It Takes A Village

It’s finals time again at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), and as everyone knows, behind every good veterinary student is an entire village of people ensuring we keep a shred of our sanity.

For those of you who have not experienced this firsthand, veterinary school finals are not like undergraduate finals, which are more similar to a regular test and you are likely given a review and/or time without regular class to study.

Instead, our finals are a culmination of everything we have learned in each class, plus anything we have learned since beginning veterinary school, if the professor chooses. Our finals also begin while regular classes are still meeting and end with a week consisting of an exam every day beginning at 8 a.m.

Needless to say, it’s a bit of a rough time

However, it is also an encouraging time because you find out just how many people are on your side.

In just this week alone I have witnessed everyone at school come together to support the students. Professors have been answering questions over email late into the night, librarians have set out snacks in the study rooms, and the café has always been stocked with sources of caffeine.

Even the very students who are going through finals themselves have made a point to reach out to one another with a joke, kind words, or simply just reassuring each other.

I should also mention just how appreciated our relationships with those outside of school are, as well, during this time. The breaks from constant revision, reminders that there are non-school things to enjoy, and help in simple life chores that allow us more time to study are invaluable.

Finals are most definitely a rough time, but I know my classmates and I will make it through and be one step closer to fulfilling our dreams of becoming veterinarians because of the help from our people.As for my own personal village, thank you for reminding me to eat, sleep, and take the time to enjoy things this week—I couldn’t do it without you!

Looking into the Future

So, the good news is the semester is finally almost over! However, that also means I must make it through finals first.

The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy and filled with tons of information, but it’s all important to know for my future.

As I plan to attend veterinary school, I’m beginning to take more rigorous courses geared toward my specific career path, so my classes are getting more interesting than the typical core curriculum classes. I’m majoring in biomedical sciences, which helps to get a lot of the veterinary school prerequisites out of the way, but my schedule is always busy.

After this semester, I will have completed my first semester of my second year here at Texas A&M, and man, it’s been an experience. I’ve heard people say college is the best time of your life, and so far, it’s been really fun but full of busy schedules and lots of classes to study for.

With that said, it can get really busy when finals time comes around, since there’s so much to study. I enjoy the classes I’m taking, but as I’m sure a lot of people have heard, finals can be stressful for many people.

Although there’s so much to do at this time of the semester, it’s definitely doable if you don’t procrastinate. With there being several finals to study for, it helps to start studying early, rather than pulling all-nighters the night before the exams. I’ve tried studying both ways and quickly found out that I should start studying early so that I can actually understand the material for the test rather than cram the night before and remember only about half of it.

This can be one of the busiest times of the semester, but finding your groove ahead of time helps decrease the stress of studying. Just relax, take one day at a time, and everything will be OK.

Finding the Joy

Michelle M.Vet school is a dream come true for all of the students currently enrolled in Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine!

Despite this, it can be easy to become bogged down in exams, personal struggles, and commitments, at times, especially at the end of the semester as finals approach. This is why since starting school, many of us have taken to heart a concept explained to us during our first-year orientation.

“Find the Joy” is a mantra that has been repeated more times than I can count. Whenever my class has been overwhelmed with a particularly challenging exam or week, someone has always reminded us to find the joy; it is a reminder to look at the little things in life that make you happy to bring you back to perspective that your struggles will pass and are not as insurmountable as you currently think they are. And that no matter what, there is joy in your life, if only you seek to find it.

Each semester, right before finals week, the Texas A&M chapter of the Student American Veterinary Association (SAVMA) hosts something called “Find the Joy” week. It is a series of events spanning over the course of a week specifically for the vet students. All of these events are free or discounted for the students as a way for them to relax and take a little bit of time being active, creative, or just away from their books.

I am currently the secretary of SAVMA and we just finished planning the events for this year’s “Find the Joy” week. The events this year range from a class at You Paint It, yoga, bingo, an escape room, ice skating, and more. I’m organizing the You Paint It class and am looking forward to relaxing with my classmates and showing just how horrible my artistic skills are. But it is in the name of “Find the Joy” and a good cause.