and visual was definitely what worked for me in anatomy. It's different from most other courses. Best of luck!

 

[battie]

Thanks in advance everyone, sorry for my sob-story.

As LIS said, this isn't a sob story. It's heartbreaking. I am currently going through a similar situation in that I failed out of first year and am now going through the process of readmission to join the new first years in the fall. The 18 hours after I found out were rough.

Take everything that LIS said to heart. Everything. When evaluating how you study, you have to honestly look at what you do. Use your school resources to identify your weak points. I now know mine ended being studying "backwards" and only really "getting" about half the information. I realized this too little, too late, but I realized it because I talked to closer friends about my studying, the anatomy professor, and learning to turn my phone on silent while studying (SnapChat is my weakness). If there's any chance you aren't being honest with yourself, have someone look for you.

Also take the time to "grieve", "mourn", whatever you want to call this. That was the 18 hours I mentioned above. It involved Netflix, oreos, and tear filled call to my mom. Get it out of your system now.

Then, start making plans. Take a look on why you do want to be a vet and why you don't. For me, my biggest concern was money, adding an extra year's worth of tuition and living expenses and the interest. After that, I understand the embarrassment. I really do. But as LIS said, do those opinions really matter? Will their opinions matter when you're walking across the stage to the words of "Dr. Laughingoctomom"? No. They won't. When you graduate, that judgment will have no place in your life. Then consider other factors such as your mental and emotional health. Is this dream worth your health? That's a very important question (actually more important than the money or the judgment, really). If that's a no, you need to seriously consider that. Talk to your school counselor if you have one and they are available. Again, some outside help may bring some things to light you hadn't considered.

Whether or not you decide to continue is up to you. Take some time to objectively look at your life and plan from there. Use your resources available to you and go forward, no matter your choice.

 

[Posey]

Very sorry you are going through this.

If you are undecided, can you tell the school you will come back in the spring and use the next six months to keep discerning what you want to do? In other words, are you locked into paying for the spring semester now, or can you change your mind closer to the start of the semester?

 

[Lab Vet]

Hi guys I really need some help, I feel so lost.

From a young age the only thing I wanted to do was be a veterinarian and now it seems like that career path is dead and buried. All throughout my schooling I consistently performed at a high level (ie achieving “A”s) in order to make it into vet school. I graduated with a finishing score that would’ve let me do most courses available and I got into my first preference.

I am currently in veterinary school but I already failed an anatomy course once (in my first year) and I’m almost certain that I also failed an anatomy course in my second year (now). The first time I failed I re-evaluated how I was studying anatomy and when I came back to repeat the subject, I spent lots of time in the labs with the cadavers and doing practical stuff instead of just working off theoretical stuff. It worked, barely. I scraped a 50%. This year I tried to re-use the same method and it didn’t work. Over the past semester I’ve been feeling like a total failure because it seems no matter how hard I try, no matter how many hours I put in, I just can’t learn anatomy. My school is also trying to reduce the number of graduates and thus the pass mark has become dependent on the performance of the cohort (the majority of which perform well above average)

It’s not because I’m lazy or I don’t try hard enough – I spend hours upon hours studying, making flash cards and fake questions, I go to every class and always take good notes and ask the lecturers about things I don’t understand. My problem is that I just cannot perform in exams that well and I really struggle with application of anatomy into the clinical field and I guess the idea of pulling concepts together. Even if I achieve high grades in on-course assessment, I either barely scrape through or fail outright in exams. As it currently stands I have 2 options: I can either flunk out completely and go down an entirely different career path or I have the option of taking a semester off and re-starting next year with the new 2nd years. If I flunk out the issue is I feel so lost in life and I never really thought about that fact I might need a plan B), additionally, my current grades due to the past failures are extremely low which gives me limited options to go into. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve been thrown off the road I was on and I’m just running around blindly trying to find some sign.

The second option, repeating the subject again is just making me more torn. The more I learn about the stresses, the mental health struggles and the turmoil that begets the veterinary career, the more I don’t know if I can handle it. I still adore the profession but I simply don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I feel so ashamed in all this. How do you explain to your family that your life-long dream is ending because you just aren’t smart enough? How do you describe to your friends who are already graduated that you’ve wasted 3 years of your life?

I just need some help or some advice from someone I don’t know who can look into my situation a bit objectively. I’d be especially appreciative if anyone else who’s been through the same thing (ie failing a course, realising your dream is just not realistic) can describe what they did, how they coped and how they moved forwards.

Thanks in advance everyone, sorry for my sob-story.

