Vet School with Learning/Cognitive disability

[gonnabavet]

Hello,

I have been accepted to a couple of Veterinary Schools and I am extremely excited to attend. I have some cognitive issues due to an acquired brain injury. I have developed useful coping skills that have enabled me to complete undergrad with a high GPA, additionally, I utilize disability accommodations. However, I realize that Veterinary School will be harder than anything else I have yet attempted. I would love to hear from any current or past veterinary students who have experience in Vet school with a cognitive disability or learning disability. What helped you get through?

Thank You

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[CalliopeDVM]

I have dyslexia and it became more difficult to manage during vet school because of the speed and volume of work, but I was able to manage well by getting more disciplined about my previously-learned coping skills. That's different than a TBI cognitive disability, but I'm sure it can be done. Good luck!

 

[gonnabavet]

I have dyslexia and it became more difficult to manage during vet school because of the speed and volume of work, but I was able to manage well by getting more disciplined about my previously-learned coping skills. That's different than a TBI cognitive disability, but I'm sure it can be done. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[bigkittinteef]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have a learning disability and struggled initially. Feel free to PM me.

 

[LetItSnow]

Hello,

I have been accepted to a couple of Veterinary Schools and I am extremely excited to attend. I have some cognitive issues due to an acquired brain injury. I have developed useful coping skills that have enabled me to complete undergrad with a high GPA, additionally, I utilize disability accommodations. However, I realize that Veterinary School will be harder than anything else I have yet attempted. I would love to hear from any current or past veterinary students who have experience in Vet school with a cognitive disability or learning disability. What helped you get through?

Thank You

I think in large part it is going to depend upon the nature of your disability. If you were able to manage undergrad with a good GPA, though, you likely will be able to manage vet school, so don't let the fear of the unknown get to you. And when you find yourself struggling in vet school, remember that your "normal" classmates are struggling, too - it's not "just" you.

The most important thing you can do is talk to the disability folks at your vet school as soon as you know where you're attending to get appropriate accommodations squared away.

And then: USE THE ACCOMMODATIONS. I took part in our school's process for managing students who ran into academic trouble, and one of the most troubling cases to me was seeing a situation where a student had accommodations, but didn't utilize them, and then struggled more than necessary. It was so avoidable! Sometimes in vet med people toss around the phrase "you can't care about the animal more than the owner." It's also true that the vet school can't care about the student's success more than the student - all the assistance in the world doesn't help if the student doesn't take advantage of it.

Honestly, the fact that you're aware of it, that you've been successfully managing it, and that you're thinking about it going into vet school suggests to me you'll be just fine.

 

[gonnabavet]

I think in large part it is going to depend upon the nature of your disability. If you were able to manage undergrad with a good GPA, though, you likely will be able to manage vet school, so don't let the fear of the unknown get to you. And when you find yourself struggling in vet school, remember that your "normal" classmates are struggling, too - it's not "just" you.

The most important thing you can do is talk to the disability folks at your vet school as soon as you know where you're attending to get appropriate accommodations squared away.

And then: USE THE ACCOMMODATIONS. I took part in our school's process for managing students who ran into academic trouble, and one of the most troubling cases to me was seeing a situation where a student had accommodations, but didn't utilize them, and then struggled more than necessary. It was so avoidable! Sometimes in vet med people toss around the phrase "you can't care about the animal more than the owner." It's also true that the vet school can't care about the student's success more than the student - all the assistance in the world doesn't help if the student doesn't take advantage of it.

Honestly, the fact that you're aware of it, that you've been successfully managing it, and that you're thinking about it going into vet school suggests to me you'll be just fine.

Thank you for your encouraging feedback. I have a meeting in a couple weeks with the disability coordinator at the school I plan on attending. As you have already been to Veterinary School, how did you find the response by the faculty toward a student with disabilities? The professors at my undergrad have been incredibly supportive, which has been key to my success. I am not sure if such attitudes prevail in professional programs, but I hope they do.

 

[LetItSnow]

Thank you for your encouraging feedback. I have a meeting in a couple weeks with the disability coordinator at the school I plan on attending. As you have already been to Veterinary School, how did you find the response by the faculty toward a student with disabilities? The professors at my undergrad have been incredibly supportive, which has been key to my success. I am not sure if such attitudes prevail in professional programs, but I hope they do.

I can only speak for one school - and I didn't have a disability requiring accommodations so my perspective is limited. But from what I could see, I found teachers very matter-of-fact about it: for students with a legitimate need that was verified by the university, teachers did what it took within the accommodations allowed to help a student succeed. Other than perhaps assisting in office hours and whatnot, I doubt most teachers are going to go beyond the school-directed accommodations, out of fairness. My guess is you will find <most> vet school instructors to be similarly supportive. There will be a few instructors who only do one or two lectures or a small class or whatever that just aren't very supportive - but they are that way toward every student, and those type of instructors are a minority in vet school. The bulk of vet school instructors you're almost certainly going to find are very helpful.