Allow myself to introduce... myself... lol

[r00]

I just came across this forum for the first time this morning and felt compelled to register and start making friends with people who are in the same or a similar situation to myself.

To start off, my name is Matthew and I am 23 years old. Through my small amount of reading this morning I have discovered that I am considered a non-traditional student - although I pretty much figured that was the case from the get go. I have a B.A. in Psychology from FIU in Miami and I have used that degree over the last year to help me in my job as a Financial Advisor with John Hancock. From the time I was 16 as an assistant to an advisor I was sure that this is what I wanted to do for a living and while the job is very rewarding (being able to help people reach their financial goals) I can't help but feel like it isn't the perfect fit.

Enter: my wife, who's parents are both general practitioners on her home island of Grenada. She has finally decided at the age of 25 (after graduating with an Economics degree just to defy her parents) that she missed her calling and would like to follow in their footsteps and become a doctor (Obstetrics to be specific).

All this talk about med school and helping her study her chemistry, etc has been 1000x more fun than I have been having at work and as a result I have begun to seriously open my mind to becoming a vet. I can't believe that I had never thought of it myself, but who better than my other half to come up with the idea that I couldn't come up with on my own, right?

I have been doing quite a bit of research and I plan on starting on a 2nd bachelors at UCF this coming summer in Biology - Preprofessional and applying to UF for vet school in ~3 years. As soon as I can find a position I will be putting aside my unlimited income potential with my fortune 500 company for a certain ~$20,000/year and some experience in the field that I KNOW is necessary for acceptance. At this point I can only hope that 3 years of animal care experience will be enough to get serious consideration when the time comes. On top of all of this, my wife and I love to travel and would like to schedule some before we both start school and then we need to worry about finding time to have children - which is a whole separate issue.

I know it has been a fairly long post, but I thank you for sticking in there and reading it all. I look forward to learning a lot on here and getting to know you ladies and gents well!

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[GellaBella]

Welcome Matthew!

I'm new here too, but the advice and information on this forum is really helpful. Good luck! to both you and your wife! You guys will have the whole spectrum covered (people and animals!)!

 

[nyanko]

If you have specific questions about UCF as a pre-vet feel free to PM me or ask here - and I think that philomycus is a UCF alum too. Four years ago, when I was about your age, I took my BS in Computer Science and well-paying job in Longwood at a stock brokerage and tossed 'em out the window to go back to UCF and get a second degree much in the same way you're doing.

I won't go into my entire experience unless you ask. Don't want to scare you away from the forums.

Welcome to SDN!

 

[r00]

@GellaBella

Indeed we will have everything covered - we often joke about how she can take care of the kids and I'll make sure the pets are healthy lol

@nyanko

I ask... I ask! lol

I would love to hear your story - anyone's story - especially if it is similar to mine.

 

[Emio]

welcome, roo!

good luck in the years to come. sounds like you'll make quite a trip out of it

 

[Skillet9886]

At this point I can only hope that 3 years of animal care experience will be enough to get serious consideration when the time comes.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. 3 years is definitely enough time, if you do it right. There are so many opportunities to get hours in all different animal- and vet-related fields. It all depends on what you want to do, but having varied experience is definitely a plus. Get a tech job at a small animal clinic, find a large animal vet nearby (might have to go a bit outside of Orlando, but not too far...even Ocala is only about an hour away), volunteer at a shelter, get some zoo experience working at a wildlife rehab center, find a professor you like at UCF and do some research...the more the better! Also, the best advice I could possibly give you is to keep a running resume. Keep track of your hours spent at every place and what you did when. This will help TREMENDOUSLY when you do VMCAS.

As far as travelling goes, a good way to get out of the country and not get set back too much with your degree and prereqs is to study abroad. There are summer programs and even short intersession things. There are a ton of animal-related ones all over the world so those classes can usually count towards your major (depending on what it is, of course). And when you study abroad, depending on the program, you a lot of times see and experience things you definitely wouldn't have been able to as a tourist. Of course, I'm sure you've heard all this before.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck!

 

[Nexx]

Welcome aboard.

To add to the discussion, if you guys wanted to... you could also look into just completing your full degrees overseas (versus study abroad for some pre-reqs).

It could possibly either let you break even, or maybe even save money. For instance, you may make an appropriate candidate for Murdoch University and your Wife might be able to attend either University of Western Australia/Curtin University/Edith Cowan University (can't remember but one or more of them has a med program).

There I go again pimping my uni/city

 

[tnpfan]

Hello, Matthew and everyone else. I'm also new here, though I don't have a terribly interesting story. I'm a sophomore in undergrad, and... that's about it.

P.S. I like the Austin Powers reference!

 

[r00]

@ Skillet9886

We have both done our fair share of study abroad (travel too for that matter) and wouldn't want to add the distraction that comes with it to something as serious as our pre-reqs for medical schools. Unfortunately, the desire to travel is more of that - a desire - rather than a necessity and being adults we may have to just put it off...


lol @ Nexx... its only fair - I try and pimp FIU in Miami as much as possible. FIU was very good to me in my undergrad career and I do my best to return the favor. Completing the degree abroad would be nice but since we own a home and have a son (my avatar) it would be kind of difficult. I am sure someone will suggest SGU on her home island of Grenada, but for us that isn't really traveling it's just going home.

@ tnpfan

Welcome to you as well. Enjoy your undergrad years, they were the most fun I have ever had. As far as the Austin Powers reference goes - glad you liked it... I'm silly like that and I'm happy someone caught on.