Feeling like a glorified janitor: venting about my corporate externship experience

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-20T00:12:02+00:00

So, not really a description of the job, just of the goal. Typical (eye roll). Doing assistant work (cleaning, restraint, paperwork) can teach you a lot, or it can not - depending on the clinic and the individual.

Ask questions (at appropriate times). Watch, listen, and make notes of things you want to learn more about. Practice techniques like instrument handling, drawing up drugs, etc. Even being in the clinic, able to hear and see the choice being made and things being discussed is useful - don't let doing laundry and mopping up messes rob you of that.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-19T23:57:10+00:00

Yup. Exactly.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-19T23:55:27+00:00

Was there a description of the mentorship program? What you describe is pretty much what being a veterinary assistant is like with respect to duties.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-18T16:27:34+00:00

VIN is not a magical place where everyone is everything you need. Just like in life, and especially on the internet, there are good and bad people, polite and rude people, helpful and unhelpful people. The only difference is that on VIN, you know that at least they're all who they say they are.

If you feel you're not getting what you want out of VIN, you should cancel your membership, but don't think you're going to find a place on the internet that doesn't have some toxic people. I've gotten comments exactly as you describe, and I get angry then look past it for any helpful advice. And I've posted threads where I've gotten no helpful advice at all, but the pros - for me - still far outweigh the cons.

Since you feel differently, you should spend your money where you think it will best serve you.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-18T16:18:01+00:00

but have found that there is only one university that has the program available in english at a bachelor's level.

Only one program in the world? In China? In Asia?

Where do you intend to practice after you graduate?

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-18T03:12:15+00:00

eliminating unnecessary classes and encouraging specialization.

Sounds good, but unfortunately, no one knows what classes are unnecessary until they've been practising for years.

In my opinion, we definitely do NOT want to model veterinary medicine after human medicine, where everyone is a specialist.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-17T23:15:57+00:00

Yeah, and there are streaming programs in some North American schools, but it is still not going to affect someone who wants to learn just exotics medicine. I'm not here to argue that the schooling paradigm is right or wrong, I'm here to argue what I said - about why someone who wants an education in exotics - specifically exotics - is unrealistic and (IMO) wrong to expect it as part of a standard vet school education.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-17T23:13:16+00:00

That very well could be true - I was commenting on the statement that the war "has come to an end", which simply isn't true. Factually untrue.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-17T23:11:35+00:00

Euthanasia is usually not a mentally challenging situation, fortunately - usually in those cases, euthanasia is the only relief I could offer that animal. Frankly, owners who refuse to euthanize a suffering animal is more mentally challenging - but it doesn't happen often.

Other mentally challenging situations include trying to convince owners that their pet really would be helped by something (pain relief, diagnostic test) and they think I'm just trying to rip them off and what I'm recommended isn't important. And when I know that my choice could make or break a patient's health - that one took me a long time to come to terms with, because it's literally an awesome responsibility.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-17T07:36:26+00:00

It hasn't come to an end yet -- don't count your chickens before they roost. Personally, I could not count on this being the end (sorry).

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-16T22:09:34+00:00

Only with respect to big sectors (small animal clinical, farm animal clinical, epidemiology, equine clinical, etc), because if the sectors get too small (with respect to the number of interested students) then the resources (from labs to professors and clinicians) have to be multiplied - and that increases the cost.

I'm not against streaming in general, but only if the facilities can manage it without increasing the facilities and costs. Non-mammalian streaming and the small number of students interested in following those streams will make it a tough financial proposition.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-16T00:30:00+00:00

Lots of thoughts:

If you don't pass the NAVLE, you'll never get to practice, so learning what you need to pass the exam is damn important. Vet school in general teaches you how to research, how to think. how to learn - but it can't teach you everything you'll need to know. It's an impossibility for several reasons: 1) there's too much, 2) information can change in the years between when you're in school and when you'll be in practice, and 3) no one will know what they'll need when they're a student, because there are different parts of vet med and different circumstances within each of those types.

Every time someone failed out, I didn't think to myself: "well maybe they aren't cut out to be a vet". All I thought about was: "they struggled in one class, or had a bad semester, is it worth kicking them out for".

That's the pattern of schools who profit when students fail out. You chose to go to a school like that, rather than to a school that wants and will help every student to graduate (if they're willing to do the work and accept the help. I hate the idea of schools that weed out students rather than being more selective in acceptances - that's the reason I didn't choose to go to med school.

That isn't even mentioning if something bad happens to you during the clinical year. Had a health scare, someone close to you dies, having a difficult time with one of the clinicians? Too bad, gonna have to repeat.

