Some of you may be wondering what the heck the title of this blog is all about. C = DVM is a phrase commonly thrown around at school, typically following a particularly gruesome test or during a hectic week when someone simply can't make as much time to study as they would like. This little quip is based on the fact that you can finish veterinary school with a C average and still get your DVM degree. I'm not quite sure what the exact academic rules are, but I believe you are allowed to get one D in a course, but if you get two you need to retake one of them. If you get a failing grade in a class, you need to retake that class. But all C's? Smooth sailing, it looks like.
So why do we say this to each other so often? To ease the pain of a very trying, rigorous, slap you in the face educational experience? To give us comfort during hard times? Hand in hand with 'C = DVM' comes some variation of the following phrase, 'Oh, C students always make the best clinicians anyway. A students make poor clinicians and end up in research or something like that'.
I began to think about why people say this, and whether there is any truth behind it. The belief seems to be that students who get A's are too nerdy and studious to be able to successfully interact with pet owners, and that C students are somehow suave and charismatic, able to woo clients with their charm even if the medicine isn't 100% solid. Obviously there are no hard and fast rules; I definitely know students who get A's and have no social skills, and I know students who get C's and have no social skills. There are people I look at and think there is no way they are going to make it as a clinician, and others that are so great at talking to people but I wonder how they are passing their classes.
That being said, I don't really know how most of my classmates do on tests, quizzes, homework, etc. It's not something we really talk about. I barely talk about grades even with my closest friends. Yes, grades matter, but the truth is grades don't always reflect a student's grasp of the material. Medicine is all about problem solving. You take pieces of a puzzle, you put them together, and you treat that puzzle (which can be a new puzzle in and of itself). Students that are great at remembering facts and then regurgitating them are not always good at synthesizing them. That is the art behind the science.
We are eagerly (and terrifyingly) counting down the days until our class enters clinics, where is will quickly become obvious who is good at synthesizing and who is not. I've gotten a taste of that problem solving, what I like to call 'real medicine', over the last year, through a case-based selective on Neurology every Tuesday, and then this summer in the Behavior Clinic. Just today at the Behavior Clinic I suggested a treatment for a dog who's issues I thought were being compounded by her anxiety, and my idea ultimately ended up being the treatment we settled on. I gave a little fist pump when Dr. Dodman said 'Looks like your treatment wins!'.
This is what I really love; seeing a problem, putting together the pieces, and solving it. I can't wait until our class enters clinics in the coming spring, and I am crossing my fingers that this clinical experience truly helps us develop our critical thinking skills.
C = DVM? Perhaps, but somewhere in that equation should be hard work, dedication, and a passion for learning (oh and for animals too!). C = DVM....I don't like it. How about Me = DVM? That encompasses a whole lot more than just my grades...that includes everything about me that makes me unique, and gives me my own special take on veterinary medicine. Yes, Me = DVM. Let's go with that.
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