Great news. And yes, long overdue. Exciting things happening at the ol' alma mater.

Go Aggies!

Does U of I have a vet school? I think the only ones in the Region are Colorado State, Washington State, and UC Davis, right?

This is very good news. This will be a great benefit to not only Utah, but the surrounding region.

Yay!

Really, really good news and long overdue.

Great work for everyone involved.

Yossarian wrote: ↑

March 8th, 2022, 11:02 am

Great news. And yes, long overdue. Exciting things happening at the ol' alma mater.

Go Aggies!

Does U of I have a vet school? I think the only ones in the Region are Colorado State, Washington State, and UC Davis, right?

Apparently also Oregon State and Western University:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 000002&z=4

Spencer Cox and the legislature approved it. While obviously academic in nature, every professional school boosts the University image and ability to raise funds.

https://www.usu.edu/today/story/utah-le ... ine-at-usu

Noelle Cockett, an animal geneticist, is obviously pleased. The partnership with WSU is coming to an end as more buildings are built.

"[A]s more buildings are built."

How many buildings? Where will those buildings be situated? Does the present Vet Science Building get repurposed?

USU78 wrote: ↑

March 8th, 2022, 2:45 pm

"[A]s more buildings are built."

How many buildings? Where will those buildings be situated? Does the present Vet Science Building get repurposed?

Funding for one big building was requested with the initial ask. $70 million was requested, but was only partially funded. No building was (would have been) a deal-breaker, though. So they must've found some, ahem, "creative" ways to fund the rest of the building, or they wouldn't have announced the new program. Ideally the new building would be on (or very near) campus, as it will consist of mostly classroom, office, and lab space (i.e. student-, instructor-, and administration-focused). I've heard rumors that they're got their eyes on the area where the cross country course now sits, on the N side of 1400 North, between 800 and 1200 East. But I have no idea whether that will fly or not. If they can't find a good spot for it on campus, I've heard it may be placed at the USU South Farm, about halfway between campus and the mouth of Wellsville Canyon.

Right now the plan is for 3rd and (especially) 4th year students to get the clinical experience part of their training by partnering with vet clinics in the area and across the state. But while this arrangement has been successfully implemented at a few other institutions, it isn't probably ideal (there OR here). Most vet programs are located in areas where there is enough "clinical load" to support a training hospital. Such is not the case currently in Cache Valley, but with continued growth, I'm sure the plan would be to build more clinical infrastructure to support student training (maybe some small and large animal hospital buildings, for example). Not sure what other buildings might be planned right now...perhaps some research facilities? I'm not sure anyone knows (yet) whether any additional buildings would be added in complex with the proposed office/classroom building mentioned above, or whether they would be scattered all over the campus/valley? I've got to think that if that 1400 N property is in play, that there's a master plan formulated somewhere that would include a whole veterinary science complex in and around that area. Right now, I think literally no one knows how this will all play out...

I haven't heard any scuttlebutt about any other major on-campus office buildings. I have also not seen/heard any information about the disposition of the VSB, which currently houses some of the instruction for the 2+2 vet program. But the new (proposed) building would be planned to be (mostly) self-containing for the full 4-year vet program (for classroom, office, and research lab space, at least). So I assume the VSB will be at least somewhat repurposed, although much of that space is currently occupied by personnel and programs that are not/would not be affiliated with the new vet program, so the disruption would be pretty minor.

They have the space that the golden toaster church used to sit on that can have a building on it.

I wasn't a vet student at wsu but it seemed to me that they had their own mini campus, 4 or 5 pretty large buildings.

I would assume that the end goal at USU would be something similar. I don't think the Golden toaster lot is big enough.

Using the cross country course makes sense to me.

Is there any space out by the research park where the SDL is located?

swordsman1989 wrote: ↑

March 8th, 2022, 11:04 pm

Is there any space out by the research park where the SDL is located?

