V.i.n.?

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HopefulAg

HopefulAg

Texas A&M CVM c/o 2014!
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Evidently the forum doesn't like capitalized titles, but anyhow: VIN is the forum for veterinarians right? Does anyone have access to it/know? Is it frequented?


I feel there's a large lack of information about post-education (I.E. how current vets are dealing with debt, what they wish they'd had done, etc.) for those of us that are still pre-vets.

Was hoping to glean some information off of it but then again, I can't access it. I'm still debating my decision and keep feeling that I can't make a truly informed decision with so many unknowns. I don't want to be one of those people who go "I wish I had done 'X' when I was younger", but I also don't want to be broke.


So I was curious as to what they discuss there, and if it'd be useful to we pre-vets.
 
Looks like you just need to provide them with some information to sign up:

"VIN is free to veterinary students who provide their university assigned student email address (often .edu or .ac), the name of the university they are attending, the degree they are earning, and the date (month and year) they expect to graduate."

http://www.vin.com/VIN.plx
 
Hello,

I use VIN at work and must say that I LOVE it. They have great tools and client education information and you can post your questions with x-ray images and videos. Its great fun and very useful.

I don't have my own account, but as soon as I am able to I will sign up, its awesome 👍
 
Well, you have to pick a veterinary school before they bother giving you an email address. :d
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Actually I do have a TAMU e-mail address from having worked at the clin path lab, but didn't want to use it in case they check or...something. Also still have my student e-mail address as well. But wasn't sure if they checked with the school itself or I just had to click a confirmation link or what have you.


I use VIN at work and must say that I LOVE it. They have great tools and client education information and you can post your questions with x-ray images and videos. Its great fun and very useful.
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Now I'm jealous.
 
HopefulAg said:
Actually I do have a TAMU e-mail address from having worked at the clin path lab, but didn't want to use it in case they check or...something. Also still have my student e-mail address as well. But wasn't sure if they checked with the school itself or I just had to click a confirmation link or what have you.


Now I'm jealous.
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They do some level of checking, its not automatic. But if you posted a question about if you should go to vet school you would most likely be chased off before you ever got an answers. Its a private forum for a reason, and most of the members feel very strongly about this.

I would recommend against trying to register until you've accepted an offer somewhere.
 
david594 said:
They do some level of checking, its not automatic. But if you posted a question about if you should go to vet school you would most likely be chased off before you ever got an answers. Its a private forum for a reason, and most of the members feel very strongly about this.

I would recommend against trying to register until you've accepted an offer somewhere.
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👍

I love VIN, it is awesome, but it is designed for veterinarians and currently enrolled vet students. Once you officially enrolled as class of 2014 and have a vet med email address to use, I strongly encourage you to sign up. There will be probably be some verifying once you sign up, they are pretty strict about only the proper people having access to the forums due to the discussions that go on there. In most cases, licensed vet techs aren't even allowed to have accounts, they have VSPN? instead I think.
 
rugbychick16 said:
👍

I love VIN, it is awesome, but it is designed for veterinarians and currently enrolled vet students. Once you officially enrolled as class of 2014 and have a vet med email address to use, I strongly encourage you to sign up. There will be probably be some verifying once you sign up, they are pretty strict about only the proper people having access to the forums due to the discussions that go on there. In most cases, licensed vet techs aren't even allowed to have accounts, they have VSPN? instead I think.
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Yeah, VSPN is for people like techs and receptionists who currently work at clinics.

I had access as a receptionist at a vet clinic, but when I left to go back to school full-time (pre-vet), I updated my (lack of) work info, and they removed my access. 🙁
 
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I also LOVE VIN! The associate veterinarian at our practice frequents it quite regularly and the owner of the practice will from time to time. I've personally gotten to read on the forums and feel like I could never get enough. As David 594 stated - it is private and the members I know do feel very strongly about this which is why I believe it is so successful. Definitely one of the big perks once we get to veterinary school!! 😀
 
Hey! I was just wondering what your personal experience of using VSPN was -- access to information, cost, etc. Currently, I'm an assistant and don't really know anything outside the realm of VIN for veterinarians but would like to!
 
