A MESSAGE THAT EVERY VET STUDENT NEEDS TO HEAR 

Vet school is challenging, more than it is hard. The whole material is extremely interesting and I can't wait to use it everyday. However, what is really hard, is to go home after a long day at school and rewrite, analyze, comprehend and research your notes, and then repeat everyday; that's where you are really being challenged and it takes an immense amount of willpower, dedication, and sacrifice to create a balanced habit. My first two years I felt like I didn't belong and the tuition was literally in the way of my concentration, plus many other moral stuff us young souls go through in the real world. I took a year OFF and started working, I swore I wouldn't go back to school, I was DONE with vet, literally started studying something else. Nonetheless, vet made its way to crawl back to my life,and I found myself crying , and filled with impotence when I had absolutely no idea what to do with my cat when he fell ill, or when I found plenty of needed animals in the streets. I can't thank the cosmos and my cat enough that in a day's worth, my passion and determination ignited my goal of becoming a vet doctor once again. I am now starting my first semester after taking the year off and I am stronger, fierce, and more focused than ever to become the great doctor I know I can be.

When I was studying and I was over it I just always told myself one day this might save a life... great message ❤️️🐾

I was a terrible vet student. I regret this now as it is making working much harder. I have to look everything up and constantly feel inadequate. I made no connections in school, skipped labs and lectures, and barely scraped by. It was really hard to get a job, as my resume was empty and my knowledge was below average. SO FUCKING STUDY! Go to class. Try. You will regret it if you don't....

I'm a first year student. I worked so hard for my first round of exams and felt like I almost died. I knew I could not live like that-2-4 hours of sleep and just feeling so terrible. I have changed the way I study and learn and it shows in my grades now and my mental, physical, and emotional health.

Vet school was hard for me, for a completely different reason. I was never an overachiever, like a lot of my colleagues are. For me, most stress came from the people around me. I almost constantly felt like I didn't belong because I didn't feel that stressed out over tests and grades and all of those things. It was really hard for me to understand why people got so stressed over those things, and it wasn't because my grades were perfect, trust me on that. It was because I wasn't focused on the grades, but more on what I could learn and what I wanted to take away from the material and what would help me in the future. And I'm not saying this to seem like I had some kind of upper hand or deeper understanding or that it's wrong to care about your grades. It's just my lived experience that a lot of my classmates kicked up a lot of stress that to me seemed unnecessary, and in turn that made it stressful for me too. Thanks for putting a video like this out there and getting a dialogue going.

In the middle of exams right now, this makes me feel a lot better. I really needed to hear it. I'm having such a hard time, living far away from home. Vet school makes me feel like I'm constantly failing. The content is so massive that I can't physically get through it all and I feel guilty having a week off because I should have been studying. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to face.. physically and emotionally..but having people like you in this community..makes it a little easier. Thank you so much for sharing :)

Although the video was uploded 2 years ago... I really needed that today. I have my final anatomy exam ( Germany)in 3 days and I am struggeling so hard. I feel very bad and and have the feeling I just can‘t take it anymore. I won‘t give up, even if I fail. But it Males ne feel a mit better to know I am not alone

I’m a pre-vet student right now and I just wanted to thank you for this video. I have a friend who is in vet school and she tells me about her struggles and it’s making me very nervous and scared about the future. But it’s good to see that others can relate - I’m definitely not alone.

Great video! I'm a final year vet student in the UK and I still struggle with how difficult vet school is sometimes. Not only academically but also physically and emotionally. Like Cody I had been so focused on becoming a 'vet student' that it later hit me... this was a whole new world I was entering into. I would never put anyone off from studying veterinary but I always encourage prospective students to do a lot of research prior to applying and to not skimp on the work experience! It's a very big time and financial commitment which requires a lot of sacrifice and perseverance!

