i'm actually learning useful medicine

aside from wildlife, most of my learning this year comes from doing rotations in the school's veterinary hospital which is really a referral center. If your pet needs a complicated surgery, needs chemotherapy, has a disease your vet can't figure out, etc your vet will refer you here to see specialists. Because of that, most of what we see our fourth year is not what we'd see in private practice. It's fun, but not always useful.

Right now, I'm on the "primary care" rotation which is structured just like a private practice--which means i'm learning useful things. I've only ever worked in an emergency practice, so i know nothing about vaccines, deworming, and other common problems. It's not as exciting as emergency, but if i ever have to work in a private practice with cats and dogs (which i will probably be forced to:( ) i should be set:)

in the meantime, i'll hear if i passed/failed boards in a few weeks (EEK!) and will hear in march if i got or didn't get one of the two positions i applied for (double EEK!). Take care!

:(

I didn't get the wildlife internship i wanted, and thought i was going to get:( I came in second *sigh* talking with the internship people, it sounds like they picked him over me only because he has been working in a small animal practice for a year...which doesn't make sense to me because it's a completely different set of skills--but whatever. it's done.

I'm very disappointed:(

so now i've "ranked" two clinics on the "match" program. THe match program is this weird, complicated sort of luck-of-the-draw system that "matches" people up with residency and internship programs.

The clinics and the vets "rank" in order what clinics/vets they would be willing to go to or hire. Then the magic happens and vets may or may NOT get matched with clinics on their list. The catch is IF you get matched, you are committed to that clinic for the year (internship) or 3-4 years (residency).

I've only ranked two clinics i'd be willing to go to, mostly because i only had time to visit those two and know i'd like to work there. The one i really hope to get is an avian/exotics internship in a private practice.

so until march!