Any advice for indecisive HS student?

[Celuna]

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Hi, I'm currently a high school senior who is thinking about choosing a biological science major. I am still not sure if if I should choose this and it's certainly not too big of a problem because I know majors can be changed, but I am still so indecisive. Is it normal for me to still be so unsure of what I want to do?

I have been thinking of my likes and dislikes and whatnot and it's still not coming to me. I am hesitant about applying myself to the sciences because it's extremely hard to get accepted into vet school and I'm afraid that 4 years of hard work will be a waste.

Furthermore, I am planning to apply to CSU (California State University, for those who don't live in CA) instead of a UC (University of CA) and I'm wondering if this will hurt my chances of getting into vet school. Or am I thinking too far ahead of time? I looked at the stats [source: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/studentprograms/class_2014/pdfs/app_stats_2014.pdf] for UCD's admission rate and it doesn't look promising for those who are undergrads at CSUs.

I feel extremely overwhelmed right now and Senioritis is kicking in. Help!😱

 

[StartingoverVet]

Hi, I'm currently a high school senior who is thinking about choosing a biological science major. I am still not sure if if I should choose this and it's certainly not too big of a problem because I know majors can be changed, but I am still so indecisive. Is it normal for me to still be so unsure of what I want to do?

I have been thinking of my likes and dislikes and whatnot and it's still not coming to me. I am hesitant about applying myself to the sciences because it's extremely hard to get accepted into vet school and I'm afraid that 4 years of hard work will be a waste.

Furthermore, I am planning to apply to CSU (California State University, for those who don't live in CA) instead of a UC (University of CA) and I'm wondering if this will hurt my chances of getting into vet school. Or am I thinking too far ahead of time? I looked at the stats [source: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/studentprograms/class_2014/pdfs/app_stats_2014.pdf] for UCD's admission rate and it doesn't look promising for those who are undergrads at CSUs.

I feel extremely overwhelmed right now and Senioritis is kicking in. Help!😱

First off, relax, the decisions you make senior year of HS are highly unlikely to matter much in the long run. There are a ton of factors that determine vet school acceptance.

Having said that, in general, it matters less what classes you take and where you take them, and much more about how you do, the impression you make on those who will write recommendations, and what kind of dedication to the field you show in college.

Most concerning to me is your attitude:

I have been thinking of my likes and dislikes and whatnot and it's still not coming to me. I am hesitant about applying myself to the sciences because it's extremely hard to get accepted into vet school and I'm afraid that 4 years of hard work will be a waste. !

If you are concerned about working hard in college why do you think you will succeed at anything, let alone vet school. Take classes, work hard, and do well. It will help you whatever you decide to do.

Otherwise, go to college, party, and enjoy yourself so that you can look back fondly on your college days as you work as an administrative assistant.

 

[bunnity]

It is totally normal to not know what you want to do yet.

My advice:
Don't worry about your major right now. There are lots of classes that you will be required to take before you graduate - get started on them, and see what catches your interest.

If you have some things you might be interested in, job shadow! See if you can observe at a vet office and see if it is something that is interesting to you. Shadow your parents' friends at their jobs. Your school's alumni association probably has a career shadowing program set up - take advantage of it.

Think about your priorities - will you live to work or work to live? Do you want a job that has you travel a lot? Do you want a consistent schedule? How much does money matter to you? If you think it doesn't, get a job and take over some of your financial responsibility from your parents. There is nothing like being a little hungry to motivate you 😛

Oh, and enjoy college. Get to know a lot of people, expose yourself to new things, and take advantage of everything available to you at this point in life.

 

[Nechochwen]

If you are concerned about working hard in college why do you think you will succeed at anything, let alone vet school.

It didn't seem to me that the OP was reluctant at working hard, just that her best wouldn't be good enough. Which I think is just the new and unknown of college talking.

Celuna, you can't really judge how difficult the college sciences are going to be for you until you try them. Now if you've had trouble with them in high school, that may be some indication of how you'll fare, but not always.

I think your indecisiveness and concern is just a result of seeing college looming ahead with little idea of how you'll cope/handle it.

SOV is right on with how well you do being the more important factor.

 

[david594]

If you are concerned about working hard in college why do you think you will succeed at anything, let alone vet school. Take classes, work hard, and do well. It will help you whatever you decide to do.

Otherwise, go to college, party, and enjoy yourself so that you can look back fondly on your college days as you work as an administrative assistant.