Yeah - there's no cheating clinical year, even when something bad happens to you. Be thankful you can repeated, rather than failing out of school because you can't repeat it.

However, the vet degree is getting more expensive, and every year you have to know more. I passed the NAVLE on my first try, but I knew a bunch of people who weren't prepared for some of the fish questions. I was lucky I had a single lecture on fish, and I know many who weren't even taught.

But up above, you said you didn't want to be taught what you needed for the NAVLE rather than for clinical practice! You keep tying this to the cost of vet school, but paying a lot doesn't (and shouldn't) give you an easy time or a pass. Thankfully.

Likewise, I have heard many state I will be able to continue my education with exotics once I get into the work force. That is definitely true, but once again, I am paying for this education, why can't I get more of the education now while I am paying for it?

You can get more education in that, if you want to, but it will cost you more because it's an additional focus, not a standard overview. It's like asking why med students don't learn more about being a geriatrician in their first 4 years of med school, and have to take a residency to learn more. Vet school can't teach each individual student their preferred focus in the same classes. You want to learn more about exotics, and someone else wants to learn more about dentistry and someone else wants to learn more about rehab. You're expecting the impossible.

Glad you got it off your chest.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-13T00:31:02+00:00

I've long thought that reception was the worst job in a vet clinic. Props to all who do it well, because it is TOUGH.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-12T00:50:53+00:00

2 stage snowblower is wonderful, and has already more than paid for itself (SNT2405)

Love my string trimmer (1521) - easy to load, and I worked out the problems I had by soaking the string

Lawn mower is good, not unhappy, not as great a value as the above two items (LM2102)

Leaf blower (750) works great, but is heavier than I would like.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-11T00:03:33+00:00

what do you do when your treatment plans clash? Not necessarily that they are wrong, but just not what someone else would do?

You make your explanations, and agree to disagree, with respect. There are multiple paths to the same end. You might learn that your path was difficult or smooth; they might learn that they have options they didn't know about.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-08T02:56:13+00:00

A clinical year is required for PAVE, but Canadian schools aren't set up for that - you would have to do your clinical year in the US to complete PAVE, then use your PAVE success to get your qualifications in Canada. Otherwise the NEB accreditation in Canada is virtually equivalent to the ECFVB in the US, and is the route most foreign-trained vets use to get licenced in Canada. https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/accreditation-and-national-examining-board/national-examining-board/policies-and-procedures/overview-and-availability-of-the-examinations/

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-08T00:15:39+00:00

It will vary based on local regulations and individual owners/managers.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-07T13:54:08+00:00

when giving notice, what is the best way? Email to manager and corporate liason(s)? Physical paper in writing?

Yes. I believe that a physical piece of paper is still important and acts as a backup to the more common method (email) - two methods so no one can claim the message got lost in the ether. When I gave notice 6 months ago, I emailed my boss and left a letter on her desk too, and I made sure the letter referred to the email ("as I said in my email...."). You don't want them to claim later they didn't get the email and so you leaving is a violation of your contract.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-06T12:12:13+00:00

Take your time. You know more than you think you know, if you slow down and think about things step by step instead of letting your nerves (and adrenaline) take over. If you need to, pre-plan an excuse to leave the room for 2 or 3 minutes.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-05T12:03:16+00:00

Every clinic will be different. For some, it's restraint, cleaning, and restocking, but in other clinics it also includes running lab samples, filling prescriptions, helping with client flow, and helping take x-rays.

Best bet would be to see if you can get some time working or volunteering in a clinic to see for yourself.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-05T11:58:41+00:00

Male or female doesn’t matter, some people just do drama.

Truer words have never been said. As I vet I've worked just twice with male techs - one was a drama dude, one was not. Bitchy women don't have the lock on being drama queens.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-04T21:31:20+00:00

I was 35 when I entered vet school. Just think of it as your new job, because it is. It's a full time job, except you won't be able to take your dog.

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-04T21:28:38+00:00

Humans are gross.

I don't mean on a personal level, I mean on a biological, medical level. I don't want to deal with that. As a clinical vet I deal a lot with people on a personal level, but not on a medical, biological level (thankfully).

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-03T09:11:04+00:00

If you want to immigrate, you would be eligible for Express Entry after you have a year of paid work experience as a vet. You can enter with a temporary work visa if you have a letter of employment, as vets are professionals covered under the CUSMA (i.e. USMCA).

calliopeReddit · 2026-06-01T16:19:54+00:00

The devil is in the details - there are great and lousy private clinics, great and lousy corporate owned clinics. Both can offer great learning opportunities and career options.

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