New vet grads who hesitate in the OR are not lacking confidence. They are lacking repetitions, and the vet school curriculum, not the student, is where that gap actually starts. That is the core argument Jeremiah Pouncy, a third-year DVM student at Cornell University, makes in a recent opinion piece for American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Trends: hesitating before something unfamiliar is a rational response, not a character flaw, and new grads are unfamiliar with surgery because most of them were never given enough chances to practice it.
"I don't think I could do that."
"I'm just not prepared enough to do surgery."
Pouncy hears these words constantly from his classmates, smart, hardworking, genuinely excellent students. He is watching capable future veterinarians talk themselves out of the OR before they have ever really tried it. From the other side, practice owners are telling him the opposite: why can't I find a new grad who wants to get in there? Both groups, he argues, are pointing at the wrong cause.
One Spay. Four Years. That Is the Standard.
Most vet students share essentially the same surgical experience before graduation: a cat spay in third year. At most schools, three students rotate through the roles of primary surgeon, assistant, and anesthetist. It is, as Pouncy describes it, genuinely meaningful. It is also one data point.
The clinical rotation year might offer more surgical time, or it might not. A lot of fourth-year exposure still involves standing and watching. There is no consistent floor for how much hands-on surgical experience a student actually accumulates before graduating. Some students reach the end of four years having operated once. That is not a problem unique to one school or one graduating class. It is a curriculum design issue that repeats across institutions.
Neena Lynton, a third-year student at Iowa State, named the specific gap plainly:
Dogs are a glaring gap within that gap. A dog spay is not a fringe procedure. Walking out of school without having done one creates an immediate deficit in the first week of work.
The Externship Problem Is Not One Size Fits All
Students who want more can pursue externships, shadow surgeons, and find hands-on programs outside their standard curriculum. What that actually requires is a network, financial flexibility to travel unpaid, and geographic access to make it work. Not every student controls all three at once.
Programs like FARVets at Cornell offer high-volume surgical experience, including primary surgery on dog and cat spays. But not every school has an equivalent, and not every student has a travel budget. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like Tuskegee University and the upcoming University of Maryland Eastern Shore veterinary school are chronically underfunded relative to peer institutions, and that shows up directly in what their students can access. The result is a system where getting more reps depends heavily on who you already knew and what you could already afford.
For students who are introverted, and a significant portion of the profession is, the externship path is even steeper. Cold-calling practices and building surgical mentor relationships requires comfort with self-promotion that does not come naturally to everyone. Pouncy, who describes himself as an extrovert, acknowledges this openly.
How Practices Bridge the Gap Schools Leave Open
The frustration on the practice side is legitimate. Dentals drive revenue. Surgical capability is production. A new grad who can get into the OR faster earns more and, in some cases, becomes a viable succession option for a practice owner ready to step back. The interest is not unreasonable. It is practical.
But the bridge has to be built from the practice side, because the school-side floor is not high enough yet. Cy-Fair Animal Hospital runs structured hands-on surgery ramps for new hires before anyone is expected to operate independently, separating skill-building from revenue pressure. That model works because it treats surgical readiness as something the employer invests in, not something the school was supposed to finish.
Mentorship matters too, but only the specific, structured kind. Knowing they can scrub in with a senior vet on their first ten procedures is different from being "encouraged to ask questions." And job postings should match: if a role requires surgical readiness on day one, say so, and describe what the first ninety days of support actually look like. Candidates who need more time are not lesser candidates. They are candidates who went to a school with one surgery slot. Our breakdown of what a veterinary job posting actually needs covers how to write that kind of specificity without scaring off good candidates.
As Pouncy puts it, the willingness is already there on both sides. What is missing is the bridge.