You really make those 2 sound pretty mutually exclusive. 🙁

I agree with Bunnyt though. Go to college with an atmosphere and a culture you think you will enjoy. College is great because you can take a great variety of classes and generally learn a ton. But one of the best parts will be making new friends, trying new things, gaining some hobbies, and learning a ton outside of class.

Magic happens when you can connect the seemingly irrelevant stuff you learn in class with the things you love outside of class.

 

[168135]

I slacked off in high school, but I'm doing pretty good in college 👍 I've had a couple of setbacks when it comes to marks, but I've managed to overcome most of them!

If I were you, I would find a place to job-shadow now. As soon as I found out that I wanted to be a vet, I started shadowing and I'm glad I did. As soon as I relocated to go to university, I had trouble finding a place to take me on and only ended up getting a handful of vet hours in the last couple of years. You need a LOT of hours and a large diversity of hours (small animal, large animal, exotics, food production, etc) in order to be a competative applicant. If you can't find vet experience now, I suggest volunteering at a shelter or rescue in the meantime.

Also, you don't have to be a science major to apply to vet school. Vet schools kind of like it if you major in something different. If arts are your strong point for example, and you can see yourself enjoying a career in that field, why not get a BA and take your vet school pre-reqs on the side?

 

[pennyonthefloor]

If you are concerned about working hard in college why do you think you will succeed at anything, let alone vet school. Take classes, work hard, and do well. It will help you whatever you decide to do.

Otherwise, go to college, party, and enjoy yourself so that you can look back fondly on your college days as you work as an administrative assistant.

The last part of that is quite harsh and I agree that those two extremes aren't mutually exclusive. As long as you are aware of the limits (e.g. not partying the night/week of a huge exam, making sure you prepare academically before engaging in social activities), you should be just fine.

Also, what's so bad about administrative assistants? I know individuals in that position that have six figure salaries.... seems like you equate not being a veterinarian as failure-- for some people it's meant to happen and for some it's not. The best you can do is study, get as much experience as you can and learn to take all the opportunities that are given to you... If you're determined enough, you'll get there. 🙂

 

[Robdude]

If you are concerned about working hard in college why do you think you will succeed at anything, let alone vet school. Take classes, work hard, and do well. It will help you whatever you decide to do.

I don't mean any disrespect; but I've got to completely disagree with you on this. 'Hard' is relative. And it's not bad to question whether or not you can continue to work hard for four years and perform well enough to get into vet school before you start.

WAY to many people go to college to be a vet without considering what it takes to get into vet school. They often end up with a degree that provides little or no value to them if they can't get into vet school (IE - there are very few well paying jobs that requires a Equine Sciences degree from a 4-year university that would justify the cost of that degree when compared to a vet tech degree).

I've seen people who graduate with only the requirements for their in-state vet school, a below average GPA, a below average GRE, and maybe one internship that counts as animal experience. But they still felt like they worked hard. A 3.2 GPA is really good, depending on your major and post college goals. If you are an engineer that's great. But if you want to get into vet school, it's crap.

 

[lareinesoleil]

I slacked off in high school, but I'm doing pretty good in college 👍 I've had a couple of setbacks when it comes to marks, but I've managed to overcome most of them!

If I were you, I would find a place to job-shadow now. As soon as I found out that I wanted to be a vet, I started shadowing and I'm glad I did. As soon as I relocated to go to university, I had trouble finding a place to take me on and only ended up getting a handful of vet hours in the last couple of years. You need a LOT of hours and a large diversity of hours (small animal, large animal, exotics, food production, etc) in order to be a competative applicant. If you can't find vet experience now, I suggest volunteering at a shelter or rescue in the meantime.

Also, you don't have to be a science major to apply to vet school. Vet schools kind of like it if you major in something different. If arts are your strong point for example, and you can see yourself enjoying a career in that field, why not get a BA and take your vet school pre-reqs on the side?

Yes, I agree. First of all, get experience. You may find that Veterinary Medicine isn't what you thought it was, or isn't what you love. You may decide you'd rather do something else in the animal field, or something completely different. And if you do want to apply to Vet School, you seriously can't start getting experience early enough. I know it's really hard to get a job without experience, but you could shadow or volunteer, as others have mentioned.

I'm not a science major and I applied for c/o 2015 (so we'll see). You could definitely do that, but it does take longer. For me that was worth it.

You'll have mostly general classes your first year or two of college anyway. Definitely do well, but enjoy yourself too.