UC Davis: "Streams" instead of tracking but essentially the same thing. The first 2 years are core that everyone takes. In your third year you choose your stream and take only those medicine and surgery classes. If you only have one stream - you start clinics during third year allowing for more hands on learning time. If you would like to do more than one, you will return to take the 2nd stream's courses during 4th year with the class behind you. (and thus getting about the same clinical time as students at other schools but less than your classmates with only 1 stream)
Streams are Small Animal, Food Animal and Equine with options for Zoo/Wildlife and Public Health being discussed - since this is a new curriculum with the class of 2015 the third year is still evolving a little bit.
University of Florida: Choose a track at the end of second year. From what a fourth year student told me your choices are small animal, large animal and mixed. There may be more, she wasn't sure. UF starts clinics the summer after second year (white coat ceremony then into clinics!). For SA the required clinics are 4 weeks of small animal surgery and 4 weeks of small animal medicine, 2 weeks of large animal surgery and 2 weeks of large animal medicine. It's flipped LA. She wasn't sure for mixed. Plus all of the other stuff like anesthesiology, radiology, etc. Then there are electives that you can choose too. UF goes back into the classroom second semester of third year until second semester of fourth year (Jan-Dec) and then back to clinics for the last few months before graduation. These classes are tailored towards your track and let you learn more about the hands on work you've done in clinics.
Iowa State: No tracking in 1st three years--everyone takes the same classes, but there are also lots of electives to choose from for every interest (these are usually 1 credit each, and everyone must have at least 4 credits of electives, though most people get much more). First semester 3rd year is when you begin figuring out your 4th year schedule, and everyone is required to pick a track at that time. Choices are Small Animal, Large Animal, Equine, or Mixed. In 4th year, 1 week = 1 credit, and our rotations are each 2 weeks long (except intensive care/emergency, which is 4 weeks--2 on nights, 2 on days). Everyone needs 44 credits to graduate, so, with 52 weeks in a year, that leaves you 8 weeks for vacation, extra electives, interviews, extra preceptorships, etc. All students must take 20 credits of core rotations, which includes a little of all species (really, it's mostly small animal), plus things like radiology, anesthesiology, and clin path/necropsy. Each track then also has a set of required rotations. Last but not least, each track also has a list of "selectives" from which you must choose a certain number of credits. After all this, you have 6 more credits to fill with electives or preceptorships. This is kind of confusing, so as an example, say you are small animal track. You have your 20 credits of core rotations, 12 credits of required small animal rotations, 6 "selective" credits to be chosen from a particular list you are given, and 6 credits for preceptorships or electives. Different tracks have different numbers of required courses and selective courses. If you want more details, here is the curriculum:
http://vetmed.iastate.edu/academics/curriculum (or contact me).
Kansas State: No tracking at all. You take some basic one credit electives each semester of the first three years, but they're not divided into any sort of tracking or specialization. You're required to do 3 one week mentorships outside the vet school before starting fourth year- small animal, food animal, and a nontraditional/exotic/equine/whatever. Fourth year rotations everyone takes 4 weeks of equine, 4 weeks of food animal, 12 weeks of small animal medicine and surgery, and other core rotations (optho, radiology, etc). You get 11 weeks for elective rotations or externships in the area of your choosing.
Mississippi State: No specified tracking, but we are on the 2+2 system. Meaning, we have two years of core classes and two years of clinics. We do our first surgeries fall semester of our second year. Our third year is made up of core rotations in the vet hospital. Our fourth year has 14 (approx) weeks of core rotations and the rest are electives. There are also elective lecture classes the school offers for your 3rd and 4th year. So even though you don't declare a track, the school gives plenty of time in the fourth year for you to do more detailed work in areas of your choosing.
North Carolina State University: Instead of tracks we call them focus areas, but it amounts to the same thing. Everyone is initially enrolled in Mixed Animal, and you have to declare a definitive focus area by third year at the latest. Earlier is recommended for certain ones such as zoo medicine because you need to take a certain number of elective/selective/lecture courses in these areas in order to complete the focus area requirements. Since space is limited, priority goes to those students who have already declared their focus area. Focus areas include: Clinician Scientist (research-based), Epi/Public Health, Equine, Food Animal, Lab Animal, Mixed Animal, Pathology, Small Animal (there is an exotics track), and Zoo Mmedicine. They mostly differ in the selectives you have to complete and the blocks you have to take in fourth year; in nearly all other respects, the curricula are identical.