Man, I'm trying to remember. I didn't discover it too long before I left my job, so I didn't use it as much as I could. In one of the sections (maybe a "receptionist" forum), they posted a lot of interesting difficult client situations (and often resolutions), and I thought those were very interesting, since I'm always trying to improve my people skills.

There was A LOT on there I just didn't get to in time.
 
But if you posted a question about if you should go to vet school you would most likely be chased off before you ever got an answers. Its a private forum for a reason, and most of the members feel very strongly about this.
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Nah I wasn't going to post anything, just look around and search out debt threads.

I reckon I'll just leave it be for now.
 
Well, once you guys are able to sign up, please speak up! 🙂 I'm sick of being one of only like three or four students who ever participate in discussions on there...would be great to have more student voices, especially on topics pertaining to the future of the profession! 🙂
 
Alliecat, I think I just figured out who you are! I always wondered what vet student had the balls to say so much over there 🙂 (Just because I'm too timid to make a peep over there, surrounded by all the big bad veterinarians)
 
Our practice owner and associate vet both use VIN a TON. It's a fantastic resource. All of the assistants/techs are registered on VSPN. I like VSPN a lot - even though I'm not a tech (technically), I can take the CE classes - last year I took one on equine anatomy and phys to dust off my memory after 3 years in SA practice, so that was super helpful! There are also a lot of funny stories and good questions on the forums there.
And yes, they definitely check your info when you sign up - the admins actually emailed me for clarification on some of my employment information when I registered.
 
alliecat44 said:
Well, once you guys are able to sign up, please speak up! 🙂 I'm sick of being one of only like three or four students who ever participate in discussions on there...would be great to have more student voices, especially on topics pertaining to the future of the profession! 🙂
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Hey, I speak up, especially about business, education, and behavior!

And I ask lots of questions.
 
psjlg2 said:
I use VIN at work and must say that I LOVE it. They have great tools and client education information and you can post your questions with x-ray images and videos. Its great fun and very useful.

I don't have my own account, but as soon as I am able to I will sign up, its awesome
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If the vet is letting you log on with his or her password they are violating their terms of agreement with VIN. Not that it matters to me but just so you're aware.
 
Bill59 said:
If the vet is letting you log on with his or her password they are violating their terms of agreement with VIN. Not that it matters to me but just so you're aware.
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I know you were replying to someone else, but I also wanted to clarify that when I've briefly used VIN at work -- I've never done anything other than read something that a veterinarian brought up for me to read (never logged in, posted, etc.) Our doctors are very respectful of the fact that VIN is for veterinarians! 🙂
 
alliecat44 said:
Well, once you guys are able to sign up, please speak up! 🙂 I'm sick of being one of only like three or four students who ever participate in discussions on there...would be great to have more student voices, especially on topics pertaining to the future of the profession! 🙂
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Hey if I get in and start a DVM this year, you can bet that somebody will have to beg me to shut up on VIN. See: my track record here. 😉
 
If anyone's curious, they declined my application to VIN until I decide upon which school to go to. Offered to show them proof of acceptance and all that good stuff but the answer was the same.


Hey if I get in and start a DVM this year, you can bet that somebody will have to beg me to shut up on VIN. See: my track record here.
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I'll be there as well.
 
HopefulAg said:
If anyone's curious, they declined my application to VIN until I decide upon which school to go to. Offered to show them proof of acceptance and all that good stuff but the answer was the same.



