This is serious...

I have spent my entire life in school. Never took a break between high school and college, or between college and vet school. So my 26 years of life have consisted mostly of sitting in lectures, and I know quite a few of my classmates are in the same boat. But tomorrow is THE LAST DAY OF FORMAL CLASS...EVER. It's the end of an era! I feel like something big is supposed to happen...like once class ends, confetti and balloons should fall from the ceiling, and a disco ball should drop down and "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang should start blasting.

If I feel this much excitement now, I can't imagine how graduation will feel! The only thing that stands between 4th year and me are 4 finals. BRING IT ON.

White Coat Ceremony!

White coat weekend was...eventful to say the least! My parents got into town on last Thursday and we decided to go out to dinner. All was well until about midnight, when I woke up feeling extremely sick and with my heart racing. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but yep, I got food poisoning. I was so scared I wasn't going to be able to make the ceremony! Luckily I was feeling a well enough (just really tired) and made it all the way through the ceremony. I didn't get sick again until that evening when I tried to eat, and ended up taking a trip to the ER the next day because I couldn't even keep water down. I was vomiting at least every 30 minutes (sorry for the graphic)! They gave me fluids, ondansetron and phenergan (which completely knocked me out) and I slept for pretty much the rest of the day. They also ran a CBC, which showed mild dehydration, a leukocytosis, and I basically had NO lymphocytes. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be dining out again anytime soon...I hate that I was sick all weekend while my parents were here, but I'm so glad I had them here to take care of me. My dad got new brakes put on my car, bought me groceries and fixed my curtain on my balcony that got destroyed by the wind. And my mom nursed me back to health (literally, she's a nurse haha). I'm so thankful for them!

But enough with the gross stuff, back to what this whole post is really about - the white coat ceremony!

It was pretty surreal! I loved seeing all my classmates dressed up and having their white coats put on. It reminded me how united we all are and how far we've come since August of 2011! Dr. Davis put on my white coat, and I think at that point I was in a daze. Apparently my parents were hollering and I didn't even hear them, heh. After we all got our coats, we recited the pledge of professionalism (which you can watch below!) I gotta admit...I got a little teary eyed at one point. It has been such a long journey to get to this point, and while I still have a year left, I think it's going to be the one in which I will grow the most. In a mere 2 weeks I'll be starting my internal medicine rotation - seeing clients, caring for my own patients, having to put together all of the information I've learned over the years. There is a mixture of fear and excitement, but mostly I'm just ready to start doing what I love - helping animals!

  

Before the white coats!

 

Lab partners from first and second year :)

 

 

Rhyley helping me to break in the new coat :)

 

Momma got me the Littmann Cardiology III stethoscope. I love it!! 

 Silly class photo :)

Post by Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

These next two weeks are going to be jam packed with "fun" - 5 exams in a matter of 10 days, 4th year orientation, my last clinical skills lab, shopping for "professional" clothing and comfortable shoes, and trying to throw in a little relaxation during my last 5 days of freedom!

Number Crunching

Just for fun.....

2800 days as a college student
407 days until graduation
354 days until Sea World
252 total credit hours
39 days until clinics
16 semesters of college
15 days until our white coat ceremony
8 exams remaining

UM ONLY EIGHT EXAMS?!

Getting the Grades

I've received two questions from pre-vets regarding grades, so I figured I'd address the issue and help give a little insight!

Question 1: I've failed two classes since I started college. Do you think I'll be able to get into a vet school?

Absolutely! Failing a course or two is not the be-all end-all, so don't sweat it too much. I can speak from personal experience because I failed O-chem 1 (I typically don't blame professors for my grades but this was genuinely the professors fault - he would test us over like 10 chapters of reading each week and his questions consisted of fill in the blank sentences that came from minute details in the readings...but he never actually taught O-chem!) Even though I had a few bad grades, I still was offered interviews to 3 out 4 of the schools I applied to. So nope, you don't have to straight A's. You do however need to make sure that dedication and hard work shows through on your application. If you can only manage mostly B's and a few A's and are putting in time and effort to get experience outside of school, then you're on the right track! Vet schools look at the big picture - experience, grades, personal statement, etc. I would however suggest aiming for at least a 3.4 and definitely work to get the highest GPA possible during your last 45 hours (they often look at that separately). Even if you have killer experience, chances are low that you'll get accepted with a GPA less than a 3.0 (possible, but unlikely). And of course check with your schools of interest to see the average (or minimum) GPA of accepted students!

Question 2: I was recently accepted into the class of 2018 and my main concern is how I will keep my GPA up with such a heavy load. Do you have any tips for an over-achiever like me?

Hello fellow over-achiever! Congrats on the acceptance :) I honestly don't have tons of advice on this subject because it's really up to you to just study your butt off, but I do think that setting a schedule and staying organized is the most important key to success. For me personally, my calendar and endless to-do lists are a major way that I stay on top of things and I don't know if my grades would be as high as they are without the organizational and time management aspect. Cramming is not an efficient way to commit things to long term memory, and obviously a lot of what you learn in vet school (especially third year) should really be stored long term. Make sure you plan plenty of time to study for exams (I recommend at least a week in advance if possible). Just keep on top of things and that will take you a LONG way! You can also check out my post on keeping your sanity, which refers to using flashcards (yeah..I used to HAND WRITE all my flashcards...yikes) and I still do use them, but I use studyblue.com instead. So if that works for you I definitely recommend it! Remember that in the end, grades aren't everything (C=DVM) UNLESS you want an internship/residency after graduation. You definitely need competitive grades if you're going that route. I can tell you this though (at least for KSU) - as long as you put the effort in to learn the material, then 98% of the time you will be successful on exams. Persevere and you'll do great...good luck!