Plans before Vet School?

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For the Love

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Before you chose to become a Veterinary student, what were your plans? Or what did you major in before going on to Vet school?

🙂
 
I wanted to be an engineer. Then in high school I took calculus and realized that was not my path nor the love of my life. At some point I had researched becoming a veterinarian for a careers class. Later on in AP Biology I really started thinking about it. At freshman orientation for biology majors I raised my hand to be assigned the adviser that specialized in preparing students for vet school (I refused to do the "pre-vet" major). My parents were surprised - it was the first they had ever heard about it! It was kind of a spur of the moment decision I think I had thought about awhile deep inside and luckily just acted on at the right time! 😉
 
cowgirla said:
Before deciding on vet school I wanted to be a princess. And I wanted to be a jockey and ride a triple crown winner. Then I turned six or so :laugh:
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I wanted to either be a vet or work at SeaWorld! I really wanted to play with the dolphins and killer whales.
 
I don't really recall. For a while I wanted to be an entomologist (or more specifically, a myrmecologist), but that was when I was 5 or so. Then I wanted to be an astronaut, but that was 6 or 7. Around 8 I was exposed to this magical being called a veterinarian who could magically heal my dog who was injured, and the rest is history.

Though for a while I thought architecture would be cool. I still do like architecture, but too much math and I can't draw well enough for design proposals and what not. I guess that was my Plan C. Though to be fair, I'm still utterly fascinated with ants as well, but I don't think I could study them day in and out.
 
For a while, I wanted to be a pokemon master. ...Nobody told me being a pokemon master was this hard 😡

Kidding aside, I thought I was going to go into illustration or animation and work with pixar to produce all kinds of nice things. Then, my mom threw out my portfolio and I got stuck with an "undecided" major when I went to college.

I took bio, calc, religion, writing, intro to computers (lawl), and psychology classes my first two years before deciding that I wanted to work with animals. I started my animal science degree the end of sophomore year, and was placed into the lab animal track, even though I didn't pick it. So I graduated with that. *shrug?*

I took a job as an unlicensed tech about the same time I declared my AS degree, and, on a whim, decided to focus on getting into vet school. Things just seem to happen, and I'm perfectly fine with that 🙂.

I definitely wasn't one of those people who ate, slept, dreamt of being a vet all their life, but now that I'm learning what I am, it makes all the sense in the world.
 
For a while, I wanted to be a pokemon master. ...Nobody told me being a pokemon master was this hard 😡
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You didn't think catching them all would be that easy did you?
 
Before I wanted to be a vet, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer 😉 That was until about, oh, 16 😀. Then I wanted to study dolphin behavior for about 2 years...then wildlife biology, then vet! What really attracted me to vet med is that there is a huge ability to make a positive difference, and the career opportunities are innumerable.

I am majoring in biology, concentration in marine/environmental and minoring in psychology and chemistry (graduating in May!).
 
My first semester in college I was a nursing major. However, after that semester, I realized that there was some male influence involved there (hint - now ex-boyfriend), and changed my major to biology with pre-med intentions. After a rough semester last fall (2009), I got to thinking and realized that I wanted to do what had been my plan all throughout high school (until boyfriend talked me out of it): veterinarian. So here I am 😀

I will graduate in the spring of 2011 with a B.S. in Biology.
 
I originally (as in, at the start of college) wanted to work as a chemical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry.

That changed my sophomore year when I began thinking about medicine. Kept the chem e major though.

Eventually switched to vet med, kept the chem e major still, and haven't hesitated since.
 
I've wanted to be a vet ever since I can remember, but I definitely considered some other options when I was around 5 or 6, like..

1) A woman farmer (I thought women couldn't be farmers due to the way all farmers are portrayed in books and TV as happy, smiling, overall-clad MEN!)
2) A woman carpenter (same reason as above)
3) A woman train conductor (see a theme here?)

Boy, was I ecstatic when I found out girls could do all the things men could do. Maybe there's a reason I go to an all-women's liberal arts college now 🙂
 
nyanko said:
Nobody told me we were supposed to have "plans"
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👍👍

@HopefulAg: Seriously! Kudos to Brock & Professor Oak for actually knowing things. Ash ain't got nothing on them.

It's interesting to see other people's responses. I know tons and tons of pre-vets who stare at me, agape, when I tell them I didn't really plan on this path all along. At least most of you guys had some scientific inclination.

