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HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Pathology descriptions:
Nutmeg liver, tapioca pudding, moroccan leather...

Enelrahc, you just made me burst out laughing in the middle of the Medicine room. I got some weird looks. I told them I was reading VIN. (The Clinical Nutrition message board has some hilarious discussions now and then)

Braki, I was a class officer for awhile, so I heard some more things though that.

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Enelrahc
Jun 17, 2007

HelloSailorSign posted:

Pathology descriptions:
Nutmeg liver, tapioca pudding, moroccan leather...

Enelrahc, you just made me burst out laughing in the middle of the Medicine room. I got some weird looks. I told them I was reading VIN. (The Clinical Nutrition message board has some hilarious discussions now and then)

Braki, I was a class officer for awhile, so I heard some more things though that.

Oh I love the clinical nutrition forum. That guy who has been showing up lately who is a giant fan of that crazy RMB australian guy is my FAVORITE. I crack up every time the consultants ignore what he says :3:

Braki
Aug 9, 2006

Happy birthday!

HelloSailorSign posted:

moroccan leather...

Another reason food descriptions aren't recommended. When my prof mentioned this, he was like, "does anyone know what moroccan leather actually looks like? ... Yeah, I didn't think so."

Oh, we do get this a lot in class:
Prof: why isn't the sound working?
Class: oh, it's not on on the computer... go to the bottom right of the screen. No, further dow-... no, don't open that... no, at the bottom right there's a sound setti-... *someone gets up to do it*

If they are a new prof, the video will not work, and they will likely not realize there is a timer on the projector, won't add additional time, then it'll turn off in the middle of class and spend 5 minutes waiting for the projector to turn off and back on.

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Enelrahc posted:

Oh I love the clinical nutrition forum. That guy who has been showing up lately who is a giant fan of that crazy RMB australian guy is my FAVORITE. I crack up every time the consultants ignore what he says :3:

Oh man, the "Balanced Raw Diet?" thread is my current favorite. Is that the same guy? He has been popping up in several threads... I've been reading the boards for awhile now and I don't remember him before last week.

Enelrahc
Jun 17, 2007

HelloSailorSign posted:

Oh man, the "Balanced Raw Diet?" thread is my current favorite. Is that the same guy? He has been popping up in several threads... I've been reading the boards for awhile now and I don't remember him before last week.

Yeah! I don't know where he came from, but I love him. I would be thrilled if he made a RMB thread like the original trainwreck. That's easily the best thread in the whole site, ever.

E: In true live feed form, I'm adding in the quote "Can you please explain what squams are and why you keep talking about them?" REALLY?!

Enelrahc fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Mar 7, 2012

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!

Enelrahc posted:

Yeah! I don't know where he came from, but I love him. I would be thrilled if he made a RMB thread like the original trainwreck. That's easily the best thread in the whole site, ever.

Have to love how rabid people get about their favorite food. I remember one of my old colleagues talking about the crazy Australian guy and what a shitstorm VIN became.

You should also check out the Issues and Arguments board for all of your political commentary needs!

Enelrahc
Jun 17, 2007

YourCreation posted:

Have to love how rabid people get about their favorite food. I remember one of my old colleagues talking about the crazy Australian guy and what a shitstorm VIN became.

You should also check out the Issues and Arguments board for all of your political commentary needs!

Yeah that thread was glorious. I sent it to Braki a couple of months ago...somehow she missed the glory.

Adding in "This is normal placenta in the rhino, but not in the horse." Why would I ever need to know that, EVER. If that's a board question in 2 years, I'm going to be loving pissed.

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Enelrahc posted:

Yeah! I don't know where he came from, but I love him. I would be thrilled if he made a RMB thread like the original trainwreck. That's easily the best thread in the whole site, ever.

E: In true live feed form, I'm adding in the quote "Can you please explain what squams are and why you keep talking about them?" REALLY?!

I'm not aware of the original thread! I've been trying to search for it and got sidelined by a thread in Alternative Medicine.

