UF vs Auburn

[chihuahuamama]

I'm an Alabama resident, so I will be IS for Auburn and OOS for UF. I know most people will immediately say go for the cheapest option, but I can't help but consider UF. With living expenses and interest, I would graduate with about ~90K more if I attended UF. I am extremely interested in small animal and exotic medicine. I'm also considering shelter med. UF offers so many exotics options, while Auburn has MAYBE one class. UF also has a shelter med certificate at no extra cost. I also really think I would do a lot better with the block schedule of UF. I have lived in AL my entire life and have been dying to get out for years. I truly think moving to UF would help my mental health immensely. I fell in love with the school during my interview and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

As far as finances, I would rely mostly on loans. My fiancé will be an officer in the Navy after my first year and will be paying for most of my rent/utlities. We have also thought about this extensively and plan to live entirely on his salary when I graduate and use my entire pay toward my student loans. He is completely supportive of me moving out of state and believes we will handle it just fine. I just don't want to put us in a situation that we'll regret.

If you have any advice, I would really appreciate it. I know vet school is only 4 years of your life, but I want what's best for my education, interests, and mental health. I'm struggling to decide if these reasons are worth the extra debt.

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[DVMoftheFuture]

I'm an Alabama resident, so I will be IS for Auburn and OOS for UF. I know most people will immediately say go for the cheapest option, but I can't help but consider UF. With living expenses and interest, I would graduate with about ~90K more if I attended UF. I am extremely interested in small animal and exotic medicine. I'm also considering shelter med. UF offers so many exotics options, while Auburn has MAYBE one class. UF also has a shelter med certificate at no extra cost. I also really think I would do a lot better with the block schedule of UF. I have lived in AL my entire life and have been dying to get out for years. I truly think moving to UF would help my mental health immensely. I fell in love with the school during my interview and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

As far as finances, I would rely mostly on loans. My fiancé will be an officer in the Navy after my first year and will be paying for most of my rent/utlities. We have also thought about this extensively and plan to live entirely on his salary when I graduate and use my entire pay toward my student loans. He is completely supportive of me moving out of state and believes we will handle it just fine. I just don't want to put us in a situation that we'll regret.

If you have any advice, I would really appreciate it. I know vet school is only 4 years of your life, but I want what's best for my education, interests, and mental health. I'm struggling to decide if these reasons are worth the extra debt.

Hi! Current UF second year here! Congratulations on your acceptances! So I’ll start with the positives. You mentioned interest in exotics - UF has a pretty active zoo med club (WZAAM) and an aquatics club too. There is also the opportunity to volunteer with the zoo med department from your first semester. We have a number of elective courses that are all included with our tuition, even online summer courses. There is also a zoo med clinical rotation that can be taken multiple times. The shelter med club is also very active and there is a shelter med certificate that can be completed at no extra cost. I was able to do a cat neuter my first semester through the shelter med club.

I was in a kind of similar situation to you. I was trying to decide between UF and another school (although they were similar in cost). I had gone for my interview and fallen in love with UF, and that was a factor in why I choose UF over the other school. I’m going to be honest with you - I don’t think UF is worth an extra $90k. I got drawn in by the fancy new hospital and newly renovated classrooms, but these things don’t really have an effect on the quality of education. Obviously I have not attended any other school, but I don’t think we are any less stressed at UF than any other school. The block schedule has nice features, but ultimately we are taking on average an exam a week for the entire semester and I know many of us are pretty exhausted at this point. You can pick up experiences during the summer in exotics - I did this even with the opportunities available at UF. Some of UF’s electives are offered online, and you could take those classes online and still save money over going to UF. Just some thoughts - let me know if I can answer any more questions for you!

 

[cameronluna]

I’m not a vet student yet, so I can’t comment on the differences between either program, but I have absolutely done my homework as far as student debt in this field. If you had to choose an OOS school out of necessity, then this might be a different conversation, but you have to be crazy to not choose your IS if you have the option. I was rejected from IS two times already, and I’m looking at OOS out of necessity now, but I would’ve done anything to be given the opportunity to pay IS tuition.

You talk about wanting a new experience outside of Alabama, and I’m sure a lot of people feel that way about their own living situations, but vet school is only 4 years. You’ll be a vet wherever you end up going. There are unique opportunities at any program, you might just have to do a little extra leg work to experience them. Instead of taking on the extra 90k in debt (not including interest), I’d look at it as having extra money to travel after vet school, that way you can really experience life outside of Alabama. This is just my thought process. I would gladly take your IS spot if I had the option!! Best of luck on whatever you decide!


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[itsrocky]

I also think it’s hard to gauge how much experience you will get in anything until you attend the school. My school doesn’t have an exotics program per se, but we still have ample opportunities to pursue opportunities with them. Also, your goals and interest may change in school.