Several Questions about being in Veterinary School

[Hawky22]

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Several questions I would like to know about being in Veterinary School. I'm not particularly asking about a single school, in fact as many input as possible is valued.

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere?

2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans?

3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress?

4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet?

Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency.

 

[DVMDream]

Several questions I would like to know about being in Veterinary School. I'm not particularly asking about a single school, in fact as many input as possible is valued.

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere?

2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans?

3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress?

4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet?

Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency.

1) If you do not maintain a certain grade and/or if you fail, then you get booted out into the veterinary school haunted hills. In these hills, you have to search wide and far for the magical unicorn hair. Should you find it, they will allow you the opportunity to repeat the course.

2) Let's not discuss, it is depressing.

3) I eat stress for breakfast.

4) Your license blows up and the world implodes. If you do an internship/residency, you get an additional 4-5 years with ****ty pay and long work hours before the world implodes.

What is this veterinary currency that I shall be rewarded with? Does it include cookies? I like cookies. 🙂

 

[orca2011]

1) Varies by all schools and I honestly don't even know the failing policy anymore cause it supposedly changed and I feel like it gets bent/broken a lot. (most of the time you just retake the course/drop to the year below).

2) All of it. Plus blood and my first born.

3) Exercise. Food. Beer. Not always in that order and not all of them all the time.

4) You can go straight into practice. Or you can do an internship or residency. Sometimes you need the internship to get the residency. Depends on the area.


And more in depth answers can be found by doing a little research either here, online or various schools' websites.

 

[Ashgirl]

Several questions I would like to know about being in Veterinary School. I'm not particularly asking about a single school, in fact as many input as possible is valued.

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere?

2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans?

3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress?

4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet?

Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency.

1) Every school is different when it comes to grading. Some schools you can't get below a C or you fail, or you can't fail a class (F). Most curriculums are "lock-step," which means you have to pass each class to move on to the next semester/year. At my school, you can get 10 credits of Ds throughout the entire 4 years, but can't fail (F) a single class. If you fail or get more than 10 Ds, you will be dismissed. Again, there are different ways to handling failing too. Sometimes you will be placed in the class below you. Sometimes there will be remediation exams you can take and have to pass to continue on. At my school, you would have to appeal the decision and stand before a committee. If they allow you to, you will be placed in the class below you to try again. The 3 people in my class that did this were thankfully allowed to continue with the class of 2019 and they are doing well. 🙂

2) Unless you win the lottery or have a crazy inheritance.... loans. Lots and lots and lots and lots of loans. Most of my classmates rely on 95-100% loans.

3) Everyone copes differently. The important thing is to allow yourself time to destress and make time for what's important for you. I didn't allow myself to do this first semester and I ended up depressed and with daily headaches... as soon as I allowed myself to do the things I loved (Running, baking, etc), I felt better and my grades went up. That... and you do get acclimated a bit. 2-4 exams a week becomes "the norm," and you get better at rolling with the punches. Either that or you become extraordinarily apathetic. One or the other 😛.

4) You only need a residency if you want to specialize (like for Cardiology, Orthopedic surgery, etc). Otherwise, you get a job and starting paying back your loans like the rest of 'em.

 

[epivetlove]

1) For Texas A&M, you are allowed to accumulate no more than 2 Ds and a F throughout the program. If you fail a course, it may be possible to take it during the summer. Otherwise, I believe you have to join the class below you (i.e. as a 2018'er, I would join 2019). Our class has lost 3 people due to academics. 🙁

2) I mostly rely on loans which is a super sucky situation, but it is what it is. I've been fortunate to receive a significant portion of this year's tuition in scholarship money. I don't plan on this happening again. I believe most if not all of our class received at least $500-$1000 this past year in scholarships. So, there's free money out there, but it's unfortunately rare.

3) We're taking 23 credits this semester, yaaaay! -_- But in all honesty, it's about time management. I'm not always the best at this, but I still get by. I always, always make time for myself, though. I think I would have burned out if I was a hardcore student. It's all about balance!

4) This has already been mentioned, but you can go straight into practice. Or an internship. A few residencies can be entered into directly after graduation--I think only Pathology and Lab Animal.

