A Quick (and unrelated to school mostly) note of thanks!

I wanted to take a quick minute (or blog post as the case is) to say THANK YOU to the many many many people over the last several years (well, decade would be most accurate) who have employed me via house and pet sitting.  I know from experience that allowing someone to come into your home to watch your animals is not an easy feat, and it is difficult to find trustworthy people.  I thank you all for considering me trustworthy and leaving your animals in my care.  

For the last decade I have been filling voids in my time with care taking for your pets, and I do my best to offer them the care they get from you all on a daily basis.  No one can ever replicate what you do for your pets, but I hope that you come home and find them happy and healthy- which is always my goal and how I like to leave them.  If it were not for word of mouth, and continued offers I would not have been able to supplement my time or income with this business, and both have been extremely beneficial to me.  

It is with great happiness and sadness that I announce I am fully booked for the rest of the summer.  My bookings in July have exploded and in order to care for your pets in the best way possible I will not take on any more clients as it would not be fair to stretch my time any thinner.  Please know it is in no way personal when I decline your offers, as I have NO clients whose pets I do not enjoy seeing and spending time with.  I have simply filled my schedule.  I also am not house sitting in August because before I leave for school I want the time with my own pets and family, as they deserve my attention too!  I am fortunate to have been able to count on my mother for taking care of my pets while I take care of yours and now it is my time to be dedicated fully to them.

So thank you all so much for all your support (both in this business, and in my upcoming adventure), it means  the world to me that I have been able to provide this service for as long as I have!  If you are in need of referrals you can contact me, though I admit my circle of house sitter friends has dwindled over time as well... but I can try to point you in the right direction.  Please, keep checking the blog for updates on my trip and travels in St. Kitt's! 

Opinions are like...

When I first was picking out vet schools I thought I wanted to go to, the list was difficult to narrow down.  It seemed like everyone I talked to had an opinion about which school was best, and where I should apply.  Naturally a majority of people I talked to were vets, and many many of them felt I should apply to their school!  It had worked for them, so it was probably going to work for me too!  Invariably these schools all took on "a lot of out of state students, more than the rest of the schools", and also were "cheaper and have better financial aid" then the next.  In reality this is not true for the most part.  Yes, some of the schools did have a higher acceptance rate than others of out of state students-- but it was never that high, or that different.  And yes, some of the schools offered tuition that was cheaper than others, but never by much (I mean really, when you're talking 50,000 plus a semester whats an extra three of four thousand bucks?!) 


When all was said and done I applied to eight schools total, including Ross of course.  Ross was always different from the rest of them.  Right away a few things were clear about this school that made it stand out from the others.  Obviously location has a lot to do with it being so different, but it is not the only tropical island vet school-- it IS the only accredited one however (more on this shortly.)  As soon as I started mentioning interest in Ross to vets and people I knew, tones changed.  There was (and is) definitely some negative perceptions of the newly accredited program, but I want to use this time to point out some of the inaccuracies.  


Inaccuracy number 1: "Ross is a place where people who couldn't get into other vet schools go, thus lowering the caliber of the program."  False.  At least in some regards.  Yes, Ross is a program that takes on a lot of applicants not otherwise looked at by the American vet schools.  It does however still have requirements about grades, GRE scores, and previous academic achievements.  It is also not a program for the faint of heart- traditional schools in the states go 4 years- with summers off.  Ross goes 7 semesters, with no summers off making the program fast paced and with little breathing time.  If you can't handle the pace, you won't make the cut.  The reason Ross adjusts its qualifications for applicants and accepts other types of students is that they feel there is more to being a vet than just being intelligent/book smart.  If it weren't for their feeling on this, I might not be able to pursue my dream!


