I feel like it’s really going to come down to who you are as a student. Like I think I’ll benefit from the PBL program because of how hands on and collaborative it is. With that being said though, you have to know that you’re going to be able to motivate yourself as a student and won’t procrastinate. So for myself, I know that I’ll be successful in doing that since I’m currently pursuing my MS in U of F’s distance learning program, which is essentially all self taught since you decide when you’re gonna watch the lecture videos or get through the reading or complete your assignments for the week. I’m able to stick to my own study schedule very consistently and haven’t had any issues in keeping myself motivated, so based on the fact that I’m able to do what’s basically an entire self taught masters online, I think I would actually benefit from PBL. I think it’s also important to consider the other benefits of PBL. Since WesternU is very hands on, it gives students lot of early veterinary med hands on opportunities as well (i.e. neuter and spay). I’ve worked with vets who would’ve loved to have this early hands on experience but got very little of it during their entire time in vet school since their classes were all lecture based. One of the vets who I worked with said that this is part of the curriculum at WesternU is definitely a huge plus since it gives students more opportunities to practice skills. Also worth it to note that more schools are starting to incorporate PBL into their curriculum (just not fully switching over). PBL also fosters cooperation and not competition, unlike some other vet schools. I went to an undergrad where you have to compete for every single grade against everyone else so I’m definitely looking for a more cooperative environment this time around. With that being said, there are also the downfalls, such as the fact that it is at least partially self taught, you won’t get a straight answer right away, you’ll make lots of mistakes before you actually get to the right answer for the case study for that week, and PBL is a different and new way of learning for most people. Again, I think it really depends on you as a student, but yeah, these are just some of my thoughts and opinions!
With regards to the NAVLE, I can’t really speak on that but I wonder if it was an exceptionally hard NAVLE for 2022? The other school I’m considering saw a 6% drop in their passing rate for 2022 when compared to previous years. But again, that’s all speculation!