I just had asian parents who told me to be a nurse, so I said, "No."
 
I really wanted to be a housewife. My teachers in grade school were appalled since it was during the early 90's where they were trying to get girls empowered academically. I told one of them that my mom's a housewife and she ain't stupid.
 
Nissan said:
For a while, I wanted to be a pokemon master. ...Nobody told me being a pokemon master was this hard 😡
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Holy moly you guys, have you seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDX1m0Y2Vkg

It's funny, but I still got all teary eyed for Pikachu... pathetic. :d

I don't really recall what I wanted to be, aside from like a policewoman or teacher when I was in kindergarten. I think I always had a hunch, at any rate. I did think about architecture too, but the whole math thing took care of that pretty quickly.
 
First, I wanted to be a dinosaur. Then, I wanted to be a giraffe. When I realized I couldn't not be human, I decided I was going to be an archaeologist (Jurassic Park came out around this time). Then...my mom gave me her old James Herriot books and that was the end of it. 😀
 
I didn't always know I wanted to be a vet, probably because I didn't even meet a vet until I was 16. The vets that I took my cat to when we first got him actually suck and I will never bring a pet there again and while I can't say negative things to clients about the clinic I'm referring to, you guys aren't clients of the clinic I work at so I can say that they suck lol. Anyway, I didn't really have a clear-cut plan. For a while I wanted to be an actress on broadway...or just a superstar, either one would have worked. In high school, I started thinking seriously about what I wanted to do and pursued the idea of dental school and then pursue orthodontics. I've always liked teeth, first thing I notice about a person is their teeth, but I couldn't stand to look in the mouths of people whose teeth are jacked up and nasty. So anyway, at that point veterinary medicine was the only other thing in my mind, so I checked that out by volunteering in a clinic and 5 years later I'm still loving it...but I'm being paid now.
 
lei325 said:
Then, I wanted to be a giraffe.
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I still do (want to be a giraffe). It's my power animal.

I wanted to be an olympic diver. My Jewish mother felt diving was too unsafe and never signed me up for classes. She denies to this day that I ever asked to be a diver. But I know the truth.
 
I wanted to be a vet but I had allergies, so I decided to be a journalist, then manage a bed and breakfast, then I got a real job doing non-profit marketing and tried really hard to love it, then I tried my hand at food and travel writing, and then I got over the aforementioned allergies and realized I could be a vet. Bit if that doesn't work out I'm going to be a giraffe.
 
I wanted to go into human medicine, but as it turns out, I can't stand the sight of human blood and I faint. I was pretty set on research for a while until I started working with animals in the lab and decided to go clinical again.
Although after reading this tread, ya know if the whole vet thing doesn't work out, I think I'll be a giraffe too.
 
nyanko said:
Nobody told me we were supposed to have "plans"
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I'm with nyanko. I had NO plans, ever. I thought maybe I'd study psych in college because I liked it in high school - never even took a psych class. Majored in English, trying out business, teaching, marketing, design, etc. along the way, and finally landed in journalism. Specifically equine journalism, thanks to my work for a certain toy company and a thoroughbred racing publication. Decided to try out the whole "vet" thing after my equine vet hired me to pay my vet bills. And here I am.
 
laitmanvet said:
Although after reading this tread, ya know if the whole vet thing doesn't work out, I think I'll be a giraffe too.
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lol. yeah - but it's really freaking hard to get a drink of water and those pesky lions just get in the way. I guess if you all are becoming giraffes, I'll have to join in - don't want to be lonely.

I think I wanted to be a catholic nun and nurse for a while. (which is hilarious considering the fact that I'm not catholic) Then at age 5, I wanted to be a vet....somewhere along the way, I got super discouraged by working in a crappy vet clinic and getting a 'C' in Gen Chem all at the same time. So I decided I would be an animal physical therapist. Got discouraged by the lack of challenge in my kinesiology courses: except for the ones that were actually bio courses. SO went back to biology secretly hoping to apply to vet school but telling everyone that I was interested in research and teaching. (didn't want to tell everyone I'd changed my mind back to vet - long story, but my older sister changed her degree 5 times and took 10 years to get her bachelor's and my family won't let her live that one down!) The secrecy didn't last to long because my entire personality and happiness level changed as soon as I was "back on track" towards vet school and everyone kept asking me why I was acting so differently. :laugh:
 
I wanted to be a garbage collector when I was a little kid because I thought it'd be fun to ride on the back of big smelly trucks. I went through a phase for a while where I said I wanted to be a doctor, and I had a weird obsession for medical TV shows and movies (I loved ER and would repeatedly watch the movie "The Doctor" starring William Hurt) that most 8 year olds don't have. Although I think the doctor phase and the garbage man phase overlapped, and I would answer one or the other, depending on who asked.

