I'm a bit nervous about being in the same lecture hall for many hours a day. I had long breaks between most of my classes that were also held in different lecture halls throughout undergrad. Any tips or suggestions on making that adjustment? Also, do professors have office hours in vet school or do you just set up to meet with them on your own?
It will be a challenge, but I don't think it will be QUITE as bad as you're worried about. There are definitely long 8-hr days of lecture. Not going to lie. But (at least here) it's not like it's every day for three years. MOST days have <some> break somewhere.... whether it's an extra hour in the morning, an extra hour in the afternoon, a couple hour lab, and afternoon in the anatomy lab, etc. If you actually sit down and look at the schedule and calculate hours, you don't really spend all day of <most> days in lecture. (Some semesters are worse than others, though.)
It is worse than undergrad, obviously. But it's tolerable. And
@dvmhopeful2018 is right, most places do 50 minutes lecture, 10 minutes break. I think you just manage it by making sure you stretch your legs between lectures, skip the occasional class when it's doable, etc. I understand WHY you're worried about it ... but it will be ok.
For us, professors tended to offer office hours, but I never paid attention to it: I'd just go find them or email them if I needed something. They all tended to be pretty approachable and 'findable'.
Back to general tips.... this is one trick I used for studying that I don't think many (?) people do, but it worked super well for me. I kinda stumbled onto it because I have a 35-minute commute each way, and I wanted to make use of the time, but I couldn't (obviously) have a book or notes out in front of me. So I started lecturing to myself.
I know, it makes me look like a psychotic driving in traffic jabbering away. Whatever.
Super useful for a variety of reasons. First, verbalizing the material out loud helped reinforce it / memorize it. Second, because you're actually saying it out loud, you can't "skim" .... I think we all start to 'skim' notes when we get fatigued studying, and at that point we're getting essentially <nothing> out of the studying (even though we tell ourselves we're covering the material). If you're saying it out loud, that's not an option. Third, saying it out loud forces you to <really> understand it. You'll know if you're full of crap, which is great because you'll self-identify your weaknesses and know what to focus on for studying.
So if we had some physiology lecture on ... I dunno ... cardiopulmonary physiology, I'd just lecture to myself about it on the ride home. I was amazed at how useful the technique was. Talk to yourself about the stuff while it's still fresh in your mind, and the overall study-time requirement goes WAY down. It's pretty efficient.
Downside: For it to work, you actually have to pay attention in lecture so you have something to say to yourself later in the day. I know most people don't like to pay attention in lecture.
Last tip: Just keep reminding yourself that thousands and thousands of people have gone into vet school and gotten through it before you. It's not like this is some new frontier that people haven't explored. If they can all do it ...... you'll be just fine.
