The College’s Office of Off-Campus Clinical Instruction assists in the coordination of three-week-long externships for both veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing students. This year, the University had future veterinary professionals at 17 different locations across the United States. A total of 1,999 surgeries were performed, an average of 28 surgeries per student.
“The externships are important, as they give students an opportunity to obtain experience that is not available at MSU,” says Ann Schaefer, specialist in Off-Campus Clinical Instruction. “They also allow students to explore their specific interests or to further their skills, such as with surgery or another specialty. Some of those interests may be zoo or wildlife medicine, holistic medicine, or large animal medicine with a focus solely on equine or swine.”

Though many students find externships on their own, the Office offers assistance in locating externships that match students’ interests and potential career goals.

“If a student is interested in doing an internship at a certain clinic or in a particular field, most locations will not accept an application unless the student has already completed an externship there,” says Schaefer. “Several of our veterinary medicine and nursing students have been offered jobs at locations where they’ve completed externships.”