Hello readers! Sharon has graciously allowed me to temporarily share her podium by making me a Guest Blogger. Thanks, Sharon!
First, a bit about me. My name is Jennifer, and I am an incoming first-year veterinary student at UC Davis. Sharon and I have taken very similar paths, although it took me a bit longer to get here. We met in college when I was the TA for her Intro Psychology course. I graduated in 2003 with a major in psychology and attended graduate school in Clinical Science at Indiana University. After 2 years of grad school, I left the program and decided to pursue vet school. I spent 2 years taking all the undergraduate pre-req courses and spent another year and a half working in small animal clinics and animal shelters. I was accepted at UC Davis on my first application.
Earlier this year, Sharon wrote a post addressing something that gives many people pause when considering a career in veterinary medicine: fear of blood. This got me wondering how many people out there say to themselves, “I’d love to be a vet, but I just can’t take the blood. I could never handle surgery!” That’s what I used to believe, and it almost kept me from becoming who I really wanted to be. If only I had read Sharon’s post 10 years ago, I might already be a vet by now!
But it’s not just a fear of blood that may be holding some of you back from pursuing vet school. There are several other common worries about taking this path that might be preventing you from following your dreams. I want to attack these beasts head-on and hopefully save you the many years they cost me. In a short series of blog posts, I will discuss topics such as relationship concerns, starting over, and money woes. But first I will revisit the fear of blood, because it was a particularly important hardship for me. If you have any other issues you’d like to see discussed, please feel free to leave a comment or send an email.
Stay tuned!
Hi, I came across your site and found to be very insightful. I am in a similar situation you were in. I also attained a B.A. in Psychology. Three years later, I have decided I want to become a vet. I am now trying to decide what is the best route to take to get into Vet school. I have one main question – Can you fulfill your prerequisites at a community college? Because I majored in Psych, I have not taken a lot of the required courses such as Chemistry. I was wondering if I can take my prerequisites at a community college and then apply to UC Davis’s Vet school. What did you do to fill the gaps? If you could help, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you!
I fulfilled my pre-reqs at a local community college as well as through distance education to fulfill my upper-division requirements. If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me at sostermannblog@gmail.com
I personally did all of my pre-req’s at Indiana University, because we were living there at the time. I felt more comfortable taking mine at a university rather than a community college, but since I’m not on the admissions committee, I can’t speak to how that would affect your standing in their eyes. Obviously it didn’t hurt Sharon, though!
Hi, I came across your site and found to be very insightful. I am in a similar situation you were in. I also attained a B.A. in Psychology. Three years later, I have decided I want to become a vet. I am now trying to decide what is the best route to take to get into Vet school. I have one main question – Can you fulfill your prerequisites at a community college? Because I majored in Psych, I have not taken a lot of the required courses such as Chemistry. I was wondering if I can take my prerequisites at a community college and then apply to UC Davis’s Vet school. What did you do to fill the gaps? If you could help, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you!
I fulfilled my pre-reqs at a local community college as well as through distance education to fulfill my upper-division requirements. If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact me at sostermannblog@gmail.com
I personally did all of my pre-req’s at Indiana University, because we were living there at the time. I felt more comfortable taking mine at a university rather than a community college, but since I’m not on the admissions committee, I can’t speak to how that would affect your standing in their eyes. Obviously it didn’t hurt Sharon, though!