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

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Colleges are kind of out of control. Back in the day, I did the traditional four year thing and it didn't seem to bad. I was the minority among my friends, graduating in four years, but it was doable. And I even found time to take two courses a year that I didn't exactly NEED. I don't know how unusual my experience was, but it seemed like that could be done if you buckled down, back then.

Compared to going to a expensive four year school (and especially compared to going to an expensive four year school before you really know what you want to do), I think community colleges are a wonderful opportunity for most people. But the four year schools, in my admittedly limited experience, are handling the loss of control very poorly.

Kim decided a few years ago to go to school and pursue a degree in accounting. She is just finishing up her second year at community college (will finish the Spring, plus two classes in the Summer) and has been accepted to UMKC in the fall. But the last two years have been pretty stressful. When we first saw the list of what UMKC required to approve a transfer, it was ridiculous. To do it in two years meant taking 17-18 credits every semester, plus two course each summer. No dropped classes, no repeats, no fun classes, nothing. That was just the classes that UMKC required her to have before considering the application.

Half the time, the classes barely make sense. She needed to take two classes on computer applications. Eight credits to verify you know how to use Word and Excel? Seriously? When I first got to Temple, it was assumed you would just go to the computer lab and learn that on your own. By the time I left Temple, it was a required class, but it was a one credit Freshman seminar. But now they want you to invest a few hundred hours of your life in it before they will check it off the list. Craziness.