Help for every stage of your veterinary career
Internships are entirely unregulated, working under the motto “caveat emptor”. It is up to the individual applicant to determine if a program is a good one or not. There are plenty of programs out there which are better than others, and many that are worse. Therefore, it is absolutely vital to do your research to
This is a guest post from a reader who reached out to me for advice on pursuing an internship and residency. When I followed up a year later, he had changed courses. I asked if he could share his experience, and this is what he wrote. Enjoy! Like most of you, I had a very
I mentor a lot of students in research, and have for years. I’ve gotten to go to a lot of undergraduate research conferences in addition to professional veterinary conferences. I’ve seen posters which were good, bad, and in between. I don’t have a perfect formula for success, but I think the posters my students put
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
You’ve decided that you’d like to try out research. Great! It could be a lot of fun. You’ve thought about how to choose a research mentor. You know some options for contacting a mentor. Now you need to actually draft an email. When I used to teach an undergraduate Introduction to Clinical Research class, this
So, you’ve decided you want to try out the world of scientific research! Good for you. You may have fun and love it or you may discover it is not for you. We’ve talked about the benefits before, so now let’s drill down on the nitty-gritty. How do you get involved? If it exists on
If you’re an undergrad interested in vet school, or a vet student interested in post-graduate education, research may be an important part of your educational experience. Sadly, I would say about 50% of students with whom I talk indicate they had a terrible experience with research. Not just a not-positive experience, an actively bad experience.
Regardless of the position to which you apply, if there is an interview, you need to prepare. Well, you don’t NEED to prepare. But others who are interviewing WILL prepare. Do you want to be competitive with those who are preparing? Then you need to prepare, as well. Failing to prep is prepping to fail.
All internship years are clinical training programs. That is what they are designed for and that is what they offer. It’s an intensive experience designed to improve your clinical knowledge, decision-making skills, and procedural experience. Most internships are not designed for you to do research. But you may want to try, as there are a
You want to go to vet school, you want to maximize your chances, and doing research may help your application. It isn’t the research, per se, which will help. It is the relationships- mostly with your mentor- and the demonstration of grit that doing research highlights. So what do you get? Participating in research while