Student Experience

My “last free summer”

by Annie Marlowe, University of Illinois

In veterinary school, the summer between your 2nd and 3rd year is unofficially deemed your “last free summer”. Meaning, that once 4th year clinicals start, and subsequently your career, you won’t have any more summer breaks! This, of course, is slightly over exaggerated, but I kept this in the back of my mind in planning my summer activities.

I decided this summer was going to be focused mostly on recharging for my 3rd year of vet school, with a few weeks of externships and working. While relaxing at home, most of my time was spent going to garage sales, swimming at the pool, or training for a marathon. I had a fair amount of travel as well, attending weddings, crossing state borders to see family, or vacationing to Belize for a week. It was a much needed break from studying and great to relight some hobbies of mine.

The first half of the summer, I was a POD leader for the Summer Bridge Program; this program is open to incoming first year students and others that want to build some clinical critical thinking skills in preparation for vet school. This 6 week program went through several clinical cases based around body systems where I lead students through important questions to ask when uncovering a case. Overall, this was a great learning experience for me in leadership and my own system of going through cases!

I also spent time externing at a general practice clinic about an hour from school, where I learned some new skills and refreshed my memory on some old ones. I followed doctors into rooms and learned what questions are important to ask to owners and assisted techs in the treatment area with blood draws, catheter placements, and ultrasounds. My favorite thing I did was perform my first few spay surgeries on some kittens! It was a tricky process at first and I had some assistance, but in the end I did the full surgery on my own and I feel very confident in my abilities!

Lastly, I shadowed at an integrative medicine general practice clinic in Indiana. This is something that I wanted to gain more experience in as it likely will be a part of my future career. I learned a lot of new ways to approach medicine, such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, ozone therapy, and nutrition. My favorite part of my time spent here was the focus on preventative medicine and making sure clients and patients are set up for success with diet, weight management, and routine blood work.

Overall, my “last free summer” was a success and the perfect mix of relaxation and productivity. I look forward to what my third year of vet school has to offer and I feel even more prepared to tackle a year of surgery and medicine!