Holy crap, I&Arguments is bonkers. It's like D&D but with people using their real names and knowing who everyone else really is. There are several times I've wanted to jump in...

... and then realize I should get a job first and THEN burn my bridges.

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Enelrahc posted:

Yeah that thread was glorious. I sent it to Braki a couple of months ago...somehow she missed the glory.

Adding in "This is normal placenta in the rhino, but not in the horse." Why would I ever need to know that, EVER. If that's a board question in 2 years, I'm going to be loving pissed.

To be honest, US National boards aren't all that bad. I did VetPrep and those Vet Board Game cards and thought that those were sufficient.

Enelrahc
Jun 17, 2007

HelloSailorSign posted:

I'm not aware of the original thread! I've been trying to search for it and got sidelined by a thread in Alternative Medicine.

Holy crap, I&Arguments is bonkers. It's like D&D but with people using their real names and knowing who everyone else really is. There are several times I've wanted to jump in...

... and then realize I should get a job first and THEN burn my bridges.

Here you go. Sorry for non-vet people - it's restricted access. You have to go to vet school to get access (probably isn't worth it).

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Enelrahc posted:

Here you go. Sorry for non-vet people - it's restricted access. You have to go to vet school to get access (probably isn't worth it).

Thanks!

I found another one while trying to find that one.
Here.

Edit: Oh my, yours is generally crazy, mine is just a whole lot of DRAMA. I have a lot of posts to read.

HelloSailorSign fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Mar 7, 2012

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!

Enelrahc posted:

Here you go. Sorry for non-vet people - it's restricted access. You have to go to vet school to get access (probably isn't worth it).

Oh this is so much fun.

Topoisomerase
Apr 12, 2007

CULTURE OF VICIOUSNESS
It is my general opinion that by and large VIN is full of those people in our classes that we hate, 10/15/25 years later.

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!
But oh so respect for their utter dedication

Dr. Chaco
Mar 30, 2005
Wednesday is when I update my countdown. 14.5 weeks to go.

Today the entire ICU and emergency student and resident squad was hanging around outside Radiology while one of our two patients got chest rads. A resident from the exotics service comes by, sees me standing around, and says "Can you help me take x-rays on 6 raptors?" Carefully wrestling birds with talons >>>>> standing around in a crowd watching a dog get its picture taken, so I helped her out with 5 of the 6 birds before being called back to ICU. 2 of them were barn owls, which have an utterly piercing scream when they are angry. I'm sure half the hospital thought we were torturing something.

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!
So Khelmar since you're a rockstar Pathologist now (and since you stood me up for a Gainesville tour hehe), perhaps you could share with us students some study strategies for learning Histology/Pathology. It would be greatly appreciated!

Travic
May 27, 2007

Getting nowhere fast
1. 2 tries. I didn't have enough experience in food animal med the first time.

2. Not sure. They don't release that stuff.

3. I had two interviews. There were no crazy questions like "What vegetable best describes you?". The most interesting one was "If you're going to be treating food animals how can you rationalize slaughtering them later?" My questions generally revolved around ethics and how I communicate with clients.

4. Bacteriologist: "Bacteriology is the most important subject."
Equine lameness lecture: "Equine lameness is the most important subject."
Pathology: "Pathology is the most important subject."
Opthamology: "Opthamology is the most important subject."

In the same vein: "My subject is vital and I'm angry I only have x lectures to teach it. I could go on for days."

5. I wish I had known I had a better chance at wetlabs as an underclassman. Most wetlab emails consist of "Wetlab this Thursday. Priority to upperclassmen/members with the most activity points/people who satisfy me sexually/blargh." So I never signed up for them.

6. My undergrad went perfectly actually. If I did anything I'd use the time better to get more hands on experience to build up my confidence more.


Is it against the rules to say what school we're at?

