Archives for Non-Traditional Students category
Up the Down Staircase is a great little epistolary novel from the 60s that follows the life of a high school teacher via office memos, letters, lesson plans, student essays, scraps from the trash can, etc.
I read it when I was a kid, and the one thing that really stood out for me was the inanity of the administration, with its penchant for rules (one of which is the inspiration for the book’s title).
As I start this semester, I can’t help but be reminded of that book. And that is not a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 23, 2011 | | Non-Traditional Students
Random thought, for those of you looking for general vet school advice…
The pre-veterinary forum at studentdoctor.net is free to join and has a ton of information about applying to vet school. It’s a great place to meet other people who are in the same boat, and to have your questions answered.
I’m happy to try and answer any questions you have, too, but I’m just one perspective. 
Jan 21, 2011 | | Getting In, Non-Traditional Students
A mere three weeks stand between me and my first day of vet school. I imagine, perhaps incorrectly, that the majority of my classmates are in “I’m so excited for vet school!” mode. That is, thinking about classes, buying new shoes, and generally having vet school on the brain. I should be too, but I’m not.
Instead, I am in freak out mode. I’m not freaking out about starting vet school, though–I’m freaking out about how much crap I have to do between now and then. Vet school is the furthest thing from my mind.
Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 24, 2010 | | Miscellany, Non-Traditional Students
It seems really, really hard to make a massive career change in one’s mid-thirties. That’s because it is really, really easy to come up with 101 excuses not to change, not because it’s actually hard! I mean, it’s not like I had to scale Everest or anything, I just had to apply to go back to school.
Here are some of the excuses that stood in between me and vet school, and here are the ways I got past these excuses.
1) I’m too old.
I’ll be done with vet school when I’m forty. My handsome other half will be well into his fifties. It seems a little silly to be making a career change at this point, plus incurring a lot of debt. The thing that I found most helpful in getting around the age thing was advice from a woman who’d become a vet in her early forties (and who is now a well-known holistic vet). She said, “You can be forty and a vet, or you can be plain old forty.”
2) It costs too much, and I have a mortgage to pay.
This was, and is, the most daunting thing about this process. I still freak out about it sometimes. So far, after two years of prerequisites/grad school, I still have my house and still manage to feed myself and my cats. The student loans are enough to cover my basic expenses. I will graduate with a boatload of debt, but I calculated my life expectancy and amortized the debt over the years I supposedly have left. It’s definitely worth $3500 a year to me to be a vet. Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 19, 2010 | | How I Got Here, Non-Traditional Students
The fictional Zeke
This post is for all you potential non-traditional vet students out there, those of you who are NOT able to say, “I’ve known since I was a little tyke that I wanted to be a veterinarian. The first time I laid eyes on my puppy Zeke, who was to be my friend and companion for the next 14 years, I just knew.” Or something like that. That definitely isn’t me!
Truth be told, by the time I graduated high school I hadn’t given much thought to what I wanted to be when I grew up, since all that time I’d been assuming I would grow up to be a housewife with 1.6 children. What can I say? It was the Bible Belt in the 80s.
I suddenly found myself zipping through potential career ideas – music therapist! no, wait – doctor! no, um – geologist! how ’bout teacher? um…
Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 19, 2010 | | How I Got Here, Non-Traditional Students
This is the essay from my second vet school application, and it is much more focused and personal than my first effort. There’s more heart in this one, and less brain. It also helps that I started early and I had every single writer I know read over it. Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 19, 2010 | | Getting In, How I Got Here, Non-Traditional Students
When I was applying for vet school, I wasn’t able to find many good examples of personal statements. It would have been really helpful to read someone else’s personal statement, which is one reason I am including these on my blog. I hope those of you who are in the throes of the application process find these helpful. The other reason I’m including these is they help explain how I became a non-traditional vet student.
Below is the personal statement from my first application. It’s good, but not great. I didn’t get admitted with this application, but it was the lack of coursework that did me in more than anything. I got the idea for this essay when I heard an admissions committee member say that the most memorable essay she’d ever read compared being a veterinarian to climbing a mountain. See this post for the essay from my second application.
Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 19, 2010 | | Getting In, How I Got Here, Non-Traditional Students
My current commute to school is exactly one hour. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep that up during vet school, so I’ve been weighing my options.
The sensible thing to do would be to sell my house and move to an apartment near school. But… maybe that’s not so sensible considering:
1) my house, in a tourist town, is a REALLY good investment
2) I love my peaceful little cabin in the woods because
3) I think I would go insane if I lived in a city. Plus
4) my other half lives in the tourist town, and I would like to see him more than once a week.
So, with all those factors in mind, I’ve been looking at living halfway in between. In an ideal world, I would rent my current house and buy a house at the bottom of the canyon I drive each day. I’d be half an hour from school and half an hour from my other half, plus I’d still be in a rural, wooded area.
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Feb 14, 2010 | | Non-Traditional Students, Paying for School
Hooray, I am done with school for the year!
Finals are over, grades are in, and now I can relax. Well, I can start working my patooti off to save money for next school year, anyway.
The last month of school was incredibly stressful. I don’t think I’ve ever studied so hard, but it paid off with straight A pluses in upper division science classes. Sorry, CSU vet school, but I just can’t do any better than that… I hope it’s good enough!
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May 23, 2009 | | Getting In, Non-Traditional Students
This post is really about two things:
1) the “old age” aspect of returning to school, and
2) the money aspect of returning to school, and
3) (I lied) the intersection of the two.
For anybody that’s thinking of taking the plunge and who just can’t get over the age thing (it took me about three years to get over it… three years that I could’ve been in school!), I offer you this:
The best piece of advice I got was from someone who was doing exactly what I wanted to do. She went back to school in her late thirties, and she is now a well-known holistic vet. Here’s what she said:
Read the rest of this entry »
Apr 20, 2009 | | Non-Traditional Students, Paying for School
