Not Yet a Vet…dot net

If you’d have told me 6 years ago when I was a freshman in college that I’d be able to cram this volume of information into my brain, I’d have laughed…a lot.  While it’s hard to put into words what I learned as an undergraduate, the veterinary school lessons seem to stick out with stark contrast.  Thus, I’ve compiled a list:

1. Go to class.  The instructors aren’t just teaching for their health.
2. Saturday night doesn’t mean “yeah, whoo, party!”  More often it means things like “Study frantically for an upcoming test” and “Get some sleep because you know you’re not going to get more than 7 hours per night all week”
3. Never underestimate the healing powers of 5 minutes of commiserating with a classmate about the volume of work to be accomplished/the injustice of a recent test/etc.  It’s so much easier to move on when you realize that your opinions are shared.
4. There are no “weed-out” courses in veterinary school.  Certain instructors may be tougher than others, but they all WANT you to pass.
5. Always volunteer to do things in hands-on labs.  You never know when you’ll get the chance to do that jugular blood draw on a puppy/touch a fresh liver specimen with cancer/get your stethoscope on a calf with pneumonia.
6. As much as your family/significant other/friend outside of veterinary school says they want to hear about what you’re doing in school, they’re not entirely serious.  Yes, they want to know that you’re learning about hearts and bacteria and cancer, but they do not want to know what you found in your canine cadaver, the bacteria that’s in the world around them, or the thin line between healthy and severe illness.
7. Everyone you know will come to you for animal advice.  Beware of holiday gatherings with obscure relatives because you can be sure at least one of them will have a dog with some sort of obscure illness or behavioral issue they’ll want to discuss.
8. You’ll have people expecting you to be able to answer human medical questions, too.
9. Sleep.  I don’t care how much (or how little) studying you did for an exam, you’ll do SO much better if you’ve had some rest the night before.
10. Going into veterinary medicine means that you’re constantly going to have to learn new things.  Get used to it and kick butt when you watch Jeopardy!.

I’m sure I’ll add to this list as the year progresses.  Off to bed for me!  I have a long day of studying virology and working on epidemiology homework ahead of me tomorrow today.