Experience Mentorship That Matters
Discover your exciting future through the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine. We’ll equip you with the people, leadership, and clinical skills you’ll apply wherever you go in your veterinary medicine career. As you’ll soon discover, there’s something special about the Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Student Support
- Student Life
- Scholarship Opportunities
- Phase One (Didactic Phase)
- Phase Two (Clinical Phase)
- Year Three Clinical Rotations
- Year Four Clinical Rotations
- Off-Site Rotations
- International Opportunities
- Podcasts and Newsletters
Student Support
The College of Veterinary Medicine has three offices dedicated to supporting students: the Office of Admissions and Student Success, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the Office of Psychological Services. These offices work collaboratively to provide resources and guidance that promote students’ overall well-being.
From the Very Start...
You’ll participate in a mentorship program where, as a first-year student, you’ll be paired with a second-year student who shares similar interests. Through this Big and Little Sib program, you’ll receive advice about transitioning to veterinary school and navigating veterinary school. In addition, our first-year mentorship program pairs you with a faculty scholar who may share your similar veterinary interests, such as species or specialization preferences. These mentors offer support in exploring research possibilities, externships, career guidance, and more. Another source of support is through our peer-tutoring program, which is offered at no cost to students and based on need and tutor availability. This is a valuable resource that we encourage our students to utilize.
Student Well-Being
We understand the importance of mental health in veterinary medicine, and we are one of the few veterinary schools with on-staff psychologists. Students may schedule appointments to discuss study strategies, sleep habits, stress control, or personal concerns that may be impacting their wellbeing. Our psychologists are embedded within our curriculum. You’ll see them giving professional development lectures, attending sophomore surgery labs, and supporting students in the clinic. You’ll come to know them as an integral part of your Bulldog family.
Support When You Need It
Our college also provides support through our Bully’s Closet, which offers free professional clothing, and Bully’s Bowl, a food pantry available at no cost to members of the CVM community.
Student Life
You’ll have numerous opportunities to get involved, give back and take on leadership roles through the MSU CVM’s many clubs and organizations. Our student governing body, known as SAVMA, the Student American Veterinary Medical Association, has numerous clubs under its umbrella. From the Theriogenology Club to Broad Spectrum/VOICE and Veterinary Business Management Association to Alpha Psi, there are clubs covering most areas of veterinary medicine. Many provide students with additional hands-on experiences through wet labs and other training activities.
Scholarship Opportunities
The College of Veterinary Medicine provides numerous scholarships each year. While a few CVM scholarships are available at admittance, the majority of scholarships are able to be applied for after semester one of year one. We currently offer two prestigious scholarship opportunities for incoming veterinary students: the Dr. Charles and Mrs. Viola Bardsley Scholarship and Dr. Elton “Mac” Huddleston Rural Veterinarian Scholarship.
Dr. Charles and Mrs. Viola Bardsley Scholarship
The Bardsley Scholarship Program provides a select group of incoming first-year students with $25,000 or $50,000 based upon state of residency, grade point average, extracurricular activities and leadership potential. Approximately 12 scholarships are available each year. To be eligible, students must have an overall GPA of 3.75 at the time of submitting their VMCAS application. Students receiving this scholarship must maintain an accumulative GPA of a 3.25 throughout years one and two to continue to receive funding each semester.
Dr. Elton "Mac" Huddleston Rural Veterinarian Scholarship
The Huddleston Rural Veterinarian Scholarship Program provides full in-state tuition and fees for all four years of the DVM program. In return, recipients commit to practicing large or mixed animal practice in Mississippi for at least four years following graduation, as well as completing the college’s new Rural Veterinary Practice certificate program. The scholarship is currently only available to Mississippi residents.
Experience Our Innovative Approach to Your Career Preparation
Our distinctive approach to education includes our innovative curriculum. We have a “two and two” program, meaning you will spend your first two years in the classroom and the last two within clinics. You’ll receive an additional year of mentored clinical training compared with other Doctor of Veterinary Medicine programs. Read on for a detailed look at our learn-by-doing approach for each year of your veterinary education.
Phase One (Didactic Phase)
Year One
Year one consists of foundation courses, such as immunology, histology, and physiology. It also includes anatomy and additional “ology” classes. Classes are typically from 8 a.m. to noon. You’ll spend most of your afternoons in labs. Courses taken during your first year are team-taught by the clinicians and scientists with whom you will later work alongside in our research settings and within our teaching hospital. They provide you with real-world application examples and expose you to research opportunities early in your education. You’ll immediately begin building rapport with these renowned faculty.