I remember watching this video two years ago when I was in undergrad trying to get into school. I’ve worked harder to get into vet school than I’ve worked for anything else. The countless hours cleaning cages, waking up at 5 to help on farm calls with the vet, late nights studying, all the unpaid internship/volunteering. In vet school now and its a different beast. Trying to focus on how I can apply what I’m learning and making it clinically relevant has been my biggest motivator so far. There’s nothing more satisfying that looking at a radiograph or drug pathway and identifying it all and being able to describe it to someone who’s never seen it before and give that knowledge that we cram and pull all nighters for to the world. Very rewarding to think about

Thank you for talking about this! I'm a first year vet student (in the US) and only been about 3 weeks and I'm feeling overwhelmed

Wow wow wow wow wow!!! Just what I needed to hear!! I am currently a 2nd-year student studying Animal sciences, and want to get into vet school so bad! Various things messed up my first year, my study method, outlook on life, friends, anxiety and stress, student unrest... I have since learned how to study smarter - not longer. I have gone so far as to choose new friends and visit the campus psychologist for assistance with stress handling and relief. So far, it's going great! I agree! Everything in life is hard, but it is worth it! Thank you so much for posting this video! it's something nobody ever speaks or warns about. And it's really motivated me!

I just really needed to hear this right now. I think I replayed 4:40-4:45 about 10 times. I've always been insanely driven and extremely hard working. It's never been easy and i've just recently realized thats it's never going to get easier and that had me really stressed and driving me crazy recently. But thank you. You are absolutely right in that everything good in life is hard, everything. I just really hope it truly is worth it and truly is rewarding. I believe it will be, but sometimes I guess we doubt ourselves, which I definitely was. But hank you so much. I just really needed to hear this type of encouragement.

I remember seeing this video on my suggested videos feed and thinking, "I don't need to hear whatever he has to say".......that was before I started vet school. Right now is notoriously the most difficult part of the four years I'll spend in this program. And it's hitting me hard. Not because the material is challenging, but because of the sacrifices I have had to make in order to keep my life in a healthy balance. I told my mom today that I didnt want to do it anymore. She asked if i wanted to drop out. And even though I've considered it countless times, especially earlier this year, my immediate response was, "NO!" Long story short, I'm really overwhelmed and sad and struggling to remind myself why I'm here and what this all means to me. BUT. Today I was reminded that someone, somewhere deep inside me wants me to be here. And then I saw this video and realized the struggle is bigger than me, bigger than my class or my school, it's worldwide. Even bigger than that is the support system. So yeah. I needed to hear this. I also needed to be asked by my mom, my biggest fan, if I wanted to quit. Sometimes you just need a rude awakening. And today was that awakening. Thanks for listening to my ramble. It feels good to ramble. Thanks for being an incredible community of which I am so thankful to be a part of. ON TO DOCTOR-HOOD.

This spoke to me like nothing else has! I am in my third year of undergraduate and am still a freshman credit wise. I was to be a vet so bad. I have spoke with my mentors and they just say you just havr to do it. I need to realize though that it may take a few tries to figure out how to do it and just because it took my longer doesn't mean I am a failure. Which is a feeling I have been fighting off a lot lately.

I decided to become Veterinarian as I was 5 years old and I must say it a journey. If you cant not find your way or understand the dynamics but only memorizing subjects without making connections than it is nearly impossible to graduate from school. I was nearly perfect all basic anatomy, physiology or histology but than took me some time to make connection between pathology and those basic necessities. Everyone has a different way of studying but I suggest to be actively involve to work practice side as an extra even from the day 1. I worked commercial poultry industry, diagnostic labs and even join few Ph-D thesis as an assistant during all those years. Thanks Cody for raising up that topic...

I really needed to hear this right now. I screwed up big time my first year of undergrad, and I had to take time off. Now have to start from scratch...which is making me feel so inadequate and like a complete failure...and that I'll never be able to get back on my feet. Becoming a livestock vet has been a dream of mine since I could remember, and hearing that you went through similar circumstances makes me have hope again. Thank you for reminding me that it doesn't matter how long it takes to reach your goal, just as long as you do the best you can and have the drive to do it.

