Student
Information - First Year Information
Welcome and congratulations
on being accepted into one of
the best veterinary schools
in the country! Because V.E.T.S.
is a student– run organization,
we all remember what it was
like to begin the first semester
of veterinary school. Here we
have
compiled a list of recommendations
on what books and supplies you
should order during your first
year. (See the Books page for
more detailed descriptions of
each of these items.)
First Semester
Statistics
Second Semester
Statistics
Comments
from Upperclassmen
Other Comments
Supply Ordering
First
Semester Statistics
For the more mathematically
minded, here are some statistics
on who bought what and who actually
used it. In Spring of 2009,
28 people were randomly surveyed
about books.
First, the required
books of first semester:
Black and White “Textbook
of Veterinary Histology”
by Eurell:
- 9 bought it and 33% of them
used it, one claiming that it
was only minimally useful.
“Guide to the Dissection
of the Dog” (AKA Little
Millers):
- 28 bought it and 95% used
it.
“Miller’s Anatomy
of the Dog” (AKA Big Millers):
- 17 bought it and 53% used
it. Half of the people that
“used” it only used
it minimally.
Recommended books of
first semester:
“Veterinary Microbiology”
by Songer and Post:
- 6 people bought it and 16%
used it.
“Veterinary Microbiology”
by Hirab:
- 4 people bought it and only
1 one them used it.
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Second
Semester Statistics
Required Books of Second
Semester:
“A Guided Tour of Veterinary
Anatomy” by Smallwood:
- 27 people bought it and 100%
used it.
“Veterinary Embryology
and Teratology”:
- 27 people bought it and 100%
used it.
Parham Immunology Book:
- 17 people bought it and 65%
used it.
Recommended books for
second semester:
“Textbook of Veterinary
Anatomy” by Dyce:
- 4 people bought it and everyone
used it.
“Spurgeon’s Color
Atlas”
- 8 people bought it and 75%
used it.
5-minute Behavior Consult:
- 4 people bought it and 3 of
them used it.
“Handbook of Behavior
Problems of the Dog and Cat”
- Only one person bought it
but didn’t use it.
“Equine Behavior:
- Only one person bought it
but didn’t use it.
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Comments
from Upperclassmen
Here are some comments that
students made about books:
“Guide to the
Dissection of the Dog”
(AKA Little Millers):
Absolutely need little Miller’s
and Smallwood’s anatomy
books; in my mind these are
the only 2 must-buys.
Consider it as necessary as
wearing pants.
The only absolutely necessary
book first semester is the Guide
to Dissection of the Dog. The
entire anatomy class is based
around this book so without
it you’ll be lost.
The Small Millers and Dr. Smallwood’s
large animal books are must
haves to complete lab each week.
All the possible practical questions
come from those books’
bold terms.
The only book I used first semester
was “little Millers”
(Guide to Dissection of the
Dog).
Smallwood’s Guide and
little Miller’s book were
ESSENTIAL.
For the most part in the first
semester of anatomy you only
need the dissection guide and
notes. Remember the other books
are in the library for consult,
but not often do you need them.
Miller’s Anatomy
of the Dog” (AKA Big Millers)
by Evans:
I bought it and wish that I
had not wasted the money. I
only used it very rarely for
the neuro section. Hudson’s
old 2x2 slides on reserve in
the library were FAR more useful
for cross sections of the brain
than a book could ever be.
Big Millers is helpful, but
again not necessary unless you
like to look up further information
to understand anatomy principles.
The little miller’s is
sufficient to get you through
the course.
Occasionally handy.
Smallwood’s Anatomy
Book (2nd Semester):
The Guided Tour of Veterinary
Anatomy and Veterinary Embryology
and Teratology are necessary
second semester. As with first
semester, the anatomy book is
imperative to learning for the
class. The embryology book is
also good to have since it’s
all you need to study for the
tests.
Dr. Smallwoods book was pretty
useful, it is the dissection
guide so you should probably
get it.
Histology:
(About the B&W Book): I
got an A in the class without
it.
I did buy the histology black
and white book. I did not find
it helpful because it was not
in color and would recommend
only buying the color version.
Otherwise Dr. Sannes’
notes are sufficient, as are
his wonderful pictures for histology.
The color atlas of Histology
was really not very useful.
Although I did not purchase
the Color Atlas of Veterinary
Histology, I ended up barrowing
this book quite often from my
friend. It has lots of pictures
of what certain types of tissue
are supposed to look like in
a healthy individual. I hear
from the 2nd year students that
this book will become important
when we take pathology –
it is difficult to see what
is abnormal if you do not know
what is normal. This book helps
to illustrate what normal tissue
looks like.
Parham Immunology Book
(2nd Semester):
This book frustrated me to
no end. I found it jumbled and
incomplete. I later discovered
Janeway’s Immunobiology,
which had all the same pictures
and far better in-test explanations.
At times Janeway’s provided
more information than needed,
but gave thorough explanation
of the mechanisms that helped
in understanding. I found Parham’s
book to be a poor Cliff-note
style version of Janeway’s
at best.
...good, nice diagrams; definitely
can get away without it (and/or
borrow from library) if you’ve
had an immuno course before,
since tests cover lectures/powerpoints.
