Capstone: Success!

Well, 5 weeks into the semester, we finally have (I think) our final capstone grades.

On the in-class portion, I got 85.68%. The average was 78.3.

On the open-book portion, I got 91.57%. The average was 86.5

I'm satisfied though not ecstatic about my performance. I'd hoped to get a little higher than a 91 on the open-book part -- after all, it's open-book. (Actually, one person failed that part, and I'm not entirely sure how that's possible.)

However, I've found that the further I get into vet school, the lower my standards are, and I'm okay with that. Would I have been thrilled with another 94 or 95% like I got on last year's capstone? Of course. I'm actually pretty happy with my 85 on the in-class part -- I figure that if I need a 70% to pass the NAVLE next year, then if I can keep up my retention of approximately 85% of what I learn before then, I should be set to pass with an easy margin.

Academics just seem so much less important this year. We're spending more time on rotations every week than we are in classes, and we're treating actual patients, talking to actual clients, assisting in actual surgeries, and completing actual medical records. It feels like what we do in the morning is the reason we come to school every day, and the 2-4 hours of class each afternoon are just sort of an add-on. I must say with only 3 (non-elective) courses, it's a whole lot easier to keep track of exam dates and homework assignment due dates.

There's also more of a sense of accomplishment with having a different rotation every week -- rather than waiting an entire semester (or 8 weeks, for our short classes) to finish a course, you feel every Friday like you've completed another whole class (i.e. whatever rotation you finished). It's nice.