 

[KCgophervet]

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere?
At Minnesota, you can get 1 D/semester and be fine. 2 D's in a semester or 1 F in a semester and typically you have to take the course over, and since they're only offered annually that means you join the class below.
2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans?
Depends on what you have. If you have a lot in savings or manage to work a part time job, then maybe only 95% of your tuition + living is paid by loans 😛 But really, you get loans, you live off loans, you spend the rest of your life paying off those loans.
3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress?
Hah our course load has ranged from 23-32 credits. This semester is the easiest one by far for me at 18 credits. You adapt, just like you adapted when you went from middle school to high school and then again from high school to undergrad. You figure it out (some figure it out quicker than others, and the more you emphasize maintaining a life outside of vet school the easier it will be).
4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet?
You find a job! Or a residency or an internship (which I suppose could be considered jobs, just with crappy pay). Depends on what you want to do, but you aren't forced into it like with MDs.
Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency.
Currency of choice is puppies. I will also accept kittens.

 

[pp9]

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere? At Illinois, we have 4 quarters in a year. With the exception of our clinical rotation quarters (still pass/fail, though), we must get a 60% minimum to progress to the next quarter. At the end of the year, we must have a 70% overall for the whole year to progress to the next year. If we fail a quarter, we are not permitted to finish the year out. You can petition to be accepted into the next year's class and start from scratch. I believe we may allow remediation exams as well, but I'm not 100% positive.

This differs from school to school. We're a little different in that all of our individual courses contribute to one grade for each quarter. I don't think I've found a school that openly discussed their grading policy on their website, but I wouldn't say one particular school would ever be easier on students than another.

2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans? All of it, had I not had a modest amount of money saved for living costs. That will run out very quickly (by the end of this year probably).

3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress? Everyone handles it differently. Some people work out. Others go visit family/SO's on the weekend. It's important to set aside some time for yourself during these four years. Whether that be Netflix time or going out and drinking with friends is up to you.

4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet? You can start working once you're licensed and graduated. I know a few vets who did this, then went and did residencies later on, but you certainly don't have to specialize if you don't want to.

Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency. Food, please.

 

[Hawky22]

1) If you do not maintain a certain grade and/or if you fail, then you get booted out into the veterinary school haunted hills. In these hills, you have to search wide and far for the magical unicorn hair. Should you find it, they will allow you the opportunity to repeat the course.

2) Let's not discuss, it is depressing.

3) I eat stress for breakfast.

4) Your license blows up and the world implodes. If you do an internship/residency, you get an additional 4-5 years with ****ty pay and long work hours before the world implodes.

What is this veterinary currency that I shall be rewarded with? Does it include cookies? I like cookies. 🙂

Actually it's just cute animal gif, but have a cookies as well

 

[Hawky22]

1) Varies by all schools and I honestly don't even know the failing policy anymore cause it supposedly changed and I feel like it gets bent/broken a lot. (most of the time you just retake the course/drop to the year below).

2) All of it. Plus blood and my first born.

3) Exercise. Food. Beer. Not always in that order and not all of them all the time.

4) You can go straight into practice. Or you can do an internship or residency. Sometimes you need the internship to get the residency. Depends on the area.


And more in depth answers can be found by doing a little research either here, online or various schools' websites.

thanks

 

[Hawky22]

1) Every school is different when it comes to grading. Some schools you can't get below a C or you fail, or you can't fail a class (F). Most curriculums are "lock-step," which means you have to pass each class to move on to the next semester/year. At my school, you can get 10 credits of Ds throughout the entire 4 years, but can't fail (F) a single class. If you fail or get more than 10 Ds, you will be dismissed. Again, there are different ways to handling failing too. Sometimes you will be placed in the class below you. Sometimes there will be remediation exams you can take and have to pass to continue on. At my school, you would have to appeal the decision and stand before a committee. If they allow you to, you will be placed in the class below you to try again. The 3 people in my class that did this were thankfully allowed to continue with the class of 2019 and they are doing well. 🙂

2) Unless you win the lottery or have a crazy inheritance.... loans. Lots and lots and lots and lots of loans. Most of my classmates rely on 95-100% loans.

3) Everyone copes differently. The important thing is to allow yourself time to destress and make time for what's important for you. I didn't allow myself to do this first semester and I ended up depressed and with daily headaches... as soon as I allowed myself to do the things I loved (Running, baking, etc), I felt better and my grades went up. That... and you do get acclimated a bit. 2-4 exams a week becomes "the norm," and you get better at rolling with the punches. Either that or you become extraordinarily apathetic. One or the other 😛.