There is a possibility it will be by the SDL Innovation Campus. The details of what buildings will eventually go up and where the school will be located haven’t been decided yet.

Awesome news!

How much will this impact enrollment? I know USU hasn't been growing like the other state schools

That's great! Hopefully this will help boast enrollment numbers.

trevordude wrote: ↑

March 9th, 2022, 4:59 pm

How much will this impact enrollment? I know USU hasn't been growing like the other state schools

Not too much really, most vet schools only have less than 200 students accepted each year.

https://blog.vetprep.com/how-hard-is-it ... e-the-rate

Veterinary School: Number of Applicants: Number Admitted: Percent Acceptance:
Colorado State 1,150 138 12
UC Davis 730 140 19.2
Ohio Sate 1417 162 11.4
Texas A&M 510 138 27
Wisconsin 1267 87 6.9
Cornell (outdated 2007/2008) 887 86 9.6
Minnesota 910 102 11.2
Kansas 1194 112 9.4
Georgia 834 102 12.2
Missouri 942 120 12.7
Michigan 901 113 12.5
Louisiana 798 88 11
Purdue 777 84 10.8
Iowa ??? 148
Florida 867 110 12.7
Washington 1169 133 11.4
Western Health Sciences (Pomona, CA) 872 105 12
Auburn 1,111 120 10.8
North Carolina State 905 100 11
Virginia 1226 120 9.8
Tufts 1106 98 8.8
Penn 1533 123 8
Tuskegee No info available
Oklahoma State 846 106 12.5
Illinois 900 average 130 14.4
Mississippi 950 average 85 9
Oregon 970 69 7
Tennessee 858 83 9.7
Midwestern University ??? 114
Lincoln Memorial ??? 115

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑

March 10th, 2022, 10:19 am

trevordude wrote: ↑

March 9th, 2022, 4:59 pm

How much will this impact enrollment? I know USU hasn't been growing like the other state schools

Not too much really, most vet schools only have less than 200 students accepted each year.

https://blog.vetprep.com/how-hard-is-it ... e-the-rate

Veterinary School: Number of Applicants: Number Admitted: Percent Acceptance:
Colorado State 1,150 138 12
UC Davis 730 140 19.2
Ohio Sate 1417 162 11.4
Texas A&M 510 138 27
Wisconsin 1267 87 6.9
Cornell (outdated 2007/2008) 887 86 9.6
Minnesota 910 102 11.2
Kansas 1194 112 9.4
Georgia 834 102 12.2
Missouri 942 120 12.7
Michigan 901 113 12.5
Louisiana 798 88 11
Purdue 777 84 10.8
Iowa ??? 148
Florida 867 110 12.7
Washington 1169 133 11.4
Western Health Sciences (Pomona, CA) 872 105 12
Auburn 1,111 120 10.8
North Carolina State 905 100 11
Virginia 1226 120 9.8
Tufts 1106 98 8.8
Penn 1533 123 8
Tuskegee No info available
Oklahoma State 846 106 12.5
Illinois 900 average 130 14.4
Mississippi 950 average 85 9
Oregon 970 69 7
Tennessee 858 83 9.7
Midwestern University ??? 114
Lincoln Memorial ??? 115

Those number speak to a high demand for vet schools. This is good USU is finally moving forward with this. That is a highly competitive field of study - I didn't realize.

Yossarian wrote: ↑

March 10th, 2022, 10:30 am

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑

March 10th, 2022, 10:19 am

trevordude wrote: ↑

March 9th, 2022, 4:59 pm

How much will this impact enrollment? I know USU hasn't been growing like the other state schools

Not too much really, most vet schools only have less than 200 students accepted each year.

