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

[steph-2012.livejournal.com]

As to the question of private vs public schools in the US, I got through all of my upper division (plus two lower division I couldn't get at De Anza) in two years. It wasn't till my last semester that I heard that most CS students take 3 years to do their upper division. (But then, I had worked out the two years with flow charts, spreadsheets, and a two-years-and-out budget.)

The real answer for public schools is to learn ALL the rules and options up front, make a plan (with alternatives for the class you can't get this term), and be prepared to do some serious ass-kissing to get into that class you HAVE to have this term. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Also, for public schools, at least in California right now: do whatever it takes to be able to register for classes before everyone else does. The budget situation at the schools is so severe at the moment that the wait lists for science lab courses are twice as large as the courses are. Claim you have no income, claim you're missing both arms and one leg, lie like a rug -- whatever it takes. Otherwise you have to putz around taking useless courses for several quarters before you're high enough on the priority list to get anything you really need. I was VERY FORTUNATE to get my first quarter of each of those before the budget hit. For someone like me, putzing around for a year is financially devastating.

This may not apply to people going for degrees. Me, I already have all the fluff like English Writing 1 (where there are more courses than students); I need only the science lab courses. I'd have changed religions if I'd had to to get early registration.

(By now I may count as having no income, but that bucket is already full and they're not taking any more. Too bad. I had to get early reg with the honors program instead, which means an extra useless course every quarter. That doesn't do great things to the time schedule.)