Crappy class rank, internally freaking out

[tanlemur]

I'm a third year vet student who just found out that my class rank was 103/118... I have been kinda shocked, disappointed and embarassed so I haven't told anyone about this. The problem is I might want to get an internship and specialize in the future, anesthesia to be specific, but now it feels like this has all become just a dream that would never come true.
I understand that GPA and class rank isn't everything, but I do know some places that do grade cutoffs before going in deeper into the applicants' file. Obviously what has happened will not change, but I'm gonna try harder in the next semester before clinics start, so I can bump up my GPA as much as possible. Coming from a high-strung, extremely studious learning style in undergrad, I just felt like I didn't have the energy in me to study as hard in vet school. And it has caused significant strain on my personal relationships during the first semester, so I decided to priorituze life before grades, and got into the "C's get degress" mindset.
i don't mind doing GP work, but I would like to have the option to go do an internship at least. Does anyone have any other advice with this type of situation? My stressed and unhappy thoughts have started clouding my mind.

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[JaynaAli]

There’s really nothing you can do but continue to do as well as you can academically from here and keep making connections. It’s not impossible to specialize with lower grades. I was in the lower half of my class and I’ve been boarded for three full years now. Grades are important but your connections and letters of recommendation and experiences are just as important, imo. Your GPA/rank might mean that lots of places will just throw out your app and not read it, and you may need to make sacrifices on your program wish list to find one that will “take a chance” (which I hate even saying because I truly think dedication to the field and passion are more important than grades but a lot of specialty programs will disagree) on you despite the lower academic scores. I’d highly recommend visiting as many internship and residency locations as you can in person to help them get to know the person behind the application…I think that was key to me getting both my internship and residency as someone who wasn’t in the top tier of their class. It will be harder for you I’m not going to lie but if you can make the right connections and the right doors open it’s not impossible.

 

[battie]

Paging @cdo96

Edited to add: I was 134/135 in my class. Literally no one cares. Not my bosses. Not my clients. And most importantly, not my patients. Fellow vets at my previous job who had done multiple internships were shocked to know my rank because of how well I was doing overall. You're more than rank!

 

[cdo96]

Paging @cdo96

I feel the tiniest bit insulted?

Hello hello I’m here. Some fun facts about me, @tanlemur , I’m currently a first year critical care resident. I graduated in the damn near bottom of my class. I wish I remembered what percentile but it was embarrassing. Easily bottom 1/3-1/2. GPA sucked for my first 3 years of didactic learning. I knew the material like the back of my hand and could teach the damn thing but could never perform on a test.

I got my top choice in both internships and residencies. Certainly not because of my grades, but because of my personality and how I did in clinics. I was involved in school- president of the surgery club, treasure (?) of the critical care club, and much much more. My clinicians loved me, I worked hard and got fantastic references. I worked my ass off in clinics and my clinicians respected me.

And nobody gives a **** about your GPA or class ranking after your internship. I don’t think I even put my class rank on my residency application? The only thing they care about for residency application is if you know people who are in the field you’re applying to, and if they’ll speak up for you. Anesthesia is a small specialty. Having people you know will help that, if you put in the work during your clinics and internship to be memorable. There’s a difference between prioritizing life in clinics and being a lazy student, and it’s going to be important to show that you actually give a crap about what they have to teach (or at least pretend). Come prepared for cases, ask good questions. Cause if you don’t seem to care, your references won’t stick their neck out and vouch for you. And even if you hate it, fake it. One of my, apparently, strongest letters of recommendations came from an equine internist because we really bonded and she saw something in me. I hate equine medicine. The bones don’t make sense and their physiology is 827191% wrong. But I showed up every morning with a smile on my face and my ridiculous work boots and I tried.

I am clearly a poor advocate of work life balance (I mean I AM a critical care resident who is practically on call 24/7), but just remember, fourth year is temporary. Yeah it sucks but it’s over quickly.

All of this goes to say, it’s definitely not too late. If you want an internship, there’s so many unmatched spots every year I’m sure you can find one. I would strongly recommend finding an internship where they have anesthesiologists, ideally multiple. But if you want your choice of internship/residency, you have to start now.

 

[that redhead]

In addition to the good advice already given, I would recommend you specifically let your professors/clinicians know that you are interested in specializing. Connect with your anesthesia faculty in particular - you never know who went to vet school with the program director at your top choice, or spent a year in practice with a faculty member at another institution or whatever. Vet med is a small world and the specialty worlds are even smaller. Many people teaching clinical rotations like to teach and get super excited when someone else likes their specialty, so you can absolutely get a boost by telling them your interests early.

And like @cdo96 alluded to, working hard and keeping a positive attitude will work wonders for just about every part of your life, vet med or otherwise.