You will likely soon experience these emotions. Don't be hard on them. Vet school beats you down--hard and fast.
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You will likely soon experience these emotions. Don't be hard on them. Vet school beats you down--hard and fast.
Seriously, they have been like this since September...Please don't kill my dreams and tell me that the euphoria is there only during the letter of acceptance...Because I might just withdraw my applications and move to Romania...
Vet school does a wonderful job of making even what you love and are passionate about hard to stand sometimes. The thing is, vet school is crazy difficult and can sometimes get you down even though you still love vet med. The important thing to remember is that vet school is just a means to an end, it's okay to not love (or even like...) the middle man.
I mean it has it's good points and I haven't hated it (4th year is by far the best) but it's mainly the exhaustion that gets you. You're just constantly running on empty. And if the school you're at is anything like here, once mid September hits, it's basically constant exams.
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deleted498041
It's a fact of life you'll have to consider so that you can come up with healthy ways to cope. Vet school is hard, it's draining, and it's mentally and physically exhausting.
Yeah, I've been working for this my whole life and I consider myself SO lucky to be here and getting a chance to do what I love but when I have to perform CPR on 1-3 patients a day for a couple weeks straight... that's draining. When I still have to be fighting and working this hard, and ignoring whatever life actually throws at me, it gets me down. Once you hit clinics, you're expected to basically give up your life because, well, you're in clinics. Someone hit my car in the parking lot last week and I have to go and get the door fixed/replaced. When am I supposed to find the time to do that?
Ugh and scheduling doctors appointments is damn near impossible.
PS: I'm slightly extra bitter since I feel like crap and I'm not a LA person so it's not quite as exciting for me.
I have absolutely no life as it is, so this transition should be pretty easy 😉 I hit a deer on Saturday on my way to work. I need to get the front of the car fixed and really should have my motor checked because car sounds little off, but yeah, there is no time. I keep telling myself that the raised lip gives my car character...
If my patient ends up being euthanized, I'm going to cry. I've formed a bit of a bond with this patient in these two days, I'll have the sads. 🙁
Ahaha, you think the first years look depressed, you should see the third and fourth years.
When first years go around as a group to the teaching hospital, they look so young and happy. Then as a fourth year, you look around at your rotation mates and realize how old and tired you all look. Like you age so much over the 4 years, it's crazy.
It could be that you are seeing them after their first round of exams/midterms. My class had a large mood swing as soon as our midterm grades got posted, you could feel it in the room lol
I remember seeing the first years come in on their tour prior to classes starting. They looked so excited and well-rested and happy.
And there I am with maybe 5 hours of sleep, barely hanging on thinking about the mountain of paperwork that needs to be typed up, the patients that need care, and the boards that need studying for. In that moment I have never felt more old and tired.
I already feel like I look 5 years older than I am, so this should be fun
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Does this mean that by the time I'm done with vet school I might actually look my age?? 😱
Considering I'm still being mistaken for a highschooler every now and then I doubt it 😛
But you can still go trick-or-treating and no one will question your legitimacy!
Hahaha yeah about that...
You might have worked hard to get there, but it usually isn't in the same ballpark to what it's like. I knew it was a lot of work objectively, but until you're there it's hard to relate. You get your appreciative moments but the euphoria of being accepted fades quicker than you would like.
I can't wait to be done it and working.
Think about being in the ocean right. In undergrad it was a few small waves here and there, some bit ones around final exams. It's pretty much a crap ton of big waves all the time. There isn't much in the way of blow off classes and, well we have 7 classes, 9 if you include labs. We have separate tests in those classes and labs so you can be garunteed 2-3 exams per week on average. That's just first year.
I'm so much happier on clinics. Usually fairly sleep deprived and with a to-do list of roughly a bajillion things, but it is so much better than constant tests.
Even during vet school, age 24-28 for me... I'd go to an R rated movie and when they'd ask for ID, I would give my school ID thinking they needed to verify my student status. Nope they needed my driver's license.
I'm 30 now, and my bangs somehow sprouted so much gray hair in my first two years of practice. I don't even get carded for alcohol sometimes anymore. I used to wonder what it would be like for people to actually not think I was in high school. Now, I'm like, "wait! Wait!!! You didn't card me!!!!!!!!'"
