Tracking in Vet School (part 3)

By: Dayle Dillon

University of Illinois, Class of 2013

The University of Illinois has implemented a new curriculum that began with the class of 2013.  The most unique aspects of this curriculum are the exposure to clinics from day one, and the absence of traditional “tracking” during the fourth year of schooling.  Of course there will always be naysayers in any given situation but I feel that the new curriculum will prove to be quite successful as it allows for more instruction to take place in a true clinical environment, faced with situations a veterinarian encounters on a day to day basis. 

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Tracking in Vet School (another viewpoint)

By: Stephanie Silberstang

Cornell University

Tracking vs. non-tracking in veterinary school was an important part of my decision to apply to the schools that I did. I ended up choosing a school that did not include tracking because I was unsure of my specific career goals and path. I have worked with a large animal veterinarian, bovine embryo transfer veterinarian, small animal veterinarian and in the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo.

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Tracking in Vet School

By: Justin Graham

University of Georgia, Class of 2013

All creatures great and small – the classic James Herriot book has exemplified what has been the traditional view of a veterinarian, readily capable of treating all animals from the barnyard to the household.  Over the years as the general public has clung to this romantic idea, the veterinary profession itself has been gradually diverging and become increasingly specialized.  This divergence has raised the debate over whether vet schools should be focusing on the traditional broad-based, comparative medicine curriculum or on a more specialized, tracking curriculum.  Changing times call for changing paradigms and it is time for vet schools to begin embracing the idea of a specialized profession with a career tracking curriculum.

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