Sick days

[DollyyLlama]

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I'm home sick today, feeling under the weather in general, and guilty for missing work. When I'm sick, I start what-if'ing about the future- what if I'm sick tomorrow, what if I'm sick on a school day. Can people share stories about missing classes/labs/exams, how forgiving the faculty is, how easy it is to get the notes, etc? I am so not good about toughing it out. I figure it's probably the same as missing class in undergrad- it sucks, but it happens- but I could use some hand-holding at the moment. :smile:

 

[ckd816]

Maybe this thread would have a better fit in the Veterinary Forum instead of here if you're wondering how sick days are handled while you're in vet school. 🙂

 

[StillDreaming]

I'll give ya notes 🙂

I'm the kind of person who would tough it out, having a chronic illness and feeling like crap a lot kinda forces you to (not that I did it willingly, i used to stay home for anything lol). although I've heard its highly encouraged to stay at home if it's very bad so that you don't give it to the rest of the class and the profs... I would say try not to miss too much class, but stay home and get better rather than sitting in the classroom and not really paying attention because you're too sick.

 

[Kat0303]

This is my experience with missing classes and labs in the 1st year at Tennessee....

Going to class is mostly up to you (labs at our school are mandatory for the most part, except anatomy lab). If you learn best by going to class and listening, then it will be more detrimental to miss than those who don't get much out of class. There are several people who hardly ever come to class and do just fine. I learn better by going to class every day, but there are days I have to miss, and it's not a big deal to get notes from someone. Usually the professors have powerpoints online as well as we have to buy the professors notes that go with the powerpoints at the beginnning of the year. Not every professor has printed notes, but most do.

At Tennessee, they are pretty accommodating about make-up exams if you're sick or if there are other circumstances that keep you from being at an exam. So, that's not really an issue.

Hope that helps!

 

[guppy73]

DollyLlama & StillDreaming: Count me in as a backup as well--I'd be happy to share notes. 🙂

Glad to know I'm not the only one with this concern....I hate missing class! Wouldn't even take naps as a toddler, for fear of missing something good.

 

[runnerDC]

Welcome, Tufts V’13s!

I can certainly relate with your concern, as I get a lot out of attending lecture and hate to have to miss them, but I will say that I’ve never suffered any negative consequences for having to miss a few here and there. I was always able to get notes from a classmate who was present, and between those and the detailed syllabus notes and PowerPoint lecture slides you’ll have for each lecture, you really won’t miss much of anything.

Enjoy your summer, and if you have any other Tufts questions, I’d be happy to try to answer them!

DollyLlama & StillDreaming: Count me in as a backup as well--I'd be happy to share notes. 🙂

Glad to know I'm not the only one with this concern....I hate missing class! Wouldn't even take naps as a toddler, for fear of missing something good.

 

[DocDVMD]

As a sidenote, wouldn't it be difficult to get good letters of recommendation from professors for future internships if you never went to class?

 

[Kat0303]

As a sidenote, wouldn't it be difficult to get good letters of recommendation from professors for future internships if you never went to class?

I would imagine that professors really get the opportunity to get to know you in clinics and other things like summer research jobs, coming to rounds, etc. It seems like it's tough for them to get to know you too well in a lecture setting. It's my experience that even though I pretty much always go to class, there isn't much more interaction than asking occasional questions in class and in office, and maybe a good morning in the hallway. That might not be true for other schools that have a smaller class size, I'm not sure. We have 95 in our class. Also, that's coming from just having been through 1 year of vet school, and it might be different in the 2nd and 3rd year classes.

Personally, I know the professors that I'm doing summer research with the best, and I imagine those will be the people I ask for a letter of recommendation from.

 

[Wolf Vet]

I agree with the general concensus. At Michigan State, all of our lectures are recorded and posted, so if you miss class you can simply watch the powerpoint/lecture at home. A few students even prefer this to actual lecture as you can pause it, etc. Labs are mandatory for the most part, but all our prof's are really understanding if you are sick and they will gladly tell you to stay home 🙂

 

[Bill59]

As a sidenote, wouldn't it be difficult to get good letters of recommendation from professors for future internships if you never went to class?

There's a difference between not coming to lectures and not coming to the hospital when you're on clinical rotations. Most professors don't really care or even notice if you don't come to lecture, although a few do.

But if you miss your hospital duty (without a good excuse) getting a LOR won't be a problem -- because you won't graduate.

 

[VAgirl]

Most professors don't really care or even notice if you don't come to lecture, although a few do.

They definitely notice when a portion of the class is out. It's happened with us before and they comment.

For me, even though they podcast the lectures, I still think going to lecture is (usually) invaluable. I am totally a learn from lectures kind of girl. I don't really like other people's notes, and even if I listen to the podcast, still sometimes there will be times when it's hard to understand. Like when the professor was obviously pointing at something and says "this thing here ....etc etc" and since I can't see what they're point at (just audio podcasts, no visual), I do miss some stuff. Has it made a difference? Not really. But I don't like missing lecture, it's a pain to make up I think.

That all being said, I have missed lecture on occasion when I had to and it was ok. (I even missed a lab for a conference that I went to...that was totally worth it.) But it's my preference to attend lecture.

 

[Bill59]

Oh I agree. For the amount of money you're paying, you should go to class. And professors get annoyed when a significant portion of the class doesn't bother to show up after they've put all the work into preparing and giving a lecture.

But you aren't going to notice when a few out of 80-100 students aren't in class. But you notice when 1 out of 3-10 students doesn't show up for hospital duty. If nothing else, the other students having to pick up the slack make sure to tell you.

 

[sumstorm]

Oh I agree. For the amount of money you're paying, you should go to class. And professors get annoyed when a significant portion of the class doesn't bother to show up after they've put all the work into preparing and giving a lecture.

I tend to generally feel like this personally (for myself) but I believe with the amount of information vet students need to learn, each student will need to make their own decisions about classes and how he/she can best obtain and retain the information. For a student who learns best from reading, lectures may be less useful. Or, if a professor is difficult for a student to follow, frustration with the lectures may make lectures a negative experience that impedes learning. I know several doctors who skipped classes regularly in med class because attending didn't work for them despite religious attendance in undergrad. It had little to do with what they thought of the professors; their main concern was learning the information the best way each was able.

 

[chris03333]

I'll give ya notes 🙂

I'm the kind of person who would tough it out, having a chronic illness and feeling like crap a lot kinda forces you to (not that I did it willingly, i used to stay home for anything lol). although I've heard its highly encouraged to stay at home if it's very bad so that you don't give it to the rest of the class and the profs... I would say try not to miss too much class, but stay home and get better rather than sitting in the classroom and not really paying attention because you're too sick.

Please, for the love of God, stay home if you are sick! No one wants your cold/flu and it doesn't help you to be in class when you are sick anyway!