I guess that is where the "workload"questions on the applications come in place lol. I still cannot wait to be done with jumping the hoops and not caring about getting in anymore. I have been actually taking around 20 credits each semester, but even if vet school is 20x harder, it should be so less stressful when you are not shooting for an A every single time. All these jobs, internships, yadayadayada plus having to be perfect in every class at school where it is not easy to be perfect, I think the euphoria of an end of this chapter will be long lasting.
Next time I am bringing bag of candy to work, just for the vet students to sweeten their lives lol (plus brain runs on glucose right, it will def make them smarter 😀 )
ahahahahahahahaha
Even with 20 credits a semester and working, you have NO idea. You won't be shooting for perfect in every class, but you may be struggling to even get a C - so super stressful, still. Please believe us when we say that you really have no idea until you're in the thick of it.
All I can say is: please report back after starting school. Then again when you start second year, third year and fourth year. Then again during clinics, NAVLE and job hunting.
That's awesome, and they will love you forever 🙂
I knew vet school was going to be intense and I knew it was going to be hard, I just didn't realize how this would affect me. Many of us have gotten into a pass/fail mentality. As long as you get a 70% or higher, you are passing, anything lower is failing. I'm in class from 9-5 everyday, sometimes 6, and I actually come in an hour early to get a head start on the anatomy lab. That's 40+ hours in school a week, and then you have to study when you get home and on the weekends just to try to keep up, and the volume of information given in each lecture is way more dense than anything I ever did in undergrad or with my masters. I don't think any of us are trying to scare you, but you should go into this knowing it's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done.
As someone who also had 20+ credits a semester plus work, research, volunteering, etc and then transitioned to just vet school.... vet school is still 10X harder than anything in undergrad. It's not the concepts that are difficult, it's the volume. Also, there are several of my classmates who literally study from the time they wake up to the time they are sleeping and are still on that pass/fail line... so for some it's even harder.
Going to bring us back to the rant portion of this thread. Lol.
It really irritates me when people don't just ask a simple question or don't use common sense. I have a friend here in my undergrad town I graduated with that I am willing to do anything big for. Last weekend her car broke down, but she needed to do the child exchange with her husband's ex-wife in a town 45-60 minutes away. I was totally cool with driving them the 40 miles to drop off the kiddos in my suburban and then back. Didn't bother me at all.
But this morning, she texted me asking if I was going to use the offer that she thought came with my new Halo 5 xbox for a second controller and that super irritated me for whatever reason. I feel like its because she didn't just say, "Hey, if you aren't going to use the offer, could we snag it from you?" And also because she didn't use the common sense of 1) I paid $500 for the xbox and everything that came with it so the offer eould monetary value for me and 2) I game with other people, so I'll need a second controller at some point. It just bugs me hard to wake up to that.
It really irritates me when people don't just ask a simple question or don't use common sense. I have a friend here in my undergrad town I graduated with that I am willing to do anything big for. Last weekend her car broke down, but she needed to do the child exchange with her husband's ex-wife in a town 45-60 minutes away. I was totally cool with driving them the 40 miles to drop off the kiddos in my suburban and then back. Didn't bother me at all.
But this morning, she texted me asking if I was going to use the offer that she thought came with my new Halo 5 xbox for a second controller and that super irritated me for whatever reason. I feel like its because she didn't just say, "Hey, if you aren't going to use the offer, could we snag it from you?" And also because she didn't use the common sense of 1) I paid $500 for the xbox and everything that came with it so the offer eould monetary value for me and 2) I game with other people, so I'll need a second controller at some point. It just bugs me hard to wake up to that.
This is where I appreciate Illinios' style. We have a similar number of 'classes,' but all classes are on one giant test. Once you take it, you're done until the next giant test/quiz. I do like feeling focused on one subject during a test, though.
Alright second years, I understand that you're busy, but you signed up to join the executive board and I am tired of holding your hands/forcing you to participate and do things for the club. We're (3rd years) supposed to be handing off the responsibilities to you, not still doing all the work while simultaneously having to continually press you for information/participation. Get your acts together! This time last year myself and my fellow classmate were running this club while in second year, and we're STILL DOING IT. It's YOUR TURN!
