I was hoping a current student could explain the whole preceptorship thing that Mizzou seems to be really big on. When exactly do we have open blocks to go wherever for these internships, and how many different ones do you do? Also, how does it actually work when it comes to getting these preceptorships, ie. does the school facilitate with placing you somewhere particular based on your interests?
Also, do most people just go back home or wherever and get some kind of internship for the first two summers? I'm assuming the school doesn't help out as much with that, since its not really part of the curriculum.
Sorry, I have like 1000's of questions, but i'm all curious now 😀
So preceptorships are outside of the teaching hospital externships where you are expected to participate in surgery, diagnosis, treatment, and practice management after you done with classwork October of third year (although I think you can get some hours the 6 week period between second and third year, but anyways). If you want a license in the state of Missouri, you have to do 320 hours under a licensed vet in good standing just about anywhere in the US. You have to fill in a form and have them fill in the rest and get it notarized. It then gets sent to the state board, where they are supposed to keep track of your hours. If you have no interest in getting your license in the state of Missouri, then you are not obligated to participate (it's not required to graduate from Missouri, but it is a requirement if you want your license in Missouri if that makes sense).
There's a lot of preceptorships posted, but a lot of it comes from what you are interested in and if you can get some good contacts from networking. Like I'm interested in nutrition and rehab, so I found a vet certified in rehab to go work with for about three weeks in January during a free block (it was also a general small and exotics practice, so I got to see a lot besides just rehab). You can do as many as you have time for and for varying time intervals. You may do some for just a week, or others for a full 6 week block if you have that open, it's between you and the practitioner. You have to do the equivalent of 4 three week electives at the teaching hospital of your choice (in anything from cardiology to orthopaedic surgery to equine surgery to emergency/critical care), so you fit your preceptorship hours in when you're not doing electives or required blocks.
So for example, my 4 electives are orthopaedic surgery elective, equine ambulatory, and 2 EFAST rotations. EFAST (External Food Animal Service and Theriogenology) electives count as both preceptorship hours and elective hours. This is good for me because I'm interested in a couple things that we don't really have at Missouri or don't have formal rotations set up for, like behavior, holistic/integrative medicine, and rehab, so I have more elective/preceptorship time by double dipping with 2 EFASTs. I think I'll be about done with my preceptorship hours with this second EFAST rotation, so in theory, I could just go on a cruise or something for my next free block.

Which people sometimes do! But usually, you try and fill it up with preceptorships and externships. That's probably kind of confusing, but it all works out in the end.
As for summers, you only have six weeks for summers, so some people do go get a job either "back home" or in Columbia or wherever. It can be with a practice or you can get a totally unrelated job. Some people just take the summer off to travel or to just relax and have fun, which is totally fine too.