WSU (IS) vs. UIUC (OOS) vs. OSU (Oregon; OOS)

[i<3cats]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello!

I am lucky enough to have received acceptances to Washington State, Illinois, and Oregon State! I am still waiting to hear from Georgia, Wisconsin, OVC (Canada), and Tufts! I know I might be jumping the gun on posting this now, but I find myself checking my emails, application portals, and SDN almost every day for updates, and I would greatly appreciate input before I go slightly more bonkers!

I was fortunate enough to receive an in-state sponsored seat at WSU. It may seem obvious that this is the school I should attend. However, at a time like this, I'm overthinking and ready to be done with the application process, so I wanted to hop on here to get opinions to put me at ease!🙂

I would love to hear other people's thoughts on WSU, UIUC, and OSU (Oregon).

Realistically, WSU is my top choice, and there is a great chance I will attend, given that I received an in-state seat. I just want to be thorough before selecting a school. For reference, although a significant portion of my animal experience has been with small/companion animals, I am currently interested in production or lab animal medicine, and (as of now) I would certainly be open to residency or further schooling if required. My undergrad research focused on swine nutrition, which I worked on for 3+ years, and I am currently preparing (slowlyyy) for publication, so I am not shutting the door to research/academia.

Additionally, I wasn't initially sure whether applying to/choosing tracking versus non-tracking schools mattered much to me, but non-tracking is probably more reasonable for me. I feel that since I'm not in vet school yet, I'm super susceptible to changing my mind, and could so easily be swayed into an entirely different track/speciality!!

WSU Pros:
Closest to my home state 🙂
In-state, significantly cheaper!!
Renowned program
P/F system (can't complain with that!)
Non-tracking
The cost of living in Pullman is relatively low
Excellent research program
Super impressed after hearing from students
Lots of hiking trails + running opportunities

Cons:
"Living in Pullman" - Not really a con, I just see it listed on forums a lot; however, I just visited, and I loved the vibe of Pullman! I find it similar to where I live, and I love how much agriculture there is/I'm used to it from where I went to undergrad.

UIUC Pros:
P/F for clinical rotations, electives, and clinical skills
Strong early clinical experience (from what I've heard)
Strong research presence

Cons:
Further from home
Cannot establish residency
Letter grading for didactic classes (not much of a con, but P/F seems to be less stressful in a way)
Location of the campus?

Oregon State Pros:
P/F for clinical rotations and electives
Smaller class size
Hiking + outdoors

Cons:
Further from home
Cannot establish residency
Letter grading for didactic classes (^same as above)
Class ranking for clinical skills (?)


There are certainly great things about all of these schools, both within the veterinary college and outside of it. To most people, it would make the most sense to attend Washington State University, mainly because of the money I would save my parents and me (especially if I don't go directly into practice after earning a DVM) and because it seems to be a well-structured program.

I appreciate any and all input!! Thank you!

 

[pp9]

UIUC Pros:
P/F for clinical rotations, electives, and clinical skills
Strong early clinical experience (from what I've heard)
Strong research presence

Cons:
Further from home
Cannot establish residency
Letter grading for didactic classes (not much of a con, but P/F seems to be less stressful in a way)
Location of the campus?

Just go wherever is cheapest for you honestly, but some UofI/general input:

@soupshark @futuredogtor614 for updated UofI stuff.

I graduated in 2019 so I'm outdated, can't speak to anything that's happening these days. I actually liked the campus location, it's really close to Chicago which is one of the best cities in this country. Makes for a great weekend trip. The campus itself is beautiful and the surrounding college town is pretty substantial - it's a huge university. The early clinical experience at UofI imo is not worth more expensive tuition or anything like that. It's not make or break. Some of us would have rather spent those quarters in the classroom, believe it or not.

I'm not sure I'm understanding the concern for graded courses/clinics vs. pass/fail. You either pass or you don't, whether that comes with a letter grade or not. It's going to be just as stressful at a P/F school. You still get a class ranking at a P/F school too (which matters a lot if you do pursue a specialty).

Anyways, since it seems you might want to specialize (or even if you didn't), do future-you a favor and pick WSU for the cheapest tuition.

 

[JaynaAli]

I think pass fail for clinics can actually be a potential detriment for some people wanting to specialize. My GPA was significantly boosted clinical year because I got mostly As and a few Bs in graded clinics. I was someone who struggled first year but had an upward trend and if my school hadn’t done graded clinics, my GPA would have been even lower and it would have likely been even harder to land internships and residencies. However, the opposite might be true for someone who did better in preclinical courses and didn’t perform as well on clinics. There’s no way to truly predict which group you’d be in since vet school is so unique of an experience.

With that said, 100000% just go to whatever your cheapest option is. It’ll be fine and you’ll be saving yourself significant financial stress for likely up to 30 years in the future.

 

[pp9]

I think pass fail for clinics can actually be a potential detriment for some people wanting to specialize.

Yeah this is a big thing in hindsight. P/F people are competing against people who might get another 'A' tacked onto their GPA every 2-4 weeks during clinics. Most students do perfectly fine in clinics so that is a lot of GPA boosting you can do.

In the nitty gritty, whether or not your class rank budges much with graded clinics probably depends on the class. If you are getting a boost, most of your class probably is too. But coming from personal experience, not everyone recognizes the significant GPA inflation/deflation that happens at certain schools when it comes to choosing interns and residents.

 

[i<3cats]

Just go wherever is cheapest for you honestly, but some UofI/general input:

@soupshark @futuredogtor614 for updated UofI stuff.

