Back to the Grind

5 weeks of break have flown by... while I spent much of it working, I also had the opportunity to visit with three of my dear friends (or have them visit with me), fly across the country to interview at Missouri, drive from MO to CO and spend some time with my parent set out there, then fly back home and drive down to VMRCVM with my other parent set for an interview yesterday. I returned today, and am back to school at 8 am tomorrow!

My interviews went... well, they went! Missouri felt a little rough; I wasn't expecting them to test my knowledge on a few things, nor ask me some of the ethical questions that they did, but I hope I muddled through it all right. They were very kind, and it was quite conversational. If I hadn't been so darned nervous it would probably have gone a bit better. However, I loved the environment of Missouri, as it reminded me deeply of the school I go to for undergrad, where professors are professors but also friends and colleagues. Everyone was friendly beyond belief, the program and facilities were impressive, and I was sold on the whole concept of how they do things. It was an honor to interview there, and they made me feel like THEY were honored I was there, which was pretty cool (certainly doesn't hurt the ego ;-) ). I should hear back from them the week of the 27th (since officially the dean is out of town until the 28th and he has to confirm everything).

Virginia-Maryland was different. There was little in the way of welcome when we got there, though we did have a nice dinner where we were able to chat with a current vet student and a professor. The professor didn't even know the first year at the table, despite the fact that he had just had him for class the past semester. I can't say much about the interview process except for that it was behavioral and both everything and nothing like I expected. I felt good about it when I left, since I was able to relax a little while into it and revel in the silliness of the whole thing, the novelty of the experience and the fun of the way it was presented. I have no idea how they can determine anything about me from any of the things that I had to do, nor what they would determine about me from them, but I hope that it was all good! The tour was enlightening, and they have done some renovations since I was there in March, which made things look a little nicer. Getting to talk to some current third and fourth years in food medicine and equine helped ease my mind about the tracking program and opportunities available, and made me feel like I could be successful and enjoy my time there were I admitted. I should know from them by February 14th.

I still haven't heard a peep from Wisconsin, but they are (I think) going to notify in mid-February.

So by this time next month I should know whether or not I am going to vet school, where I am going if so, and what my loan will look like! The experiences I had going to the schools were invaluable though, and I really was grateful for the interviews that I got and the opportunity to shine. Just looking at the numbers, it was amazing to make it into the top 200 of 900 (for MO) or top 300 in 900 (for VMR).

 Still, I was a little intrigued by the collection of students; certainly they are going for diversity. Some of the students had little vet experience, some had changed careers abruptly and decided that they wanted to switch to vet med, some had thousands upon thousands of hours of vet experience, were certified vet techs or had spent years in a hospital. Others had done pivotal research with prestigious labs, or seemed to have done everything short of curing cancer. And yet I still met a few students who just "thought" that vet med might be a good career for them, since they "liked animals" and such. It was interesting to meet so many others with a similar goal, and to hear the differing paths they had taken to get to this point in the process. It certainly proved there is no one "right" way to get into vet school (or at least get an interview). I am sure that this diversity boils down in the end to a class of vet students with differences across the board that strengthen each other and the profession. It was nice to see.