Travic fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Mar 8, 2012

Topoisomerase
Apr 12, 2007

CULTURE OF VICIOUSNESS

Travic posted:

Is it against the rules to say what school we're at?

I hope not because I already mentioned my school. :v:

and so did YourCreation

Travic
May 27, 2007

Getting nowhere fast

Topoisomerase posted:

I hope not because I already mentioned my school. :v:

and so did YourCreation

Ah whoops. I totally missed that somehow.

My brain is currently melting at North Carolina State CVM. I'm actually about to start clinics. Any 4th year survivors have tips for handling it? (In general. Not specifically NCSU)

Khelmar
Oct 12, 2003

Things fix me.

YourCreation posted:

So Khelmar since you're a rockstar Pathologist now (and since you stood me up for a Gainesville tour hehe), perhaps you could share with us students some study strategies for learning Histology/Pathology. It would be greatly appreciated!

I'll start with histology, since it's easier to explain.

1. Look at the slides.
2. Look at the slides.
3. Look at the slides.

What you need to do for histology is associate structure (what you see under the microscope) with function (what the organ does). Histology seems stupid and pointless until you realize that the structure of these organs is directly related to function.

So, when you look at a lymph node, it seems stupid to learn that the incoming lymphatics go into the subcapsular sinus and filter through the node to end up at the medulla, until you realize that if you're looking for metastatic cancer, you need to look in the subcapsular sinuses since that's where the cancer will go first.

What you REALLY need to do is have a mental picture of what each organ looks like, which starts with having a knowledge of what each kind of cell looks like.

For example, "There's a blood vessel and a tube made up of epithelial cells, with distinct cell borders. Those are surrounded by eosinophilic cells forming cords radiating towards another blood vessel." Well, that pretty much has to be liver - you just need to be able to recognize bile ductules, and you've got portal vs. central sorted out.

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!
That makes great sense, thank you.
I have a hard time initiating my brain during solo study. When I'm doing practicals and clinical work my brain is firing, but it just grinds to a halt when I sit down.

Dr. Chaco
Mar 30, 2005

Travic posted:

Ah whoops. I totally missed that somehow.

My brain is currently melting at North Carolina State CVM. I'm actually about to start clinics. Any 4th year survivors have tips for handling it? (In general. Not specifically NCSU)

My biggest way of dealing with the stress of clinics is to leave as much of it at school as possible. I don't write records at home, if possible, I leave my pager in my locker if I'm not on call, I don't even wear a watch anymore unless I'm in the hospital. I really need that clear delineation between working and relaxing.

Be prepared to be wrong constantly, even when you're right, because everyone will have a different way of doing X procedure or dividing up the differential list for clinical sign Y. Just learn to accept that this year, everyone else will have their preference and they won't care how another service does it, and when you graduate you can pick one of their many ways and do that forever.

Food is important, and water is vital. Here, at least, many rotations it is too easy to get to 4 or 5pm and realize you haven't eaten lunch, had any water, or peed since 6am. This way lies unnecessary stress for your already stressed out self.

That said, 4th year is a lot of fun. You see cool cases, do neat things, save lives, develop relationships with awesome clients. At some point you start to realize how much you know and it seems possible you really can do this next year for reals. That's about where I am--all the hard rotations are behind me, and I'm coasting through interesting rotations with chill hours and an upcoming externship in the Florida Keys.

Some tips for being organized--I know a resident who keeps all the drugs she uses in a small address book, so they are alphabetical and she only needs Plumbs for drugs she hasn't used. I know several students who have all their class notes on their iPads, which are a lot easier to carry around the hospital than a computer, though still not pocket-friendly. Most people have notebooks for their current cases, and for taking notes in rounds.

Larva
Dec 26, 2007

Chaco posted:

Be prepared to be wrong constantly, even when you're right, because everyone will have a different way of doing X procedure or dividing up the differential list for clinical sign Y.

Truer words were never spoken.

Chaco posted:

when you graduate you can pick one of their many ways and do that forever.