I graduated in 2019 so I'm outdated, can't speak to anything that's happening these days. I actually liked the campus location, it's really close to Chicago which is one of the best cities in this country. Makes for a great weekend trip. The campus itself is beautiful and the surrounding college town is pretty substantial - it's a huge university. The early clinical experience at UofI imo is not worth more expensive tuition or anything like that. It's not make or break. Some of us would have rather spent those quarters in the classroom, believe it or not.

I'm not sure I'm understanding the concern for graded courses/clinics vs. pass/fail. You either pass or you don't, whether that comes with a letter grade or not. It's going to be just as stressful at a P/F school. You still get a class ranking at a P/F school too (which matters a lot if you do pursue a specialty).

Anyways, since it seems you might want to specialize (or even if you didn't), do future-you a favor and pick WSU for the cheapest tuition.

Thanks for your response + input on UofIllinois! I understand that it might seem strange that I included grade courses/clinics vs. P/F vs. letter grades in the pros/cons of the schools, but honestly, I think I was trying to justify to myself that these have the potential to affect my decision or opinion about a school more when, in reality, they probably don't factor in much to my decision.

Additionally, I understand that how vet students are graded should not be a make-or-break when deciding on a school, and that solid grades and recommendations are very important, especially if I plan to specialize. I know all three schools are excellent options, and that, based on the financials, WSU would be the most reasonable and beneficial choice. I mainly wanted opinions on these three choices since the c/o 2030 application and selection process are approaching their deadlines. I greatly appreciate taking the time to reply to my thread!!

 

[i<3cats]

I think pass fail for clinics can actually be a potential detriment for some people wanting to specialize. My GPA was significantly boosted clinical year because I got mostly As and a few Bs in graded clinics. I was someone who struggled first year but had an upward trend and if my school hadn’t done graded clinics, my GPA would have been even lower and it would have likely been even harder to land internships and residencies. However, the opposite might be true for someone who did better in preclinical courses and didn’t perform as well on clinics. There’s no way to truly predict which group you’d be in since vet school is so unique of an experience.

With that said, 100000% just go to whatever your cheapest option is. It’ll be fine and you’ll be saving yourself significant financial stress for likely up to 30 years in the future.

Thank you for your response + input! I appreciate your outlook on P/F and grading. I hadn't really broken it down that simply until reading your reply, and seeing your perspective on this has made me look at how schools grade from a more unbiased viewpoint. Repeating what I said in a different reply: I also understand that how vet students are graded should not be a make-or-break when deciding on a school, and that solid grades and recommendations are very important, especially if I plan to specialize/pursue a residency.

The takeaway I've been getting from your reply is that, no matter where I end up, the experience for everyone is unique; there are certainly pros and cons to how each school operates, and the most reasonable option is most likely the one that is both financially beneficial and reasonable.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my thread!!

 

[battie]

Also a UIUC grad. Couple of thoughts:

The clinical quarters are not worth it. In hindsight, they weren't worthwhile as a graduate.

Campus was great. Safe, close by, I could walk to and from pretty easy.

The money for UIUc is absolutely not worth it and I loved my vet school experience in hindsight.

 

[gobears2022]

I vote WSU but I'm a little biased! It seems like you already know a lot about WSU, but I'm happy to answer any specific lingering questions you have. 🙂

 

[_rae_]

I got into Tufts as an IS student. Even with the IS "discount" and a generous scholarship, it was cheaper for me to go to UMN. COL in that area is also very high. If I had a WSU acceptance it wouldn't have been a discussion; the savings is life changing. As someone who also wants to specialize and is staring down $360-400k, do yourself a favor and pick the cheaper school.

 

[juggling-zebra0831]

Imo go with most affordable option presented to you. Though selfishly also hoping you go to WSU hahaha.
Also, just thought I put this here since there was lot of convo earlier about use of P/F system. Can't speak for other programs but here at WSU the cut-off for passing is really high and varies with each course you take (i.e., 73% for anatomy but 80% for physiology last semester). They actually did a whole study before implementing P/F system and found students consistently outperformed the passing cut-off. And honestly based on our class averages for exams, I can tell you mostly they are always hovering around high 80s/90s if letter grade were to be applied. NAVLE rate has historically been really high also at WSU. They do keep class rank here but like that info isn't publicly disclosed; more along the lines you would have to go seek it out on your own time. Anyways just some food for thought...if you have questions about program, life as first-year, Pullman etc. feel free to shoot me dm!

 

[i<3cats]

Imo go with most affordable option presented to you. Though selfishly also hoping you go to WSU hahaha.
Also, just thought I put this here since there was lot of convo earlier about use of P/F system. Can't speak for other programs but here at WSU the cut-off for passing is really high and varies with each course you take (i.e., 73% for anatomy but 80% for physiology last semester). They actually did a whole study before implementing P/F system and found students consistently outperformed the passing cut-off. And honestly based on our class averages for exams, I can tell you mostly they are always hovering around high 80s/90s if letter grade were to be applied. NAVLE rate has historically been really high also at WSU. They do keep class rank here but like that info isn't publicly disclosed; more along the lines you would have to go seek it out on your own time. Anyways just some food for thought...if you have questions about program, life as first-year, Pullman etc. feel free to shoot me dm!

Love your insight on this reply - thank you!! I actually decided the other day that I’ll be attending WSU in the fall! Super excited!

 

[juggling-zebra0831]

Love your insight on this reply - thank you!! I actually decided the other day that I’ll be attending WSU in the fall! Super excited!

Yay! Congrats! Super excited for you to join WSU CVM fam! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! 🙂