Pros and Cons of Tracking

[hai1983]

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[vetgirl4eva]

What schools track?

 

[wolfspeaker]

Do you have a pretty solid idea what area you are most interested in doing after graduation? If yes, I would say Pro to tracking.

 

[hai1983]

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[wolfspeaker]

If you are interested in doing mixed, then I would say Con to tracking. But that's just my opinion.

 

[LetItSnow]

I'm sure I will do at least some SA, but whether I end up mixed or general SA practice or specializing, your guess is as good as mine.

Ha! Sucks when you try to take a rational approach like a pro/con list and then can't decide if something is a pro or a con. 🙂

I think if I were relatively uncertain about what direction I was planning to go, I'd want a school that either didn't track or at least offered a mixed track. On the flip side, I know what I want to do, and I'm glad I'll be able to duck a few particular classes as well as really focus my rotations.

 

[hai1983]

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[orcagirl]

Haha yeah, I'm trying to be rational, but it's not working super well. The program that tracks does offer a mixed track, so that would be an option if I felt strongly about going into mixed practice when it came time to decide on a track.

I think many schools that track still have required blocks in large and small animal medicine. NC State tracks, but it doesn't have to be declared until the start of your third year (except for one or two special focus areas like clinician scientist). The core classes cover all types of species as far as I can tell.

 

[nyanko]

I am just going to say that I am so glad that I never have to take a class about a horse or do a clinical rotation about a horse. Take that as you will.

 

[quantized]

I am just going to say that I am so glad that I never have to take a class about a horse or do a clinical rotation about a horse. Take that as you will.

Similarly, I'm so glad that I don't have to do any clinical rotations for animals I don't care about and minimal (now) classes about animals I don't care about. Boy, do some people (not Nyanko) ever whine when there is some horse content in the general courses though. We suffered through all those dumb dog diseases with only the occasional grumble, but a few classes on orthopedics taught by some equine faculty was practically the end of the world for the SA people.

 

[Minnerbelle]

If the time division between types of clinical rotations matter a lot to you esp if you're not sure what you want to do yet or have interest in non-traditional fields, then it might be good to look for schools that have the most elective rotation weeks. That way you can personalize it as much as you want.

 

[CanHardlyWait]

So...VMRCVM tracks and I'm pretty sure we still have to do core rotations 4th year that include all of the possible tracks. Tracks are: SA, Mixed (-could be SA/equine, SA/FA or equine/FA), FA, corporate/public, equine. We declare tracks in our 2nd semester of 1st year but can switch as long as we have kept up in track specific classes as electives.
I like the idea of tracking because while I am being prepared for the NAVLE exam on all species, I can focus my interests clinically (or non clinically in the case of public/corporate) where I see myself post graduation. Our system works so that you can take any track class as an elective, regardless of your track, as long as there is space. You can even audit classes above the size limit, just not participate in labs if the class is full of students for that track. I think it will help those that really know where they are going to end up, like the PHD/DVM or MPH/DVM students in the public/corporate track or the equine only students especially.
As for me, I'm tracking mixed (FA/SA) to get as much info and hands on experience as possible-excluding horses, which I will gladly leave to my much better qualified classmates😉
For my track, I will be required to take nutrition, surgery etc for each SA and FA.