But besides that, I mostly didn't care or think about what I wanted to be when I grew up.

In college I considered majoring in English, biology, anthropology, and finally settled on psychology because I took some psych classes and liked them and I didn't have any better idea. I'm really glad I did major in psych, because I found my psych classes 10x more interesting than my biology classes.

I only considered being a vet after landing a position the summer after I graduated high school in the kennel of the ****tiest, most run-down small animal clinic I've ever been in. The cage doors were falling off, the owner was a jackass, I made $6/hour, and the turnover rate for staff was horrendous. But I liked it despite all that, and that eventually led me to pursue vet school.
 
An environmental scientist. Or Environmental consultant. But that's still down there as plan B C or D if vet school doesn't work out... I have to save the world somehow.
 
This is my favorite thread on SDN yet... =)

Does a cross between an astronaut and Indiana Jones-like college professor count?
 
I wanted to be a butterfly first, mind you I was about 3.

Then, I bounced around from vet, singer, actress, vet, actress, screenwriter/producer. I moved to Los Angeles for college at 19 still wanting the producer/writer thing, for about 2 years of living here. Then, I saw the real side of that business and how disgusting it is and quickly got over that. Then I got back into animals again and now I want to be a vet, which I have really wanted to be the better part of my life... off and on since I was about 5. I was turned off to it mainly because in high school math and science were my worst classes, so I got discouraged, but truthfully it was because I didn't apply myself enough I think. Now I want it bad enough that I really try HARD in these classes and enjoy them.

Working for a vet clinic has really solidified that I want to work in the field, somehow, for the rest of my life. I have made the right decision. 😍

ooooh, and I have always wanted to be a Corgi rescuer... lol ever since I adopted my first Corgi at 10 years old <3
 
Tsk Tsk, TT, caving to peer pressure! I'd rather be a cheetah, but I won't bother all you giraffes unless I'm really starving...promise :xf: :meanie:
 
I've wanted to be a vet since I was 8, before that I wanted to be a princess, principal ballet dancer, and animal trainer.
 
I'm going to be the odd one out, I wanted to be a horse. I also tucked a blanket into my pants and ran around the house, yesterday. Just kidding, I also wanted to be a princess, I still do. I wanted to be a neurosurgeon since I was 5. Then I realized I was too dumb in high school, I just wanted to ride my horse and be with my boyfriend, I guess I wanted to be a horse trainer. In college I started out as a psych major, maybe I would be a psychiatrist, then I changed to chem and was going to do vet med, then I was told I was too stupid (see the theme). So I just went into biology because I love science and gross things, oh and lab. Then I decided I was going to be a nurse so I changed my major again, and then the next semester I was going to try PA, so there was a whole new set of classes. That was about 2008. And here I am.. I want to be a vet, but there is a point where want and actually do are going to be too far apart. Especially if SDN distracts me all the time.

I NEVER knew we had to know we were going to do this all along. Heck whatever. It is what it is!
 
To be honest, I can't remember a time that I didn't want to be a vet. Maybe this was my downfall in the earlier years of undergraduate: I had always wanted to be a vet and so I think subconsciously I expected to be a vet. Because I never wanted to be anything else, I never really took the time to look into vet school requirements or anything until I realized, oh ****, my grades are really crappy. And that wasn't even a year ago. And here I am now, still saying oh **** but working hard. I almost wish I had wanted to be something else and then said, Hm, vet school! because in a way, I think it would've made me a harder worker knowing what I was getting into as a mature young adult.

Life story, sorry. I'm getting a BS in May 2011.
 
Holy moly you guys, have you seen this?
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No, I hadn't, and was that a Pokemon veterinarian I saw in there? That would be...very different. At least we don't have to worry about our patients shocking us or shooting highly pressurized water at us (well....) or blowing up in our faces (I mean really, that's like all voltorb can do). Or learning the histology behind evolutionary stages and how it differs from each species.

But I'd totally watch that movie.
 
I too wanted to be an astronaut, but that was at the age of 6. At 7 I discovered the term for an "animal doctor" and have been pursuing it ever sense.
 
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