https://blog.vetprep.com/how-hard-is-it ... e-the-rate

Veterinary School: Number of Applicants: Number Admitted: Percent Acceptance:
Colorado State 1,150 138 12
UC Davis 730 140 19.2
Ohio Sate 1417 162 11.4
Texas A&M 510 138 27
Wisconsin 1267 87 6.9
Cornell (outdated 2007/2008) 887 86 9.6
Minnesota 910 102 11.2
Kansas 1194 112 9.4
Georgia 834 102 12.2
Missouri 942 120 12.7
Michigan 901 113 12.5
Louisiana 798 88 11
Purdue 777 84 10.8
Iowa ??? 148
Florida 867 110 12.7
Washington 1169 133 11.4
Western Health Sciences (Pomona, CA) 872 105 12
Auburn 1,111 120 10.8
North Carolina State 905 100 11
Virginia 1226 120 9.8
Tufts 1106 98 8.8
Penn 1533 123 8
Tuskegee No info available
Oklahoma State 846 106 12.5
Illinois 900 average 130 14.4
Mississippi 950 average 85 9
Oregon 970 69 7
Tennessee 858 83 9.7
Midwestern University ??? 114
Lincoln Memorial ??? 115

Those number speak to a high demand for vet schools. This is good USU is finally moving forward with this. That is a highly competitive field of study - I didn't realize.

My older brother went to Vet school at Kansas State, but halfway through decided Computer Science and IT were better career choices for him. That change only cost $40,000 in loans...

He ended up getting a doctorate at Florida State in IT technology and has taught at 2 universities. (Just moved to Cedar City and SUU.)

Anyways, when he was doing his undergrad at USU in pre-vet in the early 90's, he was told this was more difficult to get into than medical school because there aren't nearly as many Vet Schools. They still have to do the MCAT etc.

There are only 30 vet schools, but there are 192 medical schools in the United States. For obvious reasons, there are many more doctors than veternarians.

The biggest irony of all of this is that Noelle Cockett would not get into the very Vet School she helped bring into existence due to some freshman partying issues at Montana State University. She had to become an animal geneticist instead because Vet Schools are so competitive. I would say it has worked out well for her though.

Fall 2024 will admit 40 students (up from the current 30 in the joint program with WSU) for the first class that will complete all 4 years at USU. The next year is when they plan to have the new facilities built and they will begin admitting 80 students a year. This certainly doesn't add a lot to the overall enrollment of USU, but I could see it having a bit of a cascading effect. There will be other majors that tie in, like animal sciences, etc., and may benefit from having the veterinary medicine program in house. This might mean increased enrollment there, too, but it almost certainly will result in increased research dollars, which means more prestige for those programs and the university overall. There may be an increase in research related companies in Cache Valley that work with the university, and these companies could provide landing spots for graduating students, or connections to other well-paying jobs. This is all on top of what we might get with actual veterinarians.

BigBlueDart wrote: ↑

March 10th, 2022, 10:41 am

Fall 2024 will admit 40 students (up from the current 30 in the joint program with WSU) for the first class that will complete all 4 years at USU. The next year is when they plan to have the new facilities built and they will begin admitting 80 students a year. This certainly doesn't add a lot to the overall enrollment of USU, but I could see it having a bit of a cascading effect. There will be other majors that tie in, like animal sciences, etc., and may benefit from having the veterinary medicine program in house. This might mean increased enrollment there, too, but it almost certainly will result in increased research dollars, which means more prestige for those programs and the university overall. There may be an increase in research related companies in Cache Valley that work with the university, and these companies could provide landing spots for graduating students, or connections to other well-paying jobs. This is all on top of what we might get with actual veterinarians.

The biggest benefit will be to the state of Utah. The partnership with WSU began because there was such a shortage of vets in rural areas where many ranchers run cattle and other livestock. In order to bring more vets to those areas and keep them instate, the beneficial collaborative project with WSU began.

Rather than just spend hundreds of millions all at once, the collaboration allowed USU to simply hire more faculty to do the classwork. Now with that in place, they can put buildings in and split the cost over the course of several years.

It is much more likely that the graduating vets will stay in Utah also, as we are once of the fasting growing states in America.