They won't accept students until coursework is actually started, just acceptance of an offer is not good enough. I tried (c/o 2014)/ they said come back later🙁
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CSU said:
They won't accept students until coursework is actually started, just acceptance of an offer is not good enough. I tried (c/o 2014)/ they said come back later🙁
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You can sign up for VIN as soon as you have a vet school email address (i.e. have committed to a school). I'm not sure when most people get them, but I already had an ISU email account so I was able to join about 5 months before classes started.
 
cuitlamiztli said:
You can sign up for VIN as soon as you have a vet school email address (i.e. have committed to a school). I'm not sure when most people get them, but I already had an ISU email account so I was able to join about 5 months before classes started.
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They might have cracked down on that though. There was a big todo not to long ago about who is actually allowed on VIN, and some unhappiness over it not being as restrictive as many of the members thought.
 
cuitlamiztli said:
You can sign up for VIN as soon as you have a vet school email address (i.e. have committed to a school). I'm not sure when most people get them, but I already had an ISU email account so I was able to join about 5 months before classes started.
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I have the email account as I am a MS student where I was accepted. Not good enough.
 
david594 said:
They might have cracked down on that though. There was a big todo not to long ago about who is actually allowed on VIN, and some unhappiness over it not being as restrictive as many of the members thought.
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That's true... I didn't think of that.
 
So I tried to register since I already have an email account, and filled out my info... but when it said that they would have to verify my enrollment, I realized that I hadn't even sent out my deposit yet! For some reason, I thought I just needed an email account... So I immediately emailed them and explained the situation, apologized, and let them know that there's no need for them to verify the information because I know that I'm not enrolled as of yet.

Well, the next morning, I get a welcome email for VIN along with all my login information... then another one a couple of hours later saying "thanks for your honesty. I've deactivated your account so email me when you actually are officially enrolled"

:cry:

I guess I'm starting on the right track with the honor code thing...
 
Since a lot of us are starting to be officially enrolled in our DVM classes (and isn't there one school starting in July? 😱 ) and we were talking about it in another thread, I figured I'd bump this one up here.

A couple of months ago my membership was declined but it seems like they're starting to approve for class of 2014'ers now, as I was approved this week. Now's a great time to become oriented with how best to access all of the news and information available and the utility of the discussions there at VIN IMO, before we are all deluged with classes and exams this Fall. So I really, really appreciate them letting us on now. 😀
 
I applied for and was granted access to VIN two days ago. All I have is my school email address so far, not enrolled in classes as of now (as far as I know..I did pay my deposit several months ago). I'm still kind of trying to figure out how to use it to be honest. It's not a very friendly layout but so far I've already learned a ton from randomly searching different topics I'm interested in. I'm not going to be one of the students that speaks up just yet since I'm way out classed over there but it's really great to read so much information from practicing veterinarians! It looks like it's going to be an amazing resource during school!
 
Evidently the forum doesn't like capitalized titles, but anyhow: VIN is the forum for veterinarians right? Does anyone have access to it/know? Is it frequented?
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Yah, and it's pretty frequented. Horrible layout though.

I feel there's a large lack of information about post-education (I.E. how current vets are dealing with debt, what they wish they'd had done, etc.) for those of us that are still pre-vets.
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That's true, there is, but I don't really think it's useful for pre-vets. Interesting? Yah, but relevant? Not really, just a buncha medical cases mostly.

Was hoping to glean some information off of it but then again, I can't access it. I'm still debating my decision and keep feeling that I can't make a truly informed decision with so many unknowns. I don't want to be one of those people who go "I wish I had done 'X' when I was younger", but I also don't want to be broke.
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It wouldn't have helped you.

So I was curious as to what they discuss there, and if it'd be useful to we pre-vets.
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Medical cases primarily. Not really useful for pre-vets, thankfully (not missing out on much).

😀




Anyhow even now as an incoming vet student with access there's really not a lot I can talk about on there. As I said above, it's mostly all medical related stuff and a bit about the profession. There is a long thread about 'do you like being a vet?' and there are some people who say no but the majority seem 'yes' oriented. That's the only pre-vet related post I'd found so far.
 
