Western University College of Veterinary Medicine

I just finished a 3 day course to become licensed to practice veterinary medicine in California. The course was held at Western University in Pomona, CA. I was glad to have the opportunity to see this vet school, as it has been a bit controversial. It is the newest vet school in the US. Their curriculum is entirely based on Problem Based Learning. Instead of attending didactic classes in anatomy, physiology, micro, etc, the students are split into groups of 6-8 assigned to research cases. They have a faculty mentor to keep them on track and an exam at the end each session or case. In their 4th year, since the school only has a small general practice hospital, the students are farmed out to veterinary hospitals in California, around the country or even the world, to do their clinical rotations. I wonder how these students are mentored to make sure what they are learning is appropriate. But the students do have the advantage of knowing how to look up answers to their questions. They graduated their 1st class in 2007. So we'll see how their students do.