The professional curriculum is a four-year program leading to the doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM) degree. One entering class is selected each year, and successful applicants begin their professional studies in the fall semester. The objective of the curriculum is to provide a broad education in veterinary medicine which will permit graduates to enter a wide variety of professional careers. Emphasis in specific areas of clinical practice occurs through the tracking component of the curriculum. The prescribed curriculum, however, ensures that graduates will be exposed to the major areas of veterinary practice, to clinical specialties, and to the basic biomedical sciences. The background in the basic biomedical sciences is required to understand the biology of disease and to learn diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.
The broad biomedical education encompassed in the curriculum gives students the background essential for advanced study or for special career pathways, for example, in pathology, toxicology, microbiology, public health, surgery, internal medicine, ophthalmology, and so forth, in addition to traditional areas of private veterinary practice.
Courses offered during each of the first three years are related to other courses within that year and to the subjects taught in subsequent years. Most topics of the basic biomedical sciences are offered in the first two years.
The clinical practicum begins in the fall semester of the third year with a series of structured laboratories and recitations in clinical diagnostic techniques and management procedures, followed in the spring by weekly rotations through various sections of the teaching hospital. The third year practicum provides an introduction to the clinical services and specialty areas of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
The fourth year practicum consists of clinical rotations, primarily in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. During this period, students practice veterinary medicine under the supervision of the hospital's clinical staff, rotating through a variety of clinical services. The clinical practica are time demanding. Students will be responsible for duties at night and on weekends and holidays in addition to regularly scheduled clinic hours.
Full-time enrollment and satisfactory progress towards completion of the DVM degree requires enrollment in a minimum of 18 credits of VM courses each semester. Most students elect to enroll in additional courses for a total of more than 20 credits per semester.
The college recommends that PVM students have a personal laptop computer with CD-ROM drive, modem, 10/100 ethernet card, WiFi (802.11b), and web-browsing capability. Minimal hardware and software standards for personal computers for use in the PVM curriculum are published on the college web pages and will be updated as technology advances. Please refer to the college website for the currently recommended computer specifications
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/netserv/winmin.html
Please refer to the following website for negotiated package pricing with commercial vendors:
