Community-Based Clinical Year

Vets and student in front of clinic sign

Vets and students taking a picture together

Vet student writing down information of a bull

Vet student listening to a horse using a stethoscope

Our 52-week clinical year is best described as a hybrid community-based model delivered in a Clinical Learning Network (CLN). The CLN includes instruction delivered on-campus and at off-campus sites across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Students rotate through these sites in 4-week blocks. Students take a series of required rotations that are delivered at our School, in our Instructional Centers of Excellence (ICE) or at designated clinical practice partner sites. Students are also able to choose a series of elective rotations that reflect personal areas of interest aligning with our mission.

Our Clinical Learning Network

(Click here to enlargen map)

The School of Veterinary Medicine is headquartered in the hospital district of Amarillo on the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center campus. We additionally have a large animal teaching facility just 2.5 miles northwest that is called Mariposa Station.

Our Clinical Learning Network (CLN) is robust and is distributed throughout the state and beyond.

Clinical Year Curriculum

The clinical year program is a full 52 weeks in length and is broken into required and elective curricula.

Required Curriculum:
The required curriculum rotations consist of:

1 week of clinical year orientation
4 weeks of food animal medicine and surgery
4 weeks of equine medicine and surgery
4 weeks of small animal medicine and surgery
4 weeks of diagnostic medicine (anatomic pathology, clinical pathology and diagnostic imaging)
3 weeks of clinical reasoning and assessment – student return to campus

Elective Curriculum:
The elective curriculum consists of 24 weeks (6 blocks) of rotations within an area of emphasis:

Community Practice
Production Animal Health
Equine Health
Alternative Track (includes One Health, Public Health, Regulatory, Academic, and Industry)

Within each area of elective emphasis, students have designated course opportunities in rural practice electives, primary electives, secondary electives, and optional open electives that allow students to broaden their veterinary experiences.

Additionally, all students have a self-directed 4-week vacation block during the clinical year as well as a concurrent 4-week block of preparation for and administration of the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam (NAVLE) during the fall of the clinical year.

How to Become a Clinical Partner

For more information, please reach out to the Office of Clinical Programs at svm.clinicalprograms@ttu.edu or our Network Program Manager, Danelle Barber, at 806.834.1788.