Question 1

How does 4th year vet school work at OVC?

Accepted Answer

At OVC, fourth year is a completely clinical year, so you’re rotating through different hospital services instead of sitting in lectures. Clinical year starts really quickly—about two weeks after third year ends. You’re basically learning by doing: histories, exams, records, procedures, and a lot of real client communication.

Question 2

What rotations did Your Vet Amanda take in 4th year at OVC?

Accepted Answer

So far I’ve done neurology, ophthalmology, small animal shelter surgery, anatomic pathology, anesthesia, emergency & critical care, oncology, and small animal surgery at OVC. I also did electives at a humane society shelter and a dentistry week with a mobile dentist. I rated each one based on learning, workload, and overall vibes.

Question 3

Which OVC rotation had the best work-life balance?

Accepted Answer

Neurology was a really nice balance for me—lots of learning, but not many nights of bringing records home. Oncology was also super chill with minimal paperwork and great hours, especially right after NAVLE. Anatomic pathology was more like 9–5 most days too, even though it wasn’t my personal favorite.

Question 4

Is ophthalmology hard in 4th year vet school?

Accepted Answer

It was definitely more responsibility than some other rotations because for each primary case you write discharge summaries to both the owner and referring vet, and you’re doing mini lit reviews. The standards were high, which was intimidating, but I learned so much that I honestly didn’t even need to study ophtho for NAVLE. For me it exceeded expectations and was totally worth the effort.

Question 5

What is anesthesia rotation like at OVC?

Accepted Answer

It’s a two-week rotation with on-call after hours and weekends, and I did get called in. You get tons of hands-on practice—placing catheters, intubating, and I even got to do a couple epidurals. My biggest lesson was anesthesia is 95% boring and 5% absolutely terrifying, and I left with a whole new respect for anesthesiologists.

Question 6

Do you recommend doing a dentistry rotation in vet school?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We really don’t get taught enough dentistry or get enough hands-on experience in vet school, and it’s such a huge part of general practice. My week with a mobile dentist was a 10/10—I got to do nerve blocks, practice dental radiographs, and it fully reaffirmed that I want to pursue dentistry more after graduation.

Question 7

What is emergency and critical care rotation like in 4th year?

Accepted Answer

Emerge was one of the only rotations where we worked different shifts, and we worked six out of seven days for the week. You’re the primary intake for a lot of cases, so you talk to tons of clients and you get really good hands-on experience. It also helped my ultrasound skills so much—things finally started looking like actual organs instead of gray-and-white fuzzies.

Question 8

Which rotations helped most with surgery confidence?

Accepted Answer

Both shelter surgery and shelter medicine electives were amazing for repetition and confidence—I did multiple solo surgeries and a ton of anesthesia. Small animal surgery at OVC was more intense with long days and on-call, but it was beyond cool to see referral-level procedures and get involved (I even placed a bone screw). Those experiences helped me understand what should be referred and how to manage cases when they come back to general practice.

VET SCHOOL ROTATION REVIEW: rating my 4th year rotations 🐾

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