lab grading question and looking for advice on dr. not calling back...

[canis13]

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I'm currently taking physics w/ calculus at the local state university, and am signed up to take the lab under the "graded" option, but apparently I have the ability to switch to the "pass/no-pass" option. I took general chemistry here last summer, and the only option for the lab was pass/no-pass, so I'm slightly confused as to why physics has a graded lab. So I'm wondering if it would be a mistake to change to pass/no-pass for this lab; I tried seeing if I could find any info on the websites of vet schools that I'm interested in, but didn't have much luck. The only thing I could find was that Cornell's site said that all "courses" must be taken for a grade, but I'm not sure if that includes lab. And given that my gen chem lab was pass/fail only, and that all of my other science classes were taken at my liberal arts school where the labs don't appear separately on my transcript, I'm hoping I can get away with doing pass/no-pass for this physics lab.


And my second question is not really a question, I'm just looking for advice or reassurance. I've been trying desperately to get veterinary public health experience and although I am lucky enough to live in a city where there is a state public health veterinarian, he seems to be the only relevant person in this area*. I sent him at least 4 emails over a 1 1/2 year period, only to realize that he doesn't reply to emails at all. I then called him twice in February...he called me back and we had a brief conversation where he told me to look at the state's Department of Human Services website to get a better idea of what I'd want to do in terms of working on a project or working with other people in his department, since he thought shadowing him would be very boring for me, and then to call him back in a couple of days. So I spent more time on their website, wrote down some specific ideas, and called him back, only to not get a return call for him. I then called him 2-3 more times over the next 3 months. I just got back to the city after being gone for 5 weeks, and called him again today and yet again left another voicemail. I feel like at this point, if he doesn't call me back, I probably should just stop calling and give up.

It's just really frustrating, because not only would volunteer experience work into my schedule much better now than in the fall when I'll be seeking full time employment, but I also would love to possibly get a paying job involving veterinary public health before I apply, and I don't see that happening very easily if I have absolutely no experience. I understand that he's not calling me back probably because he is incredibly busy, but just getting a "sorry, I don't have time for you" return call would be better than nothing.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences and has any words of wisdom.

*there is one more person in the department who is a DVM/MPH epidemiologist but I emailed her and she replied saying to contact the state public health vet who I had been trying to contacting already...

 

[chordy4]

Veterinary public health opportunities are not limited solely to working with the state's public health veterinarian.

Since I don't know about your overall interests/goals, I'll assume that you are interested (in the future...post DVM) in doing something in the public health world as it relates to veterinary medicine, which basically equates to being interested in public health. So, from that standpoint, there are many other places you can look to get exposure to the field that will still look good on an app and serve to better acquaint you with the field of public health (veterinary or otherwise). The specific field of 'veterinary public health' is still growing, so when it comes down to it, ANY sort of public health-related experiences can still be pertinent to that specific goal.

Try contacting your local health department. Often there will be a city health dept..in addition to a county health dept..in addition to the state health dept. The smaller scale health depts might be more keen to take on a volunteer (who will work for free) especially in the current economic state where a lot of funding is being cut, especially for health departments.

Additionally, investigate options within your state's department of agriculture. They also might have opportunities for you there. Speaking at least from my state's Dept of Ag, they were housed on the same campus as the Dept of Health and conducted necropsies, did testing for scrapie and Tb etc and also housed the entomology dept (think vector-borne diseases etc).

Also, maybe something to investigate more for next summer (depending on scheduling), but the USDA has a lot of internship opportunities that are very applicable to veterinary public health. They generally have a listing on their website somewhere.

 

[aspiringDVM]

Probably not too helpful for your current situation, but another potential option for public health might be joining NAHERC (National Animal Health Emergency Response Corps). They send vets and animal health techs (they accepted me, an unlicensed tech with clinical experience) to disease or disaster areas, ie after hurricanes or forest fires, foot and mouth or exotic disease outbreaks. You have the choice to accept or reject assigments, so you're not obligated to ship out at a moment's notice, and they do pay you if you actually go on a mission. They try to use people nearest the site of the problem so I was never deployed, but they have online courses and I was told I could absolutely list the position on VMCAS. You apply through the federal goverment employment site.
As I said, this likely doesn't apply to this summer, but you might get some interesting public health experience later on.