The Typical Week of a Vet Student

I recently got asked what a typical week in veterinary school is like. It definitely varies from year to year, week to week, and person to person. I likely over-study for exams so if you're one of those people who doesn't have to study as much {lucky you}, then you'll have much more free time than I do!

First year: we were in class a lot more, from 9-12 Monday through Thursday, as well as afternoon labs. Most days I didn't get home until 5 and I would spend the remainder of the evening studying. Fridays were exam days, so I would usually just take the weekend to get caught up. I went to most social events throughout the year.

Second year: a little more hectic. We still had class from 9-12 and afternoon courses most days. I'm pretty sure exams were mostly on Fridays, so again that freed up the weekend and still allowed me to attend social events.

Third year: free time was extremely limited last semester. My busiest weeks would look something like this:

Monday
     7AM: discharge surgery patient
     8AM: exam
     10-12: lecture
     12-1: examine incoming surgery patient
     1-4: study and prepare for this week's surgery role
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
     6-9: study
Tuesday
     715: SOAP surgery patient    
     8-12: lecture
     2-3: lecture
     3-5: study
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
     6-9: study
Wednesday
     715: SOAP surgery patient
     8-12: lecture
     12-5: surgery (sometimes stayed until as late as 8)
     1030PM: back to school to SOAP and medicate surgery patient
Thursday
     715: SOAP surgery patient         
     8-12: lecture
     Afternoon off to study
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
Friday
     715: SOAP surgery patient 
     8-11: lecture
     11-12: exam
     2-5: clinical skills (communication training, equine exams)
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
     6-8: study
Weekends - SOAP surgery patient at 8AM and 5PM, study for Monday exams

This semester is truly nothing compared to last. I feel like I have tons of free time, and I'm so much less stressed! I also feel like I'm absorbing the information much more easily. A typical week this semester is something like this:

Monday
     8-12: lecture
     Remainder of day free to study
Tuesday
    8-12: lecture
    1-3: surgical skills lab
    3-9: study
Wednesday: same as Monday
Thursday
    8-9: exam
    10-12: lecture
    Remainder of day free to study
Friday
     8-9: exam
    10-11: lecture
    1-2: lecture

We have occasional afternoon labs {maybe 2-4 per month} which are hands on, clinical skills labs that are way less stressful and a lot more enjoyable than surgery labs last semester! I take Friday afternoons off, and sometimes {like today} all day Saturday off. I feel like I was able to accomplish so much in so little time last semester that I can afford to take some time to enjoy myself now! I'll pretty much study all day Sunday {8AM-8PM} with short breaks. And I actually have time to exercise and go out for dinner and drinks with friends. So it's definitely doable most of the time to fit exercise and social time into your calendar.

Just kidding! Well, kind of...I will be straight forward and tell you that it's extremely easy to get burnt out. My number one tip would be to MAKE time, no matter how little, for some relaxation and activities that don't involve veterinary medicine! If you're still in undergrad, I'd definitely recommend working on time management skills. It's a HUGE part of being successful in vet school.

Well, I hope this has helped you pre-vetters to get a little bit of a better idea as to what vet school weeks are like! If you want to see more posts like this, subscribe via email in the box to your right!

Keeping Your Sanity

So I know the semester isn't over until Friday, but whether I get a zero or a 100 on that final won't change my letter grade so I'm basically done :)

With that said, I've been thinking back on how I made it through and have compiled a list of tips on how to survive (both to future first years and for myself to remember to use in the future). Read on!

1. Organization is key. I'm an organization freak, so I really love this part. Having the tablet really helps to stay organized (everything on a laptop rather than papers scattered all over the place), but if you're like me then you like to write things down sometimes instead of just studying them on a computer screen. In the beginning of the semester I made a flash card box to keep all of the subjects separated and in the order we learned them. I also used sticky notes for each lecture section of flash cards. This made it a whole lot easier to pick out what I needed to study for finals. I also kept a notebook for extra notes, rather than loose pieces of paper. Color coding is another nice way to organize your thoughts. One last thing I recommend in a study space that you want to use. Personalize it! I bought a desk and decorated it with a sea lion sculpture my mom bought me when I interned at Sea World, and a few other knick knacks that have memories associated with them. I also bought a board that's half dry erase and half cork, which has important dates, inspirational quotes, the veterinary oath, and Bible verses on it. So it may be cheesy, but sometimes when I was feeling over whelmed [or bored of the material] I would glance up at that and remember what I'm doing this for :)

2. Stay on top. I can't sit here and tell you that I came home every day and reviewed all of the material from that day's lectures, but I can tell you that I made time during the weekends to catch up. I never got behind, and it definitely helped me to get really good grades. It does depends on how your testing schedule is though. I used the evenings to study for exams (held on Fridays) and used the weekend to organize (there's that word again!) my notes and make flash cards for all of the material (yes, in every subject) that I learned that week. If there was a really bad exam coming up, I would figure in some study time on the weekends for that too.

3. Keep a schedule. This sort of goes hand in hand with the first two items, but I think it's really important. Invest in a nice planner and use it! Each weekend I would plan out the following week to make sure I had enough time to get through all of the exam material. Basically I divided up how many lectures there were and split them evenly among the days I had to study, and I always made sure to keep Thursday as a review day. This worked out most of the time and kept me from pulling any all nighters, which brings me to my next point...

4. Get sleep. I never got less than 6 hours of sleep this entire semester. Honestly, it is way more detrimental to force yourself to stay awake than to just get a good night's rest, wake up refreshed and review before the test. [I say this now, but we'll see what happens second year, heh].

5. Plan "me time". I really didn't have much "me time" this semester, but I did at bare minimum give myself Friday's off from studying. I also took a half day on the weekends to do something I wanted to do, whether shopping, reading, taking photographs...whatever it is, make time to do it. It will keep you sane!

Hopefully these keep me on track next semester too, but as for second year...all I can say is I am scared!

Alright, time to do a little reviewing and a lot of relaxing. This has been a great semester! :]