HOW TO MAKE IT THROUGH VET SCHOOL AND LIVE TO TELL THE TALE

NAT GEO WILD'S NEW SERIES "VET SCHOOL" GOES BEHIND THE SCENES AT ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S TOP VETERINARY SCHOOLS

Vet School Premieres Saturday, Sept. 19, 10/9c on Nat Geo WILD

(WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 18, 2015) Grab your stethoscope, leave your nerves at the door and step into the high-pressure, big-reward world at one of the top vet schools in the country, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Nat Geo WILD has exclusive access to follow first-year students mastering the basics, and fourth-year students handling difficult cases from hamsters to horses. Will this cream-of-the-crop crew crack under the pressure of first injections, squirmy patients and animals they've never seen before? Vet School premieres Saturday, Sept. 19, at 10/9c on Nat Geo WILD (for more information on Vet School, visit www.natgeowild.com and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/NGC_PR).

Now, it's no secret that Nat Geo WILD loves veterinarians. Our No. 1 show is The Incredible Dr. Pol; last year we introduced ratings winner, Dr. K's Exotic Animal ER; and Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet has been a network mainstay. Vet School brings us all the way back to the first step of a vet's career, when they are overwhelmed every day with a mountain of information that they must digest, commit to memory and recall at a moment's notice. What unites them all is a love for animals and a passionate desire to make a difference. These qualities are what make all of our vet shows must-watch TV, and Vet School is a natural extension of our success in the genre.

In medical school, students learn to care for one species. In Vet School, students train to care for hundreds. See for yourself the blood, sweat and tears it takes to become a top vet. Students must quickly master tasks including restraining animals, repairing a bone fracture in a horse's leg, inserting a pacemaker into a dog and removing an abscess from a pet turkey. All in a day's work.

Hannah Brodlie, Cristina Bustamante and Dan Cimino are first-year students who love animals and learning, but they are negotiating a steep learning curve on the road to becoming licensed vets. Hannah has worked in vet offices for years and wants nothing more than to be around animals all the time. Cristina is an international student from Colombia who looks forward to working with dogs day in and day out. Dan hopes to specialize in surgery. Singen Elliott, Aziza Glass, Aria Hill and are fourth-year students who are about to begin their professional careers. Aziza still struggles with her emotional investment in patients, Aria continues to work harder than ever before, and Singen dreams of becoming a large-animal surgeon.

Welcome to the world of Vet School, where students celebrate finishing an exam by sleeping an hour before studying for the next one. Good luck, students!

Premiere Vet School Episodes Include:

Vet School: Crash Course Premieres Saturday, Sept. 19, 10/9c First-year student Dan Cimino gets an in-depth introduction to the chaos of an ER. The evening begins slowly, but before long there are two serious emergencies. Fourth-year student Aria Hill is rewarded with some hands-on work during surgery to remove 10 teeth from a cat. Fourth-year student Singen Elliott is schooled by an orthopedic surgeon who reminds him to treat the patient as the tiny kitten he is, not like one of Singen's beloved horse patients.

Vet School: Day One Premieres Saturday, Sept. 26, 10/9c The first-year students are excited to start their veterinary school career but, much to their chagrin, they start by ... dancing? Fourth-year student Singen Elliott loves large animals, but every veterinary student must rotate through small animals on their quest for a degree. Will Sophia the cat be his undoing? Finally, Millie, a 3-year-old bulldog, is in critical condition. She has congestive heart failure and has come to Cornell's Companion Animal Hospital in a last-ditch effort to save her life. Fourth-year student Aziza Glass, in her first cardiology rotation, is part of the team that hopes to save Millie. Will this little bulldog make it through surgery?

Vet School: In Need of a Miracle Premieres Saturday, Oct. 3, 10/9c A patient comes in with a possible diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer, but the final x-ray reveals something unusual. Fourth-year student Singen Elliott is working on Lewis, a dog with a suspected breathing issue. The problem is, when the docs try to get the dog to cough, they can't seem to re-create the problem. Enter Singen, who is told to run Lewis around the hospital hallways to see if that works. Fourth-year student Aziza Glass' rotation in large-animal medicine has been fairly quiet, except for one vociferous miniature donkey named Leslie who is in for a general checkup. Seems simple enough, but Leslie has quite the mind of her own!

Vet School: Lethal Ingestion Premieres Saturday, Oct. 10, 10/9c Fourth-year student Singen Elliott performs surgery on a West Highland white terrier to prevent her from going blind. The surgery seems to go well, then Elliott finds himself getting propositioned by the dog's owner! Fourth-year student Aria Hill is in the ER when an Alaskan malamute comes in that has ingested antifreeze - the team must decide if she drank enough to poison her. Fourth-year student Aziza Glass assists with an unusual cardiology patient and watches the largest steer she's ever seen get a hoof trim. Finally, the first-year students learn where their ice cream comes from.

Vet School: The Big Rotation Premieres Saturday, Oct. 17, 10/9c Fourth-year student Aria Hill begins her large-animal rotation with a big, blind cow - so much for getting something easy to handle! Sam Dicker is in oncology with an adorable puppy named Chance who might have cancer, which is highly unusual for such a young dog. Fourth-years Singen Elliott and Aziza Glass attend labs to learn about specialty horse care, while the first-years learn how to make the perfect knot and how to draw blood ... from a sheep.

Vet School: Midterm Madness Premieres Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, 10/9c The fourth-year students continue their rotations with Singen Elliott treating a dog that can't see, Sam Dicker working in anesthesiology and a terrified Aria Hill working with horses for the first time. Meanwhile, the first-years learn how to handle a horse for a basic mouth exam.

Vet School is produced by Thinkfactory Media for Nat Geo WILD. Thinkfactory Media executive vice president is Adam Reed, creative director is Adam Freeman and executive producer is Lisa Tanzer. For Nat Geo WILD, executive producer is Jenny Apostol, senior vice president of development and production is Janet Han Vissering, and executive vice president and general manager is Geoff Daniels.

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About Nat Geo WILD

For more than 30 years, National Geographic has been the leader in wildlife programming. The networks Nat Geo WILD and Nat Geo WILD HD, launched in 2010, offer intimate encounters with nature's ferocious fighters and gentle creatures of land, sea and air that draw upon the cutting-edge work of the many explorers, filmmakers and scientists of the National Geographic Society. Part of the National Geographic Channels US, based in Washington, D.C., the networks are a joint venture between National Geographic and Fox Cable Networks. In 2001, National Geographic Channel (NGC) debuted, and 10 years later, Spanish-language network Nat Geo Mundo was unveiled. The Channels have carriage with all of the nation's major cable, telco and satellite television providers, with Nat Geo WILD currently available in 57 million U.S. homes. Globally, Nat Geo WILD is available in more than 192 million homes in 134 countries and 37 languages. For more information, visit natgeowild.com, find us on Facebook at facebook.com/NatGeoWild or follow @NatGeoWild on Twitter and Instagram.