Update on this because I'm grumpy: I finally got ahold of someone there and they informed me that they decided not to hire me as they want someone long-term and I’ll be leaving for school in the fall. Fair enough but why would they not tell me that?? I planned my whole life around the assumption I had this job because they told me I did.
That's a ****ty situation, but I wouldn't worry about the clinical experience portion of it at this point. You'll learn the things you need to know. Sure some people might have particular skills they're already adept at because of previous experience, but that's going to be variable across the board. The point of getting clinical experience prior to vet school isn't really for the technical skills, even if they sometimes come in handy!
Suuuper ****ty and like apop said probably a bullet dodged
My classmates with little clinical experience prior to vet school are doing great! Don't let it worry you. You will be okay!
Intellectually I know you're 100% right and they'll teach me what I need to know in school but emotionally I feel so behind. It does really help to hear it from someone else though so thank you!
yeeaahh you're probably right that I dodge a bullet there. Annoyingly this was an ER (or the ER service for a referral clinic). All the GPs I applied to wanted someone with more experience. I'm sure I can find random horsey jobs though so I will be okay!
Okay, this makes me feel a lot better. It feels like every pre-vet has been working at a clinic for years and I’ve been feeling super insecure about it. Glad to know I’m not the only one in this position
Ugh it’s so different from actual holistic vet care too. I shadowed at a holistic practice this winter and they are all actual veterinarians and were using acupuncture and medical grades massages, lasers etc. And not “vaccines are bad use tea” like fb groups
Yes, my parents bring their 15.5 year old dog there because she is having weakness in her rear legs and they say they can tell when they go too long between appointments. It’s pretty amazing what they are able to achieve tbh and I see how it could work well in combination with tradition medicine practice to augment it
A holistic pet owner group (that I'm not a part of, so why are you coming up on my feed) popped up on my feed this morning and it was some person concerned that her dog was being poisoned because there was polyethylene glycol in the supplement both her traditional AND holistic vet were recommending she start her dog on for lameness or whatever it was. Like, a quick google was all you needed to do. But the comments were chock full of the most insane recommendations from random people.
I’ve had to leave/block admins on several parakeet groups because of the blatantly wrong advice they kept giving like yall STOPPPPP
Can you successfully sue someone for bad medical advice when they are not representing themselves as a medical professional?
Also this was absolutely one of the recommendations for that dog's arthritis lolol
VIN has good anatomy resources. minnesota CVM uploads dissection pictures that are useful too. But tbh i would use the summer to just chill a bit. you'll learn what you need to know when you get there. plenty of people in my class who never took anatomy before vet school are doing just fine. if you're really chomping at the bit to get started, reviewing muscle actions and cranial nerves would be useful imo. but i found that reviewing early could also be a waste of time because the prof can always be like "hey actually you don't need to know this muscle action" or things like that.
Honestly the sauders anatomy coloring book is a good chill way to prep.
Thank you both. Like I’m sure I’ll be fine and am capable enough to learn the material, but when you see an email that says it’s very recommended to take this course prior to school it just makes me nervous 😅
def take your time dissecting! some groups plow through the dissection to get done faster but then their structures are f**ked up lol. also having a good group is vital!! we had 5 people per group last semester and would switch roles each lab. our roles were: primary dissector, secondary dissector, assistant (kinda just held legs up or something), note taker (would take pics of everything + add any relevant notes), and a reader (read the dissection guide to the dissectors). it worked really well! some groups didn't have any roles assigned and it made for a mess it seemed like.
Thanks apop that makes me feel a lot better!
HUGE shout out to our teaching tech team, primarily Abby, who not only dissect those models but MAKE some of them. Abby is in charge of all of our plasticine models and is one of the few people who still knows how to make them. They make those resources not only available but understandable.
Please send Abby my personal eternal gratitude 🫡
It's worth doing, if it's the school I'm thinking of that I attend, the anatomy workshop was IMMENSELY helpful. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. Not everyone does it, and you can be successful without it, but it's a great dress rehearsal.
Abby is the anatomy GOAT tbh
Of course not hahaha
If there were any possible way to be moved in time I’d consider it, I just can’t be moved by early June (especially when I’m doing a half Ironman on the 14th lolll)
Enjoy your half iron man. Don't stress about not taking it. Thousands of students don't take the preparatory courses and still become vets. Myself included.
Its really not a huge price tag, it's a tiny fraction of the semester's tuition largely to recoup the use of space and materials. Obviously, the perspective of expensive is different to everyone, but I felt it was worth the minute investment and to give me a leg up going into my first semester of vet school. Because of that, it took a lot of the pressure off small animal anatomy in the fall and allowed me to refine my learning in the real course. I haven't met a classmate nor an upperclassperson who did the workshop and did NOT say it was beneficial. But to each their own!
I don't think I've ever heard of a vet-school-hosted summer prep course before ...so I'm also going to say that a lot of vet students do not do any dedicated prep and survive. But yeah you will struggle during anatomy, it is arguably the hardest part of first year. Just accept that as normal, because it is. Idk I actually feel kind weird about a school vaguely threatening students to take a paid course to prep them for vet school when the whole point is that you're supposed to be taught during the normal year.
I probably was being a bit dramatic and paraphrased it a bit harshly, I wouldn’t say it was threatening. They just recommended it. But they did say it’s perfectly achievable to pass the course without ever taking anatomy
I just don't vibe with the idea that a school is trying to sell you another course while basically scaring their incoming students. I'm sure it is helpful and all but Idk. I'm a big proponent for schools teaching you what they expect you to know, and not expecting you to come in with a baseline beyond prereqs (and the prereqs usually aren't that helpful to be honest). Either require anatomy as a prereq or teach the course in a way that doesn't make students feel like they have to take a summer class just to succeed in it?
Definitely added after my time! I mean I don't know the structures/outlines of either course but to survive anatomy you just need to dedicate a tooooon of time to it. Far more than I did, I barely passed myself, but I also will continue to mention that I am a terrible student lol
It wasn't really selling anything, it was presented as an opportunity to get a jump start on anatomy. It's just an offer to incoming students. They also release anatomy study materials online for people who want to get a head start without doing the workshop. The most beneficial part of the workshop was understanding how anatomy lab works, the flow of exams, the actual material being taught, etc. It's genuinely just a dress rehearsal and I dont think the charge associated with the summer course is anything more than their cost to put it on. It's really not a large fee, and it was not (for my year) heavily pushed or "threatening" to the students who choose not to do it.
Yeah idk what they learned about in the course but I know I wanted to rest my brain as much as possible before starting vet school (and save money). No regrets
