Vet School: The Lows, Highs, and Fun

The Lows:
So, I thought I would give you the bad news first. Veterinary school is stressful, busy, tiring, and really puts a dampen on our social life. Never in all my life have I ever, ever studied as much as I have wile in vet school. Honestly, I never thought I could study this much. I have stayed up till 3am to study, then sleep til 6am only to start studying again. Of course in those 3 hours of “rest” I can’t sleep in fear of my test tomorrow, which of course only makes me more tired when I finally decide to get out of bed. This is all assuming that you even sleep, as many of my fellow students stay up all night before a test. Also, I would never study on a Friday before vet school. Now, its not rare to find me studying Friday night for a test the next week. Then after you put so much time into studying, it’s puts extra pressure on yourself to do well on your tests, and makes you feel even worse when you don’t do well. I also remember in undergrad, always trying to avoid those 8:30 classes, I would always make my schedule so I didn’t start till about 10am and hopefully I would get out each day by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. That schedule died once I reached vet school. Every day we start at 8, and many times we go till 4 or 5 in the afternoons. When they say you are in “professional “school they mean it, vet school becomes your job, if not your life.

The Highs:
When I received my acceptance latter to vet school, I really think I lost control of my body. You feel like a kid on Christmas, simply awesome, I hope everyone reading this will experience this felling. Also, I have never been so proud to make good grades, ever. When you put you put in so much work, and it pays off, it’s an absolutely incredible feeling.

The Fun:
As I mentioned earlier, you will be in school more that probably ever. However, school has never been more fun for me. Gone are the days to boring, seemingly pointless undergrad classes: physics, organic chemistry, speech, psychology, and geography in my case. In their place are classes that actually teach you information you WANT to learn. Information you can USE. Any question you have a veterinary medicine can be answered to you by a professional Veterinarian, no more searching online or in library. Yes you have to study, but I have never had an easier time studying. Further, you are going to class with your best friends everyday. You may not start out being best friends with people in your class, but I guarantee by the time the first semester is over, you will make lifelong relationships. Your classmates will see you after you have only slept for an hour last night, when you do poorly on a test, and when all that studying you all did last night finally paid off by doing well on a test. Basically these people will see you a t your best, worst, and most venerable. The bonds you make will hold you together strong and forever.

At the end of the day, the fun and highs of veterinary school by far outweigh the lows. I truly hope everyone that reads this applies to veterinary school, gets in and can experience it for themselves.

My next post will be of particular interest to high school students. I will offer my advice on where you should go to college for undergrad.