@vetmedhead I think is in the shelter world and knows things iirc
Oh yeah, I totally do! And not only that, am actively trying to find jobs right now lol
@Mythical feel free to PM me with any specific questions you have about programs. The nice (and challenging) thing about shelter med internships is that there is a VERY wide diversity of ways in which they're run, so there are opportunities to get very different experiences out of them depending on where you end up and what you're looking for. All of them have a range of focuses as well, so depending on specific interests you may not get a ton of background in one thing that you may get a lot of at another.
Academic internships tend to give you a broader perspective on a variety of shelter settings because they typically rotate you through multiple shelters, meaning you get to see how different ones are run and the spectrum from government municipal/county open admissions down to small private non-profits that have specific focuses. If you are interested in doing shelter consultations or attending lots of conferences, these are also going to be your better bets. Same thing for if you are curious about pursuing residency, as they typically either have residency programs or are well-connected with places who do and can hook you up more directly with those people. Not to say individual shelter internships wouldn't set you up for the same opportunities, just that the facilitation may be a bit different looking.
Individual shelters involve less travel usually, and a lot more opportunities to drill down into the brass tacks of medicine in a shelter, developing strong mentorship with individual doctors (I get to do this at an academic internship, I just get less time with some of these mentors because I meet them during shelter rotations rather than spending the full year with them). They're also obviously good opportunities to network and potentially get hired at the shelter at the completion of your internship. I know Denver Dumb Friends League and SDHS in particular are usually hiring and very happy to take on former interns as full staff members. Honestly, Colorado in general has both a lot of internship opportunities and an EXCELLENT sheltering community, so it's a good place to network even if you wouldn't end up working at that specific shelter after, because you're likely to meet quite a few vets from other shelters in the state who may be looking to hire.
If you want to know more about residency, hit me up, as I've met a lot of current and former residents. Shelter med is relatively new, so positions aren't posted every year because a lot of programs can only support a certain number of residents TOTAL each year, so sometimes tend to take one or two at once and then don't take any more until those ones are done. The only program I am aware of that intends to take a resident every year is the ASPCA in NYC. Off the top of my head, I know UW has a residency program, and I believe San Diego Humane Society and Oregon Humane also take residents. UF and I think UC Davis used to, but stopped their programs for cost-related reasons.
I can also offer some advice on good questions to ask during interviews or send ya my interview question template that I found very handy to refer to in the middle of interviews. Also always happy to just be a contact for you in general. Shelter medicine is a microscopic community, so if that's where your career ends up heading, it's very likely we'll run into one another eventually anyway