I really needed this. I am a third-year undergrad at Chico State and my first two years were not the best. I was in and out of the hospital, and constantly spreading myself thin because I thought being perfect is what gets you in vet school. Your video gives me so much hope Dr. Creelman to hopefully get accepted into Vet school. Thank you so much!

Congratulations all FenVet employees, Cody and family!! what a team, and your beautiful vet clinic!

This is so true!! You become a hot mess, going f crazy with study and you think everyone is just chillin getting better grades than you! But all of them are struggling too. Vet students unite

This video made me subscribed! Im also a vet student, but here in the Philippines. Im actually planning on moving to the US to finish Vet Medicine. Studying is insane. Theres too much to study but theres only little time. The lack of sleep is shortening my life expectancy lol but its gonna be worth it. Thank you for this video

Dr Cody, excellent advices for the vet students!. You are totally right, vet school is hard, but the result if you make your best effort worth it. In the University where i studied the tuff years are the 1st and 3rd, to much subjects, many classes, all the life in the campus laboratories, After in 4th and 5th, is more activity in farms everyday and you see the purpose of all those years in the campus. The other thing that i think is hard is the life before graduation, you miss the student life for a while.

Thank you for this! Not only did I head to vet school after undergrad, I also had to adjust to the UK educational system since I came from the USA. My study habits completely had to take a 180, especially since there's a lot less hand-holding/smaller assessments here! I remember feeling like a total failure my first year. Now that I'm in third year, I finally feel like I have a grasp on how I learn best and I'm more ontop of my studies than ever before. It gets better guys!

Thank you for your advice!! When you said everything good in life is hard it really hit me and made me realize I need to work hard for what I want and not to give up no matter how hard it is! I am a sophmore in college and I am really struggling with what I want to do in life and this video gave me hope thank you!! :)

I think it literally depends on prior experience. I’ve noticed since I raise cows, horses, chickens, dogs, cats and more. You really learn from being immersed in whatever you do. I started my veterinary hours very early. I honestly am confident that if you study hard, immerse yourself, and basically throw yourself into whatever you do. The only problem I have right now is what particular classes are more important for vet school.

I miss you Cody Creelman

i,m in year 3 of university in vet medicine but it was difficult to adopt being a vet student but slowly you become friendly with courses , lecturer , animals and life continue vet is the best subject you need my friend

1st year vet student here - Thank you for the encouragement!

Thank you for this,I hope it will be worth it.I'm first year of veterinary college in Croatia,Europe.There's only one college like this in the whole state :') And there is only 150 of us,and most of us that get to the final year can't find a job because of our country's bad economy. So I hope I will find a job abroad and do what I've always wanted to do :)

I’m a first year in vet school right now, actually, and I’m still getting good enough grades, but at least this term I feel extremely burnt out (winter term first year is notoriously the hardest in my program, and having only 1 week of spring break wasn’t enough time to recuperate). I’ve lost all motivation, and I’m tired all the time. I sleep a lot, but it never feels enough. It’s like... I care, but I don’t care is the feeling I have which is horrible. The last two terms I could crank through a lot of material every day, and now I’m lucky if I can get myself to study the night before an exam. I want the excitement back. I want my motivation back. 😭 I’m only doing the bare minimum. I’ve been trying to take care of myself enough to get it back, but it never seems to help, and then I’ve just wasted a bunch of time and get farther behind. I would like that “fire” back and be “the best vet student” like you said, but I want to be an avian vet and there are no avian vets here which doesn’t help my lack of motivation. Plus all I want to do all the time is hide from everyone. Advice? Thoughts?

I hope you keep making these videos about what vet school was like and what your career is like. I have been trying to find some good bloggers to watch, but many of them are annoying :P You're the only one I enjoy watching and you're really enlightening. I am a 1st year Professional Biology, pre-vet student, but I am hoping to get into Vet school once I graduate from here. I aspire to be an equine/large animal veterinarian. Thanks for all of the videos!!

