Hey! I just wanted to jump in as someone in first year at WCVM that there are a few rumors going on perpetuated by people who obviously don't go to WCVM or have not done enough research.
Rumor #1 WCVM being a larger class (composed of around 75 people) means you don't have access to as many resources. FALSE - the class is divided often (especially in lab) and although you learn your major classes as a group, your labs are often halved or quartered so you are in a group of about 37 or sometimes closer to 18. There is ample opportunity to get to know each and every one of your class mates and it is much more of a community than it is given credit for.
Rumor #2 WCVM has no hands on experience with animals in first year. FALSE - there is actually as much hands on experience as you want. There are quite a few labs that are mandatory to learn how to handle animals and to do different things with them, but you can definitely increase your animal time through clubs or volunteering for on-call shifts, cage-side rounds, biomedical rounds, etc. SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES! Mandatory labs have included putting cattle through a shoot and doing tail and jugular blood pulls, examining rumen motility, ECG on dogs, human, a cat if the cat would cooperate, equine flexion and hoof testing, nerve block demos, and many more! But you can sign up to do things like dehorning, sled-dog examination, research animal handling (like rabbits, gerbils, rats, mice - which we got to take blood and anesthetize), and more but I don't want to spoil it all!
Rumor #3 WCVM has Wednesdays off - TRUE/FALSE - although sometimes you do get the Wednesday off, there are often events you are expected to go to during these times that are mandatory through the school. When it isn't mandatory, these Wednesdays are often used to catch up or for club events which will give you the kind of animal lab that you are super interested in.
I just wanted to jump in because I have heard via friends who attend UCVM what my experience should be at WCVM through not having sense of community, through not having first-hand animal experience and for it being so much easier because of Wednesdays off... I have no ill feelings that these rumors are spread by friends, I just think that the truth should be spoken for each school to be fair to the pre-vet people who may or may not be aware of the school differences.
. Looking forward to chatting with all the folks applying this year! 
I know it isn't a super important course but I just can't seem to get a 6 to save my life 
