OK, I'll answer the question. Just finished first year. Literally have not touched my quilting (hobby I love) since a month before school started. That said:
I am glad that I prepared myself as well as I did. I took more science classes than were required: Cell Bio, Neurobio, and lots of in-depth Physio courses. I cruised through 3 out of the 5 hard classes this year because I was so well prepared. I had fun during undergrad- science is fun. If you don't think so, re-think your choice! Seriously.
I had a tough time with the classes that I did not pre-prepare for: Anatomy and Microbio. The way we were taught Micro at Davis vs the way it is taught here at MSU are not even comparable. Basically, Veterinary Micro is about memorizing the phone book. The bugs name, its morphology, ecology, disease process(es), affected species +/- clinical symptoms, drugs of choice + treatment regimen, zoonotic potential, prevention. We learned 15-40 organisms a week. SO, my suggestion is to take an art history class to get used to memorizing ridiculous amounts of inane information. Plus, art history is fun, and gets you out (of your house and your comfort zone). Anatomy is basically the same thing, but with words you can't pronounce and no application (yet- I am waiting for surgery!). So, I wish I had taken a class in elementary Latin- at least I would have been exposed to the words ahead of time.
My classmates had it tough. These classes plus Histology and Physiology and Pathology and Immunology. This is not a cakewalk. But, when you are sitting in a "free lunch" provided by a club that interests you, and the doctor giving the talk says something you UNDERSTAND, and you think, for the first time, "I'm going to be a doctor"... that is more priceless than your free time ever was!
JMHO
TTFN, Jenn