I just finished year one at my vet school. I think what is hard about such an accelerated program is it really doesn't allow for life to happen. I was in a car accident, needed surgery, and lost two family members all in my second semester just before coronavirus hit and finished my semester online with 11 exams and 3 labs. But I made it. Definitely not my best grades and that was tough to accept but listening to your words, I felt the exact same way. My goal was to get into vet school and once I got here, I went through a time period where I lost my fire too. It is back but I definitely had to push harder than ever this year. Here's to hoping my second year will be better!

so needed this video, feel the same as you .. yea!!! i made it to vet school ... thats good but i am honestly struggling i feel demotivated and overwhelmed...its a lot of work...not enough time I FEEL annoyed, i still cant figure out a study pattern that works!

I seriously needed this today. I'm struggling a lot. Thank you Dr Creelman

I’m thinking about going into it. I’m just trying to prepare myself.

Going into 4th year and totally still have not properly figured out how to study, but some how by trying super hard I have made it this far

vet school is bad financial investment in US. debt to income ratio is very high. the educational cost doesn't make any sense!!

Thank you so much for your honesty! I am currently applying to university to study Veterinary Science after taking time off from studying and your story is definitely going to be in the back of my mind.

The struggle is real.

I'm an undergrad and I want to be a vet! Its just so discouraging to know that its this hard. Like I'm reconsidering my future career. Help!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels like a failure and is seriously struggling!

This is all so true and will really help people.

Thank you for this. You are touching a very relevant point. Bless you

I'm an undergrad having a hard time. nobody else is study habits work for me and I what my problem is I just don't know how to address it. but dear Lord do I love it when I'm doing disections in path, learning structures in anatomy, watching the horses go by in the breeze wing when I'm off to weams. there's nothing better than the manure smell. I long to go out to my vet clinic because each time I go back I want to be a vet a little bit more. I study long hours upstairs in the new library and everyone knows me as that undergrad that's always around. I just wish my grades reflected my hard work and I don't know how to make them do so.

I'm going to be starting at a vet clinic as a vet assistant in the coming weeks exited to start on a whole new career path I'm 46 and have earned a college education at the age of 30. I'm tired of working in a factory. On to new horizons

I'm in a unique situation where I'm actually going back to update a ton of highschool classes so I can even qualify to get into vet school one day. I totally wasted my highschool days because of panic attacks and family issues. I graduated with the bare minimum. I had thrown away the dream of becoming a vet when I convinced myself I wasn't smart enough. Then after a year of searching for something to do with my life realised I wasn't interested in anything else. Ive struggled with math for years and I'm not particularly great at science but I feel like I need to try. I'll have to study twice as hard and I still don't know if I'll ever make it. Not to mention I have 0 money put away for school. Any encouragement would be welcome

Currently, in my journey to being a Veterinarian also! School is hard for me but I am studying hard and making it by pre-req by pre-req. I don't memorize information easily so I'm spending usually 3x the more time an average student is. I will be applying to schools at the end of this year, but I still have my Biochemistry and OCHem to take. ANY studying tips to give to help me attain info more easily/quickly??

I’ve always had this crazy dream of being a veterinarian. However, at 18 years old, student loans seemed intimidating and daunting so I enlisted in the military (USAF). 6.5 years later, I’m married with a beautiful 8 month old but I’ve got the money for school since I served. I’ve started working on my associates for vet tech, a plan for my bachelors after that and then hopefully I can get into vet school. Has anyone gone through all this with a kid and a husband (or wife) that is active duty military? It still feels daunting and like I’m never going to get there. I felt like this before my first day of basic training for the military and time just flew by.

It's not impossible. I did it. BVSc and BSc

In canada vets student are picked by the same standards as with regular doctors

Thanks so much for this video!

