Your curriculum provides education and training that emphasizes experiential learning during all four years. Start by building on your biomedical foundation, reinforcing essential concepts each semester with a “spiral” approach that revisits and builds on previous topics to improve retention. Apply clinical concepts to case examples, hands-on lab exercises, simulations, and team-based problem-solving efforts. Put your learned skills into practice during clinical rotations starting the summer after your second year, continuing on through the end of the program.
Over 150 faculty, veterinary technicians, and additional staff members participate in delivering course content and supporting D.V.M. students. Specially trained in team-based learning and equipped with lesson planning and instructional design support, faculty craft course content to engage students in classrooms, labs, and clinics.
Student success in the D.V.M. Program requires accountability, collaboration, and passion. Students should be prepared to engage actively and take responsibility for both individual and team success. Strong communication, leadership, and professionalism are essential for fostering a supportive and effective learning environment and cohesive community. This approach to health education not only enhances your learning but also equips you to thrive in an array of future professional roles.
Curriculum Overview
Years one and two: Building a biomedical foundation
Begin your veterinary education with a 10-week unit called “Biomedical Building Blocks,” where you’ll develop a fundamental working knowledge of normal structure and function and the body’s response to threats. Once you’ve built your biomedical foundation, you’ll learn about specific organ systems (cardiorespiratory, skin and eyes, etc.) in three- to six-week blocks for the remainder of the first two years of the program.
Three “streams” run concurrently for the entirety of the first two years, supplementing foundational knowledge with hands-on learning, clinical skill building, and professional development:
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- Veterinary Doctoring: Provides training in block-relevant skills and longitudinally builds core skills such as physical exam and surgical tissue handling.
- Applied Clinical Medicine: Models clinical reasoning and problem solving through weekly team-based learning exercises relevant to the material being taught within the content block.
- Veterinary CALL (Culture, Advocacy, Leadership, and Livelihood): Teaches aspects of veterinary professionalism, allows career exploration, and reinforces personal and professional well-being.
Each semester begins with an orientation to help reinforce and apply, as well as expand and deepen, upcoming topics of relevance. Take a break from your regular weekly schedule at the end of each content block with “SWIM” (Synthesis, Well-being, Identity, and Mentoring) weeks, which help you bring everything you’ve learned together, focus on well-being, and allow for coaching sessions to help inform your progress.
Year three: Transition to clinics
As you begin your transition to clinics, the summer will focus on reinforcing and expanding the knowledge and skills gained from your first two years in primary care situations in smaller cohorts.
Choose between two tracks: small animal exclusive or large/mixed/equine.
The bulk of your summer will be spent in primary care rotations and laboratory experiences, surgical and anesthesia experience, and immersive, small group application of additional primary care topics.
Fall and spring semesters will be spent in week-long hands-on core and selective rotations, including additional time in primary care. The core rotations will reinforce and further develop clinical reasoning, surgical/anesthesia skills, and more advanced biomedical knowledge. You will be able to choose up to 12 weeks of selective rotations ranging from specialty clinic rotations and guided exploration of specific topics such as equine lameness to off-site, field service experiences to pursue areas of special interest.
Year four: Clinics and electives
Spend the bulk of your last year (28+ weeks) on the clinic floor in specialty rotations at the small animal specialty hospital, livestock hospital, and/or Johnson Family Equine Hospital. Eight weeks will be dedicated to primary care at the small animal primary care clinic and/or large animal ambulatory services, with another 12 weeks allotted to all students for elective rotations or vacation.
Your clinical experience takes place on campus, where you’ll learn from more than 150 faculty who bring comprehensive, in-depth medical knowledge from four different departments within the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Rotate through our hospitals’ 25+ veterinary specialties, practicing care alongside our board-certified experts.
Facilities: Built for education
The Veterinary Hospital and Education Complex (opening May 2026) brings students from all four years of the program into the same space, providing opportunities for enhanced learning and community building. While first- and second-year students build the foundation of their veterinary education and prepare for their transition to clinics, third- and fourth-year students participate in rotations and deliver care to patients.
