Table 1 below illustrates the curriculum overview. Clinical Practice courses (rotations, in blue) in each year allow increased experiential learning in the hospital and diagnostic laboratory. Rotations are intended to facilitate integration of pre-clinical sciences (didactic lectures and laboratories in orange, yellow, and purple blocks) with spontaneous clinical material. The Professional Development period at the end of the fourth year (green) is designed to provide more focused (by species and discipline) clinical experiences immediately prior to graduation (capstone courses).
| TIME OF YEAR | YEAR 1 COURSES | YEAR 2 COURSES | YEAR 3 COURSES | YEAR 4 COURSES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FALL SEMESTER FIRST HALF | VM602 Structure & Function I | VM605 Pathobiology I | VM 651 SA/ VM 652 LA Medicine & Surgery I | VM614 Clinical Practice V |
| FALL SEMESTER SECOND HALF | VM601 Clinical Practice I | VM607 Pathobiology II | VM 653 SA/ VM 654 LA Medicine & Surgery II | VM615 Clinical Practice VI |
| SPRING SEMESTER FIRST HALF | VM603 Structure & Function II | VM606 Clinical Practice II Milestone Exam I | VM 655 SA/ VM 656 LA Medicine & Surgery III | VM616 Clinical Practice VII |
| SPRING SEMESTER SECOND HALF | VM604 Structure & Function III | VM608 Pathobiology III | VM612 Milestone Exam II Clinical Practice III | VM617 Professional Development Graduation |
| SUMMER | Vacation | Vacation | VM613 Clinical Practice IV | Employment |
The Illinois curriculum essentially uses a quarter system rather than a semester system. Courses are eight weeks long.
As a first-year veterinary student, you begin the fall semester with VM 602, traditional didactic lectures combined with laboratories and electives. First-year courses are organized to present anatomy, physiology, and histology of the same body systems simultaneously to allow better correlation and integration of pre-clinical sciences with one another and with clinical material experienced during VM 601.
During the second half of fall semester, you take VM 601, Clinical Practice I, in which you rotate weekly through eight diverse clinical experiences with a small group of classmates. You’ll also spend time in our Clinical Skills Learning Center. VM 601 also features a colloquia session three mornings a week where the entire class meets together and several online learning modules that you complete independently.
The Clinical Skills Learning Center is a 1,600-square-foot facility where students learn, practice, and refine clinical skills under the guidance of experienced coaches. Skills pertain to anesthesiology, animal handling, clinical pathology, critical care, medicine, radiography, surgery, and ultrasonography of both large and small animals. These foundational skills expand as you progress through the curriculum, and students’ skills are assessed via two milestone examinations, in the second and third years, to ensure a strong clinical foundation.
A typical daily and hourly schedule for VM 603 is illustrated in Table 2 below:
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 AM | Physiology II Lecture | Physiology II Lecture | [Quiz hour when used] | Physiology II Lecture | Physiology II Lecture |
| 9 AM | Physiology II Lecture | Organology I Lecture | Physiology II Lecture | Organology I Lecture | Physiology II Lecture |
| 10 AM | Neurobiology II Lecture | Organology Laboratory | Physiology II Lecture | Organology Laboratory | Neurobiology II Lecture |
| 11 AM | VM 627 Finance | Organology Laboratory | Neurobiology II Lecture | Organology Laboratory | VM 627 Finance |
| NOON | |||||
| 1 PM | Gross Anatomy II Lecture | Clinical Correlations | Gross Anatomy II Lecture | VCM 693 Zoo Animal Anatomy | Gross Anatomy II Lecture |
| 2 PM | Gross Anatomy II Laboratory | Clinical Correlations | Gross Anatomy II Laboratory | VCM 693 Zoo Animal Anatomy | Gross Anatomy II Laboratory |
| 3 PM | Gross Anatomy II Laboratory | VCM 608 Equine Husbandry | Gross Anatomy II Laboratory | VCM 693 Zoo Animal Anatomy VCM 608 Equine Husbandry | Gross Anatomy II Laboratory |
| 4 PM | 4:30-6:30 PM with discussion group VM 620 Canine/Feline Behavior | CHSC 400 Public Health VCM 524 Bereavement VCM 671 International Vet Med | VCM 697 Feline Medicine | ||
| 5 PM | VB 540 Wildlife Ecosystem Health elective VCM 697 Feline Medicine | VCM 657 Shelter Medicine | 5:30-7:0 PM VCM 510 Science of Animal Well- Being | VCM 678 Reptile Medicine | |
| 6 PM |
Table 2: Weekly Schedule: VM 603 (First Half Spring Semester, January-to-March 2012). Core hours are in bold, and the other courses are electives.
Similar courses have been developed for all of the first three years of the curriculum as outlined in Table 1.
To complement the core courses, a series of elective streams has been developed for the following species and areas of interests: equine medicine and surgery; wildlife, zoological medicine, and ecology; small animal medicine and surgery; food animal; all-species specialties (diagnostic imaging, laboratory animal, ophthalmology, clinical pathology, gross pathology, and therapeutics); business and communication; public health/one health.