Michigan State University c/o 2024

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StayingPositive2017 said:
They never PM'd me but happy to answer questions here also
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Hi! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about Michigan St's CVM program! Here are a flurry of questions:

1) I was wondering how you were liking the new curriculum?
2) Do you find that it is manageable (albeit I'm sure stressful)?
3) What do exam schedules look like?
4) Could you describe a typical day of classes in first year?
5) What support is there for students who struggle academically and otherwise?
6) How did your study habits change since the beginning of the year to how it is now?
7) How "cut throat" is your cohort? (I'm sure this will vary from year to year)
8) Are professors and exams fair? (Once had a physiology professor ask who won the Nobel prize in a particular year on an exam...)
9) Are there people from your year who have failed classes? If so, what options are available to them to remediate if available?
10) What was the most helpful resource for you to get through the program so far?

Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me! I'm very excited to start (despite the very possible online semester) and want to know what I should expect. I also sent the same questions to Moanswoptr 🙂 Just trying to see current student's opinions and perspectives of what it's like to be a student specifically as MSU!
 
Lisagk said:
Hi! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about Michigan St's CVM program! Here are a flurry of questions:

1) I was wondering how you were liking the new curriculum?
2) Do you find that it is manageable (albeit I'm sure stressful)?
3) What do exam schedules look like?
4) Could you describe a typical day of classes in first year?
5) What support is there for students who struggle academically and otherwise?
6) How did your study habits change since the beginning of the year to how it is now?
7) How "cut throat" is your cohort? (I'm sure this will vary from year to year)
8) Are professors and exams fair? (Once had a physiology professor ask who won the Nobel prize in a particular year on an exam...)
9) Are there people from your year who have failed classes? If so, what options are available to them to remediate if available?
10) What was the most helpful resource for you to get through the program so far?

Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me! I'm very excited to start (despite the very possible online semester) and want to know what I should expect. I also sent the same questions to Moanswoptr 🙂 Just trying to see current student's opinions and perspectives of what it's like to be a student specifically as MSU!
Click to expand...
Do you want these answered as a second year or from what I remember about first year?
 
1) I was wondering how you were liking the new curriculum?
I personally LOVE the new curriculum. I tell people I'm probably it's biggest advocate.

2) Do you find that it is manageable (albeit I'm sure stressful)?
I found it very manageable. I'm someone who didn't really try until I decided to go to vet school end of Junior year of undergrad, so I'm fairly relaxed with my study methods. I just finished first year and I know a lot of people went much harder than me, but I did very well. So I would expect that whatever effort you had to put in before for classes, you should expect yourself to do about the same. Though you'll have to understand that you'll have to do more on your own at home than you have ever before.

3) What do exam schedules look like?
We have exams just about every week, sounds crazy, but is really nbd.

4) Could you describe a typical day of classes in first year?
You have class for anywhere from 2 to 6 (maybe?) hours of class time a day, and almost every day can be different schedule-wise. Depending on the course you can have lecture, anatomy lab, histology lab, and clinical skills lab. Some days you'll just have lecture, some days you'll have multiple (lecture for systems course, lab, and lecture for 1 credit course) etc. We usually always have 12-1pm, at least, off for lunch (and there is usually a good club lunch talk to sit in on), and normally we aren't on campus too late if we started in the early morning (earliest is usually 8am).

5) What support is there for students who struggle academically and otherwise?
We finally have a new cvm specific therapist (our previous one was awesome but she left to help people affected in Flint) and there is a very good program set up for students that need special assistance/time/space etc with testing or otherwise. The second years have been fabulous in providing reviews for first years to help before most exams as well.

6) How did your study habits change since the beginning of the year to how it is now?
Like I said I'm newer to the study game, but honestly I've let myself just feel out what I need to do for each course, and I've probably studied for each course in a slightly different way. At the beginning of the year I was totally panicked about how to study and what the tests would be like, but after the first couple I figured out that's it's not that scary and I relaxed back into my study mode. I honestly only study for 2-4 hours the night before exams. There was only one course that I started studying for a day earlier than that and that was because of timing issues.

7) How "cut throat" is your cohort? (I'm sure this will vary from year to year)
Lawl. Not at all. Everyone wants to see everyone else do well.

8) Are professors and exams fair? (Once had a physiology professor ask who won the Nobel prize in a particular year on an exam...)
I'd say they are all very fair. There may have been a question or two throughout the year that I was upset about, but for the vast majority they work very hard to only ask questions from the learning objectives and they DO NOT want to trick you, they want you to learn and succeed!