Opportunities to learn primary and specialty care techniques for small animals and exotics happen at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital while students work with equine and livestock animals at the Johnson Family Equine Hospital and livestock hospital at the same campus.
Building highlights:
- 196-person wet lab divided into three smaller spaces makes subjects like anatomy and pathology more personalized for students and instructors
- Team-based learning classroom facilitates discussion and engagement activities during class
- Simulation labs and a maker’s space optimize clinical skills curriculum while reducing reliance on live animals for teaching; these spaces are also available to students before and after classes to practice their skills
- Eight simulated exam rooms for clinical simulation and scenario-based learning experiences
- Common area with kitchenette and food pantry, group seating, sleeping pods, study spaces, meditation rooms, and a landscaped outdoor plaza with seating
- The first WELL-certified veterinary teaching facility, promoting the well-being of students, faculty, and staff
- LEED certification ensures sustainability-minded design
Learn more about the Veterinary Hospital and Education Complex
Your future of caregiving
Whether you want to become a private practitioner, improve access to care for underserved communities, promote conservation, work with animals in the military, serve the agriculture industry, or work at a biotechnology company protecting animal and human health, your curriculum will help you prepare for a variety of roles within the veterinary profession.
Tailor your training by selecting courses that align with your professional interests in clinical practice, public health, research, education, and beyond.
Make your clinical experience your own:
- Customize your clinical experience with in-house clinical rotations; local, regional, or international externships; or a combination of both.
- Gain exposure to diverse animals and professions through local partnerships with the CDC, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, USDA, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, National Wildlife Research Center, Humane Colorado, dairies and feedlots, wildlife animal rescues and sanctuaries, and small animal shelters. Students participating in the collaborative program with the University of Alaska Fairbanks have the unique opportunity to work with arctic wildlife and sea animals.
- In your third year, choose from a menu of over 40 week-long selective courses to customize 11 weeks of your education with experiences that interest you
Program highlights
The comprehensive curriculum at CSU promotes clinical, professional, and relational skills, with unique course offerings.
- Client communication: Courses designed within the internationally recognized Veterinary Communication for Professional Excellence program develop student confidence and skills needed to build partnerships with colleagues and clients.
- Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy certification: Core training that culminates in certification designed to improve the euthanasia experience for the animal, caregiver, and veterinary team.
- The Healer’s Art Course: centers on four topics – Wholeness, Grief and Loss, Mystery and Awe, and Service – to explore student experiences, beliefs, and values related to working as a veterinary medical professional. CSU was the first veterinary school in the country to offer this course.
- RECOVER CPR Basic and Advanced Life Support: Earn your certification as a Reassessment Campaign on Veterinary Resuscitation (RECOVER) Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support rescuer through a combination of online training and an in-person skills lab. RECOVER was spearheaded by a team of veterinary emergency and critical care specialists with the goal of developing and disseminating the first true evidence-based veterinary cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines.
- Spanish for the Veterinary Professional: Graduate certificate program helps students break the Spanish-English language barrier to improve client relationships and expand access to animal care. Specifically for veterinary students, the program was created as a partnership between the D.V.M. Program and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Program content and design is informed by data gathered from a comprehensive language needs analysis conducted alongside veterinary professionals in predominantly Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S., Colombia, and Mexico.
- Surgical skills training: Students receive surgical training during every semester of the D.V.M. Program. Core principles and surgical skills are established in years one and two through classroom and wet lab learning that focus on repetition of skills with immediate performance feedback to facilitate growth towards competency. Students will continue to apply and develop these skills in years three and four through additional hands-on opportunities including entry-level surgeries on models, cadavers, and live patients. Students may also take clinical or laboratory electives that align with their professional interests and future career goals, including species-specific advanced procedures and surgical decision making in field settings.
Licensure
The Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program at Colorado State University prepares students to pursue professional licensure in Colorado. Students seeking licensure in other U.S. states or territories beyond Colorado are strongly encouraged to work with the academic department and the applicable professional licensure board in the state in which they intend to pursue licensing prior to enrollment at CSU to ensure all licensure requirements are satisfactorily met. Please review the Professional Licensure Disclosure for more information.