Year Two
Year two, you'll study the physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with disease or injury. Courses specific to various species will be taught such as Food Animal Medicine and Surgery, Equine Medicine and Surgery, and Small Animal Medicine and Surgery.
In year two, you also begin, surgery lab, which is held in conjunction with the small animal medicine and surgery course. You’ll learn to spay and neuter canines and felines from nearby shelters. This increases the likelihood of adoption for these animals while also providing you with valuable experience. Through rotating roles, you will perform as the anesthetist, assistant surgeon, and surgeon throughout year two. Through this method, you’ll learn firsthand about the responsibilities of each role and the importance of teamwork.
Clinicians will guide you through each step, ensuring you’re prepared for every role. You will perform at least three spay or neuter procedures under the supervision of surgeons and anesthesiologists. From the first cut on midline to tying the last suture knot to close, you’ll receive top-notch instruction every step of the way.
Phase Two (Clinical Phase)
Phase Two is spent majority within College of Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Health Center. Our Animal Health Center provides primary care for small animal patients through our community veterinary service and care for large animal patients through our equine and farm animal services. Open to the public, the Animal Health Center also serves as a specialty referral care center for patients needing advanced diagnostics and treatments. Year 3 and 4 veterinary students are often among the first Animal Health Center staff that patients and their families encounter. As the health center is a teaching hospital, students put their medical knowledge, learned within phase one of the program into practice as student doctors.
Year Three Clinical Rotations
Equine Medicine and Surgery
Duration: Four Weeks Highlights:
- Hands-on experience working with equine patients through various diagnostic procedures and treatments, developing a clinical problem-solving approach to cases.
- Exposure to both primary care and referral-based (second opinion and specialty) cases
- Exposure to equine medicine and surgery, working alongside our boarded equine internists and surgeons.
You’ll learn about routine wellness checkups and vaccinations, lameness examinations, dental procedures, and basic farriery (hoof trimming and shoeing). You will also experience a wide range of referral cases, from skeletal deformities, traumatic wounds, and sports medicine performance issues to colic, gastrointestinal, neurologic, and respiratory problems. Students have the opportunity to scrub in on numerous procedures, including orthopedic and colic surgeries and gain an understanding of hospital workflow including biosecurity implementation and management of resources and facilities.
Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery
Duration: Four weeks Highlights:
- Experience in safety measures, herd health, and reproductive management.
- Exposure to farm animal primary care and referral-based cases
- Hands-on experience with specialized procedures such as artificial insemination and embryo with guidance from our board certified theriogenologists.
- Use of hydraulic and portable chutes for livestock.
Our Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery Service treats livestock species as well as camelids, including llamas and alpacas. During this rotation, you will split time between medicine and theriogenology, or reproduction. You will participate in general herd health maintenance as well as referral surgical cases, including soft tissue surgeries such as abomasopexy and caesareans, as well as orthopedics and lameness procedures. During the theriogenology portion of your rotation, you will learn about artificial insemination procedures, embryo transfers, estrus synchronization protocols, and breeding soundness examinations. Equipped with a hydraulic chute that can rotate on its side to allow for a better field of view, our Large and Food Animal Medicine Service facility enhances procedures such as foot trimmings and abscess lancing.
Large Animal Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Duration: Four weeks Highlights:
- 24-hour care for large animal patients
- In-depth experience with critical care and monitoring
- Exposure to equine and food animal emergency management.
Our Equine and Farm Animal Services include a Large Animal ICU, providing round-the-clock care. During this rotation, you will gain additional experience working with critical patients through assessment, treatments, and surgery.
Population Medicine
Duration: 4 weeks Highlights:
- Hands-on experience with outbreak investigations and managment of many types of populations.
- Development of communication and outreach skills to educate producers and other public stakeholders.
During your Population Medicine rotation, you will visit animal shelters, cattle farms, and various other production systems for many species. You’ll learn to evaluate animal care and health on a population level. You will work with multiple population medicine faculty will involve you in herd management, wildlife population management, aquaculture management, and shelter population management. You will help devise plans to diagnose and manage the outbreak while also implementing measures to prevent future outbreaks and keep herds healthy.
Community Veterinary Services
Duration: 4 Weeks Highlights:
- Simulates small animal private practice environment.
- Covers preventive medicine, diagnostics, and client communication.
- Development of business skills.
