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Confidence, Fear, and Growth. There is no year quite like the first. It begins, often, with optimism, tempered by a quiet awareness that something significant has changed. The safety net of veterinary school is gone. The title has shifted. The responsibility is no longer shared in quite the same way. You are, now, the veterinarian. And with that comes a subtle but persistent question: Am I ready for this? The First Day The first day in practice is rarely dramatic. There is

Why Process Matters. In university life, people often focus first on outcomes. Was the decision right or wrong? Wise or unwise? Necessary or avoidable? Those are important questions, of course. But in a public university, there is another question that deserves equal attention: How was the decision made? That is the question of process. And process matters more than institutions sometimes like to admit. There is a common temptation in administrative culture to treat process a

Compassion, Fatigue, and Resilience. There is a quiet and persistent misconception that veterinary medicine is primarily a scientific profession. It is not. It is a human profession practiced through animals. And because of that, it carries an emotional weight that is rarely visible from the outside, and only fully understood from within. The First Realization For many young veterinarians, the emotional dimension of the profession is not immediately apparent. There is focus o

Words on a Wall or Standards for Conduct? Most universities have some version of a statement about community. It may be called the Principles of Community, a statement of values, a declaration of belonging, or a commitment to respect, inclusion, dignity, and civility. Such statements are usually well written. They speak of mutual regard, open exchange, diverse perspectives, fairness, and the importance of treating one another with decency. They are quoted in orientations, dis

Economics, Ethics, and Reality There is a moment - quiet, but unmistakable - when the conversation changes. The diagnosis has been discussed. The options have been outlined. The path forward, at least medically, is clear. And then the client asks: “How much is this going to cost?” It is a simple question. It is also the moment when medicine meets reality. The World of Possibility In veterinary school, the emphasis is, rightly, on what can be done. Students are taught: The bes

Consultation is part of legitimacy. In a public university, consultation is often spoken of warmly and practiced thinly. It is praised in principle, deferred in practice, and sometimes replaced altogether by announcement, messaging, or damage control. Yet consultation is not an optional refinement of institutional life. Consultation is not a decorative gesture of goodwill. Consultation is not something leadership offers when it has time, or when the stakes are low, or when ag

The Conversation No One Teaches There is a moment in every consultation that cannot be found in any textbook. It is not the moment you palpate the abdomen, or listen to the chest, or review the bloodwork. Those are familiar, practiced, and, at least in principle, predictable. It is the moment when you look up. The moment when the clinical reasoning is complete, and the human conversation begins. The Unwritten Curriculum Veterinary school teaches us how to diagnose disease. Ve

A public university has many stakeholders , but too often the word is used loosely and then forgotten when major decisions are made. In truth, stakeholders are not merely interested observers. Stakeholders are the people and communities whose lives, labor, trust, and public support sustain the institution. That is why consultation matters. It is not a performative exercise or a bureaucratic obstacle. It is part of the moral and civic legitimacy of a public university. And t

When the Textbook Ends There is a peculiar comfort in knowledge. In veterinary school, it arrives neatly packaged - chapters, lectures, diagrams, lists. Diseases have names. Syndromes have pathways. Treatments follow protocols. Even uncertainty is, to some extent, organized. A student learns to ask the right questions: What is the signalment? What are the clinical signs? What are the differential diagnoses? And, with time and effort, the answers begin to come. But then comes

An opinion piece on donor influence, governance, transparency, and institutional trust. Each spring at the University of California, Davis, two familiar events quietly are a reminder of what a university is meant to be. Picnic Day opens the campus to the public. Families wander through laboratories, alumni retrace old paths, and students share their work with pride. It is a day of openness, curiosity, and belonging for all stakeholders. Soon afterward, the Day of Giving inv

What Veterinary School Promises There is a quiet confidence that surrounds graduation day. Caps are tossed. Photographs are taken. Families beam with pride. And beneath it all sits an unspoken assumption shared by students, educators, and the profession itself: You are ready. After years of study, long nights, examinations, clinical rotations, and the steady accumulation of knowledge, this belief feels not only reasonable, but deserved. Veterinary school is, after all, one of

Letting Go of the Need to Be “Best” At the end of all rankings - after the tables, the metrics, the arguments - there remains a quiet, persistent image: A podium. First place. Second place. Third place . We understand it instinctively. It is familiar. Ordered. Comforting. But veterinary medicine does not live on a podium. The Seduction of “Best” The idea of “best” is powerful. It simplifies decision-making. It creates clarity. It offers a sense of arrival. To be “#1” is to ha

The Values Hidden Inside the Numbers By now, we have examined rankings from every angle: Reputation-based systems. Research-driven global metrics. Formula-based attempts at objectivity, The very question of whether rankings are needed at all. And yet, one question remains - perhaps the most important of all: What are we really measuring? Numbers as Mirrors Rankings present themselves as measurements of quality. But they are not neutral instruments. They are mirrors , reflecti

Can Objectivity Ever Be Truly Neutral? Faced with the shortcomings of reputation and research-based rankings, the instinct is almost irresistible: Let’s make it objective. No opinions. No surveys. No prestige bias. Just numbers. Transparent. Measurable. Defensible. And so, proposals have emerged, most notably a formula-based model that seeks to rank veterinary schools using quantifiable variables such as: Teaching hospital case load, Faculty numbers, NAVLE pass rates, Resear

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Conflicting Rankings It is one of the most quietly revealing features of veterinary school rankings: They do not agree. A school that is ranked near the top in the United States may sit lower in global rankings. Another may rise internationally while appearing less prominent domestically. At first glance, this seems like a problem. Surely, if rankings are measuring something real, they should converge on the same answer. But they do not. And that

When Research Overshadows Reality. If U.S. rankings are built on reputation, global rankings promise something more substantial. More data. More rigor. More objectivity. And so, we turn to QS World University Rankings , with its elegant formulas, its global reach, and its reassuring sense that this time , the numbers must mean something. But do they? The Metrics of Prestige QS rankings are built on a combination of indicators: Academic reputation. Employer reputation. Researc

How Rankings Distort Institutional Behavior There is a quiet shift that occurs once rankings take hold. At first, they are observed. Then they are discussed. Eventually, they are pursued. And somewhere along that path, something subtle but profound changes: Institutions begin to optimize not for education, but for position. From Measurement to Strategy Once a ranking exists, it does not sit passively. It becomes a target. Administrators begin to ask: How do we move up? What d

The email arrives. Or the press release. Or the carefully worded announcement on the school’s website. Or the piece in the Alumni Newsletter. Or the post on Linkedin or Facebook There it is again. “Ranked #1 in the nation for the 10th consecutive year.” The headline is clean, confident, and irresistible. It signals excellence. It reassures stakeholders. It travels well to alumni newsletters, donor briefings, and prospective student inboxes. And yet, beneath that polished surf

There is a moment when a decision is made without those most affected ever being in the room. In Washington, it is called an Executive Order. In academia, it often arrives through an Executive Committee. Different settings. Different stakes. But the underlying question is strikingly similar: What happens when authority outruns participation? The Nature of Executive Action An Executive Order, issued by the President of the United States, is designed for decisiveness. It is:

I have never cared for the phrase: “We are the #1 veterinary school in the United States.” Not because excellence should not be celebrated, but because I am not entirely sure what, precisely, is being celebrated. What does #1 veterinary school actually mean? And perhaps more importantly, what does it do for a profession that prides itself on care, diversity of practice, and service? What Are We Really Measuring? Most veterinary school rankings are built less on objective outc