Univ Tenn K vs Univ of Wisconsin M

[cows93]

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I have been accepted at both schools and am having problems coming to a final decision. I have visited both schools and they both are very nice and everyone at both schools has been extremely nice.

I am mainly interested in large animal bovine in particular but I'm not sure if baseing my decision only on this factor is a smart thing to do considering a lot of students change their minds while attending vet school.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I would like to give my answer at the end of this week so people on waitlist can hopefully have news. Thanks again.

 

[meadow36]

Both are excellent schools - do you have a preference in regards to the area? Is either school offering a scholarship? Have you looked into cost of living in the two areas?

I've heard rave reviews about UTK from quite a few people.

 

[Rebeki]

I'm VERY biased, but...

Bovine = Dairy = Dairy State = Wisconsin 😉

I'm sure Tennessee is excellent as well, but for bovine Wisconsin is the place to be!

(Did I mention I'm biased😀)

 

[Bill59]

You can sometimes get an idea of case load by searching for internship and residency programs at the practices at the matching site.

For example, if you search LA Int. Med. residencies you get:

Tenn: 26,000 cases annually, 12 presented to hospital/day
Wisc: 1900 cases annually, 7 presented to hospital/day

Based on those numbers, I bet a lot of Tennessee's case load is ambulatory. Also this probably includes all large animals. But you could maybe search for food animal residencies and so on. I'm going to guess that a lot of Tennessee's case load is equine because TN and KY are big horse states and Wisconsin probably sees a lot of dairy, but that's just a guess.

They will also have info on the number of faculty and house officers supporting the program.

Numbers aren't everything of course but it's a place to start. And if you have specific questions that weren't answered at your interviews (if you had
those) there's nothing wrong with calling the admission offices and ask them. You already know they want you as a student, so they'll do whatever they can to help you get information.

 

[VAgirl]

FWIW, I met with several faculty members at UW including Dr. Oetzel in the food animal production side of the house. He was really great. It sounds like you probably already have a strong FA background. I don't, but have come around to that interest from a different angle, and was worried about not having had that hands on experience. He was super encouraging and started brain storming ideas with me about how we could approach that starting with my first year in school. Also, he told me about how they have a new faculty member who will be starting in August in the FA production group who is doing some really cool stuff with infectious diseases in herds. I can't remember the details now, but if you're interested, PM me and I'll find my notes and send you the info he told me.

Also, I know nothing about UTK, so that was a one sided plug because of my information gap, not because UTK isn't great.

Oh, I do know one thing about UTK....it's the location of "body farm!" Which could be a plus (it's cool!), a minus (it could be smelly), or totally neutral (really has zilch to do with vet med).

Good luck with your choice!

 

[critterfixer]

We see plenty of cows at UTK. There has never been a time I've been back in the LA hospital and not seen at least a few. As a first-year, I volunteer on the Large Animal Emergency team and half the cases I've gotten called in on have been dairy cows.

That said, we do see a lot of horses, camelids, pigs, goats, etc. But I am confident in the level of the expertise at UTK in dairy cattle. Of course, Wisconsin has an excellent program, too, so you can't really go wrong. You will get plenty of cow time at either place, IMO. If it's at all possible, you should attend our Open House on Saturday, April 12th and talk to the large animal clinicians to get a real sense of what you would have access to at UTK.

 

[hoodle]

UTK and UW are pretty different in terms of climate, politics, ambiance, location. Since you'd get a great FA education at either one - actually, a great education in general - can you put more weight on the non-academic sides of the decision? IE, which place would you be happier and more comfortable living in for 4 years?

 

[Moonpaw]

UTK and UW are pretty different in terms of climate, politics, ambiance, location. Since you'd get a great FA education at either one - actually, a great education in general - can you put more weight on the non-academic sides of the decision? IE, which place would you be happier and more comfortable living in for 4 years?

Would you like to elaborate a little bit on what those differences are? THis is just out of my curiosity; I have no idea what Wisconsin is like.

 

[fargeese]

WI: flipping cold, liberal, 98% white, Lutheran and Catholic, very friendly

Tenn: Pretty mtns, not as cold, higher pop. of minorities, Southern Baptist (don't forget the capitalization)!, also friendly but not to the ridiculous degree of wisconsinites. Politically conservative.

Sorry for the generalizations. I personally would be happy to live in either location, but would lean towards Madison because Madison is a really cool city. They did have 104 inches of snow this year though (the previous record was 73) which is a little daunting! The weather in Tenn is much milder.

just my .02!

 

[pressmom]

The weather is much nicer here, and the people are just as friendly 😀

 

[critterfixer]

67 degrees as we speak. 🙂

I am neither Southern Baptist nor conservative, but I will admit liberalism is not the norm.

 

[Moonpaw]

67 degrees as we speak. 🙂

I am neither Southern Baptist nor conservative, but I will admit liberalism is not the norm.

