On Thursday five members(myself included) of the UCSB Pre-vet club piled into one car and hit the road to check out the UC Davis vet school (6 1/2 hour drive). Our day on Friday was a full day of activities that spanned from 830 am to 630 pm. We met with an admissions director that led us on a comprehensive tour of the school, the labs, and the teaching hospital. We got to sit-in on two classes with all the other vet students. I had to laugh to myself when I noticed that there were still more than a few vet students navigating their facebook pages during lecture, I guess vet school isn't all that different. The day ended with a B.B.Q. for all the students, vets, profs, and visitors in the courtyard of the vet school. I ran into a girl that I used to work with at a vet hospital in SB two years ago, who had since applied and got accepted to UCD. It was very exciting to see a familiar face and learn that one of my peers had made it. She had some good advice and many encouraging words for me. As some of you know getting into vet school is no walk in the park and it seems everyone you meet in the field has a story (or two) of friends that apply 5 times before getting in. Some of you may not know all that much about vet school (clients at work used to ask all the time Do you have to go to school to be a vet? der) and the details are sometimes surprising. Here's a summary of the numbers:
Vet School is 4 years spent like so: year 1 science/theory, year 2 apply science to animals, year 3 surgical experience/more classes, year 4 clinical practice.
Classes typically will last from 9 to 5 five days a week, and then you get to study. No body works, everyone is a full-time vet student.
After graduation many choose to do an externship for 1 or 2 years or gain specialty training.
Here is a list of things that keep me up at night:
There are 132 Medical Schools in the US, compare that to only 28 veterinary schools in the US.
Over 7,000 people apply to vet school and only roughly 2,500 get accepted. By the numbers about 1 in 3 make it in to vet school whereas almost 1 in 1 make it into med school.
Here are the stats from UC Davis Veterinary School's 2009 admittance:
Prerequisite course work to apply:
1 year Inorganic Chemistry (with Lab)
1 year Organic Chemistry (with Lab)
1/2 year Bio Chemistry (with Lab)
1 year Physics (with lab)
1 quarter Physiology
1 quarter of stats
1 year English
1 year Intro bio
1 year Calculus
1/2 year Genetics
* (some schools require microbiology, cell biology, or animal nutrition)
Peace of CAKE !
Average GPA 3.53 (I am currently at 3.2, could finish maxium 3.3)
Total Number applied to UCD: 1153
Number of students accepted: 143 (only 23 guys)
17 UCSB students applied, only 1 was accepted
23 UC Santa Cruz students applied, none were accepted
2 PhD's and 14 Masters students were excepted
Mean number of hours of Vet-related experience at time of application: 3,100 hours
The GRE: the GRE is a standardized test like the SAT's that gauges a students intelligence or at least their ability to study. There are three sections: Verbal, Quantitative (math), and Analytical writing. A very high score will gain you acceptance into any school you want, a low score will keep you out of grad school. The average GRE for accepted Davis students was 73% (seventy-third percentile, in other words better than 73% of all kids that took the exam). Every year 500,000 people take the GRE. Taking a GRE prep course for around a grand is strongly recommended in addition to GRE study books and practice exams
Applying to vet school will cost you around 1,000-2,000 dollars if you only apply to 8 or 9 schools.
The admissions personnel I met with on Friday had one message: be afraid, be very afraid,.....and also get really good grades! Toward the end of the day I found myself in a large treatment/surgery room that was strangely familiar. It occurred to me that I had been this very same room ten years ago almost to the day. Ten years ago I traveled to Davis to sit-in on a tiger spay with Dr. Turner, a day spent in this room set me on this path, and now I am back a UC grad ready to apply. Even more ironic was the timing of my last day at San Roque Pet last week. It seems the circle is now complete (kind of a starwars reference). I am more scared than ever about looking forward, but also more motivated and closer to the end than I have ever been. In less than six months I'm placing my bet. Hopefully vet school is in the cards for me.
Next week... The Avett Brothers Concert
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Cha-cha-cha changes
In February of 2000 my mom told me that her good friend Michelle’s fiancé (at the time) Rick was a vet in town and that he needed some help around the office. At the time I was 17 with a newly acquired license and a very thirsty Towncar so money in the bank was gas in the tank. I agreed to check it out for the day. I worked my first day in khakis and a sweater, a day that ended with me assisting Rick in amputating an injured duck’s wing. The next day I was due to work I was very late and Rick was upset, I didn’t really realize that I had an actual job. Soon I purchased my first pair of scrubs and I found myself falling in love with the profession.