Unless you do an internship (which everyone should, if possible), in which case you will continue to be both wrong and stupid for another year.

Asstro Van
Apr 15, 2007

Always check your blind spots before backing that thang up.
I am getting really tired of professors that expect you to read their minds. We had an online quiz that was totally open, we are allowed to use our notes and even discuss questions with each other. There are questions that were never discussed thoroughly in class, aren't in the provided notes, but the real kicker is that apparently the professor disagrees with the available research. I am not opposed to researching things for myself, but how the hell am I supposed to know that he disagrees with all of it?

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Larva posted:

Truer words were never spoken.


Unless you do an internship (which everyone should, if possible), in which case you will continue to be both wrong and stupid for another year.

Internships can be really useful.

However, internships aren't for everyone, and there aren't enough good (imo) internships for every 4th year to match into.

There are some internships which are NOT good - they are there simply to get the vet hospital a cheap labor who will work 100 hour weeks because they're worried about looking bad during their internship. I have seen a few people lie through their teeth that they loved their internship - while knowing that they had several nervous breakdowns and hated every minute of it.

If you're going to go for GP long term, start searching for clinics early. If you can find a clinic where the vet is willing to mentor you, imo it's better than an internship. And you will make more money than people at the internship to start paying off your horrendous vet school debt.

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!
Finished my Term 2 exam yesterday. Only 30 MCQs - 20 theory and 10 practical. It was not as bad as I thought. These little ones are only worth 5% and do not have a pass requirement so they are very low pressure. Now I get to spend Easter doing three weeks of Lambing and two weeks on a Pig farm with a 10 day break in between.

YourCreation
Jan 4, 2004

A little creative surgery helps turn a few sick pets into a new and improved friend!

HelloSailorSign posted:

There are some internships which are NOT good - they are there simply to get the vet hospital a cheap labor who will work 100 hour weeks because they're worried about looking bad during their internship. I have seen a few people lie through their teeth that they loved their internship - while knowing that they had several nervous breakdowns and hated every minute of it.

That describes the intern experience at the clinic I worked at as an ER/Referral technician. I am really glad I had that experience and exposure so I will be better able to pick a rotating internship in the future.

Muscular Typist
Oct 11, 2004

Sweet thread. I'm getting ready to apply for my second time around, fingers crossed!

Lab animal medicine really grew on me the more I volunteered/worked in biomedical research labs. My friends think I'm nuts for enjoying working with rats and mice so much but I couldn't see myself working anywhere else. It's also incredibly inspiring seeing how much these animals impact cutting-edge research in both human and veterinary medicine.

How did you guys decide what field of veterinary medicine you wanted to dive into? I'm really enjoying the stories here from other fields of veterinary medicine that I haven't been exposed to, keep them coming!

Explosion Sauce
Dec 18, 2008
Just got accepted into OVC at Guelph and VMRCVM (Virginia Tech) on my first try. Both of these programs put more emphasis on later grades, which defiantly helped me. Since I'm from the US OVC had a different interview style since I'm a foreigner, which was a more conventional open application interview. VMRCVM did a MMI (Mixed Multiple Interview or something like that), which I think Guelph does for Canadian applicants. It was a weird format, can't given any specifics because I signed a confidentiality agreement. Right now I'm leaning towards VMRCVM, but any feed back on either of these schools would be much appreciated (I've seen quite a few Guelph students in this thread).
Edit: I'm interested in small animal medicine.

Explosion Sauce fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Mar 11, 2012

Solis
Feb 2, 2011

Now you can take this knowledge and turn it into part of yourself.
I think I'm actually the only OVC student in here.

Most important question is, is VMRCVM your state school/do you get a discount for going there? Because while Guelph is a nice school it is expensive as hell in terms of tuition for international students, and nobody likes walking away massively in debt. (Tuition for non-Canadians is $56k a year, plus living expenses etc.)