Community Veterinary Services, or CVS, is the small animal primary care service of the hospital. It simulates a small animal private practice, providing you with experience in working with companion animals and interacting with their owners. Most cases include basic wellness, illnesses, injuries and elective surgeries. The curriculum covered in CVS emphasizes vaccination protocols, approaching and choosing diagnostic tests based on clinical signs, the art of a thorough physical exam, heartworm treatment and prevention, and nutrition. In addition to cats and dogs, you’ll interact with a variety of species, including exotics, pocket pets and pet birds. You’ll focus on improving your communication, patient assessment and management, and critical thinking skills.
Dentistry
Dentistry is heavily incorporated into the CVS rotation with dental topic rounds and a wet lab where you’ll receive hands-on experience diagnosing and managing dental disease and performing various dental procedures including extractions and dental prophylaxis. For those interested in furthering their dentistry skills, an elective can be taken during year 3 or 4 which you gain practice with dental extractions and radiographic techniques.
Small Animal Surgery
Duration: 4 weeks Highlights:
- Exposure to referral-based soft tissue and orthopedic cases
- Management of pre- and post-operative procedures
- Focus on surgical skills, pain management, patient care, client communication, and when to refer.
During your Small Animal Surgery rotation, you will take an active role in managing referral surgical cases. Your responsibilities will include hands-on patient care such as administering treatments, performing diagnostics, and assisting during surgical procedures. You will also provide owners with daily progress updates, with particular attention to each patient’s surgical needs and recovery. The rotation offers training opportunities in orthopedic examinations, post-operative pain management, and emergency and triage principles. You will gain experience with a wide variety of soft-tissue and orthopedic procedures, from managing non-healing wounds to assisting with total hip replacements. Our clinicians prioritize immersive experiences in the operating room, helping students develop the skills needed to assess cases, determine when referral is appropriate, and manage patients throughout the perioperative period. Students will also be exposed to physical rehabilitation as part of their patient care duties. Offered as an additional focused elective during the third and fourth years, physical rehabilitation is also integrated into the surgery rotation. During this elective, you will work alongside certified rehabilitation practitioners and utilize a range of modalities, including therapeutic laser therapy to reduce inflammation and promote healing, therapeutic ultrasound, extracorporeal shockwave therapy, and underwater treadmill hydrotherapy to improve mobility.
Anesthesiology
Duration: 4 Weeks Highlights:
- Students manage anesthetic procedures from induction to recovery.
- Covers drug choices, complications, and physiology discussions.
- Exposure to procedures for pain management such as nerve blocks and epidurals
The Anesthesiology service provides exposure to all aspects of small and large animal anesthesiology. You’ll be assigned individual medical and surgical cases and will be responsible for your patient’s pre-anesthetic evaluation, anesthetic plan for the procedure, and recovery. You’ll also perform emergency anesthesia after hours. When you’re not monitoring patients under anesthesia, you’ll invest time discussing the essential elements of anesthesia, such as drug choices, surgical complications, and patient physiological factors that may present intraoperative challenges. Our team of boarded anesthesiologists and licensed veterinary technicians use actual cases to help you refine your anesthesia knowledge. By the rotation’s conclusion, you will have managed a variety of anesthetic procedures and demonstrate proficiency in anesthesia use.
Radiology
Duration: 4 Weeks Highlights:
- Learn to independently evaluate and perform digital radiography.
- Learn to perform point of care ultrasound.
- Exposure to diagnostic ultrasound, contrast radiography, fluoroscopy, CT and MRI.
The Radiology rotation exposes students to both large and small animal diagnostic imaging with the intent of making day one ready practitioners. The primary goal of the rotation is to learn how to perform and interpret digital radiographs to help support a diagnosis and clinical next steps in real patients. The intent is to give students the skills they need to confidently interpret the majority of radiographic studies they will perform in general practice so they can make timely clinical decisions for their patients. While on the rotation, students will also learn the how to perform a basic abdominal and thoracic point-of-care ultrasound, while also developing ultrasound fundamentals to build upon if they chose to enroll in the diagnostic ultrasound advanced clinical rotation. Finally, students will also gain exposure to advanced imaging modalities such as contrast radiography, diagnostic ultrasound, fluoroscopy, CT, and MRI. In summary, you’ll develop a solid foundation and confidence to utilize digital radiograph and point-of-care ultrasound in practice.