Inaccuracy number 2: "Well class sizes are HUGE!  No way can a person possibly get prepared hands on for clinicals and real life"  False.  Though the class size might be larger than some of the standard schools in the states initially, it quickly diminishes.  Some people can't handle the homesickness, others the stress of school, and still others just plain fail out.  It is said within the first few weeks of the program the class will lose about 15-20 students.  It's a high mortality rate for the program and some people may disagree with my assessment on this, but I feel as if it is more practical in ways than traditional American Vet schools with lower acceptance rates.  It is also FALSE that Ross takes on more students than they can place in the clinical year of study.  Their admission fluctuates in correspondence to the number of open US slots at a given time.  


Inaccuracy number 3: "Isn't the program ungodly expensive!?"  Well yes, sort of.  In the grand scheme of things ANY out of state veterinary college in my opinion is ungodly expensive.  For instance, tuition at Cornell for out of state is around 65,000 PER YEAR.  You may pick your jaw up off the floor now.  Tuition to Ross per semester is around 15,000.  Mind you these include living expenses such as rent/books/groceries etc.  Ross as 7 semesters totaling 105,000$, plus your clinical year which costs about 19,000... so lets say your cost is $125,000.  This does not include your airfare which can be pricey- but in reality you don't have much time to fly home, and I don't intend to but MAYBE 2x a year... more likely once.  If you do the math for Cornell it comes out to: $260,000!  Thats a huge difference.  **Addendum- the amount listed for Ross is the amount if you do NOT borrow full amounts of financial aid.  Estimated full loan amounts push that total to 29,000 or so per semester... a little more for your clinic, for a total of somewhere around 230,000 available as a full loan.  This is STILL a good 30,000 different from Cornell.**


Inaccuracy number 4:  "Don't you have to pass some huge test before you can pass the National Exam?"  Nope, not any more.  Since Ross became accredited recently it is now recognized by the AVMA.  This means that students need only pass the NAVLE (or the boards for the states) as opposed to an international exam, and then the national exam.  And while on the topic of accreditation I'd like to point out that it isn't just a fleeting thing to get accredited.  It is a long process which all the other schools in the states had to go through before they were considered adequate education.  To me, if the school is accredited, it is on par with the schools in the states.  Period, end of sentence.  


Inaccuracy number 5: "Isn't the island really unsafe?  Filled with murder, rape, robbery etc.!?"  While some sources would like you to believe that at every turn there is a crime waiting to happen on the island it is actually not quite true.  Yes, this is a third world country with their own set of issues stemming from the poverty.  Yes, there are crimes- most commonly burglaries... however there is hardly a vet school in the states that is not in a major city of some kind.  And in all of these cities all these crimes occur frequently.  I believe you can't live your life in fear of what might possible happen somewhere, someday.  Instead, I opt to use common sense- I won't walk at night alone in unfamiliar territory.  I won't venture into areas that are known to be less safe.  The school has students live on campus the first semester to familiarize themselves with the island and the natives.  Security there is excellent.  Once you move to an apartment, the school helps you select approved apartments in safe areas.  Can you always be sure you won't be at risk for a crime?  No, but I can't even say that in my tiny hometown (sad as that is.)  


So you see there are many falsehoods believed about this school.  Ross isn't paying me to write this (quite the contrary, I've been paying them!"  I have spoken with recent students and read up on the school from outside sources.  If you always believe the hype and negative imagery you will never move beyond what lies in plain sight.  If I happen to be dead wrong about these things, I have the ability to call it done with school there... and I have the ability to try and transfer to a state side school also... but for now I'm just taking it all in!  


Image courtesy of st-kittsnevis.com photo gallery, showing South Friars Bay

The first of many!

I have started and ended blogs many times in the past, and mostly because my posts delved into ranty, ihateworkschoolteachersparents generic, blah posts which I got embarrassed about three days later and deleted anyways.  This blog is going to be different because for once I actually have a journey to write about! 


On August 26th, at 8:15AM I will be flying out of JFK to the land of tropical vacationers dreams-- St. Kitt's.  Known for the beaches, wildlife and weather- most people assume its great for spending a week but I doubt many of my friends would up and move there, even if it was for school.  But that's what I'm doing!  I will be embarking on my long awaited goal of becoming a veterinarian, and I'll be doing it in a third world country where contact to my family and friends will not be a daily face to face interaction.  I'm terrified and electrified at what lies ahead of me.  The path to get there though has been more winding than the infamous curving roads of the island.  


