Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize, assess, and control one's emotions, as well as the emotions of others, and even groups. It also allows people to handle added pressures, as they often experience in higher education. Occasionally clinicians report a small number of senior veterinary medicine students lack the ability to assess human clients and their animal patients. The purpose of this review was to examine EI as a possible tool to predict, identify, and improve student performance and student success in the clinical environment. Research was conducted that supported the ability of EI as a tool to predict student success in relations to clients and patients. EI was shown to generally improve for students and staff when trainings and workshops were implemented. EI education may benefit most individuals, however, specific research for EI improvement concerning medical students identified as lacking compassion was deficient.