For small animal though, we do have a pretty solid program, and the hospital is really open. If you're diligent you can hobnob with some of the top people in their fields, and a number of the educators are really passionate about not only their field but teaching as well. One of our surgeons, for instance, was actually a teacher for a number of years. We do have some of the top people in their fields working around the OVC as well, for instance I've had a fair few chances to interact with and learn from Karol Mathews (The lady who wrote what is essentially the emergency and critical care bible.)

I won't say it's perfect and there's always issues with some profs but I enjoy where I am. The biggest downside right now off the top of my head is we've just built a big fancy primary health care centre and it's just starting to mature, so a lot of students feel like they're not gaining much from it right now. We're required to spend about 25 hours a year there on top of a full course load so at times it can seem like a bit much.

Explosion Sauce
Dec 18, 2008
I won't get in-state tuition at VMRCVM, but it costs about $45,000. I really liked what I saw at OVC, everyone was friendly and reassuring me before my interview. I was impressed with the small animal side of things, and after going through a tour with a 1st year from the States I felt I got a pretty good feel for the place and what it would be like to be an international student there. Really thought it was cool OVC has an intramural hockey team; I just started playing hockey last winter with my friends, and although I'm absolutely terrible at it would be cool to play hockey with my classmates in vet school.

Right now I'm working out where I want to go this fall and cost is defiantly a consideration. I liked VMRCVM but I felt OVC did a better job at showing me around campus and giving me a feel for what the culture of the school was like (part of this was because the tour was one on one, versus being in a large group at VT). I figure I have until the mid April deadline to weigh my options.

Topoisomerase
Apr 12, 2007

CULTURE OF VICIOUSNESS

Explosion Sauce posted:

Really thought it was cool OVC has an intramural hockey team; I just started playing hockey last winter with my friends, and although I'm absolutely terrible at it would be cool to play hockey with my classmates in vet school.

Haha, I'm the opposite - I've played hockey since I was a little kid and I love playing even more right now because it is my escape from vet school and my classmates.

Khelmar
Oct 12, 2003

Things fix me.
MSU had an intramural inner tube water polo team for students and one for faculty - that was a lot of fun.

Topoisomerase
Apr 12, 2007

CULTURE OF VICIOUSNESS
We have the same, as well as a lot of other IM teams and a vet school bowling league. I was IM flag football captain first year! But I kind of found that I prefer my sports to be sort of away from playing with my classmates, a separate thing that I can do where nobody wants to think or talk about school. :)

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Topoisomerase posted:

We have the same, as well as a lot of other IM teams and a vet school bowling league. I was IM flag football captain first year! But I kind of found that I prefer my sports to be sort of away from playing with my classmates, a separate thing that I can do where nobody wants to think or talk about school. :)

But... but... the delicious gossip. I've found out lovely things while getting buddy-buddy with people over a frisbee.

Topoisomerase
Apr 12, 2007

CULTURE OF VICIOUSNESS

HelloSailorSign posted:

But... but... the delicious gossip. I've found out lovely things while getting buddy-buddy with people over a frisbee.

Actually I played Ultimate first year too, but one quarter they had to join the league that was on a day where I had hockey every week so I couldn't play anymore.

Braki
Aug 9, 2006

Happy birthday!
Student quote of the day: "I think there's an eosinophilia because the dog is vomiting?"

Chances that you will pass clin path are steadily dropping...

Topoisomerase
Apr 12, 2007

CULTURE OF VICIOUSNESS
Just treated to a girl who sits in front of us usually coming in late and there was somebody in the seat she normally sits in, and she literally kneeled down next to the person to tell them they were in her seat and watched for a moment to see if the person would get up.

This really happened. enelrahc is my witness.

vetschool.txt

Enelrahc
Jun 17, 2007

^ true story. Who does that? What a friggin weirdo.

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HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Enelrahc posted:

^ true story. Who does that? What a friggin weirdo.

I literally broke someone's nose because they sat in my seat.

End seat of back row. You don't screw with that. :colbert:

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