Preparing for vet school:

[BodhiBird]

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One of the first doctors I worked with gave me a ton of his old vet books and told me to start preparing for vet school. The vet I work with now, upon hearing of my acceptance told me "don't be a dork and study now." What's everyone's thoughts on this? I'm not currently in school so I don't have anything else to be studying.

 

[sumstorm]

well...one thing about old texts is that they may be outdated.

Having said that, I love old texts for seeing how things have changed.

So, I wouldn't suggest really 'studying' but skimming might be worthwhile. Maybe look at what the school your attending does in the first semester, and then review your own notes from undergrad on any topics you haven't seen in a while (ie I took A&P senior year of HS at a state college.) I am a nerd that likes to be prepared...but I have also never attended school when I wasn't also working full time...so that might explain my need to prep ahead for classes.

 

[No Imagination]

Agree with Sun on that one.

Another aspect, sometimes old text's explain things in ways we don't see in more modern text books. Sometimes, while less technical, old school diagrams and examples go a long way to explain complicated (and conceptually difficult) concepts.

One of the best books I used in graduate school was General Chemistry by Linus Pauling (1940's!) - of course it was a supplemental, but these old timers just had a way of explaining things different (or maybe it was just Pauling).

Now the math and chemistry hasn't changed since the 40's but has anatomy really changed since the 70's? Sure Phys and Biochem is all new.

Like Sun said, Skim over them, save what you like, familiarize yourself.

I have a Clinical Parasitology book from '81 in my bathroom 🙂

 

[cowgirl in MO]

One of the first doctors I worked with gave me a ton of his old vet books and told me to start preparing for vet school. The vet I work with now, upon hearing of my acceptance told me "don't be a dork and study now." What's everyone's thoughts on this? I'm not currently in school so I don't have anything else to be studying.

My advice is that if you've been accepted, just relax for the next few months. you're going to be studying enough once you start classes. That is the advice that was given to me by a dozen professors and a couple of veterinarians.

 

[chris03333]

"don't be a dork and study now."

Agreed. You will have lots of time to study once you start school. Do not study now.

 

[BodhiBird]

Yeah, you're probably right. Now is the time to relax and get my pleasure reading in before I won't have a chance to read anything but text books. I'll just limit my vet prepping to my hands on learning I'm already getting from work.

 

[sambone]

Somewhere (maybe SDN) I heard that the best thing to do before med/vet school is to make lots of good meals for yourself and freeze them, since you won't have time to cook anything healthy while you're in school!

 

[RockStarKDub]

RELAX RELAX RELAX RELAX! They teach you everything you need to know, you won't be behind, and you will give a big chunk of your life over to studying once you start. Don't ruin what little freedom you have left!!! Cherish it!!! 🙂

 

[mstweetie]

RELAX RELAX RELAX RELAX! They teach you everything you need to know, you won't be behind, and you will give a big chunk of your life over to studying once you start. Don't ruin what little freedom you have left!!! Cherish it!!! 🙂

Most def. *if* i get in this year i am going to
- travel
- go out with friends/family
- do stuff i've always wanted to do, and won't be able to for the next 4 years of my life
- spend more time with my dog
........... i'm sure i'll add more to my list if it becomes a reality 🙂xf🙂

so yea, i would probably relax, travel, relax, hang out, travel, and relax. i don't know, that's just me.

 

[3dogsand2cats]

I think if you wanna look through the books if you are bored that is one thing. However I wouldn't lock myself in a room and study. Hopefully not everyone that gets in to vet school already knows everything. If so I may be screwed LOL

 

[jaydog12]

Here is what my vet told me, "Just sit back and smell the roses, because whatever precious free time you have now will be used studying in vet school".

 

[CatVet2Be]

I'm going to let my brain take a break from the constant studying so that I don't feel so burnt out by the time school starts but I would like to start learning some anatomy. I'm not great at memorizing things so I'm going to need a little head start on that.

 

[rachroo]

Somewhere (maybe SDN) I heard that the best thing to do before med/vet school is to make lots of good meals for yourself and freeze them, since you won't have time to cook anything healthy while you're in school!

Oh yeah, once a month cooking (OAMC)! AWESOME idea; if you google it you can get a lot of info/cookbooks/etc!

 

[sumstorm]

Oh yeah, once a month cooking (OAMC)! AWESOME idea; if you google it you can get a lot of info/cookbooks/etc!

Dream dinners can be worthwhile options as well. A little high in calories, but easy to thaw and heat, pair with a steam bag of veggies at it is a good, filling, balanced meal. Cheaper than eating out all the time. Hubby and I do this since he works 60+/wk and I work 40+ and take classes.

