Purdue c/o 2026 Applicants
Started by bbardin
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I’m a first year student if anyone has questions 🙂
First time traditional OOS applicant!
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tmpatterson
Full Member
Hi! I was just wondering what your daily class schedule is like. Do you find it to be pretty manageable?
We have classes from 7:30 -5 ish most days. A couple days a week we might start a little late or end early. I’m a second year. I make it through, so I guess you can say it’s manageable since I’m passing. We generally have exams every week except towards the beginning of the semester. Just don’t expect a great work life balance. we can have anywhere between 1-3 exams in a week. 3 exam week suck, but fortunately we generally don’t have more than 2 or 3 a semester.
I'd also add that when I felt over whelmed with classes to the point of crying in my professor's offic I talked to a faculity member and was told to take it as a learning experience to learn how to deal with stress in my career. It's honestly laughable now, but for lots of people vet school is overwhelming, especially first semester. Some people end up dropping out or down in every class, but most people graduate.
If you feel overwhelmed at any point in vet school it's normal. The truth is, it is not managable for everyone and there's nothing wrong with that. By the time you have been selected in the pool of applicants many people have looked at you and believe you can manage it. They selected people they believe can get through.
On a different note the hospital is very understaffed and clinicians are dropping quickly. Most likely due to the work life balance. Hopefully the new hosipital brings in more people. I think LA only has like 3 vet techs. The new hospital will be bigger and I susupect the work load will increase. So 4 year looks very scary to me now, but hopefully it turns out okay. They can't fail us all lol!!
It’s very manageable in first semester! 2-6 hours of lecture/day, and probably about 4-5 h lab/week on average (we are scheduled for 8 h, but fewer than 50% of weeks have physiology lab, and sometimes we have a week of “virtual anatomy lab” (i.e. just do the assignments that you would do anyway) or anatomy lab runs short). They ease you in… second semester and subsequent years have a more intensive schedule (especially fourth year), from what I can see.
The workload overall for first semester heavily depends on how much basic medical sciences you’ve done before and how comfortable you are with them. I did a biology degree (and biology has always been my main interest and I have a human med professor dad so was always pretty immersed in biomedical science) so honestly I’ve kind of been coasting with minimal studying needed. If you find yourself feeling the same, it’s a great opportunity to take time to get involved in clubs and extracurriculars (plenty of lunch and learns through clubs, etc., and you can get free memberships to VIN and vetgirl for tons of cool webinars, rounds, and articles). Some of my classmates feel the same, some feel like they’re drowning, most seem to feel it’s quite challenging but manageable. It also depends on how many responsibilities you have outside of class, of course, but it can work even if you have obligations - one of my classmates is a mother and she’s also a fantastic class rep and student.
Hello! First time IS applicant! Is it true that Purdue still does the practice of practicing surgery on animals and then euthanizing them afterward? I don't know how I feel about that, especially if they still have a good quality of life.
amelia_ham6
Full Member
No i don't believe this is true. I think they got rid of them in like 2017. Terminal surgery is very rare to see. I honestly don't know of any school that still perform them.
I don’t think there’s a complete list anywhere of which schools do and don’t use terminal surgeries, but I believe there are still more that use them than not. You can find up-to-date info about specific schools’ policies by googling and looking for a result from that school’s site. Generally schools don’t use purpose-bred cats and dogs anymore (probably with some exceptions), which I think is what you’re thinking of.
As for Purdue, this is the current information. I’m not sure if the sheep or any other large animal terminal surgeries are purpose-bred, but it seems likely the sheep are, considering they’re a pretty common experimental species and the school likely wouldn’t love the biosecurity of hunting for a bunch of sheep from who knows where to bring to teaching animal housing.
amelia_ham6
Full Member
Ahh very interesting! Thanks for the clarification
futuredogtor26
PennVet c/o 2026
Does anyone have an idea of what day we might here back about interviews?
They were December 18 last year. I think they’re generally sent out after exams finish, which is December 17 this year.
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They got rid of terminal surgery around 2017. I went on a tour in 2018 and asked this question!
You guys think we'll hear about interviews this Friday?
i think it's very likely as they usually do the Friday of their finals week and im pretty sure I saw somebody in admissions post on facebook that historical trends means it would be friday
Oof! I applied to four schools (Purdue included) and already received two rejections so I'm very nervous for Friday.
wait is there a portal for Purdue? I started scrolling through last cycle's to see about what time and somebody mentioned that there was a portal
charleyhorse
Full Member
I hope not😬
No its an email. Traditionally sent on a Friday at 5 pm (last day before winter break)
oh good. I panicked so hard because i did not receive a portal invite lol
I know the feeling. I've been rejected from three others so far!
Purdue does do terminal surgeries in LA surgery which is an elective. They use the sheep are from the Animal Science department. The ANSC students and professors raise them for class teaching purposes and research. Purdue has a meat packing / slaughter teaching facility apart ANSC department and host the FFA meat judging contests there. A few animals that are going to be culled are sometimes pulled and used for terminal surgery or vet classes. Purdue has teaching animals farms ran by the Animal science department and the vet school often uses their animals. Horses are donated for teaching purposes and usally have some type of medical issue. The horses from antomy are purchased from a supplier who purchases them for most vet schools. The dogs for anatomy are generally shelter dogs that were going to be euthanized at the shelters due to medical problems. Purdue, including the vet school, does lot of lab animal research and terminal surgeries are utilized in some labs.
AwesomeOppossum
Full Member
How are we feeling about tomorrow?
Excited. Terrified. Prematurely disappointed?
The emotions have finally hit me omg
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futuredogtor26
PennVet c/o 2026
What time do the emails tend to come out at?
Seems typically 5 p.m. EST.
I think 5pm!
2 more hours... It feels like forever!
I thought it was around 5 EST
futuredogtor26
PennVet c/o 2026
I also saw someone say 7:30, but I wasn’t sure if it was a time zone issue/checking email late.
Yeah I was with my friend last year when she got her email and it was at 7:30 EST but hopefully we don't have to wait that long😬
Nada here yet.
Same here, maybe it is 7:30 then
Anyone heard anything yet?
janice0502
tOSU c/o 2026
Nothing here
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katieyandle
Full Member
Nothing here yet but I’m refreshing every 10 seconds so we’ll see. Fingers crossed for everyone!!!
charleyhorse
Full Member
It’s a tie! They just couldn’t decide!
Traditionally it's the first Friday after finals, which is today. That's why we all think it's today. But if they never send them I guess it doesn't really matter what they traditionally do.
Oh okay thank you!
