It has only been a month and a half into my third year of veterinary school, and I am still so excited about it. I felt like after about a week into my first and second years of vet school, I was feeling more overwhelmed than excited. My first two years of vet school were mostly bookwork and not much hands-on experience.

Third year is finally the year I get to have tons of hands-on experience. I also get to choose which electives I want to take based on what I am tracking, which is small animal medicine. I am taking electives like cardiology, nutrition, oncology, dentistry, and behavior. Also, in third year we participate in junior surgery, which is my favorite class. We get to perform surgeries on different animals to practice our surgical skills. This gets us more comfortable with the procedures that we will be performing a lot in everyday practice. Next week, I get to perform my first surgery on a dog, and I am super nervous but extremely excited about it.

Another class we get to take in our third year of vet school is skills lab. We have both small animal skills lab and large animal skills lab, where we get many opportunities for hands-on experience with different species of animals. Last week, we learned how to properly restrain reptiles. We got to hold turtles, lizards, baby alligators, and snakes. At first, I was terrified of the snakes, but with the help of our technician and my classmates, I finally got the courage to hold a snake. I have learned so much these past couple of years in vet school, and I am learning so much already in my third year. Once this year is over, I feel confident I will be prepared for my fourth year of vet school on clinical rotations.