Is 3rd year of vet school too late to pursue internship/residency?

[willa0622]

I am a 3rd year DVM. I have an MPH and have been solidly on the public health vet path for the last 3ish years. But over the past year, I’ve felt significantly more excited by many of my vet school classes/experiences than the public health jobs I’ve worked over break. I still love public health but I feel like I can more easily transition back to a public health vet role later on on my career than try to go back to clinical medicine after working in public health. The specialties I am most interested in now are neuro, internal med, and clinical pathology. I know this can also change during clinics.

My question is: is it too late for me to get the experiences I will need to keep this door open? I’ve spent the last 3 summers working in public health (mainly policy-based roles and disease surveillance work) and haven’t done true research since my undergrad years. I did work as a tech in a mixed practice clinic during my master’s program and my GPA/class rank are both very high. I know residencies are fiercely competitive and I worry I’m too far behind to catch up.

Any insight on the feasibility of this/advice for how to prepare over my 3rd and 4th year would be greatly appreciated

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[supershorty]

No. You're fine. Just do as well as you can in your coursework and take advantage of your 4th year to learn as much as possible, while maintaining the boundaries to keep your mental wellbeing in check. Take the cases that are outside your comfort zone. Stick around if there's an interesting procedure going on and you want to watch. Ask questions. Go the extra mile.

Grades are important, but getting strong letters of rec is most important, IMO. You've got plenty of time in your 4th year to shine.