Not this fall

[cjsmith]

I will not be applying to UCDavis veterinary school this fall. Biochem (of which I must take at least two quarters) requires previous completion of o-chem (a full year), which in turn requires completion of the chem I'm in during the spring. And no, I can't start o-chem in the summer. It's not offered.

All of this fussing around about fitting the courses in, and it turns out it never would have been possible to do them all in two years. Three = minimum.

This does kind of put the pressure on to get in on my first try. I simply don't have the financial wherewithal to go *four* years before entering vet school.

Good points:
- No GRE this spring!
- May be able to drop physics this spring (and get better grades in what's left).
- More time to gain a variety of animal experience - wildlife, etc. This is huge.
- More time to get to know veterinarians at all these places = potentially better letters of recommendation.
- Opportunity to take some really cool courses I don't specifically need. Micro! Human anatomy!
- Opportunity to beef up the transcript in the humanities.

Bad points:
- Money.

Comments

[apparentparadox]

Is your goal of being a vet related to wanting to take care of living animals?

A different kind of job would be to work at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland, OR (currently the only lab in the world dedicated to crimes against wildlife).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh WOW. Wouldn't that be a great place to do a summer internship?

[apparentparadox]

They apparently have a colony of flesh-eating beetles that they use to clean bones so that they can identify them. How much cooler can a job get?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I bet the smells are incredible.

[apparentparadox]

They don't allow tours, because they don't want to compromise any of the results (they do testify in courts all over the world). We just heard a talk about them.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You guys have a room I could rent, right? :)

[apparentparadox]

Yep, although a better answer would be if some friends of ours had their in-law unit open.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Especially if I were to take my work home with me. ;-)