9) Are there people from your year who have failed classes? If so, what options are available to them to remediate if available?
Maybe? I don't personally know of anyone in my class, but I know the second years all had a terrible time with at least one of their courses - I believe if they failed they could retake in the summer. In our class our Pharmacology exam was murderous, so there was a large curveish thing (?) and a few people that didn't meet the requirements to pass were given a review and two extra days to retake the exam to pass at the end of this semester.

10) What was the most helpful resource for you to get through the program so far?
Not a great question for me since I really only like to look at what the instructors provide since I know that is what we'll be tested on. But there are definitely great resources out there depending on the course.
VIN has wonderful info and I think good 3D models for anatomy (free student membership)
Eclinpath is a good resource for clinical info
 
MSUcvmHOPE said:
1) I was wondering how you were liking the new curriculum?
I personally LOVE the new curriculum. I tell people I'm probably it's biggest advocate.

2) Do you find that it is manageable (albeit I'm sure stressful)?
I found it very manageable. I'm someone who didn't really try until I decided to go to vet school end of Junior year of undergrad, so I'm fairly relaxed with my study methods. I just finished first year and I know a lot of people went much harder than me, but I did very well. So I would expect that whatever effort you had to put in before for classes, you should expect yourself to do about the same. Though you'll have to understand that you'll have to do more on your own at home than you have ever before.

3) What do exam schedules look like?
We have exams just about every week, sounds crazy, but is really nbd.

4) Could you describe a typical day of classes in first year?
You have class for anywhere from 2 to 6 (maybe?) hours of class time a day, and almost every day can be different schedule-wise. Depending on the course you can have lecture, anatomy lab, histology lab, and clinical skills lab. Some days you'll just have lecture, some days you'll have multiple (lecture for systems course, lab, and lecture for 1 credit course) etc. We usually always have 12-1pm, at least, off for lunch (and there is usually a good club lunch talk to sit in on), and normally we aren't on campus too late if we started in the early morning (earliest is usually 8am).

5) What support is there for students who struggle academically and otherwise?
We finally have a new cvm specific therapist (our previous one was awesome but she left to help people affected in Flint) and there is a very good program set up for students that need special assistance/time/space etc with testing or otherwise. The second years have been fabulous in providing reviews for first years to help before most exams as well.

6) How did your study habits change since the beginning of the year to how it is now?
Like I said I'm newer to the study game, but honestly I've let myself just feel out what I need to do for each course, and I've probably studied for each course in a slightly different way. At the beginning of the year I was totally panicked about how to study and what the tests would be like, but after the first couple I figured out that's it's not that scary and I relaxed back into my study mode. I honestly only study for 2-4 hours the night before exams. There was only one course that I started studying for a day earlier than that and that was because of timing issues.

7) How "cut throat" is your cohort? (I'm sure this will vary from year to year)
Lawl. Not at all. Everyone wants to see everyone else do well.

8) Are professors and exams fair? (Once had a physiology professor ask who won the Nobel prize in a particular year on an exam...)
I'd say they are all very fair. There may have been a question or two throughout the year that I was upset about, but for the vast majority they work very hard to only ask questions from the learning objectives and they DO NOT want to trick you, they want you to learn and succeed!

9) Are there people from your year who have failed classes? If so, what options are available to them to remediate if available?
Maybe? I don't personally know of anyone in my class, but I know the second years all had a terrible time with at least one of their courses - I believe if they failed they could retake in the summer. In our class our Pharmacology exam was murderous, so there was a large curveish thing (?) and a few people that didn't meet the requirements to pass were given a review and two extra days to retake the exam to pass at the end of this semester.

10) What was the most helpful resource for you to get through the program so far?
Not a great question for me since I really only like to look at what the instructors provide since I know that is what we'll be tested on. But there are definitely great resources out there depending on the course.
VIN has wonderful info and I think good 3D models for anatomy (free student membership)
Eclinpath is a good resource for clinical info
Click to expand...


I will second everything that she said. The only thing I will add was that my study habits changed a little bit to be more active learning so I don't have to relearn material later. I personally find vet school a little more manageable than undergrad due to this curriculum. I'm definitely retaining a lot more material than I did in undergrad.

