2 years down

SO its been a while since I’ve added anything to this page, sorry for that! As Erika mentioned, vet school is HECTIC!

I am officially 50% a doctor, its quite hard to believe but I know I’ve put the work in.. we all have. My non vet student best friend gets to hear all the struggles and complaints through the weeks and semesters, she tells people who ask that vet school is like boot camp.. we are required to take 26 ish credits per semester and maintain a ‘work-life balance’ while also having relationships, managing money, taking care of our own pets (I have 6 dogs, 4 horses, a cat), and somehow balancing clubs and activities.. I think I’m part of four clubs? I’m the president for the small ruminant club, secretary for the bovine practitioners club, member of the equine practitioners club, member of the holistic medicine club.

I don’t know where to start regarding life and struggles since its been so long since I’ve added to this page. I’ll start by reminding you all that imposters syndrome is real, I don’t feel like I belong in vet school and I don’t know when/if I will feel like I really am a doctor.. or on track to be a doctor (as the case may be). Last Spring, I failed a class. That was a hit to my ego and I struggled thereafter with how difficult school was and whether I could pass any tests ever again. We took capstone, which I barely passed! But then second year seemed to go better for me and here I am, finished with it and moving forward with this education. I’ve heard third and fourth year are better! So looking forward to that.

Now, bringing things to current times.. I am in Arizona for the summer (where I call home). I spent most of the last week on the San Carlos Reservation with the Apache Tribe on a R.A.V.S. (rural area veterinary service) trip. It was epic and sad and wonderful and tiring and crazy! I met vet students from across the nation including from Alabama, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida. I made friends and learned about cases I might not see in general practice, off the reservation. I can perform a decent physical exam in only a few minutes and identify enlarged lymph nodes.

The next two weeks I will be at a local dairy then the remainder of the summer I’ll be at a rural mixed practice an hour and a half from my hometown, where the vet is well known and well loved.

My advice, although its not deep or extremely thoughtful, is to just keep going. Keep doing the homework, keep going to class. Starting and stopping is harder.. just keep pumping out those annoying papers and assignments and taking those exams. Eventually, you’ll be handed a degree.

 

Hello, I’m dr g – just kidding

I’ve not blogged much so bear with me but I was invited by my new best friend Erika ! Yay, thanks Erika! We met at our CSU interview and hit it off extremely well and then we were both accepted 😀 Class of 2021 !

First, a little history on who I am – my name is Grace and I’m from Arizona. I have a huge passion for horses (as well as all other animals) and have always wanted to go to vet school but I faltered from that idea on more than one occasion! I attended college at NMSU with my degree in Agricultural Biology and minor in Biochemistry which I graduated with in 2014. Somewhere in my junior year I decided vet school would be too hard, too expensive and wouldn’t make me my happiest self. I took a couple different courses and applied to PA school, which I didn’t get into… So I graduated with this degree and tried to find a job with it – NOT easy to get a job with a bachelors degree!!! I was working as a bartender then as a nanny and took a class that I needed to go to nursing school and I then applied to nursing school – which I was accepted to! Around this same time I was offered a salaried job in sales & marketing which I took, rather than nursing school, and loved (in a way, for a while) but realized it wasn’t my passion.. So I quit that job and took a job (with lower pay) at an animal hospital so I could pursue my finally admitted dream of becoming a veterinarian. I applied for vet school around the same time that I quit my salaried job and didn’t expect to get into school on the first application cycle – especially CSU – but I did!

I guess the rest of my story starts here because I will be moving to Colorado with my 6 dogs, 1 cat, and some number of horses (haven’t decided who is making the cut yet). I am not a doctor yet but I will be one in just over 4 years time so I thought I might as well get used to the title 😉