From Film Student to DVM?

I have started this blog to chronicle my journey through school. I am attending St. George's University in Grenada in about a month and decided to start this site to chronicle my journey which could hopefully help people as they try to get into the profession. The picture to the left is of SGU, just to show you where I will be doing my studies. Jealous yet?

Some background information on me. I am 23 years old with a B.S. in Biology w/ emphasis in Zoology. I got the degree at San Diego State University (Photo on the right) in December 2009. I decided that I wanted to become a veterinarian at the end of my freshmen year at SDSU. The film program I was in did not hold up to my expectations. It felt like I was wasting my time in college learning about filmmaking. It was like I didn't need to take classes to do what I wanted. So I was upset with my classes and decided to take a fun class for the spring semester. This class was The World of Animals, taught by the wonderful Dr. Bradford Hollingsworth. He really is the professor that showed me the amazing diversity of life on the planet. After realizing I liked this biology class much better than any of my film classes I decided to switch majors to Biology. This was the best decision I made in college to counter the many bad decisions. ha.

While in school I worked at Rose Canyon Animal Hospital in the Claremont area of San Diego. It was here where I got my first experiences in a vet clinic. The job really helped me learn how to interact with people, which turns out is probably the most difficult part of being a veterinarian. My three years of experience at Rose Canyon helped me gain a great appreciation for the work a veterinarian does by seeing how it helps the clients. The owners of our patients generally care more for the wellbeing of their pets than themselves. So seeing them get so happy after healing their loved one is quite an amazing thing. The team of Rose Canyon Animal Hospital is shown in the photo above. I am the guy on the far left. The white coats are the DVMs, Dr. Michael (next to me) and Dr. Barre (far right).

More to come from this blog will be steps to prepare yourself for the application process. Applying for Vet school is much more complicated than it seems. I will have some tips and tricks I have learned on how to get into the US Schools. Another option I will be recommending is going a different route and applying to the Caribbean Vet schools. With the current need for new veterinarians, and the US's lack of schools, the Caribbean supplies the most viable option for some people to solidify their dream.