Laboratory Service and Pathology
Duration: 4 weeks Highlights
- Perform necropsies, sample collection and preparation
- Interpretation of clinical and anatomic findings
- Writing case reports and presenting case findings
- You’ll learn to systematically evaluate body systems; identify key lesions, pathognomonic changes, and affected tissues.
Laboratory services and pathology rotation is focused on clinical and anatomical pathology. Clinical pathology focuses on the microscopic evaluation of bodily fluids to diagnose diseases. You’ll analyze blood work, read fine needle aspirates, and develop a clinical mind for in-house testing. You’ll learn from clinical pathologists and real-life case scenarios. Through necropsies and microscopic examinations of tissues, organs and other specimens, you’ll further your learning about anatomic pathology. You’ll learn to systematically evaluate body systems; identify key lesions, pathologic changes, and affected tissues. You’ll learn how to properly collect samples for histologic examination and test for potential etiologic agents. Through this rotation, you develop further communication skills by presenting your case findings during our weekly necropsy rounds.
Year Four Clinical Rotations
Although some of year four is spent at the Animal Health Center, the majority of the year is dedicated to completing externships and elective rotations. Students have access to a wide range of elective and externship opportunities that allow them to tailor their clinical experience to their interests and career goals. A minimum of 26 weeks of electives is required, including up to 12 weeks of externships, providing students with flexibility to further enhance their learning. A full list of available electives can be found below.
Shelter Medicine Spay and Neuter
Duration: 2 weeks Highlight:
- Exposure to high-quality, high-volume spay and neuter procedures
- ~50+ spay/neuter procedures during two weeks
- Continued development in population medicine
- Growth in surgical confidence, efficiency, and confidence
During this rotation, students participate fully in the daily work of the Shelter Medicine team at the Spay/Neuter Clinic on campus. You prepare animals for surgery, assist with patient flow, and perform your own surgical procedures under close guidance. You learn how to make sound surgical decisions in real time, manage your mindset, and work within a fast-moving clinical environment. This experience strengthens your technical skills and your ability to function smoothly in a busy practice, giving you a solid foundation for routine small animal surgery after graduation.
Ambulatory Service
Duration: 2 weeks Highlights:
- Exposure to stockyards, sale barns and cattle farms and horse farms/stables
- Emphasis on routine health maintenance and preventative medicine
- Emphasis on biosecurity and field safety
- Further development of various skills such as large animal handling, palpation, and medication administration.
The Large Animal Ambulatory Service provides on-the-farm care for various large animal species primarily cattle and horses including both routine and emergency care for individual patients and entire herds. On average, you’ll make 15 to 20 emergency calls—along with weekly scheduled visits—to local stockyards and cattle farms and horse facilities. You’ll work beside our highly experienced clinicians, caring for animals and connecting with local large animal- and food-animal industries.
Small Animal Internal Medicine
Duration: 4 weeks Highlights
- Exposure to advanced diagnostics and case management in areas of small animal medicine, including but not limited to gastroenterology, cardiorespiratory disease, urogenital disorders, endocrinology, metabolic conditions and hematology.
The Small Animal Internal Medicine clinical rotation provides students with advanced patient care. Primary care veterinarians refer their patients to our boarded internal medicine specialists for advanced diagnostics and treatment. During this rotation, you’ll see a variety of complex disease cases ranging from infectious to immune-mediated. A broad range of diagnostics, including fine needle aspirates, bone marrow aspirates and endoscopies are performed to diagnose various diseases. As a student, you’ll help with care for out-patient and in-hospital dogs and cats. This entails physical exams, administering medications, updating medical records, communicating with pet owners, and relaying information, including treatment plans, to the attending veterinarian.
Small Animal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Service
Duration: 4 weeks Highlights:
- Exposure to emergency specialty care and treatments
- Hands-on experience monitoring, assessing, and treating critical patients
- Enhancement of communication skills with clients in emergency situations
The Small Animal Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Service provide care for small animal patients. Students split their time between ICU and emergency. During emergency shifts, your primary responsibility is attending emergency cases; and ICU, where you help care for hospitalized patients. Our ICU and emergency services are open 24/7, providing you with emergency medicine insight while improving the care of small animal patients.
Neurology
Duration: 4 weeks Highlights
- Perform neurologic exams on companion animals
- Become familiar with common neurosurgical procedures of the spine and brain.
- Gain confidence in treating seizures in companion animals.
