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

[leback.livejournal.com]

This sounds both frustrating and relieving. Good luck!

[ambar.livejournal.com]

Yes, O-chem starts in fall or in winter. Best to start in fall, because a winter start means your last quarter is in summer, and besides all the *expected* suck of doing o-chem in an abbreviated term, you can add the possible suck of getting dumped on an adjunct who has never taught in his life.

Why, yes, this did happen to me, why do you ask?

[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).

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Are you certain an off-shore vet school isn't totally out of the question?

[abqdan.livejournal.com]

The 'fussing around about courses' thing is something that amazes me in the US system. In the UK, you sign up for a degree course (no concept of major and minor there) and are handed a schedule. The University looks after fitting everyone into the right classes, and you get your degree in three years, whether you like it or not, dammit! Of course this means your days are not your own, and fitting a job into that would probably be very difficult. I was scheduled by the University 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, with Weds afternoons off - no options. It was like they made education into a real job.

Working at a US University, I watch every semester the frustration of people who can't register for this or that until next week, or can't get a specific course they need, or can't work the courses around their job - I'm impressed that they ever get through a degree course.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Ouch, that's very frustrating. But you seem to be handling the news well, and all you can do is try to make it into a good thing. It definitely sounds less stressful and the ability to take courses because they are interesting rather than required sounds cool, although ridiculously unusual in colleges I have been at. :)

[wordripples.livejournal.com]

Well, frustrating, but I'm sure it's possible, and as long as it's possible, you'll commit yourself to it and it'll happen!