DVM Curriculum

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 YEARYEAR 1 COURSESYEAR 2 COURSESYEAR 3 COURSESYEAR 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
SUMMERVacationVacationVM613
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:

MONDAYTUESDAYWEDNESDAYTHURSDAYFRIDAY
8 AMPhysiology II
Lecture
Physiology II
Lecture
[Quiz hour
when used]
Physiology II
Lecture
Physiology II
Lecture
9 AMPhysiology II
Lecture
Organology I
Lecture
Physiology II
Lecture
Organology I
Lecture
Physiology II
Lecture
10 AMNeurobiology II
Lecture
Organology
Laboratory
Physiology II
Lecture
Organology
Laboratory
Neurobiology II
Lecture
 11 AMVM 627 FinanceOrganology
Laboratory
Neurobiology II
Lecture
Organology
Laboratory
VM 627 Finance
NOON
1 PMGross Anatomy
II Lecture
Clinical
Correlations
Gross Anatomy
II Lecture
VCM 693
Zoo Animal
Anatomy
Gross Anatomy
II Lecture
2 PMGross Anatomy
II Laboratory
Clinical
Correlations
Gross Anatomy
II Laboratory
VCM 693
Zoo Animal
Anatomy
Gross Anatomy
II Laboratory
3 PMGross 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 PM4:30-6:30 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 PMVB 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.