This week marks an always interesting and stressful time the in
the life of a vet student - finals. During the fall semester of the
second year of veterinary school we take the following classes:
pharmacology, parasitology, nutrition (split into large and small
animal), clinical correlates, and pathology. Lucky for me, we do
not have to take a final in correlates, so I was down to four. My
first test was nutrition. I tried to prepare myself as best I could
for large animal nutrition. I filled my mind with information
pertaining to things like rumen pH, forage and concentrate ratios,
milk fever, and the proper amount of amino acids that should be in
the diet. The more that I studied for this class; the more I
realized that my interest does not lie in large animals. However,
in order to be a well-rounded doctor it is still important that I
have some idea as to what these terms mean. My second final was
pathology. Our teacher took it easy on us this year and did not
make the final cumulative. We only needed to cover pathology
regarding the Central Nervous System (CNS), the eye/ear, and the
kidney. Overall, I have enjoyed this class the most and feel that I
have learned a lot of information regarding the body and ways in
which things can go wrong. My third test was parasitology. This
class has provided more information than I could possibly remember
regarding parasites that can affect different species. I can only
hope that I will take away the most important parasites that impact
each species and how I can identify them once I am in practice. My
last test was pharmacology. This final was one of the most
challenging because it is difficult to learn about different drugs
without a clinical situation with which to apply it. But, this is
also one of the most important classes that we can have as it will
impact the treatment and prescriptions that we, as doctors, write.
Overall, I have to say that this semester has been interesting but
also stressful. I am definitely glad to have another semester
complete and am looking forward to spending the holidays with my
family, something that I have not been able to do the past four
months. Hopefully I will come back rested, reenergized, and ready
to start another semester. One closer to my ultimate goal of
DVM!