I also purchased the Immunology
book and found it very helpful
to understand topics in Immunology
that I did not feel were completely
explained during lecture, but
were necessary to understand
for the course.
Immunology was not useful, the
lectures don’t follow
the book and it is confusing
because of that.
I didn’t purchase the
2nd semester immunology but
REALLY REALLY SHOULD HAVE!!!!!!!
I’m borrowing a 2nd year,
and it is handy. But they may
change the book used for the
course
Immuno – you often need
the book just to look up the
figures. Being as to how it
is a human immuno book it’s
not going to be that helpful
(not a good investment –
try to borrow one)
“Veterinary Embryology
and Teratology” (2nd Semester):
Get this book. No question!
Testable material comes straight
out of this text.
Embryology was very useful –
the tests and lectures come
right from it.
Luckily, it costs only $11,
and I’d say its certainly
worth that much.
Washington’s Embryology
book was helpful but you could
get by without it.
The embryology book correlates
exactly with the powerpoints
but can be helpful in clarifying
your understanding of the lecture
slides; I read it as review
before the tests.
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Other
Comments
All of the books can be useful
to some extent, but besides
the anatomy books used for dissection
(Little millers/Guided Tour)
and the embryology book, I would
not reccommend buying the others.
The library has these on reserve
and can be used as needed. I
KNOW IT IS TEMPTING TO JUST
BUY THEM, but really save your
money, I promise the teachers
power-points and notes which
are given out are comprehensive
ENOUGH!!! On a side note: the
big millers has VERY EXCELLENT
pictures which are helpful in
dissecting to see where things
are (the little millers only
has some pictures, but the big
is great at pointing out harder
to find structures which you
NEED TO KNOW !
Class notes are comprehensive.
Books were barely needed except
for anatomy.
I borrowed a couple of books
from upper classmen for second
semester…. Textbook of
Veterinary Anatomy (Dyce) and
The Immune System (Parham) but
I feel that I probably could
have just used the library copy
for those as well.
I have found the Pasquini book
very helpful and plan on buying
that with this order this semester!
A medical dictionary is a wonderful
thing to have, however, I also
survived on a budget by looking
up words in online versions.
I only opened the Micro book
once .
Lots of micro books in the library
if you need to consult
The course packs are really
good, so most of the time the
books weren’t needed.
I also think the textbook of
Vet anatomy that is recommended
for the 2nd semester would have
helped tremendously in the 1st
semester.
I would consider getting the
anatomy color atlases because
some of the drawings in our
anatomy books aren’t that
clear.
(Dorland’s Illustrated
Dictionary) It’s well
illustrated, which is very distracting,
and it takes me a long time
to look up anything because
I have to read all the captions.
A veterinary dictionary would
be handier, and less gross.
I know books are expensive,
but they make great references
for the rest of our careers
so it is worth it in the long
term.
If you’re someone who
has always used textbooks a
lot, than more textbooks would
be useful. If you tend to make
do with classnotes and other
resources, than buy fewer books.
There is already PLENTY of material
to go through and the stuff
in the books is really just
to help you understand, if you
learn that way.
I didn’t buy a lot of
books because I’m not
one to read a text book when
I’m given course packs
– I think it’s a
waste of my time to read something
that the professors haven’t
really covered. I do think that
someone who is really driven
(more so than I am) may like
to have the books though. I
borrowed books from my big sib
just in case, but rarely used
them anyway. Embryology is a
good one to have because she
goes straight from the book.
Immunology could be helpful
too, especially when Tompkins
teaches – she goes really
fast and sometimes you need
some extra instruction.
I also bought a used Anatomy
of Domestic Animals by Pasquini,
Spurgeon, Pasquini. I found
this book to be more user-friendly
and easy to follow.
If I had to purchase the books
again, I probably would not
purchase Big Miller’s,
Saunder’s Comprehensive
Veterinary Dictionary, or the
5-minute consult. Big Miller’s
had really good pictures of
the Brain cross sections and
I primarily used that book during
the neuroanatomy section. Other
than that, I hardly used it
as a reference. Saunder’s
Veterinary Dictionary is a good
resource for some terminology
that may be foreign and as a
very superficial understanding
of some words. I do not use
it often enough at this moment
to consider that purchase “worth
my money”. The 5-minute
consult is a must have if you
plan on going into small animal
private practice. It nicely
outlines the steps for diagnosis,
treatment, as well as gives
a great description of clinical
signs, breed/age/sex predispositions
for each disease. I have not
used it as often as I would
like this year but I think it
will be useful later on in my
career.
Paquini’s anatomy book
was very helpful too.
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Supply
Ordering
Aside from books, here is
a recommended list of supplies
that you should get for first
semester:
- 2 lab coats
- 1 Pair of scrubs
- 1 dissection kit
- 1 extra probe
- 1 stethoscope
- 2 boxes of gloves
- 1 extra thing of scalpel blades
- 1 long sleeve coveralls (if you get cold often)
- 1 short sleeve coveralls (many people survive with 2 short sleeve coveralls and wear a long sleeve shirt under them in the winter.)
- 1 pair of TAU boots
- Locker shelves
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