And so begins 8 months of nail biting....

[moonflower]

I don't know how much I've advertised it here but all my life, all I've ever wanted to be was a veterinarian.... and this is The Big Summer, the summer of applications, letters of recommendation, and wrestling cows and all manner of other domestic mammals for animal experience (ok, i've been doing that for several summers, but this is the last one that counts! ) Tufts University has their app. online already; VMCAS, the big common app, goes up June 2nd. I'm SO nervous... I have to fill out these two beastly applications, write 3-4 essays, round up all my letters, study for and take the GRE, and pray, PRAY that my overall admissions portfolio is up to snuff come the fall. Veterinary school is just so ridiculously competetive... this is literally all I've ever wanted. I've busted my butt just to get this far, and it's never far from my mind that even my best might not be good enough. I've been serious about this all along, but all of a sudden, with those websites going "Sign up now to create your 2007 application"... MY application... geez, this is it, huh?

Come January, when decisions are made, I'll either be the happiest person alive or I'll have to start aaaaalllll over again...

 

[joossa]

Congratulations on making it this far! I’m sure you’ll have no problem getting into vet school. Just keep at it! BTW, is it true that there are only a handful of vet schools in the US? I remember one of my department advisors mentioning that to the incoming freshmen.

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[moonflower]

thanks joossa yeah.... 28 schools in the continental US i think? plus a handful offshore in the caribbean. each school has under a hundred seats, half of which are reserved for state residents (nearly all of the vet schools are at land-grant colleges, so it's a tax thing i think). it's INSANELY competetive... most vet students actually don't get in until their 2nd-3rd try.

 

[jiana54]

best wishes to you, moonflower. ive always wanted to be a vet. i was told that vet school is more competitive than nursing or pre-med. im sure you'll be ok.

i looovvee animals but i dont think i could ever, if i had to, put an animal to sleep.

 

[herenorthere]

Good luck. That's one of the many things I wanted to be when I was young, but then I went off in a less biological direction. A friend of mine ~20 years ago started a MS in wildlife and planned to go to vet school afterwards, with the goal of working with wildlife diseases and so on. If I remember the sequence of events correctly, he then decided he was more interested in the diseases than the wildlife, so applied to vet school before finishing his MS, but didn't get in. Then he switched from wildlife to microbiology. By the time he finished that degree, he decided he liked being a microbiologist better than being a vet and never applied again to vet school.

 

[PlantAKiss]

It sounds to me like you've worked hard enough to make it. I hope you do. I'll bet you'd make a great vet. I love animals but I'm too soft hearted for that job. :-/

But I tell you I sure appreciate my vets...especially the one who pulled Jonah through when he was critically ill with pancreatitis. I've never been more grateful.

 

[jimscott]

I'll be rooting for ya! It may be a matter of knowing someone who can bring you in as an intern, just to get your foot in the door.

 

[gemini_girl]

Congrats and good luck!

 

[Carito]

wow how nerve wracking... yet wonderful...

i hope your ambitions and endeavours will yield success...

good luck!

 

[herenorthere]

If you're in NY, isn't Cornell the usual target? Tufts is where people in New England go.

 

[moonflower]

thanks guys lol i'm sure i'll be filling everyone in as the process moves along....

yes, Cornell is the usual target for NYers and it's certainly my top option, if only because i'll have guaranteed awesome roomates if i go there (frankly, i just want my danged degree and i don't care where i get it from) however, even though i have better odds at Cornell being a NYS resident, Cornell specializes in large animal/ag medicine, and most of my experience is in small animal, critical care and exotics.... i.e. they like cow vets, and i am not a future cow vet by any stretch of the imagination there are only three vet schools in the entire Northeast though- Cornell, Tufts and UPenn - so I'm applying to all three of those, plus U. Illinois (good small animal program and they like my college apparently) and probably OSU or maybe Michigan. past that my bank account will be empty

 

[herenorthere]

We go to a group of vets in CT and every one of them or almost every one of them is from Cornell. Only one specializes in large animals and one dabbles. The rest are classic dog & cat vets. Ithaca isn't cheap, but housing has to cost a lot less there than in Boston and probably less than in Philadelphia too.

 

[ktulu]

Good Luck

I know how nerve racking first filling out applications that will determine the rest of your life and then waiting months to get responses as I filled out my grad school applications last fall. Although Anthropology is less competitive than veterinary school its still awful to drain your bank account applying and then waiting just to get a pile of rejection letters. I did get in but until I got that letter I was sweating it cause I dont want to make antennas anymore.

 

[moonflower]

herenorthere- yeah i know there's lots of small animal vets who come out of there, i work for a number of them, it's more of an admissions thing... there's a nationwide shortage of bovine vets at the moment, if you proclaim a love of cattle and your experience reflects that, you're still not a shoe-in BUT it certainly helps your case and yeah, i'd MUCH rather pay resident tuition and Ithaca costs of living, but like i said... i don't care much about the program, it's such a competitive track that none of the schools are "bad" in any way. whoever wants me, gets me!!!