I know every school is different, but how many students do you think leave year to year because they cant handle it?
Oh I think like 3-4 maybe for previous classes that I've heard about. That's total though, so maybe just one each year. I hear it isn't even because they get suspended for academic failure, it's personal stuff that needs more of their attention.
Yeah....I don't know honestly which one I would like more. It is nice focusing though. I still have time to take a break though, I haven't really studied much the past two nights beyond maybe an hour. Have to buckle down though now, and of course other people are just studying all the time and that makes you feel bad since you aren't lol.
Whoa! This is what the 3VMs are saying about us as far as clubs and such go. Maybe it's a Class-of-2018 thing.
Wooaah! I never intended to imply that vet school is not hard or that undergrad compare. I did not mean to imply that by taking 20 credits I know what I am going into, just that even if vet school is 20x harder than taking 20 credits and having fill time job, it should be less stressful because you are trying to just pass or fail...
Noone is trying to say you are not doing enough. My intention for this whole chain was to bitch about vet students expressions, and the wish they would be happier. Hence my dosing them with sugar 😉. Love people, be nice.
Noone is trying to say you are not doing enough. My intention for this whole chain was to bitch about vet students expressions, and the wish they would be happier. Hence my dosing them with sugar 😉. Love people, be nice.
This is still really misguided. Passing classes can be enough of a challenge in vet school. You may even weep happy tears to get a C.
I don't think you understand how stressful trying to "just pass" is, considering you may face dismissal if you don't achieve it. It's not the same as trying to get an A in undergrad and that is what people are saying. Don't get an A? Oh well. Don't pass? Goodbye vet school.
Otherwise, your original post demonstrated disbelief and misunderstanding of why vet students (who should be so happy they're in school!) lack excitement. I think it was explained sufficiently with stress and workload.
It's ok to not fully understand what it's like, it's not expected that you do, but we will try and help you understand anyway in hopes that you'll be more understanding with the vet students you see.
I assure you, vet school will be 1000+ times MORE stressful.
To answer your question: out of 60, we lost one to failing, gained two from the year above from failing, one dropped out because she was super stressed by the work load and felt it wasn't worth it for her and one to health reasons.
But it's so hard to classify them as people who "couldn't handle it" - sure, a handful of people each year are going to struggle academically to the point that they either have to join another class or leave entirely; others struggle mentally or emotionally for various personal reasons and elect to leave to do something else. Saying they "can't handle it" makes it sound like an episode of Survivor or something, which I think trivializes the true struggles of veterinary school. It isn't a vacuum - we each have our own personal worlds happening around us and we all handle it differently.
Definitely not a rant directed at you by any means, just started type-vomiting.
You would be surprised at how an A in undergrad then becomes a "Studying 3X as much to only barely get a C" in vet school. Last year in October there were 30 people out of 120 in my class that had a D in a subject or below. These are people who were not used to a B, let alone an F. Obviously, almost everyone made it by the end of the day, but the amount of the stress they had to just get a C was just about tangible. Due to volume of material, Vet school just a whole different ballgame.
I apologize for even bringing this up, I guess I am not allowed to voice my opinion about how people seem miserable and how is making me depressed. I have no idea how this turned into "you have no idea" thread. I honestly never intended to underestimate anyone's hard work, I just have different view on stress. With that I'm done talking about this, because this is a rant thread, not "I have to defend myself" one. Please have empathy and ask yourselves what were you thinking while in undergrad and how would this really help you. Hope you all can get some rest and enjoy yourselves as much as you can. You only live once😉
Gotta admit, I am TERRIFIED of what I am about to take on next year as a vet student.... Even as someone with decent stats going in, I question myself pretty regularly if I will be smart enough or capable of tackling this monster. This thread is definitely confirming the validity of my fears. [emoji28]
When I was in undergrad, I wanted to know the truth. That vet school is difficult and draining and not always puppies and rainbows. That it's okay to not always be in love in it, that it's okay to feel tired, or not excited about school. I've seen so many people get discouraged because they came in expecting to love every single aspect of vet school and they then discovered they didn't. I'm not saying this to discourage you, we're just saying that it could be a bad thing to go into vet school thinking you should be excited 100% of the time.
