Help for every stage of your veterinary career
I make no secret of the fact that I think most new graduates are better off doing an internship than not. However, there are some circumstances where I think an individual should NOT do an internship. 1) You have family obligations. Your family has put you through vet school, suffered through you not being there
Committing to a one-year internship after graduation isn’t a major commitment (like buying a house, getting married, or making a small human), but it can affect your life and career trajectory. These are my recommended top 5 reasons to do an internship. 1) You want to specialize. This is the easiest consideration, so it goes
I am often surprised by the specialties that people pursue, and how contented they are once they make their choice. One faculty I know is a hard-core researcher, but started out life just helping to do research here-and-there. Twenty years later, he’s a research professor without a PhD. You would think it would be a
Once again, I wish I didn’t have to write this post. But I have seen these applications, so, evidently, people believe they are a good idea. So here it is: Don’t do anything weird in your application. What constitutes “weird”? This encompasses a broad range of… let’s call them “unique” decisions. Below are some examples.
In contrast to vet schools, which are accredited by the AVMA, there is no governing body which accredits internship. Any hospital can establish an internship, and some of them probably shouldn’t. There are some notoriously bad internships out there. Some of them have turned around and become better programs. So, if you are looking at
Dr. Kreisler and I worked together, did research, and continue to pursue research projects together. She brings a terrific perspective on shelter medicine, a growing field of veterinary medicine.
This series was inspired by people asking me how they could identify a bad vet school. Over the past 20 years, I have had numerous people ask me about identifying bad internships. When I advise those applying for residencies, we talk about identifying potentially problematic programs. And I am blessed with having worked at institutions
I know what you’re thinking, “Mentors interview ME, not the other way around!” Well I have something important to tell you: all interviews are two-way streets. You need to show yourself off AND make sure that your potential mentor would be a good fit for you. I believe most students ‘fail’ in their research projects
The Veterinary Internship and Residency Match Program (VIRMP) is the mechanism by which the majority of programs identify applicants and applicants identify and apply to programs. There are a lot of details and nuance in the system, but I want to introduce you to the most basic principles which are essential for you to be
A theme we have encountered before is individuals unable or unwilling to ask mentors for letters of recommendation or for help with their professional progression. This is evidently true for so many applicants because I STILL get applications that are just Not Good. The applications clearly haven’t been vetted by a mentor. Why in the