Vet School Rankings

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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Rottie4Life

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How important are vet school rankings? Some vets I talk to say its not important as long as the school is fully accredited, others says it will make or break your resume.I know the AVMA stance is that they are not important, but whats your opinion?
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i think you should go where you can. it's so competitive and in the end, you're a vet! that's the goal. i've met veterinarians from all over who are working, so i'm not sure how much it impacts your resume. but hopefully there's someone here that knows more information. i've even met people who have worked at clinics that had doctors from Ross University. and i just met an epidemiologist at CSU that does research and travels and probably makes over 100K that went to vet school in Chile.
 
IMO, vet school is what you make of it.
 
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Vet school rankings are unimportant.

There are only 28 vet schools in the US. If it is an AVMA accredited school, it's good enough. If it has a provisional certification and is on it way to AVMA certification, it is good enough.
They do not take diversity of programs--number of specialists, ect.
They do not take NAVLE scores into account.
They do not take info that might matter to you--class size, location, program set up, caseload, ect.
Some schools decline to participate.


I'm sure this list could go on and on, but anyone that tells you the rankings are important is wrong, in my opinion. I don't think you will find anyone who does think so here.
 
Rottie4Life said:
How important are vet school rankings? Some vets I talk to say its not important as long as the school is fully accredited, others says it will make or break your resume.I know the AVMA stance is that they are not important, but whats your opinion?
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They don't matter. Plus, they're almost up for refresh, plus, the top 15 are all within 0.2 points or so of each other. Even by the list's own standards, the list doesn't really matter.
 
I've heard that rankings don't matter, that the most important thing is to get to the school that is your personal best fit. I am sure that success in the profession has much more to do with the individual than the school they went to.

By what criteria do they assign the rankings, anyway?
 
I tried to look up their criteria, and it was largely meaningless. There's a link to a supposed explanation in the report, but it basically boils down to "we did stuff to get numbers and then orderd the numbers from big to less big."
 
cowgirla said:
Eenie Meenie Minie Moe...

Kind of like admissions themselves :laugh:
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Don't you know anything about admissions? It's a dartboard. :p Eenie meenie minie moe is how they decide what to charge for the supplemental application fee. :smuggrin:
 
eventualeventer said:
Don't you know anything about admissions? It's a dartboard. :p Eenie meenie minie moe is how they decide what to charge for the supplemental application fee. :smuggrin:
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I thought they just put the applications in a rabbit hutch. The ones that remained intact at the end of the day were admitted, the ones chewed but legible were waitlisted, and the shredded ones were rejected. :p
 
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Rottie4Life said:
How important are vet school rankings? Some vets I talk to say its not important as long as the school is fully accredited, others says it will make or break your resume.I know the AVMA stance is that they are not important, but whats your opinion?
Click to expand...

Ultimately, these arbitrary rankings don't matter. Your performance in your vet job of choice will not be determined by which school you attend.

That said, be prepared for a lot of narrow-minded people (ie: some of the vets/employers who will be hiring you) who will have certain pre-conceived notions of the type of students from certain schools. Some of the vets in my practice were horrified at the idea of my going to U of Edinburgh and not a US school, despite the fact that it is an excellent AVMA accredited program. I have also heard of vets who show preferences for Penn grads and who would never hire Ross grads, for instance (even though the Ross grad may be better qualified in that case). Just the other day, I met an IACUC board member at an elite research institution here in LA who gave me dirty look when I said I was going to MSU and not Davis.

The bottom line, do your best in vet school and let your performance and your skills do the talking. :)
 
As far as rankings go - IMO, different veterinary schools are better at different things and as such the ranking of them is a difficult task. It would really depend on what qualities the person (or group) performing the ranking was looking for.

Bottom Line - In the end, if you pass the NAVLE you are obviously good enough to practice in the USA no matter what institution conferred your doctorate. Becoming a truly great veterinary doctor really depends on how much you want to put into it, as many people have already said.
 
I did some research on residencies at a school I'm interested in and from what I saw, every other year they took a resident from an international/non-AVMA accredited school. In the in-between years it was a US-AVMA program. I'm sure it was just coincidence and not intentional, but it just goes to show that vet school is what you make of it, and if you're a strong candidate it's going to stand out regardless of where you go.
 
Rottie4Life said:
How important are vet school rankings? Some vets I talk to say its not important as long as the school is fully accredited, others says it will make or break your resume.I know the AVMA stance is that they are not important, but whats your opinion?
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The top veterinary schools as ranked by the US News and World Report reflect the fact that many of today’s public universities were strong on agriculture education more Top Veterinary School Rankings 2010 – Best Colleges in USA
 
I think the rankings are a joke. I go to CSU and while it is a great school, the VTH facilities are laughable compared to the lower ranked schools. If you like the school and it fits you well…then it is the #1 school. Don't get caught up in the rankings, they are not a good indicator of what the school has to offer you personally.
 
The ranking is somewhat important if you are interested in further training in the future; internship or residency etc. To become GP, the ranking is not that imp. you will learn the standard in any schools as long as the school is accredited.

Cornell, penn, csu, and NC are pretty good school. No doubt (based on my experience). No ohio, louisiana for sure.. no good facilities (little behind and pretty old; you will learn the old school way, old info..), not good people. some bad environment that you don't need to experience.

but i agree that the best school may not be the best for you.
 
FGCS said:
The ranking is somewhat important if you are interested in further training in the future; internship or residency etc. To become GP, the ranking is not that imp. you will learn the standard in any schools as long as the school is accredited.

Cornell, penn, csu, and NC are pretty good school. No doubt (based on my experience). No ohio, louisiana for sure.. no good facilities (little behind and pretty old; you will learn the old school way, old info..), not good people. some bad environment that you don't need to experience.

but i agree that the best school may not be the best for you.
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I think it is a little unfair to classify an entire school as "not good people." You will have bad apples in every top-ranked school and you will get some real diamonds in the lower ranked. IMHO, if the school is accredited it obviously meets the national standards. Anything past that is just details and personal preference. Just because someone graduated from Cornell does not immedetly make them a better vet than someone from UTK.
 
FGCS said:
No ohio, louisiana for sure.. no good facilities (little behind and pretty old; you will learn the old school way, old info..), not good people. some bad environment that you don't need to experience.
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Lololol did you seriously just say "not good people"? Have you personally been assigned to judge who is good and who is bad, based on, obviously, having met every single person in Louisiana in order to make a fair judgement? If yes, where can I sign up for a job like that?

Second issue: "some bad environment that you don't need to experience". Were you also given the responsibility of testing all environments and experiences and telling people which ones they want to see for themselves and which ones to stay away from? Your hugely generalized and opinion-based statements are quite frankly rude and condescending.
 
Is it wrong for me to be suspicious of a person who signs up, digs up a thread that's over a year old and then posts for the sole purpose of declaring some schools good and other schools bad?
 
Coquette22 said:
Is it wrong for me to be suspicious of a person who signs up, digs up a thread that's over a year old and then posts for the sole purpose of declaring some schools good and other schools bad?
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Coupled with the impeccable grammar/syntax and spelling I will agree
 
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