Internship?

[sms25]

Hey Everyone! I am now in my fourth year of vet school (yay!) and I'm trying to decide if I should do an internship or not. I just completed an externship at a busy specialty practice and it helped me decide that I do not want to specialize. I think doing an internship may be great experience right out of school to help me see a variety of cases while having good mentors close by; on the flip side it's crazy hours for way less than I would make going straight into practice. Anyone do an internship before general practice and regret it? Anyone not do an internship and regret it? Any input would be great! Thanks!

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[Angelo84]

Welcome,
I can't give you personal experience as I am a third year. Do you have a VIN membership? Its free for students and they have a bunch of good discussions on doing internships if you search.

 

[lailanni]

Hey Everyone! I am now in my fourth year of vet school (yay!) and I'm trying to decide if I should do an internship or not. I just completed an externship at a busy specialty practice and it helped me decide that I do not want to specialize. I think doing an internship may be great experience right out of school to help me see a variety of cases while having good mentors close by; on the flip side it's crazy hours for way less than I would make going straight into practice. Anyone do an internship before general practice and regret it? Anyone not do an internship and regret it? Any input would be great! Thanks!

Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you either (going into 2nd year) and echo the visiting VIN sentiment.

But can I ask why the externship at the specialty practice dissuaded you from specializing?

I'm thinking more and more about going down that road and I'm interested in hearing people's different experiences - the pros/cons of specializing.

 

[Bill59]

ALthough an internship is most valuable for someone trying to get a residency, I wouldn't rule out an internship if you're going to private practice. A good quality internship provides an additional year of mentor guided training and experience dealing with complicated patients. You spend a night admitting a dozen patients including head trauma, diabetic ketacidosis, immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, bloat, ... after that, there won't be much you will be afraid of.

The pay and hours suck but I don't many who have completed a good internship and regretted it.

Unfortunately there are some private practice internships out there that aren't well structured and don't provide adequate mentoring so buyer beware.

 

[spikey]

I'm a third year, so I can't give you personal experience, but I've heard the arguement for both options.

For the internship people tell you about the mentoring and experience you'll get for that year so that you will be more confindent on your own. Against the internship people reason that if you find a practice with the right mentorship/preceptorship, you can get the experience of an internship without the crummy pay.

I'm still undecided on what I'm doing, but see if you can't find what you're looking for on VIN or talk to some interns at your school.