Summer Stand By

Hello.
Successfully finished Phase Two. No rewrites even! So proud of myself.

Now that phase two of OVC is finished what is next?

Well here at OVC we have to do a 8 week externship between third and fourth year. But that is a year away?! Yes. But I have to FIND a clinic that is WILLING to set me lose on their patients! That is no easy feat.

Issues of finding and Externship placement:

#1: Mixed

The clinic MUST be a mixed animal practice with both BOVINE AND EQUINE patients. How we divide our time is up to our veterinarian guardians and us, but you have to touch a dog, cat, horse, and cow in the 8 weeks you are there.

#2: Money, money, money, moneeeeeeeeyyyyy!

We get a stipend for our time. It is minimal, but gives us a bit of money to live during the 8 weeks (We only get a 16 week summer so this cuts our work time in HALF!) This is funded by OMAFRA - Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs. So if you go outside of Ontario, you have to have a REALLLLLY good reason to if you want the stipend. My friend went out to New Zealand, and got approved because she was able to prove that her experience there would benefit the veterinary field here in Ontario. Gotta be able to back yourself up. Now, if you go up to Northern Ontario where they are in need of veterinarians, you get an extra bonus! Yay Timmins! Then when your amazing hands on experience is over you are left with two choices; get lucky enough to get an 8 week job placement, or try and get some of your fourth year rotations started so the end of the summer is not a complete waste but slowly starve cause all you can afford is Kraft Dinner!!!

#3: Location, location, location

I live here in Guelph, I pay rent 12 months a year. I DO NOT want to pay extra rent and/or gas to get to a clinic that is far away. Meaning I have to compete for the few clinics that are a 45 min drive from Guelph. There are honestly, not enough for this to be the case for my whole class. I am banking on the Americans, Ottawains, Out of Provincers, to head home so that it creates a bit more room here for the kids that only have family in South Western Ontario. Plus I hate commuting in the mornings. It makes me want to punch babies.

#4: Quality vs Quantity

The clinics that we get accepted to have to have enough "stuff" for us to watch/do. We have a form that we have to fill out with our experience and we HAVE to see/do certain things or else the whole experience is a waste of time. Vet med is a hands on career. I have to be comfortable performing procedures as well as understand why we are doing it and what the result will tell us and why this is helping the patient. It is one thing to say "Yes, this cat has pyometria because it got an infection after it's last litter!" and ANOTHER to actually safely remove a small cats pus filled uterus!!!! This is a bit extreme but you get what I am saying. Blood, urine, feces, semen, embryo, etc collection is something WE HAVE TO ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO DO, not just talk about. Yes, technicians are amazing, but in the field, you won't always have one and you need to be able to do these things. If your clinic doesn't service any breeding farms, then you get NO therio experience.... And how will you make babies then?! HMMMM?!?!?!??! :)

#5: "Working" Interviews

So you send your resume and cover letter out to clinics, you get some call backs, you are asked to come in and do a working interview. These are not just 8 hour shifts, we are talking about 7:00 am on the farm to 8:00 pm emergency LDAs or all morning assisting surgery then an afternoon of double booked appointments! And of course there is an emergency in the parking lot at 15 to close!!! These require a full day of commitment. As much as I love it, that is a full day away from my house or job. At multiple clinics. And for those that do not have cars, that is rental cars, or borrowing form friends/parents, ga, and not eating/drinking/peeing for 6 hours because you want to look good for your potential boss. I know vet med is like this in the real world. WE have all experienced this in our volunteering/working but this is an interview! It is just stressful to plan around. Especially if you are interviewing at a rival clinic to the one you work for!! 



Anyway, all complaining aside, I am honoured that I get the opportunity to be in vet school and will happily play along so long as I get to be a Doctor in two years!! :)