4) You only need a residency if you want to specialize (like for Cardiology, Orthopedic surgery, etc). Otherwise, you get a job and starting paying back your loans like the rest of 'em.

thanks

 

[Hawky22]

1) For Texas A&M, you are allowed to accumulate no more than 2 Ds and a F throughout the program. If you fail a course, it may be possible to take it during the summer. Otherwise, I believe you have to join the class below you (i.e. as a 2018'er, I would join 2019). Our class has lost 3 people due to academics. 🙁

2) I mostly rely on loans which is a super sucky situation, but it is what it is. I've been fortunate to receive a significant portion of this year's tuition in scholarship money. I don't plan on this happening again. I believe most if not all of our class received at least $500-$1000 this past year in scholarships. So, there's free money out there, but it's unfortunately rare.

3) We're taking 23 credits this semester, yaaaay! -_- But in all honesty, it's about time management. I'm not always the best at this, but I still get by. I always, always make time for myself, though. I think I would have burned out if I was a hardcore student. It's all about balance!

4) This has already been mentioned, but you can go straight into practice. Or an internship. A few residencies can be entered into directly after graduation--I think only Pathology and Lab Animal.

thanks

 

[Hawky22]

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere?
At Minnesota, you can get 1 D/semester and be fine. 2 D's in a semester or 1 F in a semester and typically you have to take the course over, and since they're only offered annually that means you join the class below.
2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans?
Depends on what you have. If you have a lot in savings or manage to work a part time job, then maybe only 95% of your tuition + living is paid by loans 😛 But really, you get loans, you live off loans, you spend the rest of your life paying off those loans.
3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress?
Hah our course load has ranged from 23-32 credits. This semester is the easiest one by far for me at 18 credits. You adapt, just like you adapted when you went from middle school to high school and then again from high school to undergrad. You figure it out (some figure it out quicker than others, and the more you emphasize maintaining a life outside of vet school the easier it will be).
4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet?
You find a job! Or a residency or an internship (which I suppose could be considered jobs, just with crappy pay). Depends on what you want to do, but you aren't forced into it like with MDs.
Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency.
Currency of choice is puppies. I will also accept kittens.

 

[Hawky22]

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere? At Illinois, we have 4 quarters in a year. With the exception of our clinical rotation quarters (still pass/fail, though), we must get a 60% minimum to progress to the next quarter. At the end of the year, we must have a 70% overall for the whole year to progress to the next year. If we fail a quarter, we are not permitted to finish the year out. You can petition to be accepted into the next year's class and start from scratch. I believe we may allow remediation exams as well, but I'm not 100% positive.

This differs from school to school. We're a little different in that all of our individual courses contribute to one grade for each quarter. I don't think I've found a school that openly discussed their grading policy on their website, but I wouldn't say one particular school would ever be easier on students than another.

2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans? All of it, had I not had a modest amount of money saved for living costs. That will run out very quickly (by the end of this year probably).

3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress? Everyone handles it differently. Some people work out. Others go visit family/SO's on the weekend. It's important to set aside some time for yourself during these four years. Whether that be Netflix time or going out and drinking with friends is up to you.

4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet? You can start working once you're licensed and graduated. I know a few vets who did this, then went and did residencies later on, but you certainly don't have to specialize if you don't want to.

Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency. Food, please.

 

[yugen]

I don't think I've found a school that openly discussed their grading policy on their website, but I wouldn't say one particular school would ever be easier on students than another.

I haven't really seen any school post their grading policy on their website either, but I have noticed that the Student Handbook for each school does usually have a clause describing their Academic Standing and Dismissal Policy. You can usually find this information under 'Current Students', not prospective. It does vary from school to school as far as I've seen. I think KSU will dismiss you for a single 'F', if I remember correctly, though you can petition the board after the dismissal for readmission.

 

[Sheepforever1]

Several questions I would like to know about being in Veterinary School. I'm not particularly asking about a single school, in fact as many input as possible is valued.

1) What is the policy on grading in Veterinary School? Specifically, do you have to maintain a certain grade to graduate? If you fail a single course, do you have retake the entire semester? Or get automatically dismissed from the school, as I have read somewhere?
At CSU, if you fail a required course (get less than 65%), you're dismissed. You can appeal and try to get readmitted for the year below, which has happened. If you get between 65-69% in a class, you have to pass a remediation exam within 30 days in order to continue. If you fail that, you're dismissed. If you acquire more than I think 10 units of 'D' grades, you're dismissed.

2) What percentage of your tuition+ living costs are paid by loans?
Most.

3) Seeing as the average course load is between 18- 21 credit. How do you cope with the stress?
I wish it was only 18! More like 29 at the moment.

4) What happens after you graduate and get your license? Do you need to do residency and then find a job or can you immediately work as a vet?
Depends on what you want to do. Specialty = further training.

Thanks and any responder shall be rewarded with the appropriate veterinary currency.