The end of June is a bittersweet time at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center. It marks the end of one intern year and the beginning of a new one. This cycle has repeated itself 62 times since the original intern class completed their internships in 1965. Last week, we celebrated our new interns with a white coat ceremony, marking their transition from student to full-fledged veterinarians. Each one of our interns received a white coat, symbolic of the responsibility, empathy, knowledge, skill and integrity demanded by our profession.

What is a postgraduate veterinary internship?

Veterinary internships come in many varieties. AMC offers a 13-month rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery. Each month, our interns rotate through AMC’s specialty services, giving them a broad range of experiences in medicine, surgery, emergency medicine and specialties like ophthalmology, oncology and cardiology. Other organizations offer internships focusing on horses or food animals.

How does someone apply for an internship at AMC?

Our interns apply for a spot at AMC through an international competitive process and must also be licensed to practice veterinary medicine by the New York State Education Department. To be a licensed and practicing veterinarian, an internship is not required, like it is for physicians. Veterinarians can become licensed immediately after graduation from veterinary school.

What comes after an internship?

When I came to AMC as an intern, I was planning to take my new skills back to the private practice where I previously worked. But those plans got derailed—I stayed at AMC for a residency, became board certified, and I’m still here! Residencies are three-year courses of study in a chosen specialty to prepare a veterinarian for board certification, and this is the most common next step for a graduating intern from AMC. Over the past five years, about 95% of interns graduating from AMC go on to residencies. Other graduating interns will go on to private practice. Occasionally, an intern comes back and becomes an AMC senior veterinarian.

Celebrating the Finale

Just like we celebrated the new intern class with a White Coat Ceremony, we have two celebrations planned with our departing interns. First, both the incoming and outgoing intern classes were among the many AMC employees to attend the first ever AMC Research Poster Session, where residents shared their scientific research findings. The following night, we hosted a formal graduation ceremony where each intern received their diploma, and the prestigious Donald J. Bruckmann Award for Outstanding Intern was presented.

We wish our graduating interns the best of luck in the new roles and welcome our new intern class for a year of exceptional learning and professional growth.