To blog or not to blog?

[MickeysPet]

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Have any of you soon-to-be first year vet students considered starting a blog? I've been thinking about it for a few days now, and I know it can be a significant time commitment, but if we could get one blog per school it might help those that are considering veterinary medicine or are in the application process. What do you think?

 

[Trilt]

I'm nowhere near starting veterinary school, but I love reading veterinary blogs, personally. Everybody should start one, especially pesky ncsu students... haven't found a single one, and that's my school of choice.

 

[tastrophe]

where would one find some of these blogs? could you post (or PM) some links?

 

[StealthDog]

I have blogged since my first year of vet school, and really like having a record of what I was learning and feeling about school when I started versus today. It's been helpful in connecting with fellow students and pre-vets, and it's fun to occasionally get linked to by other vet students or animal-related blogs.

That said, you do have to be careful. I write under my real name and write as though fellow students and future employers will be reading it. Some people use a pseudonym and then have more freedom to talk about classes and patients and things, but I feel like with so few vet schools, someone will eventually figure out who you are.

So, I say go for it! I blog with Blogger, because I really dislike the SDN blog format. I think the most extensive list of vet student blogs I've seen is on http://allbutonespecies.blogspot.com/ .

Enjoy!

 

[chordy4]

from a reader's perspective: i LOVE reading vet student blogs and i'm normally not very into the whole "blogging" thing in general. i think it's extremely helpful to give pre-vets an idea of what they're getting into, a little glimpse of the highs and lows, and is also a good way to sorta psyche yourself up for vet school, even more than usual. as i didn't get in this last year, it allows me to live vicariously through other students a little bit and i really enjoy that.

also, i have to say i'm an avid reader of stealthdog's blog...the loads of corgi pics make it super attractive to me as well 🙂

note to stealthdog: absolutely adore your corgi...she is lovely and reminds me of my pup when he was in his prime years.

 

[mekia02]

I like reading the vet student blogs and the veterinarian blogs. I like seeing pics of them actually doing stuff and talking about cases, exam material, and leisure life. One Q I have though is how do they get the pics? Do they ask permission? One blog that I like had radiographs from a case, very interesting stuff.

 

[twelvetigers]

I want to blog, and will hopefully be a vet student someday. My big problem is WordPress... I know it's an excellent blogging site, I just can't seem to get the knack of it. That, and I'd like to do more complicated things than I actually know how to do. Hah. Any advice on a) using wordpress, or b) an easier to use site with similar capabilities? I'm especially interested in posting to an outside domain using the blog site.

If I ever get one going, there will be a blog for a potential OKSU student. Exciting!

 

[StealthDog]

Aw, thanks chordy4! It means a lot to know that my blog is read by people other than my family 🙂

twelvetigers, I was never able to figure out Wordpress... Blogger does what I need it to do (writing, photos, sometimes videos) and it was pretty easy to figure out.

 

[ylrebmik]

I have blogged since my first year of vet school, and really like having a record of what I was learning and feeling about school when I started versus today. It's been helpful in connecting with fellow students and pre-vets, and it's fun to occasionally get linked to by other vet students or animal-related blogs.

That said, you do have to be careful. I write under my real name and write as though fellow students and future employers will be reading it. Some people use a pseudonym and then have more freedom to talk about classes and patients and things, but I feel like with so few vet schools, someone will eventually figure out who you are.

So, I say go for it! I blog with Blogger, because I really dislike the SDN blog format. I think the most extensive list of vet student blogs I've seen is on http://allbutonespecies.blogspot.com/ .

Enjoy!

Thanks! 🙂

I love reading blogs from people. I really want to start one myself even for my undergrad. I wish I would have started in high school because so many things happen day to day that I wish i would remember and all my volunteering would be easier to keep track of.

 

[MacBook]

I would wait until you are back into school before you decide to start a blog. I considered starting one as well when I started going back to school. It was a bad idea, not many people read it and it was very time consuming.

I would personally love to hear regular updates and news but not worth it when you are going to have so little extra time.

 

[ejh345]

I started my blog - http://ejh345.wordpress.com - right after I finally got in to vet school, and I love it (blogging). Its a nice way to keep in touch with my family (though the fact that they read censors me quite a bit), it's great to be able to go back and see what I was doing a year or semester ago, and it's fun to just vent. The anonymous issue does bother me - I don't advertise my blog to vet people here, but I don't really try to hide my identity either, and I try to write honestly and also don't say anything I wouldn't say to my classmates/administrators/professors/etc. face. And I've gotten some feedback from potential vet students saying that they've appreciated it as a resource, which of course is nice. So yeah, I also highly recommend it!

 

[VAgirl]

I started my blog - http://ejh345.wordpress.com - right after I finally got in to vet school, and I love it. Its a nice way to keep in touch with my family (though the fact that they read censors me quite a bit), it's great to be able to go back and see what I was doing a year or semester ago, and it's fun to just vet. The anonymous issue does bother me - I don't advertise my blog to vet people here, but I don't really try to hide my identity either, and I try to write honestly and also don't say anything I wouldn't say to my classmates/administrators/professors/etc. face. And I've gotten some feedback from potential vet students saying that they've appreciated it as a resource, which of course is nice. So yeah, I also highly recommend it!

I navigated to your blog a few weeks ago from some other link someone posted on here and I've now read through the entire thing. 👍 As someone about to start vet school, it was really great to read about someone else's school experience (at least the first 2 years). So thank you. Good luck as you start year 3!

 

[ejh345]

Thanks VAGirl!! Good luck to you as well at Davis!

 

[zut]

I've got a blog at http://www.niftykeen.net. Mind you, I just started school two weeks ago, but eventually it will have more vet-related info and less moving-to-a-foreign-country-related posts 🙂 I like it because when I was moving to Edinburgh there weren't many resources from previous students, so I like to think I'm providing a resource. Also, it allows my family to check up on me, and I can post pictures!

 

[Tayaki]

I've had a blog since first year. It's a relief sometimes to just vent how I'm feeling about exams for example, and know that there's a support system out there when people reply. I would highly recommend blogging, especially if you're an overseas student like I am. It's a great way to keep in touch with your family and friends. Also, it helps students that may not know the difficulties that may lie ahead of picking up and moving to a country they've never been before.

If you're interested in what it's like studying in Ireland...

www.survivingvetschool.blogspot.com