4th Year

I am so sorry that I haven't written in such a long time. School has consumed my life! The rest of 3rd year was great. I loved my equine ambulatory rotation and all of my small animal rotations. I had 2 weeks off for "summer vacation" before starting 4th year. I spent one of those weeks camping with a bunch of my classmates up in Big Sur and the other week my parents visited me and we took a roadtrip up the coast to San Francisco.

My first clinical rotation of 4th year was surgery. I loved it! It has been one of my favorite rotations to date. I got to do more spays and neuters then I can count. I even got to do one mass removal and I scrubbed in and assisted with the more complicated procedures such as orthopedic surgeries etc. On my last day I got to spay a cat with a closed pyometra. My second rotation was internal medicine and then I did a 2 week soft tissue surgery externship in NY followed by a week of Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) down in Tennessee. RAVS was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone in veterinary school or anyone who is a veterinary technician. Basically RAVS is a program that combines community service and veterinary education to bring free veterinary services to underserved rural communities where poverty and geographic isolation make regular veterinary care inaccessible. Here is a link to their website for more info: http://www.ruralareavet.org/

Following RAVS I spent a month at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine for Oncology. It was my other favorite rotation. I was lucky enough to receive The Winston Award (a scholarship that provides money to a 4th year vet student to study cancer), which paid for all of my travel expenses for the rotation. Following Colorado I came back to L.A and had my imaging rotation which I also liked a lot. I am currently taking November "off" from rotations and I have been studying for my National Boards (I'm taking them on December 4th!), State Boards, applying to rotating small animal internships and going on working interviews. Well I have to get back to studying for Boards and writing my letters of intent. I will try to write again soon.