Well, I see Silvane hasn't followed up in this thread (probably busy with VMCAS!), but I would love to hear more about Oregon. I've applied there, although I am OOS, so I suppose my chances are small. I've been to Portland and absolutely LOVED it because I am a gardener and I was floored by how lush it was. I've lived in Seattle before, and loved it there. Is Corvallis a similar climate? Is it just as lush as Portland, or do the trees/other greenery thin out as you move south?
As to the vet school, I think I would like the smaller class size, but I'm wondering about the facilities. Are they missing some of the bells & whistles that the bigger schools have (and does that even matter)? Are the buildings on the newer side? Would love to hear what you like and don't like. If that's already in a thread somewhere, do you know where I can find it? (I'm sure TT would know! LOL.)
Corvallis is in the agricultural belt called the Willamette Valley...so flatter, more fields, but still very green and lush. It's also only about an hour straight over to the coast, and there are lots of bike trails, and parks and areas to hike.
I'm not sure what you mean by bells and whistles, but I'll give you a brief description. Our anatomy lab is amazing, and probably the nicest of all the vet schools in the country. It's bright and has a great ventilation system with downdraft tables. The building is fairly new, especially the small animal hospital, and they've actually been doing some remodeling to expand the SA ICU. We have a CT scanner, an equine high-speed treadmill, a covered arena for lameness exams, and a rehab room for SA with a pool and underwater treadmill. The one disadvantage to being a smaller school is that we don't have as many board-certified specialists, but the administration has been actively recruiting, and we recently acquired a new oncologist and cardiologist.
The faculty, for the most part, are great and you can tell they care about us and feel invested in our education. As at any school, not every faculty member is excellent, but the others make up for it. I like the small class size, and there tends to be some good camaraderie...we had a class BBQ just last night to celebrate our first week back (downside: we're on the quarter system). The large animal hospital encourages us to come down to the hospital when we aren't in class, and they run foal treatment teams and colic teams also. There are lots of opportunities to get hands on experience through clubs.
Cons: first and second year pretty much stuck in one classroom all day, with no windows (but you get a break every hours), get to look at exams but don't get to keep them
I feel like I'm rambling, so I'm gonna end here, but let me know if you have any other questions.
, I'd definitely prefer a school with updated facilities. I was a bit concerned that the LA facilities at Oregon might not be the best because it sounds like that program is so much older than the SA program. If they are funneling all their funds into state of the art SA facilities, that won't help me at all.