Hey OP. Sorry to hear about your situation. I can definitely relate. I had a 10+ year break between undergrad and vet school. Anatomy was my absolute nemesis. I hated the class, and struggled with it mightily throughout first semester. I recognized early on (i.e. week 1) that I had no idea how to study effectively for anatomy (the subject is truly its own beast), and struggled beginning with our first round of quizzes and exams. I turned everywhere for help- my course instructors, current/previous students, academic affairs. Despite investing massive amounts of effort in preparing for the subject, I was just spinning my wheels. It took a full semester of poor performance plus a study skills course geared specifically towards medical students (winter break of first year), to right my course. I ended up doing fine second semester, like first year never happened. If you're truly struggling in anatomy, my advice is to focus on big, important topics (i.e. main channel vasculature, position of fixed viscera, muscle action groups etc.), and leave the details (i.e. terminally branching nerves) to the students who already have a handle on the subject. Your goal is to pass at this stage, analyze what went wrong, and correct those habits for the second installment of the class. As far as practical exams go, the best advice I ever received (which truly made a difference in my performance), was to pull four cadavers (that don't belong to your own group), and run through the same structures on each of these. Practice this with a friend who is better at anatomy than you are. The anatomy lab can be a horrible, depressing place without company. Plus, you get the added bonus of correction from an individual who is sensitive to the fact you're having a tough time.

Before you know it, anatomy will be a blur and you'll be on to second year. I've never struggled in a vet school class to the same degree that I did in first-semester anatomy. It's just not my subject. I made it to fourth year- so can you! Once you've slain the anatomy giant, you'll be proud of what you've accomplished (I was absolutely thrilled with my B in the class second semester), and will recognize that you don't have to be an ace at the subject to be a competent vet.

Best of success! Don't be ashamed to ask for help. Many of us have been there. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss further and exchange war stories. Myself, and every other vet student who has ever struggled with anatomy, is rooting for you. Can't wait to hear that you've passed and moved on to greener pastures

 

[laughingoctomom]

It's not a sob story - you're in a crappy spot in life, unsure what to do, and feeling pretty upset over it. All very reasonable.

So when you "re-evaluated how you study" did YOU re-evaluate how you study? Or did you go looking for help from upperclassmen, classmates, the dean's office, the services your school probably provides? It's incredibly hard - almost impossible - to be objective enough all by yourself to truly fix things. Way too easy to say "I was sitting in front of my notes for 4 hours, so therefore I was studying!" when really it was 3:30 minutes of daydreaming, facebooking, emailing, pinterest, etc., and 30 minutes of study. I can't *count* how many people I know who struggled in school who INSISTED they were using their time well ... but really weren't.

I mean, I'm just playing the odds. For every 10 people I hear talk about how they really buckled down and tried hard .... when I've dug deep, it turns out 9 of them really haven't been using their time well. They talk about putting in hour after painstaking hour ... but really it turns out to not be time well spent.

I once studied with a girl in vet school ... she started out vet school ahead of me. I think she finally graduated two years behind me, if I heard right. She asked to study for a big exam. I said sure. We met after school. First she wanted to go to dinner ... ok, that's an hour wasted. Then she sat in front of the tv while studying, spending half her time laughing at sit coms. Then she went to bed, having gotten halfway through the material.

Then she failed. And promptly complained: "After all that effort we put in, I should have done better!" Yeah. Right. [Note: I'm not advocating sleepless nights cramming, even though I did it for the first two years before I got smart - sleep is HUGE and you need lots of it in vet school.]

It is just THAT hard to objectively self-evaluate. It really is. Your brain will do anything to not accept that maybe you didn't try as hard as you could have.

I'm not saying that's you necessarily, though. Like I said, I'm just playing odds. But I didn't see anything in there about what resources you sought out to help improve your studying and make it more effective and efficient. Just that you "re-evaluated." Like it or not you're going to have to pass exams, so you need to figure out what it's going to take. And you can't just rely on yourself to do that because that obviously isn't working.

As hard as it is, you need to make the decision that's right for YOU. Don't become a vet because you're embarrassed to change course midstream and worried about how your family will react. Their your family - they either love you enough to accept what you do without hesitation, or they aren't worth worrying about anyway. Ditto to friends. They all are either in your court - and support whatever decision you make - or their opinion isn't worth losing sleep over. If you think the stresses of this field are going to make it unrewarding for you, get out now while you can - no sense dumping MORE time and money into it.

I'm two years out and I sure wouldn't criticize anyone for jumping ship while they can. If anything, I think that might be a smart move. But there are plenty of vets who just love being vets and wouldn't trade it for the world.

Thank you so much for your kind reply and taking the time to respond to my essay, sorry it has taken me so long to acknowledge it. I can see what you mean about falling into self-pitying and not doing so much study as complaining about how rough it is. I really feel that I have tried every method under the sun to revise anatomy and none of them have clicked. I don't know maybe anatomy, as other people have mentioned, is just a subject that some people "get" and others don't, and clearly I'm the latter... That last point you made about becoming a vet for myself is something I'm really going to have to think about. In all honesty, I tend to cope with difficulty by just avoiding it but my motivation for being here is definitely something I'll have to really think about even if it is emotionally painful. Thank you for sharing your perspective on the career field as well, honest opinions are few I find. I've talked to a few vets and they tend to be vague or evasive concerning the struggles of the industry - especially frightening statistics dealing with suicide etc.

 

[anjabryn]

Did you try group study in anatomy in the lab after school or on weekends? This was the only way I got an A in anatomy, I had a group of 5 people and we met 4 times a week in the lab, took out cadavers and tested each other. Many of the students I have interviewed also said that they had to study in groups in order to pass.