Hardest year in vet school? And summarize each year in 25 words or less.

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Oh gawd 100+ puppies in one room would be such a ****ing nightmare. It's bad enough when I have like a litter of 5 and I need to have a technician dedicated to cleaning up pee/poo so they're not stepping all over it.

If that's your idea of rainbows and unicorns, more power to ya.


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I thought you became a vet because you wanted to play with puppies and kittens all day!!!
 
Oh gawd 100+ puppies in one room would be such a ****ing nightmare. It's bad enough when I have like a litter of 5 and I need to have a technician dedicated to cleaning up pee/poo so they're not stepping all over it.

If that's your idea of rainbows and unicorns, more power to ya.


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Now, kittens for everyone would be a lot better 😉
 
Oh **** are you seriously only 31!?


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I know, right? I'm only 6 months away from that myself. But she must be more grown up than all of us!

(PS - you can turn off the signature in the settings on the app, and then the dumb iPhone thing goes away. Unless you like it.)
 
I know, right? I'm only 6 months away from that myself. But she must be more grown up than all of us!

(PS - you can turn off the signature in the settings on the app, and then the dumb iPhone thing goes away. Unless you like it.)

Ditto. 5 months for me. Psshhht and she was worried about adulting. Makes us look super infantile.

And PS, maybe I like everyone knowing that I'm THAT iphone owner (you know, maybe one I got 3 models behind or whatever, but it's still a friggin kewl iPhone!)

Actually, it's cause my gadget literacy is so low that I have random signatures everywhere. Omg so embarrassing. Someone had an old email address of mine I don't use now and contacted me regarding a referral, and i didn't realize until after I sent it that my sig still said I was a vet student AND had those really annoying skype contact info ****. I was mortified.


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Ditto. 5 months for me. Psshhht and she was worried about adulting. Makes us look super infantile.

And PS, maybe I like everyone knowing that I'm THAT iphone owner (you know, maybe one I got 3 models behind or whatever, but it's still a friggin kewl iPhone!)

Actually, it's cause my gadget literacy is so low that I have random signatures everywhere. Omg so embarrassing. Someone had an old email address of mine I don't use now and contacted me regarding a referral, and i didn't realize until after I sent it that my sig still said I was a vet student AND had those really annoying skype contact info ****. I was mortified.


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Well, your status here is still vet student too. I mean, it should keep people away from asking you annoying questions, right? You aren't actually a vet quite yet if you remain as a forever vet student as your status. Right?
 
One of my greatest fears is accidentally responding to an important professional email with one of my more eccentric email addresses that I use for social media and such instead of the generic professional one I created recently. That's the drawback of having all your accounts linked to one Outlook account, I guess.
 
One of my greatest fears is accidentally responding to an important professional email with one of my more eccentric email addresses that I use for social media and such instead of the generic professional one I created recently. That's the drawback of having all your accounts linked to one Outlook account, I guess.
That's exactly how it happened. So embarrassing


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Struggling to make it through this boring morning of clin path. She keeps mentioning how things will be good board exam questions, yup, boards are done.
 
The silver lining is, however, that you are lucky enough to be doing what you really want to do, and you can make it work. You aren't going to spend those entire 4 years 100% miserable and hating life. I (and other people here who have said similar things) don't mean to crush people's confidence or their excitement to be in veterinary school. I am so indescribably happy that I went to vet school because, if nothing else, it allowed me to do what I am doing today even if I didn't like being *in* it. I had a lot of great experiences and met a lot of fantastic people.

It really is a special kind of miserable to be in a rigorous program and realize you're not doing what you want to do and that you don't really want what comes afterwards, so surviving and finishing the program does nothing but put you on a path you don't want to be on. That's what happened to me with my first career, and I was so miserable that I could barely eat and was having my hair fall out. And leaving academia is probably not quite as difficult as quitting vet school, but the social pressure is pretty powerful, and grad students and faculty have no problem talking about how so-and-so who left just couldn't "handle it." That silver lining that you'll be doing something you actually want to do can make all the difference.

It's just when I think back on the day-to-day slog that I'm so grateful to be DONE. And I know there were lots of times I *did* feel miserable, and that feeling is totally normal and OK and doesn't make anyone a lesser student, person, or vet.

This is so important to remember. Thank you guys for saying it and being so open and honest. I hope that if we truly know it's normal to feel this way, we'll be better prepared to cope with those feelings, anxiety, and doubt when they crop up.
 
I'm still not adulting very well. But somehow I own a clinic? Ffs, I play video games in my free time...

Also organization is not my strong suit.

Hehe.

I'm wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T shirt today and am considering titling the department seminar I am giving next week on translational colorectal cancer models "Butt Stuff". And somehow people call me doctor. :sorry:
 
Hehe.

I'm wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T shirt today and am considering titling the department seminar I am giving next week on translational colorectal cancer models "Butt Stuff". And somehow people call me doctor. :sorry:

Definitely should title it "ass cancer".
 
Hehe.

I'm wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T shirt today and am considering titling the department seminar I am giving next week on translational colorectal cancer models "Butt Stuff". And somehow people call me doctor. :sorry:
I'm off. So I'm in my Batcat shirt...
 
Another thing said smart businessman told me was that goals are for losers. Don't make goals. Make COMMITTMENTS.

Love this. I hated that all through high school and all through college and even in this job we had to make "goals". Isn't the "goal" of a class to learn and do the best you can? Isn't the goal of my job to do my job? Why all these goals!?!?
 
Hehe.

I'm wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T shirt today and am considering titling the department seminar I am giving next week on translational colorectal cancer models "Butt Stuff". And somehow people call me doctor. :sorry:

There are many people on this forum I'm excited to be colleagues with, but I'm think I'm most excited about WTF.
 