We did have a few students fail courses this year. Some were due to health issues and some were just straight up tough courses (I'm looking at you Cardio and Immuno/Heme). They will be able to remediate over the summer. MSU gives students a couple chances to do this and really tries to keep everyone there. I also know if too many courses are failed that you can "recess" into the next class down.
 
Thank you both for taking the time to answer! It's so great to hear current students thriving under the new curriculum and receiving admin/professor/college support 🙂 Once a week exams sound fair and I am relieved to hear that professors/admin are invested in your success.
 
1) I was wondering how you were liking the new curriculum?
I like the curriculum fine, having viewed many of the legacy lectures as prep work, I would say the load is slightly less, and depending on the instructor, more interactive. I really wish they would rerecorded some of the lectures though and give us new content as there is sometimes missed details not being in the lecture hall (no pointer, references to content we haven't learned in classes that no longer exist, etc). Most instructors say we are more interactive than previous years but also that our pharmacology knowledge is lacking.

Compared to other colleges, based on sdn convos, I would say the load is definitely lighter.

2) Do you find that it is manageable (albeit I'm sure stressful)?
I have found it to be manageable, though Tuesday and Wednesday always feel impossible but by Thursday and Friday I feel better lol.

3) What do exam schedules look like?
Most classes are three weeks with a midterm and a final, usually but not always on a Friday. Plan on one exam a week and you will be good.
4) Could you describe a typical day of classes in first year?
Don't really know how its changed, Mo can answer this one. Second year was pretty consistently class 8-12 maybe something 1-2

5) What support is there for students who struggle academically and otherwise?
Teachers seem open to discuss if you are struggling but I'm not sure of specifics

6) How did your study habits change since the beginning of the year to how it is now?
For me, I've always had to take great notes during prep, really trying hard to finish before the next day. I keep a log of what I needed to catch up on. I never go home after class, instead study at school until 430, then not again til 830 or 9, in bed by 1030 ish

7) How "cut throat" is your cohort? (I'm sure this will vary from year to year)
2022 is not really cutthroat at all. Dont think I would call anyone gunners. Most people are willing to answer questions if ask, though there are some definite cliques.

8) Are professors and exams fair? (Once had a physiology professor ask who won the Nobel prize in a particular year on an exam...)
Yes really pretty fair. The teachers often analyze exams and give points or cut questions that were not good. Sounds like 2023 was also able to "negotiate" even more leniency...

9) Are there people from your year who have failed classes? If so, what options are available to them to remediate if available?
Yes there are people who have failed (<68% overall grade). Its my understanding that you can then remediate (retake) the class over the summer, but there is a limit of one or two classes that this is allowed and so far no one in my class has had to repeat a year to my knowledge. We did have two 2021 join our class this year, though one was a LOA I believe.

10) What was the most helpful resource for you to get through the program so far?
This year I finally found my study group and it has made a world of difference to get together the Thursday before an exam and go through all the learning objectives and/or play a kahoot one of us made for 5 hrs, then head home for dinner and go to bed!
 
For some MSU students. Can you answer one question I have please. Where you all able to come home often? Or was the school work that much that limited you to come home? I live in NYC and wanted to come home often. But is that realistic?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
HallyNina said:
For some MSU students. Can you answer one question I have please. Where you all able to come home often? Or was the school work that much that limited you to come home? I live in NYC and wanted to come home often. But is that realistic?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I would say that you will be able to go home some of the time but it will be dependent on what class you are in and how easily you learn/what grades you are striving for.
If I didn't have a kid and didn't care if I got straight Cs I could have traveled quite a bit.
 
StayingPositive2017 said:
I would say that you will be able to go home some of the time but it will be dependent on what class you are in and how easily you learn/what grades you are striving for.
If I didn't have a kid and didn't care if I got straight Cs I could have traveled quite a bit.
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Thank you so much for your honesty and time you took to answer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
HallyNina said:
Thank you so much for your honesty and time you took to answer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I'll also mention that it is much easier to travel on your "off" weekend - between two classes. So if cutaneous ended on friday, final exam in the morning, travel that afternoon, play Saturday, travel sunday morning, prep work for the next classes sunday night. I would always take my laptop with me so that if the next class opened and it had a soul crushing amount of prep for monday I could split it between sat and sun.
 
