As if being in veterinary school isn't enough, I have recently been informed that getting veterinary journal articles published during veterinary school is key in getting an internship after graduation. Great. Of course I have time to write academic papers and do copious amounts of research. I have SO MUCH free time.
Even though it's a huge pain, I've decided to suck it up and get going on some projects that will help me get published. I'm co-authoring an article for the Veterinary Wound Management Society newsletter on (hopefully) equine skin grafting. And I also talked with an equine clinician on the possibility of summer research; I'm most likely going to be co-authoring a case study. Both of these projects are actually kind of exciting; it's great to be reading clinically relevant articles and books instead of memorizing cellular pathways. I feel like I'm doing something productive and useful. And it's only my first year, so if I get these articles published I'll be on the right path to having an excellent CV when applying to internships in a few years.
The whole internship/residency process is SO competitive. And the "match" system doesn't seem that efficient. A combo that makes me less-than-comfortable with the whole thing. And of course, the equine internships are harder to find out about and get. Why does everything equine have to be weird and different than any other field of vet med? And I'm definitely worried about the role grades play in the selection process. My grades aren't bad by any means, but I doubt I'm in the top 10% of the class, let alone one of the top 10 students. *Sigh.* More pressure.
What am I interested in doing for a career? I would love to complete an internship and residency in Equine Internal Medicine, then go on to be a clinician/instructor at a university VTH. I think teaching veterinary students would be amazing and something that I would truly enjoy doing.
On another note...2 weeks to Spring Break!!!! Will I be going on a tropical vacation full of alcoholism and debauchery? No. Will I be going on a veterinary-related trip to a remote country? No. I will be...MILKING GOATS! WOO! And also training for my job as a cashier at the VTH. As lame as my vacation sounds, I'm looking forward to relaxing. And besides, who doesn't love goats?
Milking goats sounds like a great spring break! I am really interested in the idea of equine skin graphing. Have you done much research on that yet? Is it a new procedure or something that people have been doing for a while?
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