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deleted498041
But that's not what you said =/ You said the vet students should be happy because they've worked so hard to get to where they're at and they're finally there. You state that we should have empathy towards you at the moment, but I beg you to have empathy toward us. When I was in undergrad, I worked 30-40 hours a week, I took 20+ credit hours every term, and I was on a rigorous training schedule with my horses as well as traveled out of town every weekend to compete. Looking back on it, I probably had the same mentality you do: that everything would be a little easier in vet school because I was cutting out the job and the horses.
I think the thing you don't realize is that cutting out those things doesn't make vet school any easier. The sheer volume of information you have to commit to memory is staggering. I never feel "caught up" with the work I have to do, and I feel perpetually behind, even on day one. For those of us that suffer from depression, vet school makes it infinitely worse. For those of us that may have toed the line, vet school brings out the depression. There's a reason we're a profession with such a high rate of suicide and depression and it's not necessarily something that only happens to graduates.
Yeah, I was the undergraduate student that knew it would be hard work and knew it would be grueling but I welcomed it. I wish that I'd known more vet students at the time to give me insight on their day-to-day struggles. So, again, I urge you to be empathetic towards us.
The admission's committee knows what they are doing- if they accept you, you have to capability to do it. I think imposter syndrome (feeling like you don't belong or you aren't good enough), is extremely common among vet students, and while it doesn't go away, it does get a bit easier to deal with, at least in my experience.
it doesn't mean you can't voice your opinions. it just means current vets and vet students are educating you about what it's really like in vet school because you have expressed some naivete.
Everyone goes through the same thing. I would have preferred more people were honest with me about the experience.
the above post is incredibly defensive. Please understand that just because multiple people are commenting, it doesn't really mean you're getting ganged up on. This is an internet forum. It sometimes happens like this.
So does it mean something when the vet students and recent grads I know have spent the last couple years asking how I pull off my schedule and stress load? 😉
hahah probably not...
I actually brought this up in an application essay. My boyfriend's little sister had started her undergrad at a school with a veterinary program I applied to. She was involved in a shooting incident that went to trial last year and she was asked to testify at the trial halfway through her second quarter. Her grades tanked and her depression sky rocketed. She had attempted suicide the summer before when they announced the trial would be going in a direction she disagreed heavily with. So the school completely worked with her. Her third quarter doesn't even appear on her transcript other than "Medical withdrawal" and she's doing so much better because of the support they have given her. I said in the essay that a huge concern of mine in vet med is the high rate of mental and emotional problems and knowing that they already had a system in place at that school to help students gave me a lot of confidence in applying there.
There are definitely people who had it worse than I did in school - kids, SOs at school with them, jobs, etc. I don't know how I would have made those situation works, personally, and I really admire people who can juggle those things while in school. But it all takes balance - because I could study more with less commitments, I may have gotten stronger grades or more sleep.
I felt like a lot of my fellow students, both at my school and elsewhere, loved to trumpet how overworked and tired we were, how many exams we had, how terrible our lives were, etc. It isn't a competition to see who can juggle more or who has it worse. Somehow misery, sleep deprivation and schedule rigor become badges of honor when there are other things (like mental health) we should be focusing on.
I'm sorry but I have to respond. I don't know any of you. But you don't know me either. Just because I said that first year students should be more excited, you assume that I know nothing about vet school. That I think my life will be less stressful in vet school I'd frowned upon. You don't know my life. We might be similar in ways, but way different in others. For me juggling absolutely unrelated things which are not good for anything in the end is stressful. I made a mistake of generalizing that to other people. I know vet school is hard. Heck life is even harder. But i choose to have positive attitude. I struggle with depression and anxiety. I am always preparing ahead, to make sure I will handle it. I did my research, I work at the vet school, I know vet students, veterinarians and professors. I never said vet school is easy. I just want to stay happy no matter what life throws at me. THAT was my point.
I always try to have a positive outlook on life too, and I always try to be optimistic and see the good in people! But I'm legitimately scared that vet school is going to change that in me 🙁 very, very scared. And maybe it will... But I can only hope that I'll be able to find myself again after that hell is over!
