Roo Uni is ending the externship scramble by giving the next generation of veterinarians easy, free access to hundreds of opportunities nationwide
SAN FRANCISCO — Roo, the leading veterinary relief platform, today announced the official launch of Roo Uni – the industry’s first and only centralized platform where vet students can search and directly apply to externships. Designed by veterinary professionals who underwent the rigorous externship process themselves, Roo Uni is providing a smarter way for vet students to successfully kickstart their careers across the country. With this launch timed to back-to-school season, Roo aims to help hospitals attract and identify the best emerging talent, while making it easier than ever for vet students to secure competitive externships.
For decades, vet students have had to track down externships hospital by hospital, often applying to only the few they happen to hear about. Roo Uni changes that by aggregating externships from across the country – at both corporate and private hospitals – into a single, searchable platform that’s free for students, universities and hospitals. Until now, there was no one-stop shop to find a list of all externships without manually searching each separate hospital page individually, and Roo Uni connects vet students with over 800 animal hospitals across 47 states.
Roo Uni’s externship opportunities are available nationwide, giving students the rare opportunity to go and learn anywhere in the country. Since veterinarians are typically limited by state licenses once they begin practicing, this is one of the only times in their careers they can gain hands-on experience across state lines. Roo makes it simple to explore and secure externship opportunities in different cities in nearly every state in the U.S. With ~4,000 U.S. students graduating from vet schools each year and a limited number of quality placements available, Roo Uni fills a critical gap in an increasingly competitive field.
“As the industry’s largest veterinary staffing marketplace connecting hospitals with relief vets, creating a platform that does the same for students seeking externships felt like a natural next step for us,” said Charlotte Weir, VP of Hospital Success & Industry Relations at Roo. “When you’re a student, it can be really difficult to ask the ‘hard’ questions, like: Will they pay me? How much? Will they help with housing? We built Roo Uni to answer those questions all in one place and take the confusion and stress out of the externship process.”
Roo Uni has gained strong momentum in its beta, with thousands of students registered, hundreds successfully placed in externships, and partnerships established with more than half of the veterinary schools in the U.S. Veterinary practices are also seeing the value as externships are often the first step in recruiting passionate, committed vets, and teaching not only helps hospitals give back to the profession but strengthens job satisfaction.
Here’s how Roo Uni works:
- Students can search for externships by location, area of interest, duration and more.
- Each listing provides key details students need to know before applying such as what skills they’ll gain, whether it’s hands-on, whether or not the opportunity pays, how long it lasts, etc.
- The service is completely free for both hospitals and students, and any pay or stipends are negotiated by the hospital and student directly.
- Featured externships are highlighted, which are opportunities that have earned high praise from past students to give future externs a clear, direct path to sought-after, high-value experiences.
“Roo Uni has been incredibly helpful throughout my entire externship process because they did all the legwork, all I had to do was apply,” said Amber Elalem, an incoming third-year student at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine. “Balancing the intense demands of vet school while trying to track down externships can be incredibly stressful. With Roo Uni, I was able to find an externship that allows me to work on really important clinical skills that I’ll need during practice, and I didn’t have to email 20 different hospitals to get there.”
Roo Uni is completely free to use, which is part of Roo’s broader mission to support veterinarians at every stage of their careers. While the long-term vision includes onboarding from externship to relief work, Roo Uni is a standalone offering with the goal to make externship access easier, smarter and more equitable.