West Coast Schools??

[Duckylady]

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I have been following this forum for about a month now, and it seems that there is very little interest among memebers in Washington State, Oregan State, and even Western. Just curious if there is a reason for this or if you are all just East Coasters? I'm trying to gather information for when I am ready to apply in a few years.
Thanks.

 

[loo]

I think a lot of folks are lurking and may not have posted for various reasons.
The east coasters are a relatively *talkative* bunch.

I'm still hoping some folks will post on the LSU thread...lotta lurkers, few posters! It may be due to the "no news yet" syndrome. 😉

Do you know why Oregon is on limited accreditation? Correct me if I'm wrong about this, please.

 

[chickenboo]

I'm from the west coast but didn't apply to WSU, OSU, or Western, which is why I haven't posted on any of them. 🙂 Didn't apply to Western because it's such a new school, and it's not what I really wanted out of a school for myself. Didn't apply to WSU because I decided to apply pretty late in the game this year (in August, so I was really scrambling to get everything together in time), so I was taking the GRE at the last possible time and WSU wouldn't accept my scores. Didn't apply to OSU because my understanding is that they don't have a very established small animal teaching hospital. Do you know if OSU students still get sent up to WSU's teaching hospital for part of their 4th year? I'm not sure if that's still the case, but it was awhile ago.

The only west-coast school I applied to was Davis, and that's because I'm a CA resident. All the schools you mentioned are all fine schools, in the case of OSU and Western they just weren't for me for one reason or another, and in the case of WSU because they didn't even want to see my app! 😛 I think some people's concerns might have been their teaching hospital caseloads as well--I really don't know anything about Western (esp. because they don't have a teaching hosp. yet) or OSU, but I think WSU has a relatively small caseload. So many people may not have applied as out-of-staters for that reason, and maybe we don't have many WA residents on here.

I guess I should stop rambling now...

 

[birdvet2006]

OSU has a small animal hospital that opened fairly recently - check out their internship advertisement at http://www.virmp.org

I think OSU's small animal hospital sounds great, but could use a few more specialists (will come with time, I think) and a longer history. I did apply there for an internship, but would prefer not to be the guinea pig (they don't have a history of small animal internships there). If I were matched there as an intern, I would still be excited though.

 

[LynnKat]

I'm both an East Coaster and a lurker, but I'm delurking to say that I did apply to Western . The "newness" concerned me, but the more I read the more intrested I get.

I'm going out there in a couple of weeks for an interview, so I will be able to speak more intelligently about it then. As a NJ resident without an in state school, it's a good option for me because it's a private school, so they don't have to admit state residents preferentially.

 

[Duckylady]

Thanks to everyone who has responded 🙂
Loo- Oregon State is now on Full Accreditation according to the AVMA website. I actually thought they were limited myself until I just went back and checked, so maybe they were at one point...?
I actually don't plan on applying to OSU myself, I just threw it in with the others because it is a West Coast School. My reason for this is mainly its newness, but also because their class size is so small. (48 people, 40 in state and 8 out of state or WICHE) I think it would probably be a waste of my time (and money!) to fight over 8 spots.
I don't think they are sending students to WSU for 4th year clinical blocks anymore, now that they have their own (small) teaching hospital. From what I've read, WSU/OSU are completely seperate at this point.

 

[verbal_kint]

I have been following this forum for about a month now, and it seems that there is very little interest among memebers in Washington State, Oregan State, and even Western. Just curious if there is a reason for this or if you are all just East Coasters? I'm trying to gather information for when I am ready to apply in a few years.
Thanks.

I'm from CA and applied to Washington State. To be perfectly honest, the only reason I applied to WSU was because I knew a vet who went to that school and enjoyed it. I can't tell you much else about the school though.

Davis is my top choice by far though. Being "in-state" is probably the number 1 reason though, which I'm guessing is the same reason for most people. A large number of the vets I've worked with all went to Davis and came out fine.

I didn't apply to Western for a few reasons:

1. More pre-reqs (that I have not taken). Classes like econ, scientific writing, and public speaking.
2. The newness of the school (could be good or bad though)
3. I'm not sure if I like the PBL teaching style.
4. They're tied very closely with Banfield. (again, could be good or bad)
5. I'm originally from SoCal, but Northern California is just so much better!

However, if I don't get into Davis this time around, I'll prob apply to Western the next time. I have a friend going to Western right now and she really enjoys it. She admits that the PBL can be troublesome at times if you have a bad apple in your group, but otherwise it's really good. It's only her first year too and she's already getting clinical experience working in Banfield hospitals. She does have some minor gripes about the hospital because of all the paperwork, but otherwise she's learning a lot.

I was wondering though, does Western professors do any sort of research?

 

[chris03333]

I was wondering though, does Western professors do any sort of research?

Yes there are some professors here that do some research. Their positions as faculty is number 1 though. So although some may be doing research, they are available when we need them and are not completely comsumed by their research. They also have students participate in their research in the summers.

 

[verbal_kint]

Yes there are some professors here that do some research. Their positions as faculty is number 1 though. So although some may be doing research, they are available when we need them and are not completely comsumed by their research. They also have students participate in their research in the summers.

Good to know! I'm doing research right now as a undergrad and would like to continue doing that if at all possible. Do you know how realistic it is for someone to do the vet school thing and commit say 15 hours a week for research?

 

[chris03333]

Good to know! I'm doing research right now as a undergrad and would like to continue doing that if at all possible. Do you know how realistic it is for someone to do the vet school thing and commit say 15 hours a week for research?

That really depends on the person. I would say it is doable. What I usually suggest to anyone who is planning on doing research/job while in vet school is to make sure you are not in a huge outside committment when you first start. That way you can get a feel for what you need to do to make it in vet school. First year is by far the easiest so I would suggest seeing if it is something you can handle in your first year after a few weeks without doing your research (or cutting the hours). After the first round of exams you will definitely have an idea what you can handle 😳 . Anyways good luck 🙂