Just got approved this evening. Sorry SDN, I'm off to investigate VIN for a while! 😀
 
So I went on to VIN for the first time this morning and started filling out an application. I was a bit surprised about the names--are they used for verification purposes only? Is there any anonymity? I get that they won't sell your info but I am really uncomfortable with my name attached to every post. I don't think any of the vets I've worked for ever used VIN, so the only thing I know about it I've heard from SDN.
 
gilch said:
So I went on to VIN for the first time this morning and started filling out an application. I was a bit surprised about the names--are they used for verification purposes only? Is there any anonymity? I get that they won't sell your info but I am really uncomfortable with my name attached to every post. I don't think any of the vets I've worked for ever used VIN, so the only thing I know about it I've heard from SDN.
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i thought they used your username for each post but as i was reading the message boards, it looks like they use your first and last name. i was wondering the same thing about anonymity.
 
rileyroo said:
i thought they used your username for each post but as i was reading the message boards, it looks like they use your first and last name. i was wondering the same thing about anonymity.
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As it's a forum for professionals where people give and receive veterinary info/advice I think there's an element of accountability involved. I guess it's the idea that if you're going to say something, it better be something you're willing to say with your name attached.

My undergrad had online forums similar to SDN but for the entire college, and it worked so that your name would be attached to each post. I think the idea was more to prevent inappropriate comments and lessen the extra snark that comes with anonymity there (though there was enough snark/drama involved that some students wouldn't be able to return to school for at least a semester because of what they said on the forum).
 
It's not a make or break for me and I do get the whole professional aspect. I just am uncomfortable with using my name. If it's as cool as people here expect it to be, I'll just grit my teeth and go for it.
 
Just signed up. I looks as though the username you choose is the one that shows up on the posts? so if you didnt choose your name it wouldnt be there?? but i dunno, i cant actually see any posts so i guess i'll see how it looks once i am joined. i dont understand why it would post both the user name you chose and your full name with posts, seems like a lot. anyway, i just used my first initial and last name so it would sound more professional than B-33 lol
 
Yay! I've been on VIN for a few months now and have been feeling lonely since the vet school/vet student forums have been quiet. I've noticed a few posts (some from SDN members) on there which gives me hope that those boards will be rockin! Its a great place to share ideas, study tips, cases etc.
 
First name and last name attached to every post, username is just used to log in with.

The idea is that it's a professional community with limited membership and as others said the lack of anonymity is for accountability. People do actually give advice on handling cases and such.
 
gilch said:
So I went on to VIN for the first time this morning and started filling out an application. I was a bit surprised about the names--are they used for verification purposes only? Is there any anonymity?
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Not really. But it is also a private forum that goes to pretty great lengths to ensure that non-veterinary professionals are not allowed on.

They do allow a way for you to make some posts anonymously for situations where identifying yourself could be detrimental. This is mostly used in relation to work place related issues. Ex: "My boss/coworker/employee is doing something I'm uncomfortable with and don't know what to do. Should I quit?" type of questions.

I really can't imagine any other type of post I would not want my name attached to. Without accountability whats to stop all you 2014's from going on there and starting to give advice in the orthopedic surgery forum? It's important to know who is saying what.
 
VIN is great. I found it to be especially helpful this year when I had more clinically relevant classes. It was a nice way to study when I needed a break from my textbooks. I used it a lot for opththalmology and looked through the message boards for relevant cases for what we were studying at the time. I remember not finding it all that useful at first (other than being fun to browse through the cases), but it gets more and more useful each year.

Congrats to all the 2014ers!
 
Man I looked at some of the ophthalmology pictures yesterday and have no idea what they were talking about. One even had arrows but it was just blackness. Looked exactly like the rest of the eye.

Reminds me of histology: "just varying shades of purple".
 
Just got approved today too.
I went into my account settings to update my profile on there and they already put in that I was an RVT and had the private email address of the clinic I currently work at...It's kinda like the veterinary mafia just did a background check on me😱
 
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