It may be different at other schools, but here at Tennessee I think we would all agree that the anatomic pathology department has really cornered the market on idiosyncracies.
I love the UT pathologists!

They are all super into their work. Very passionate.
 
It may be different at other schools, but here at Tennessee I think we would all agree that the anatomic pathology department has really cornered the market on idiosyncracies.

We're all a little crazy.

You should see us when we all get together at our annual conference.

It's madness.

Pure unadulterated geeky awkward madness.
 
But yeah, circling back around to the topic....I wouldn't be in this field, which I love so much, without having dragged my ass through vet school. It's getting your ticket stamped. It's ok to not love everything, or even to dislike a lot of it (which I did, because SO MUCH of what I was having to learn and do was not applicable to what I knew I wanted to pursue after vet school - I was never going to have to do surgery or do any sort of treatment or anything like that). But I slapped a smile on my face and learned about it even though I couldn't give two craps about it.
 
But yeah, circling back around to the topic....I wouldn't be in this field, which I love so much, without having dragged my ass through vet school. It's getting your ticket stamped. It's ok to not love everything, or even to dislike a lot of it (which I did, because SO MUCH of what I was having to learn and do was not applicable to what I knew I wanted to pursue after vet school - I was never going to have to do surgery or do any sort of treatment or anything like that). But I slapped a smile on my face and learned about it even though I couldn't give two craps about it.
This is actually somewhat of a concern for me. I want to do pathology, I'm going to vet school to get the required degree and move on to a residency. How do I find the motivation to learn about all these things that I will not ever use again?! I'm sure I'll find at least some of it interesting though, which will help a little.
 
This is actually somewhat of a concern for me. I want to do pathology, I'm going to vet school to get the required degree and move on to a residency. How do I find the motivation to learn about all these things that I will not ever use again?! I'm sure I'll find at least some of it interesting though, which will help a little.

You can do it. A lot of it *is* interesting on an...aesthetic? level, even if you know you won't really use it and don't care that much about it. You'll definitely be more frustrated than the average student, but it is doable, and worth it.

Vet school was bleh. Residency was the best 3 years of my life.

Except that little quiz at the end.

*twitch*

*twitch twitch*
 
I dunno what y'all are talking about.

I loved every last second of vet school. My school had unicorns around every corner and rainbows over every doorway and on the first day of each semester we each got a new puppy waiting for us in our lecture hall seat.
No wonder the University of Minnesota costs so much...
 
Not sure if this is the right thread, but it seemed relevant. Videos just posted today by SAVMA.

I think this was relevant in this thread 🙂 and super encouraging as well, just what I needed. Much appreciated!
 
Not sure if this is the right thread, but it seemed relevant. Videos just posted today by SAVMA.


Saw that today and really liked it. Some members of my class have started some pharmaceuticals during their time in vet school. There's no shame in it but it IS a shame that this is what drives them to do it.
 
This is actually somewhat of a concern for me. I want to do pathology, I'm going to vet school to get the required degree and move on to a residency. How do I find the motivation to learn about all these things that I will not ever use again?! I'm sure I'll find at least some of it interesting though, which will help a little.
Yeah everyone has stuff they'll never do or need to know about again. You make the best of it. Or you get tired, but decide you've gone too far so you may as well finish and not let vet school win. Graduate out of spite.
 
Yeah everyone has stuff they'll never do or need to know about again. You make the best of it. Or you get tired, but decide you've gone too far so you may as well finish and not let vet school win. Graduate out of spite.

Lol---see you in clinics!
 
Or you get tired, but decide you've gone too far so you may as well finish and not let vet school win. Graduate out of spite.

Ahahah. That's about where I am at with this PhD. One more year.

this-bird-keeps-itself-in-the-air-by-sheer-force-of-anger-alone-1439496351.jpg
 
Yeah everyone has stuff they'll never do or need to know about again. You make the best of it. Or you get tired, but decide you've gone too far so you may as well finish and not let vet school win. Graduate out of spite.

Ahahah. That's about where I am at with this PhD. One more year.

Been there, I can do it again if necessary
 
This is actually somewhat of a concern for me. I want to do pathology, I'm going to vet school to get the required degree and move on to a residency. How do I find the motivation to learn about all these things that I will not ever use again?! I'm sure I'll find at least some of it interesting though, which will help a little.

You have to get through vet school and an internship with enough gusto (and grades) to get that residency you are planning on wanting. And recognize that you might actually use it again. That you don't know what the future holds and strange things happen in life. Especially if you're not even in vet school yet.
 
You have to get through vet school and an internship with enough gusto (and grades) to get that residency you are planning on wanting. And recognize that you might actually use it again. That you don't know what the future holds and strange things happen in life. Especially if you're not even in vet school yet.

Small correction, but path generally does not want or require a rotating clinical internship because it isn't that relevant to the topics of a path residency. In lieu of that they do expect a lot path-related experience during vet school and summers.

But yes, grades and performance are of course important. And you never know when your interests may change. I was severely tempted to do large animal med throughout school, something I never thought I would like having come in as very research-focused. You never know.
 
Small correction, but path generally does not want or require a rotating clinical internship because it isn't that relevant to the topics of a path residency. In lieu of that they do expect a lot path-related experience during vet school and summers.

But yes, grades and performance are of course important. And you never know when your interests may change. I was severely tempted to do large animal med throughout school, something I never thought I would like having come in as very research-focused. You never know.

And I went in with absolutely no interest in doing clinical medicine.......until midway through second year. Then I became really interested in avian/exotic medicine, but now I haven't so much as touched a bird in a dozen years.
 
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