On April 9th of 2010 I worked my last day at San Roque Pet Hospital, perhaps hanging up my scrubs for good. I have worked at 7 clinics, for 17 doctors, and put in countless hours over the past decade. For now I have no plans to start a new job at least until after June. When I do get another job it will most likely not be as a vet tech either. At this point I feel like I’ve taken this avenue as far as it will go and with the exception of an extremely unique opportunity to learn more I will retire from being a vet tech (Bret Farve rights reserved). Perhaps the next time I go to work at a clinic, with any luck, it will be as a DVM. In the mean time I will be looking in to volunteering and other avenues for me to learn and work with animals. The money I’ve made as a tech has allowed me to support myself while paying for school. It has supplied me with countless stories and a large photo album that most of you have been subjected to at least once. I am proud of my work and will always cherish the people, clinics, patients, and stories that make up all the fond memories. One random opportunity I stumbled upon in high school has led to the discovery of a lifelong passion and perhaps a career. Thank goodness for that because without a goal/dream to drive me all these years who knows whether I would have kept going. Even though the road to vet school is hard I have always considered myself lucky to at least know my path.
Walking away from the only job I’ve ever done is pretty scary but it is the beginning of a period of big change. For ten years my life has been centered on two things: getting my degree and getting everything I could out of my years as a vet tech. I am looking forward to something new and a chance to miss net medicine in my time away from it. Now these two journeys come to an end and the ultimate goal of applying to vet school is on the horizon. It’s funny to think about how important my work and my school were to each other. Without my love for vet medicine who knows whether I would’ve had the motivation to go this far in school. Without vet medicine I may not have been able to pay for school. Getting a tech job in Santa Barbara was crucial to me being able to move here and eventually go to UCSB. Getting a degree from UCSB is a big step toward someday becoming the vet I found out I wanted to be when I was 17.
Songs:
Roll With The Changes- R.E.O. Speed Wagon
Changes- David Bowie
On April 9th of 2010 I worked my last day at San Roque Pet Hospital, perhaps hanging up my scrubs for good. I have worked at 7 clinics, for 17 doctors, and put in countless hours over the past decade. For now I have no plans to start a new job at least until after June. When I do get another job it will most likely not be as a vet tech either. At this point I feel like I’ve taken this avenue as far as it will go and with the exception of an extremely unique opportunity to learn more I will retire from being a vet tech (Bret Farve rights reserved). Perhaps the next time I go to work at a clinic, with any luck, it will be as a DVM. In the mean time I will be looking in to volunteering and other avenues for me to learn and work with animals. The money I’ve made as a tech has allowed me to support myself while paying for school. It has supplied me with countless stories and a large photo album that most of you have been subjected to at least once. I am proud of my work and will always cherish the people, clinics, patients, and stories that make up all the fond memories. One random opportunity I stumbled upon in high school has led to the discovery of a lifelong passion and perhaps a career. Thank goodness for that because without a goal/dream to drive me all these years who knows whether I would have kept going. Even though the road to vet school is hard I have always considered myself lucky to at least know my path.
Walking away from the only job I’ve ever done is pretty scary but it is the beginning of a period of big change. For ten years my life has been centered on two things: getting my degree and getting everything I could out of my years as a vet tech. I am looking forward to something new and a chance to miss net medicine in my time away from it. Now these two journeys come to an end and the ultimate goal of applying to vet school is on the horizon. It’s funny to think about how important my work and my school were to each other. Without my love for vet medicine who knows whether I would’ve had the motivation to go this far in school. Without vet medicine I may not have been able to pay for school. Getting a tech job in Santa Barbara was crucial to me being able to move here and eventually go to UCSB. Getting a degree from UCSB is a big step toward someday becoming the vet I found out I wanted to be when I was 17.
Songs:
Roll With The Changes- R.E.O. Speed Wagon
Changes- David Bowie
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Hey look at that, I did it!
Friends, family, and starwars nerds who accidentally found my blog, welcome! This is my blog and it is my attempt at being more accessible to the people whom I love. Graduation is around the corner and I hope that this blog will keep everyone up-to-date on all graduation festivities. I also aim to keep everyone up to date on what I'm up to as I embark on what promises to be a crazy year. Hopefully downtime between studying will go into putting together thoughtful, entertaining, informative, and interesting blog posts rather than watching youtube or Hulu videos.You may have noticed that I am on facebook but rarely use it and I think twitter is a little riducuous. Perhaps this blog will be a better format for me to stay connected with everyone, perhaps it will end up being almost like a journal for me. In any case if you can keep up with me on this blog next time we do get a chance to talk I can find out about you. (Kelley Neu Neu Imma talkin to you). Plus if I havent caught up with you in a while we'll have lots to talk about next time I see you. Please leave comments as you see fit to let me know people other than my fellow blogger Carolyn are reading it. And dont worry I promise not to continue with the starwars analogies and references (sorry random starwars nerds). I realize that probably not many people will actually read any of this so theres isnt much chance of the blog becoming massively self-important. Ok theres the deal, Hope you all follow my blog religously its a manual to live by but for now this jedi is engaging in hyper space and taking the Millenium Falcon for a spin around the moons of Endor, may the force be with you! Oops sorry wont happen again.
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