I’m at the point where I can finally take break from studying for impending exams. There were only three in a row, but my brain can only take studying so intently for so many consecutive nights before I start to go a little crazy. I’m just hoping my immune system can keep fighting off pathogens. I’ve been really stressed and as I learned in my handy-dandy immunology class, stress weakens the immune system. This future doctor is prescribing healthy doses of TV each night and a weekend trip to the parents’ house for free laundry facilities and a home-cooked meal.
As the title of this post suggests, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it was like when I was a pre-veterinary student. Tonight was the monthly meeting of the pre-vet club on campus and they asked a few of us veterinary students if we would sit on a panel and answer questions posed by club members about veterinary school/the application process/anything else they wanted to know. I was on the panel last year, too.
It was so strange to look out on this mostly female audience majoring in biology, zoology, or animal science. I remember sitting in those same exact seats looking at the veterinary students on the panel like they were demi-gods. I sat there and thought about how much I wanted to get in to veterinary school and about how great the classes were going to be because there would be no more beginner zoology courses and busy work. I was going to get into veterinary school and be cool like the people in front of me.
Well, it’s a different feeling when you’re facing the audience and you can see all the young females majoring in biology, zoology, and animal science. You can see that same look in their eyes that says “I want to be JUST LIKE YOU!” You can see them itching to ask those questions they think no one wants to answer like “Did you get into school on your first application?” and “How are you paying for this?” There weren’t really any unique questions this year. Everyone is worried about getting in to school and sort of forgets about what happens when you actually get that acceptance letter.
I had two people come up to me afterward and ask me about writing a personal statement for the application and about the dreaded interview portion of the application at some schools. I rattled off the tips we’re supposed to give like “be yourself” and “don’t try to be cute or funny because it’s going to look fake” before telling a story, which I will retell here.
I did not get into veterinary school the first year I applied. I applied to two different schools and neither one gave me the time of day. A year later, I applied to the same two schools and was asked to come in for an interview at one of them (the other one didn’t have interviews as a part of their application process). I booked a hotel, took time off of work, and headed to my prospective school.
During the interview, they sat me in a little room with an instructor/clinician from the school, a veterinarian from the community, and two veterinary students. They asked some of the standard questions that touched on why I wanted to be a veterinarian and such, and then things got interesting. I was asked to talk about a difficult time in my life when I was faced with a challenge or obstacle and what I did to get through it/move on/etc. I talked about not getting in to school on my first application and about watching all of my friends go off to school.
And then I started crying. ..during the interview. I wasn’t sobbing or anything, but I was tearing and such. I just decided to push through and go with it. I talked about finding a job at a clinic to get more experience and about how I was learning about myself as an adult as opposed to just as a student. I realized at the end of my answer that 3/4 of my interviewers had tears in their eyes, too. So not only did I cry during my veterinary school interview, but I made my interviewers cry, too.
I used this story to prove to the pre-vet student how important it was to be yourself during your interview. I’ve discovered that the advice I gave her holds true outside of applications to veterinary school. I’ve finally gotten to the point in my life that I can accept that I am not a straight A student and that I will never have a 4.0 in veterinary school. You know what? Admitting it has made school a lot less stressful and I’m getting better grades all around. The sad thing is that it wouldn’t have mattered what one of the veterinary student demi-gods had said to me when I was a pre-veterinary student. I had to figure all of this out for myself.
The end result? The school where I interviewed accepted me. The school that did not have interviews accepted me, too. I don’t know if I was really ready for veterinary school after my first application anyway. It’s all working out because I’m doing my best to be myself.
