Trip Planning for Peer Mentor Program
Trip Destination address(es) : Vet College Tour
Contact person at destination in case of last minute changes (name & phone): Tracy Raef: 515-294-4602
Date of travel: Thursday, October 6
Board transportation to leave ISU time: 3:07
Arrive at destination time: 3:23
Board transportation to return to ISU time: 4:53 or 5:13 Return to ISU time: 5:07 or 5:27
Name(s) of peer mentor participating in trip: Cody Branstad, Ashley
Name(s) of ISU faculty/staff participating in trip: None
Maximum number of people that can be accommodated at site: 20
Any anticipated costs in addition to transportation: None
1.
Overview of what happened on the trip.
Upon arrival to the vet college via the orange bus we entered through the vet diagnostic labs submissions door.
Rodger Main the Director of Operations VDL gave us a quick tour of the lab at the college and explained different
aspects of what each part of the lab will do when they get samples from veterinarians. Roger then walked us through
a power point presentation of an overview of the VDL. This presentation showed what to expect for a typical day in
the lab and what different departments of the VDL did with samples.
Our next part of the tour was given by two fourth year vet students. They took us on a tour of parts of the college
and into the large animal facility. At the end of the tour the vet students helped answer student’s questions about
how to better their chances of getting into vet school here at Iowa State. These included: decent GPA ~3.5, GRE
score in upper 500’s, well rounded experiences in animal care, volunteer and social participation, and at least three
good letters of recommendation.
2.
Any suggestions for possible changes for next year?
The trip went very well and students feel like they benefited from the experience. One thing that would have made
the tour more effective is the chance to see the small animal facilities of the college. This part of the college was
being renovated, so the students were not allowed to tour this. The large animal facilities were great, but as for the
small animal side, being able to see how things worked there would have been nice.
Another possible suggestion is to see if a veterinarian could speak about what they do. This could include what to
expect after graduation, like finding a good practice to get into, starting your own practice, or furthering your degree
by getting a PhD.