I love the weather and it really was pretty there and everybody was SOO friendly, but I'm not really feeling the Southern Baptist and the conservative thing.

But as long as the attitude is "live and let live," I'm totally fine.

 

[fargeese]

I knew I was going to upset ya'll I am from the south myself, and lived in the mtns of Va, which are not all that different than the mtns of TN. I always found people to be friendly in the South, it was more a comparison of the two. I didn't like how people automatically ask what church you go to and assume you vote with the conservative coalition out there, but I would have to assume that Knoxville is large enough that it would not be like rural Appalachia, which is where I used to live.

I'm a GRITS myself, so I am not throwing stones 🙂

 

[critterfixer]

I love the weather and it really was pretty there and everybody was SOO friendly, but I'm not really feeling the Southern Baptist and the conservative thing.

But as long as the attitude is "live and let live," I'm totally fine.

It's definitely live and let live. Everyone really IS nice.

 

[cows93]

Ok, so I am still not sure what my choice will be but just in case anyone is interested here are some of my thoughts.

Tenn - beautiful appilacian mountains, nice temp, cost ~36,000, hypobaric chamber, new small animal portion af the hospital, looking to enlarge large anial portion of the hospital soon

Both - MPH option, very friendly people, excellent schools

Wisconsin - nice city easy to walk/bike anywhere, ~32,000, has own dairy herd, very nice classrooms for 1st years.

I know someone above posted numbers, however I was unable to get to that portion of the web site link.

Everytime I think one school my mind says well the other has this and this, and this....etc.

Thanks for all the comments so far. Please feel free to contribute more info.

 

[dyachei]

Ok, so I am still not sure what my choice will be but just in case anyone is interested here are some of my thoughts.

Tenn - beautiful appilacian mountains, nice temp, cost ~36,000, hypobaric chamber, new small animal portion af the hospital, looking to enlarge large anial portion of the hospital soon

Both - MPH option, very friendly people, excellent schools

Wisconsin - nice city easy to walk/bike anywhere, ~32,000, has own dairy herd, very nice classrooms for 1st years.

I know someone above posted numbers, however I was unable to get to that portion of the web site link.

Everytime I think one school my mind says well the other has this and this, and this....etc.

Thanks for all the comments so far. Please feel free to contribute more info.

I know nothing about WI, but the cost of living in TN is cheap. We have the TVA for power (dirt cheap) and pretty low prices for renting. I don't know if cost is a major consideration or not, but I thought I'd throw that in there.

 

[TCVM808]

Another vote for WI. But like most who have an opinion on this one, I am biased. I attended UW-Madison for 2 years of undergrad. If bovine is your interest, then UWM seems like a pretty obvious choice, but furthermore Madison is a GREAT city. 👍

This sums it up well...

WI: flipping cold, liberal, 98% white, Lutheran and Catholic, very friendly

And coming from Hawaii...this was about the greatest climate and culture shock I could have possibly experienced. But I really loved it! And the vet med facilities are great. (I would know I used to clean the SA OR rooms...😛)

The cost of living in WI is probably a bit higher than TN (guessing). But then you also have that difference in tuition.

Good luck with your decision!!

 

[wi girl]

Another vote for wisconsin, but I'm probably the most biased person on this thread.

I was going to (try) add something useful, but didn't come up with anything.

WISCONSIN 😍

 

[fargeese]

I thought WI was more like 25K out of state. Are you talking tuition or tuition plus everything when you use those numbers?

 

[wi girl]

Wisconsin's costs (for 07-08):

Nonresidents $24,540
Room and Board $7,910
Books and Supplies $1,210
Miscellaneous (Clothing, transportation, etc) $4,510


So all together, about 38,000 or so. Not sure about TN costs though ....




Got the above numbers from this site: http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/Estimated_Costs.32.1.html Found TN TUITION (only) and it's $38,658, from http://www.vet.utk.edu/admissions/costs.shtml. That's about 10K more (if one factors in about that much for housing/board/etc) to go to TN. Maybe a TN student can comment on how much they took out or something .... PS: Go to WI!!

 

[cows93]

Thanks to everyone that weighed in with an opinion and helpful information, I really appreciate it. I have finally just decided. 😍Both schools, too bad I can't go to both. Thanks again.

 

[wivet2011]

Thanks to everyone that weighed in with an opinion and helpful information, I really appreciate it. I have finally just decided. 😍Both schools, too bad I can't go to both. Thanks again.

And!?

 

[cows93]

And I'll be seeing everyone in Wisconsin in August.

 

[critterfixer]

Well, I hope I won't have to turn in my UTK badge for this, but...

If you love both schools, and don't have a strong gut feeling either way, the deciding factor for me would be the moo-la. I'd go to Wisconsin if tuition is that much lower for you.

And on edit, I see you are doing just that. Congratulations on your decision!

 

[cows93]

Thanks Critter Fixer ! I loved Tennessee also just feel Wisconsin is where I need to go

 

[Rebeki]

GOOD CHOICE

See you in August