Offsite Electives

The elective externship at Creekside Animal Clinic will provide students with hands-on experience in a fast-paced companion animal general practice. They will work alongside experienced veterinarians and the medical team, gaining exposure to preventative care, wellness and sick-patient examinations, diagnostics, surgery, dentistry, medical record documentation, client communication, and case management. The experience is designed to strengthen clinical knowledge, decision-making skills, and confidence as students prepare for graduation and entry into veterinary practice.

East Market Veterinary Center is a privately owned small animal general practice located in Blairsville, Pennsylvania. The practice focuses exclusively on dogs and cats and provides comprehensive care including wellness visits, sick patient management, diagnostics, dentistry, and soft tissue surgery. The clinic serves a diverse client base in a small-town community setting, offering students exposure to a wide variety of medical, surgical, and dental cases.

The goal of this elective experience is to provide veterinary students with hands-on exposure to general practice medicine while developing confidence in clinical reasoning, client communication, and surgical skills. Students are fully integrated into the daily workflow and work closely with the veterinarian and support staff throughout their time in the clinic.

Externs will participate in routine wellness visits, sick appointments, and urgent care cases. Students may assist with obtaining patient histories, performing physical examinations, and developing diagnostic and treatment plans under the guidance of the veterinarian. They will also gain experience interpreting laboratory results and understanding how diagnostics influence clinical decision-making.

Surgical experience is an important component of this externship. Students will have the opportunity to observe, assist with, and potentially perform surgical procedures—including spays, neuters, and other soft tissue surgeries—depending on their level of training and comfort. Emphasis is placed on surgical preparation, anesthesia protocols, and perioperative care.

Students will also be exposed to dental procedures, including prophylactic cleanings and extractions, with the use of a dedicated dental suite and dental radiography. This provides an opportunity to understand the role of dentistry in overall patient health and to gain familiarity with dental diagnostics and treatment.

Students who are further along in their program and demonstrate appropriate competency may take primary appointments under supervision, allowing them to lead cases, communicate directly with clients, and make clinical decisions with guidance.

The practice operates with a strong technical support team, allowing students to experience efficient workflow and team-based care. Teaching is incorporated into daily case management through discussion and real-time feedback. This elective is designed to be flexible and tailored to each student’s goals, whether they are seeking to strengthen foundational skills or gain more independence in a clinical setting.

We are a 4/5 DVM small animal general practice in Michigan.  We do appointments, surgeries, urgent care visits each day.  While primarily cat and dog, we also so exotics ranging from snakes, bearded dragons, birds, turtles, etc.  Externs have the opportunity to meet, shadow and work with our DVMs with different experience levels and different interests.  We do a variety of surgeries from common spays, neuters and dentals all the way to exploratory surgery/splenectomies/MRITs/amputations/exotic surgery/etc.

Cumberland Veterinary Clinic is a busy, privately owned small animal practice in Central Pennsylvania offering veterinary students a hands-on learning experience in general practice, surgery, dentistry, diagnostic medicine, and preventive care.

One of the things that sets our practice apart is our extensive exotic animal caseload. In addition to dogs and cats, our doctors routinely see birds, rabbits, reptiles, pocket pets, small mammals, chickens, and other exotic companion animals, providing students with valuable exposure beyond what many general practices offer.

Externs are encouraged to participate in patient workups, physical examinations, diagnostics, radiology, anesthesia, surgery, dentistry, and client communication while working alongside experienced veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians. Our goal is to provide a supportive, educational environment that builds confidence and prepares students for a successful career in veterinary medicine.

We are a general mixed animal practice in rural central Kentucky. Students can get hands on experience in all aspects of practice and multiple species. 

Hands on clinical experience with both large and small animals and occasionally exotics. We provide high quality medicine in a rural setting. We work closely with cow-calf producers in all of southwest Wyoming and surrounding areas to provide pregnancy diagnosis, breeding and obstetrics, regulatory work, and much more. We provide routine equine care such as wellness/vaccines, coggins, dentals, lameness evaluations, chiropractics, breeding and obstetrics, colic stabilization, and much more. For our small animal side we provide routine care such as wellness/vaccines, spays/neuters, treating sicknesses, etc. We also offer both advanced soft tissue and orthopedic services.  

Shadowing our vets during regular appts. for ambulatory and in-hospital care. 

We are a two-doctor practice in Fullerton, NE. Fullerton is a town of around 1,500 people. We are a true mixed animal practice. We see about 65% large animal, with 50% of that being cattle, 10% equine and 5% small ruminants. Our cattle clients are mostly cow-calf with a little bit of feedlot medicine. We also take care of two sale barns. One large sale barn in Kearney, NE and a smaller one in Fullerton, NE. We have two portable hydraulic chutes for farm calls to preg check cattle, process calves, ect. We also have a haul-in facility with two hydraulic chutes. One in a tilt chute for lameness and foot trimming work. The other is surrounded by many pens for haul-in appointments. Our small animal clients make up around 35% of the clinic business. We have a boarding facility, a surgery room with two surgery tables, bloodwork machines, urinalysis machines, radiographs, an ultrasound for large and small animal use. 

Shadow and receive mentorship from criticalist and emergency veterinarians in a private practice ER/specialty hospital. 

Broken Bow Animal Hospital is a three-doctor large animal practice in central Nebraska offering elective experiences for veterinary students looking to gain skills in large animal practice. Our workload is >95% beef cattle with some equine, small ruminant, and the occasional ranch dog or cat.