 

[rustysmom]

before vet school, you should relax, spend time with family, relax, go on that trip you always wanted to take, relax, read for pleasure, and did I mention relax?

When vet school starts, the vast majority of your free time will be spent studying. I quit my job a month before I started vet school so I could have a month to myself with no work or school responsibilities and it was the best thing I could have done.

Pre-studying is not necessarily useful because you won't know what the professors will focus on until you're in class. For example, some professors want you to know every little blood vessel in the forelimb while other professors are only concerned with the major vessels. Honestly, it's a lot easier to memorize anatomy when you actually dissect it yourself than from a picture. If you want to browse through an anatomy book to get an idea of what you'll be doing, that's one thing but I wouldn't recommend trying to memorize before you're actually in classes.

They WILL teach you what you need to know. And you'll be surprised at how much you remember - I'm surprised nearly every day with how much I do remember from first semester. 🙂

Oh yeah - definitely cook ahead of time and freeze it... when you get home after 8 hours of classes, you won't want to cook and it is sooo nice to have a homemade meal in the freezer for you....

 

[sofficat]

do whatever the heck you wanna do! there really is no need to study anything before you get to vet school. if you WANT to do something vet related, then focus on learning things while you're at your vet clinic. Once I got into vet school (and before, but it was more fun and detailed once we all knew that i'd be a vet someday) my vets would spend time with me and explain to me why they did what they did and treat the way they did and how they could have done it differently but why they like what they do etc.
most importantly, ENJOY!!!! you'll have some free time in vet school and you should still be able to enjoy your life (I guess depending on your personality), but there is always a nagging feeling of a list of 100 things you've gotta do.. so enjoy NOT having that feeling
one more thing- DON'T WORRY! DON'T spend your whole summer questioning things and worrying. yea- there is a lot of unknowns ahead, but it's an adventure that you should enjoy, so don't spend your last days of freedom being a worry poo head!

 

[david594]

I have to say that once I knew I was accepted for the fall I dropped the two spring classes I was planning to take. Just trying to give myself some time to relax and enjoy other things in life(like work!) before I jump head first back into 4 more years of education.

The only veterinary related books I intend to flip through between now and then are the ones with the most pictures.

 

[lailanni]

Holy smokes. Don't study. Good lord, don't study!!!

For the love of all that is good and holy, don't study!!!

I came in having no previous anatomy/histo/micro/imuno, etc and am doing just fine. Spend your time being happy.

One year from this day you will be like me. You will have been in the anatomy lab for over 20 hours in the last few days. You will have more things to read than you can shake a stick at. And you will get a joyful 4 or 5 hours of sleep before you wake up for your 7am large animal anatomy exam.

PLEASE don't study. Go play outside or something.

 

[twelvetigers]

Hee hee, go play outside.

Cooking ahead is great - lasagna is my favorite. I dunno if anyone else here has tried Pass Your Plate, but I thought most of their stuff tasted gross... (they make the food for you and freeze it, you just go pick it up and follow 'simple' directions to heat.)

 

[VAgirl]

Hehe, I'm weird...I actually cook more now these days than I ever did before. But I've become a big fan of making a lot of something over the weekend and then my fiance and I eat it all week. I'd like to get on top of it enough to make a few different dishes over the weekend and then have some of each for during the week and put the rest of all of it in the freezer for later.

One thing to add...sure you can start stocking your freezer a bit ahead of school, but in the cooking department, things that you can do NOW that will help during school is to find recipes that you like and practice making them. It always takes me about 3x as long to make something the first few times that I make it, so I think cooking dishes you'll like that'll be your staples will help you be more efficient when school starts. Makes grocery shopping way easier, too (more familiar with recipes, ingredients, etc.).

Also, something that hasn't yet been said...if you cook, and cook extra, you will have left overs to bring to school during the week for lunch, which can be a huge money saver. Figuring out what to take to school on the fly every morning is tough so lots of people just buy lunch, which gets pricey. But grabbing some left overs, that's fairly easy. 🙂

Um, yea, but don't study unless you really really want to. Just have some fun, maybe earn some money. 🙂

 

[sofficat]

lailanni- you crack me up! haha!

advice on not having time to cook (or do laundry, or do dishes, or go grocery shopping?)..... get a husband!
seriously, i don't know how i'd be able to get through vet school without him! last night he came home from working all day and cooked dinner (all i was doing was studying). he's so amazing 😍
plus when i have my freak out moments (which you'll have) he's always there for me.

not saying vet school is impossible without a significant other, it just makes it a heck of a lot easier to deal with. 😀