I'm in high school right now and realllyyyy want to become a wildlife veterinarian... I know its gonna be tough but my family thinks that pursuing vet is going to be worthless for me . What should i do?

Glad it's not just me. I'm a first-year vet tech student, trying to get into vet school. (I follow an online program.) I swear to Hippocrates that well over half the dang questions on our quizzes and tests are NOT in our study guides or notes! And I haven't been the only one to make that observation. As a result, I'm not getting the world's highest grades. But I know I'm not stupid. I used to have a 4.0 GPA. So if I'm neither stupid nor lazy, why am I not doing well?

Love it!

I'm not even in college yet! I'm a sophomore in high school and I'm struggling in my English class especially. Usually I get to use my notes on tests because I'm in special ed. In English my teacher won't let me! And I'm not sure how I'm going to study for multiple exams in one week! I need some study tips!

What kind of tips would you have for someone looking to go into vet school? I'm only a freshman in college but I'm interested in large animal medicine like beef/dairy/large ruminants. I want it really bad but it looks so so hard...

I lack the passion and enthusiasm for studying, what should I do?😔

I want to become a vet when I'm older what type of classes do I need to take when I get to highschool in a couple years

Uhmm from the comments I get the impression that studying Veterinary Medicine in the US is actually a lot different than in Europe? (In the EU part) I have 11 subjects that include calculus, programming and physisics, that are quite challenging apart from main subjects such as Anatomy, Histology and Biochemistry. Anatomy is lectured in Latin.( I'm in my first year.) The "get a job while you study" was what kind of made me feel like.... Hold up, when? W H E N? Are we talking about Veterinary Medicine? I have classes often from 8.00 am to 8.45 pm, and I need to study, eat, and sleep to stay alive, I do not have a bloody Hermione watch to go and work!? I'll work in my summer brake, thanks. And people saying they can't wait to put their knowledge in practice? What knowledge? That I can show exactly where semicanalis tubae auditive is? That I can draw literally every single chemical substance in our body? Or the calculus? Or the physics? A shitload of academical theoretical knowledge that can not be used in a day to day practice. I get that that's what the first year is made of, but I'm not in here pretending like I'm gonna need all of this one day.

Hey Cody I'm a sophomore in highschool rn and I decided I want to become a large animal vet, but I'm not sure what course of action I should take could you please help? Thanks!

What were your undergrad grades like? It's got a lot of us undergrad students panicking and thinking we have to ace everything to get in.

What's a good number of hours for the VMCAS? I'm a pre-vet student majoring in zoology, and I have about 1 1/2 years left in my degree. I decided kind of late in the game (literally just earlier this year) that a DVM was my end goal at the end of my education, so I haven't given myself a whole lot of time to get the animal and veterinary experience needed for applications. I've been working as a vet assistant, and have gotten just over 400 hours in a couple months, is this a good start?

I think I want to be a vet, I know I do. My problem is that I skipped going to college out of HS which I regret, and now I'm 23, I want to go, but I have this insane fear of failure and just have no clue where to start. Also, should I do extra stuff? like go and volunteer at a vet office and stuff? just sort of lost right now and don't know where to take my first step. Any help would be great!

what college gig you go to for vet school?

Can you go to community college and become a vet?

I know this video is a year old but I’m looking to go to school to be a general livestock veterinarian. I have a passion for livestock and animal science. I’m a senior in high school and I was wondering if you have any advice for me? Thanks!

Dr Cody what did you major in undergrad because I was thinking biology taking some agriculture classes would this help or animal science major

I have a question for Cory Creelman, Cow Vet???

So if you want to be a vet would your undergrad (first 4 year degree) be vet by undergrad I mean major? And what would you minor in

Meeen I hope someone looks at this comment because I am having such a bad time with simple biology. I’m doing great with chemistry but biology is destroying me and I can’t let that happen because I am going to get demolished once I get to vet school.