Current student at the RVC looking for some advice on how to succeed in the GAB program. I am starting to find (after our second summative exam) that the uni in the first year focus more on husbandry than actual medicine. While I don’t think or feel like I have an issue with my study methods, I’m finding that the things I deem as important don’t seem to come up on exams as much as I had hoped and things like identifying a breed of dog or scoring a carcass are. I am getting extremely frustrated that things like actual physiology is actually glossed over. I understand that this is supposed to be the “pre-clinical” year, but this feels more aligned with an AG degree. Also, I acknowledge that this is the choice and school I’ve chosen, and I’m determined to see it through, but I also need some help in navigating this. Appreciated.
Royal Veterinary College GAB Advice
- Thread starter theSAvet
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Caveat: didn't attend this program; but your chances of getting a ton of answers is low tbh.
I think you answered your own question. The programs outside the US are vastly different in that they're the equivalent of bachelor's degrees, so the first year isn't vet school, it's the streamlined portion of what would be an undergrad degree in the US. So yes, this pre-clinical year is by definition not going to focus on the medicine, but things like husbandry. Overwhelmingly, the preclinical degrees of choice for vet school are agricultural or biological degrees.
To be fair, husbandry is going to have the greatest factor on health outside of a doctor's control. It's important to know. Dog breeds are a phenomenal example. Sighthounds have very particular blood differences compared to every other breed. Doberman's have von Willebrands. Small breeds suffer from MVDD while large breeds suffer from DCM.
If it's any consolation, the veterinary schools in the states also focus on this stuff too. In order to pass both second and third year at Illinois, I had to pass breed tests for dogs, cats, small mammals, reptiles, pigs, cattle, etc. Literally if I failed these online tests, I would've been academically dismissed. The exotics and large animal faculty are absolutely nuts for husbandry.
So moving forward, realize the purpose of this first year is not medicine at all. You have to know what affects medicine to practice it properly.
It actually has literally zero to do with the programs being the equivalent of bachelors degrees. They are labelled as bachelor's degrees and are the equivalent of north american DVM/VMD degrees. The focus on husbandry is because husbandry underpins many many problems in veterinary medicine.
I'm final year at RVC and GAB is frustrating. I also found it woefully inadequate and you realize when you get to clinical years and rotations how much content they simply skip over because they don't think we have time to learn it. In reality GAB was less intensive than my undergraduate course. You will be playing catch up for 4 years unfortunately. Make sure you request and read the parasitology study guides for years 1/2 that they just casually mention because we don't really get any parasitology in GAB in the grand scheme of things and they never actually catch you up on it later, but will absolutely test you on it.
I'm final year at RVC and GAB is frustrating. I also found it woefully inadequate and you realize when you get to clinical years and rotations how much content they simply skip over because they don't think we have time to learn it. In reality GAB was less intensive than my undergraduate course. You will be playing catch up for 4 years unfortunately. Make sure you request and read the parasitology study guides for years 1/2 that they just casually mention because we don't really get any parasitology in GAB in the grand scheme of things and they never actually catch you up on it later, but will absolutely test you on it.
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It's much like that in the States as well. There's "no time in the curriculum" or "only specialists do that" or "this isn't a trade school. We don't teach you how to treat animals. We teach you how to think about where to look up the information on how to treat animals (or some convoluted academic-speak variation of this)" or "find a mentor" or "you'll never do this but you need to be exposed to it because there may be a related question on your licensing examination". The practical is sacrificed for sheer volume of information. Then, when real-world problems arise in practice, clients take heat for having expectations that are too high.