University of Minnesota: The majority of your third-year spring semester (and a small bit of fall semester) are electives, allowing you to zone in on your track of choice, which include small animal, food animal, equine, mixed, and interdisciplinary (research, public health, etc.). Your track then impacts the requirements for your fourth-year clinical rotations.
(The) Ohio State University: No real tracking. Everyone takes the same core curriculum the first three years, but there are electives to narrow your focus. There is more time to take electives third year, since the core curriculum becomes much lighter then. Your fourth year you pick a "Career Area of Emphasis" and pick between Small Animal, Food Animal, Equine, or Mixed. Everyone still has to do the same 26 weeks of core rotations though. For example, I am Small Animal, but still have to do 4 weeks of Equine and 4 weeks of Food Animal since these are part of the "core." 6-8 weeks off for off-site rotations (externships) of your choosing.
University of Pennsylvania: We declare a "major" during 3rd year -- equine, large animal, food animal, mixed or small animal. 1st and 2nd year are the same for everyone, with a few electives thrown in. Spring semester of your 3rd year are Large Animal Block (3rd quarter) and Small Animal Block (4th quarter). "Blocks" consist of electives, like Large Animal Medicine, Large Animal Repro, Sports Medicine, Diagnostic Imaging, etc. Large Animal folks will often skip Small Animal Block, and vice versa. However, you can do both blocks if you so choose. If you skip a block, you go into clinics early (but if the class above you is big, you may have to do externships or rotations at other vet schools if you skip a block). Ex: I am an equine major. I am doing Large Animal block but am skipping Small Animal Block, so I will be entering clinics in March of 2012. I will be spending those 2 months at another veterinary school and at private practices. Everyone is required to take 4 weeks of small animal medicine, 2 weeks of small animal surgery, 2 weeks of large animal ECC, 2 weeks of large animal surgery and 2 weeks of large animal medicine. Majors determine what rotations you need to take during 4th year clinics. There is 1 class that equine majors have to take during 2nd quarter of 3rd year, and a couple of classes during Large Animal Block that are pre-reqs for certain rotations. As an equine major, I am really, really, really glad that Penn's Equine Major gives us so much time for externships. I am visiting 6 private practices during clinics, which is really helpful if you want to do a private practice internship. (Sorry for writing so much! It is confusing!
🙂)
University of Prince Edward Island: No formal tracking, but flexibility for students to track themselves or go more broad. No tracking at all until third year. Third year consists partially of a core of required small animal and large animal classes and electives for students to specialize in specific areas (bovine, exotics, more small animal, more large animal, more equine, therio, etc). Fourth year rotations are similar with a core of 15 weeks of rotations required in companion animal, large animal. radiology and in diagnostics/pathology (note, that's 15 weeks combined, not 15 in each one). Another 26 weeks of rotations are electives.
University of Tennessee: No specific tracking, elective courses become available spring semester of second year, and you take 4 electives total over three semesters. Fourth year consists of 31-33 weeks of core rotations in small animal, large animal, pathology, radiology, and anesthesia; as well as 17-19 weeks of elective rotations.
University of Wisconsin- Madison: During third year, you pick your track for fourth year which determines your required rotations. Track options are food animal, large animal, mixed animal, small animal, and other (includes things like zoo, public health, lab animal, aquatic, etc.). You have to be approved to be an other student.
Virginia-Maryland: Tracks are Food Animal, Equine, Small Animal, Mixed Animal, and Public/Corporate (for research, pathology, zoo, international, etc). You choose a track in your second year. You can take track classes from other tracks as electives, if there is room (i.e. I was P/C but I took some Food Animal track classes as electives). Tracking continues in fourth year; everyone has the same core set of blocks, and different tracks have different special track blocks. Everyone also has elective blocks. P/C trackers do not have track blocks, per se but instead have a greater number of elective blocks, which they fill with either in-school or out-of-school opportunities in their area(s) of interest (which need to be approved by the school, of course - you can't swim around in Hawaii and say you are studying the marine life )