HallyNina said:
For some MSU students. Can you answer one question I have please. Where you all able to come home often? Or was the school work that much that limited you to come home? I live in NYC and wanted to come home often. But is that realistic?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yeah from my point of view it definitely depends on the individual. If you really wanted to you could easily leave every other or 3rd weekend (between systems courses) and have no issues like Paws said. My only concern would be cost. I spent many of my weekends visiting my boyfriend, but even just gas money is a little much for my budget.
The work load itself was not an issue for me.
 
MSUcvmHOPE said:
Yeah from my point of view it definitely depends on the individual. If you really wanted to you could easily leave every other or 3rd weekend (between systems courses) and have no issues like Paws said. My only concern would be cost. I spent many of my weekends visiting my boyfriend, but even just gas money is a little much for my budget.
The work load itself was not an issue for me.
Click to expand...

Thank you soo much


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
FutureAvianDVM said:
I believe everyone on the waitlist would have received this email, but one of my friends had it go to their spam folder and didn’t see it, this was a status update regarding the class..
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We had people in our class get pulled off the waitlist days before orientation. Obviously if someone is far away from spot 1 or 2, it's unlikely to move enough to get them in, but don't be surprised if you have someone get pulled off the list late in the summer. It happens!
 
Vet_Squared80 said:
We had people in our class get pulled off the waitlist days before orientation. Obviously if someone is far away from spot 1 or 2, it's unlikely to move enough to get them in, but don't be surprised if you have someone get pulled off the list late in the summer. It happens!
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Still sitting at number 1 on the OOS waitlist, so fingers crossed!
I’m curious though, for those accepted, have they mentioned how classes are going to be with COVID going on? I’ve heard that some universities are considering online learning through the fall.
 
Nlibio said:
Still sitting at number 1 on the OOS waitlist, so fingers crossed!
I’m curious though, for those accepted, have they mentioned how classes are going to be with COVID going on? I’ve heard that some universities are considering online learning through the fall.
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Crossing my fingers for you!
Since the last time it was mentioned, admin has said they are prepared to start classes online for a couple of weeks before they can resume in person. However, they've not mentioned if classes will be completely online for the entire semester (hopefully not, but who knows)
 
I know the class is full, but has there been any movement in the waitlist at all? I emailed Michigan last week but still haven’t gotten a response.
 
Someone would probably need to drop out of the class at this point. We have started orientation team-building meetups virtually with the 2024s
 
rebster101 said:
I know the class is full, but has there been any movement in the waitlist at all? I emailed Michigan last week but still haven’t gotten a response.
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I know that at least for the OOS waitlist there has not been any movement. I’ve been #1 since the seats filled up.
 
Welp, somebody must have heard my whining and moping because I finally got the acceptance letter!
To those still wondering, OOS waitlist has moved AT LEAST one spot since classes have filled. Started at #60 and was just called off today.
Whoever dropped, I only hope that it was because you got accepted into another school that you were trying to get into.
 
Nlibio said:
Welp, somebody must have heard my whining and moping because I finally got the acceptance letter!
To those still wondering, OOS waitlist has moved AT LEAST one spot since classes have filled. Started at #60 and was just called off today.
Whoever dropped, I only hope that it was because you got accepted into another school that you were trying to get into.
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Congratulations!! Enjoy your well deserved celebration 🙂
 
Nlibio said:
Welp, somebody must have heard my whining and moping because I finally got the acceptance letter!
To those still wondering, OOS waitlist has moved AT LEAST one spot since classes have filled. Started at #60 and was just called off today.
Whoever dropped, I only hope that it was because you got accepted into another school that you were trying to get into.
Click to expand...
That's amazing!! I knew you would get in!
 
Nlibio said:
Welp, somebody must have heard my whining and moping because I finally got the acceptance letter!
To those still wondering, OOS waitlist has moved AT LEAST one spot since classes have filled. Started at #60 and was just called off today.
Whoever dropped, I only hope that it was because you got accepted into another school that you were trying to get into.
Click to expand...
Congratulations I was hoping you would get accepted!
 
rebster101 said:
Hello! I recently got accepted and am looking for apartments/roommates in the East Lansing area. Are there any apartments with roommate programs?
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There is an msu housing document that you can get into if you connect with someone on facebook. Can one of the 2024s PM with this person to get them into your facebook group?
 
rebster101 said:
Hello! I recently got accepted and am looking for apartments/roommates in the East Lansing area. Are there any apartments with roommate programs?
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Were you in state or out of state? What was your waitlist number?
 
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