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 Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 8:53 pm
It's finally here. I have to pick a college and a career path thingy. Yeah, I know, it was irresponsible to wait til after I graduated high school, but I'm a hardcore procrastinator. Anyhoo, I'm really leaning towards being a vet tech. Anybody have advice, experience, or stories to share? Oh, here's a pic especially for you. 
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 6:34 pm
biology classes are your friend. even human anatomy will help a bit but im not sure if its requiered.
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Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 9:51 am
Biology, chemistry and math are going to be the big subjects.
I wouldn't really say focusing on human anatomy is going to make it any easier ... there are differences, and it's not required. I personally wouldn't bother learning human anatomy for an animal related course.
It's a very rewarding area of study. I am entering my third (and final) year of Veterinary Technology and I just love it. I cannot wait for graduation! However, it's not an easy course. It requires hard work and lots of dedication.
I spent a lot of time visiting each school and getting to know the program and the differences between each. Do they have a residence on site? What's transportation like? How often do you wish to visit home? What are the professors like? What does their tech wing (clinic/animal facility) look like? Do you have to find transportation to different labs you may have (ie large animals or humane societies etc.)? What are attractions in the town? What's the school library like? Does the program to that school have a certain focus (research, wildlife, large animal)? Does the school require you take an exam as part of consideration to the program? Is there possibilities for continuing/further education after graduation? Scope out every bit of information you can from the program itself to the school residence. All things to keep in mind and get information about.
During my search for a good veterinary technology program, I was looking for the school with the best reputation. What I found was certain schools leaned more toward a certain area and that was a big deciding factor to me. For example, my college has a heavy research portion compared to other colleges. Northern College (Ontario Canada) is more toward wildlife. Ridgetown and Senica are more toward large animal/Equine.
Then I also found certain colleges (ie Georgian College, Ontario College) had an exam you had to pay to take as part of entry to the program. It was quite a difficult exam. I actually cried, high school did not prepare me for that exam. There was a lot of math, and vocabulary type questions, words I had never heard of let alone actually used.
Then I would look at the school, and residence (if it had one) and if it didn't what were my alternatives for housing and transportation to the school, and labs if it was required. I wanted to see what kind of condition there residence was in, about the meal plan, and they should let you take a tour through their clinical facility (equipment should be in good order)
My college, St.Lawrence College, is fab. It was the best choice for me. It's a 3 year program because it has a heavy research side. This is great and opens up a lot of opprotunity to me for a career. There is also an option to continue education for an additional year at Mercy College in NY (I think it's more research based) where that's not offered so much with other colleges in the area. It has a residence, a nice looking one, and lots of bus routes for transportation. The clinical facility, a highly secured wing in the school was also in good condition. The city had a lot of attractions and it was close to home so I could visit often. The only thing I did not look into or know about that I offered as a piece of advice to you ... labs. You are going to have a lot of them! Find out if there is transportation available to you, or if you have to find your own method of transportation any labs off campus ie) large animal labs
Oh, and be prepared to have at least one class that requires dissection. There are people who do not believe or support this and that is a personal choice, but it's a good way to learn what things are and how they work because you will be required to know and you will have surgery classes. There are just some things you can't learn from a book. It's also wise to prepare yourself for terminal (euthanasia) labs ... because those do happen as well. They are hard, and very sad, but I find talking about it only with my closest vet tech friends does help ... I can't say much to outsiders because of a confidentiality thing.
Tips:
1. If you don't understand material, or your struggling in a course (even after the first test) don't be afraid to talk to the professor and get a tutor. Do this straight away vs. leaving it until the last minute. Tutors are VERY helpful. I use tutors, and I am a tutor myself for certain courses. It's just helpful to sit down once a week with someone and go over the material. It helps it stick.
2. Do a little bit every night. I make study notes every night, because it means I have to go through the lectures and the material starts to stick. Then about 2 weeks before I know I have an exam, I review these notes just a few times a night. I speak out loud to myself, use colourful pens and taking frequent breaks is very important to keep you from becoming burnt out.
I use a schedule that has each day of the week an half hour time slots from 7am till 11pm ... I box off the courses I'm taking and I schedule study time for courses, break times etc.
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