So sorry i haven't posted in a while. But seems about time i should fill you all in on what my curriculum is like:
I'm basically in school for 8 hours day, every day. This semester i have:
1. Gross anatomy where we are assigned in groups of 6 to a dog cadaver. Its been pretty interesting because we are further subdivided into two groups of three, so we only dissect every other day. We still go in at the end of the class to do an end of dissection review where the other team fills us in on what they did. I really like it because #1, you don't have to do all the work, #2, you really learn it when you have to explain it to someone else, #3, on the off days we get either large animal palpation (usually horse), small animal palpation (dogs), or radiology (xrays). In most schools you don't even touch an animal until your third year. I much prefer it this way because then you dissect the muscle, you feel the muscle in a live specimen, and you see the xray of the bones where it attaches to. Its more of a well rounded teaching style, and i feel like it gets in your head a lot better when you see it over and over again in all these different contexts.
2. Microanatomy/Embryology. We have three days a week for two hours lecturing, then one day of microscopy lab for two hours. Its the most boring class by far, i have major trouble staying awake. The other problem is that its in the same room for upper semester parasitology, so you can't eat or drink in the room (don't want to contaminate yourself!) But alas, i guess its important...
3. Nutrition. umm.. enough said? We have a bunch of different specialists that come in and talk to us about the different aspects of nutrition. Like species specific stuff, disease management, and of course the basics of how do we obtain energy and digest it. Each dr has a totally different teaching style, so that took some getting used to. Especially when we had a joint exam for two drs, you have to think about who taught that section in order to know how to answer it.
4. Physiology. This kind of goes together with micro. The schedules coincide with micro so you get the same type of information at the same time in two different classes. This is more on a greater scale though, like how do all these things you have seen in a microscope fit together.
5. Intro to veterinary medicine. According to recent studies, new vet grads do not know how to communicate with their clients effectively. We talk about things like ethical dilemmas, how to get a good job and interact with your boss effectively, difficult clients, and how to avoid giving everyone a discount so you can actually pay off your loans.
1. Gross anatomy where we are assigned in groups of 6 to a dog cadaver. Its been pretty interesting because we are further subdivided into two groups of three, so we only dissect every other day. We still go in at the end of the class to do an end of dissection review where the other team fills us in on what they did. I really like it because #1, you don't have to do all the work, #2, you really learn it when you have to explain it to someone else, #3, on the off days we get either large animal palpation (usually horse), small animal palpation (dogs), or radiology (xrays). In most schools you don't even touch an animal until your third year. I much prefer it this way because then you dissect the muscle, you feel the muscle in a live specimen, and you see the xray of the bones where it attaches to. Its more of a well rounded teaching style, and i feel like it gets in your head a lot better when you see it over and over again in all these different contexts.
2. Microanatomy/Embryology. We have three days a week for two hours lecturing, then one day of microscopy lab for two hours. Its the most boring class by far, i have major trouble staying awake. The other problem is that its in the same room for upper semester parasitology, so you can't eat or drink in the room (don't want to contaminate yourself!) But alas, i guess its important...
3. Nutrition. umm.. enough said? We have a bunch of different specialists that come in and talk to us about the different aspects of nutrition. Like species specific stuff, disease management, and of course the basics of how do we obtain energy and digest it. Each dr has a totally different teaching style, so that took some getting used to. Especially when we had a joint exam for two drs, you have to think about who taught that section in order to know how to answer it.
4. Physiology. This kind of goes together with micro. The schedules coincide with micro so you get the same type of information at the same time in two different classes. This is more on a greater scale though, like how do all these things you have seen in a microscope fit together.
5. Intro to veterinary medicine. According to recent studies, new vet grads do not know how to communicate with their clients effectively. We talk about things like ethical dilemmas, how to get a good job and interact with your boss effectively, difficult clients, and how to avoid giving everyone a discount so you can actually pay off your loans.
