DVM Program technically undergrad, but there are many differences…
Welcome back, fellow Gryphons! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday break that inevitably felt far too short. You may be interested to know that, as most students are easing back into their courses, I have already cut off a pair of testicles (under supervision, of course) and written two midterm exams.
As I giggled to myself about the crazy direction in which my life has taken me, I thought there may be some interest from the non-veterinary public into what exactly makes vet school, well, vet school. Though technically classified as undergraduate level, the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program is greatly different from your average curriculum. Here, I highlight some of the distinctions that make these four years of university a unique experience.
Semester Starts & Carry-Over
Students in the DVM program typically begin a few days before undergraduate students when school starts up again in September. It doesn’t take long to jump back into things, either. Thirty minutes into my first day of classes, we were already discussing vaccine criteria for our future patients. Our Christmas break is similar to the rest of the university’s, although depending on the timing, some years involve heading back a week earlier in January.
Our courses also carry-over into the new year, meaning that December is more of a midterm season for us than finals. However, the content levels are unlike anything in undergrad, and by the time April rolls around, we have eight month’s worth of content to be tested on, from twice as many courses!
Credit Load
That brings us to credit load. A normal undergraduate semester is considered full-time at 2.0 to 2.5 credits, or five regular courses. In the DVM program, coursework averages 10 to 11 courses and range from 6.25 to 7.5 credits. This could be equated to roughly 3.5 credits a semester — which might explain the frequency of eight-hour class days!
Class Days
Certainly, the DVM program is academically intense. There is a lot of information (and a lot of species!) to learn in four short years, and only so much time to learn it. A standard vet school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., though not every day involves that much class time. However, we often go much earlier (or later) for surgical exercises, mandatory shadowing, Monday morning tests, or extracurricular activities. On class-heavy days, we often spend four to eight hours in the same room — can I get an interior decorator in here or something?
This schedule doesn’t include the time students dedicate to external events, including fundraisers, weekend outreach clinics for remote or low-income communities, conferences and symposia, and even College Royal.
Evaluations
In some ways, DVM students are evaluated quite similarly to typical undergrad assessment methods. We fill out scantron sheets, have group assignments, make short presentations, etc., however, the frequency of assessment is much higher. It is not unusual to have at least one midterm every week, and many weeks are double- or even triple-booked.
When final exams come around, the pressure is unreal! Not only is there the high content volume, but there is often a minimum grade requirement on exams (not just 50 per cent). In theory, one may find this to be a reasonable expectation, especially in a professional program. However, 10 exams in three weeks (each with eight months’ worth of content) can present a challenge for even the most prudent scholar.
There are some interesting evaluation methods for us outside of typical realm, too. Certain courses see us graded via viva voce (oral exam), bell-ringers (my personal dread), and OSCEs (objective structured physical exams). These formats provide some relief from the constant filling-in of bubbles on most exams, but they’re definitely nerve-wracking in their own right.
Phase 3–4
Finally, upper year students don’t get quite the summer off that most university students do. Upon successful completion of our Phase 3 (third year) exams, we immediately enter our fourth, clinical year. This is an exciting time in our education, and the one I am most looking forward to. It begins with a mandatory eight-week placement at a mixed animal clinic, to be completed at some point during the summer months.
The remaining school year (and leftover summer weeks) are used to fulfill the number of rotations required for graduation. These placements are not paid, but serve as hands-on, supervised opportunities to put the last three years of intense schooling into something applicable before we enter the veterinary world as practitioners ourselves (eek!).
Overall, you can see that with vet school comes a heavy workload, a busy schedule, and often a significant dose of fatigue. There are many necessary challenges inherent to this professional program, and while I believe there are steps our school must take to ensure those challenges are beneficial to the profession, that is an article for another day.
In the meantime, I will turn to the support of my amazing colleagues, the affectionate kisses of my dog, and eventually, my computer screen — I’ve got a test to study for.