As a fourth-year student, you’re exposed to neurology medical and surgical neurology cases. You’ll learn, through referral cases how neurologic diseases and syndromes affect veterinary patients. You’ll gain additional exposure to advanced imaging, including MRI and radiation therapy and neurosurgery. By the end of this rotation, you will be able to examine, localize, create a differential diagnosis list along with appropriate in clinic and advanced diagnostic testing, and finally treatment plans for common neuro-localizations based on history and signalment.
Six Week Specialty Block
Oncology
Duration: 2 weeks
During your oncology rotation, you will be involved in evaluating, diagnosing and caring for patients with cancer. You will be involved with the development of innovative treatment plans tailored to the individual patients and their families. Treatment plans range from surgery, radiation therapy, and/or chemotherapy.
Dermatology
Duration: 2 weeks
During your dermatology rotation, you will work alongside our board-certified dermatologist, dermatology resident, and dermatology technician in diagnosing and treating skin diseases of small animals, and occasionally consult on large animals. You’ll observe, participate in dermatologic procedures, and treat a variety of dermatological issues, from food and environmental allergies to immune-mediated diseases.
Ophthalmology
Duration: 2 weeks
During your ophthalmology rotation, you will learn how to diagnose and manage common ophthalmic disease affecting both small and large animals as you work alongside our boarded ophthalmologists, ophthalmology residents, and interns. You’ll learn about specialized care for ophthalmic patients through your involvement with surgical procedures and advanced diagnostics.
Off-Site Rotations
Animal Emergency and Referral Center
Location: Flowood, MS Duration: 2 weeks For two weeks, students will gain additional exposure to emergency medicine, specialty and surgical experience at our Animal Emergency & Referral Center, known as AERC. The rotation is one on one and hands on. Students learn through participating in emergency cases by taking histories, physical exams, making diagnostic recommendations, forming treatment plans, and providing patient care plans. Students also participate in the other services at AERC, which are the animal rehabilitation service and the referral surgical service, along with the part-time specialty services, dermatology and ophthalmology, when available.
Enhanced Clinical Practicums
Duration: 4 week rotations Highlights:
- Hands-on clinical experience in real world private veterinary practices
- Enhance skills in client communication, spectrum of care, business management
- Exposure to rural veterinary medicine
During years 3 and 4, you’ll participate in two four-week core clinical practice experiences at affiliate veterinary practices with vetted and trained DVM mentors. With the guidance of your mentor, you will develop clinical skills in real-world settings and enhance your abilities in client communication, spectrum of care, business management, and more. For these enhanced clinical practicums, you’ll choose from over 80 practices across 18 states with an emphasis on rural communities.
Marine Animal Medicine
Location: Gulfport, MS Duration: 2 days (within lab services/pathology rotation of Year 3) The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine is the only college in the United States that offers all its veterinary students the opportunity to study marine animal medicine. If interested in exotic or aquatic veterinary medicine, you can experience aquatics during Lab Services and advanced clinical rotations working with the Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security in Gulfport, Mississippi. Partnering with the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS), you’ll work with dolphins, sea turtles, sea lions, and additional marine animals. Other unique opportunities include ultrasound, endoscopy and surgery on sea turtles primarily during recovery at IMMS.
International Opportunities
An international travel opportunity provides you with additional veterinary experience. You have the option of traveling to Uganda for the Tropical Veterinary Medicine and One Health course, or other courses throughout your time as a veterinary student. Delivered in collaboration with Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, the Tropical Veterinary Medicine and One Health course focuses on animal production and health management, wildlife health, disease surveillance, public health, food safety and security, as well as other One Health principles, while infusing multicultural experiences. You’ll receive hands-on experiences during field trips to national parks, farms, field experiment stations and other sites of interest. You’ll attend a cultural workshop near the end of the trip. Undergraduate and graduate students from other U.S. academic institutions will join you during this course.
As a first veterinary student at Mississippi State CVM, there are several required items and preparations you will need to complete before and during your first year in the DVM program. Additional details and instruction once admitted. Laptop Computer
- Recommended laptops will be provided
- Minimum specifications will be shared if you choose not to purchase one of the recommended laptops
Professional Dress Code Rabies Vaccine (by the beginning of semester two of year one) Laptop screen protector (for exams) Dissection kit MMR vaccine records (needed prior to registering for classes) Completed FAFSA for years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 for financial aid
Podcasts and Newsletters
The Vet Med Cast
The CVM produces a twice-monthly podcast called the Vet Med Cast. The show features interviews with the faculty, staff, and students of the CVM. It is available wherever you listen to podcasts
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