Wayyyy back when I was a youngster I wanted to be a vet.  Then I wanted to be a teacher.  Then a doctor. Then back to a teacher.  By the time I had hit middle school I had wanted to be a dozen things, all the while I really didn't know what I wanted to wear for clothing that day.  When I was in seventh and eighth grade I begged my parents to let me volunteer at the local animal shelter.  We had one dog and two cats at our house.  My father was firm that we weren't getting any more animals (especially since the dog was over 100 pounds and had no desire to share his living space with other dogs.)  The only way I would get to see more animals was by volunteering.  Oh, and one of my friends got to do it, so I wanted to also!  I had no idea that this would be a starting path for me.  


Through volunteering at the age of 12 (my mother had to drive me, and stay with me to make sure I stayed on task- this was before age limits were introduced) I quickly found I was passionate about working with the animals.  I liked walking the dogs, and playing with the variety of cats or rats or guinea pigs.  I quietly worked my way up from dog walker, to kennel assistant on Sunday mornings (as a volunteer), to dog training team member.  I made good friends, saw heartbreaking stories unfold, and happy endings light up a dreary day.  I volunteered all the way through high school, and still as college approached I didn't think I wanted to do something directly involving veterinary medicine.  By senior year, I figured I had nothing to lose by going to Maine to pursue a degree in Marine Biology-- after all that must be all about dolphins and manatees, right?!  WRONG! 


After about four weeks of trudging through mud flats on the ocean I was done with my obsession of becoming a marine biologist.  I stuck it out for the year and applied for Fall admittance to a vet tech program back here in VT.  I was accepted, and that fall I would start afresh doing something completely different- though I still wasn't sure it was what I wanted to be doing.  That fall I joined the class of want to be vet techs, and set forth studying all things related to the field.  By the time I did my required summer internship I was in love!  Finally, something that seemed to fit with what I wanted!! I worked hard, got good grades, and passed my certification exam at the end of the degree.  I was offered a job just two weeks after I graduated from school and didn't think twice!  


From 2006 when I graduated, til 2009 I put a lot of effort into my job.  I learned tons of valuable skills (things they could never begin to teach in the walls of a classroom), and I took opportunities to expand my knowledge base (and my animal family... ahem) but realized that I wanted more than I could get as a vet tech.  Surgery excites me, diagnosing and formulating treatment plans present challenges, and most importantly I could extend the client relationships I learned to value so much as a technician.  In order to go to vet school I had to go BACK to school, this time to finish my Bachelors and requirements for admission. 


I never take a conventional path for things-- I mean here I was 3 years post graduation from my associates degree, and I decided I was going back to Maine to try and finish my Animal Science degree.  In one semesters time I discovered the college would not accept credits even if I argued for them to do so from making appeals.  The local university in VT would accept many more, thus cutting down on the time I would need to be in college for undergrad (and cutting my debt some too!)  SO, I went back to VT and was accepted at UVM for studying Animal Science.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful advisor at UVM who would help me with my applications for vet school, even though I was such a non-traditional student and he had not known me for long.  I started the process, but was reminded time and time again by faculty and my advisor that traditional US schools frown upon Technical College degree work, and non-traditional students.  My chances for getting in somewhere in the US were looking skimpy even though my grades, experience, and GRE scores were ok.  My advisor pointed out, though, that Ross might be a good fit- they take a lot of students on that might not otherwise get the chance to prove their worth-- and he said that other schools have taken notice that Ross students are not Prima Donna's in their attitudes, they are good students, and well rounded having experienced life in such a different locale.  I applied, as a back-up to Ross.  Fast forward to today, and after heartbreak from US schools, and still sitting on some waiting lists I am prepared and comitted to going to Ross now.  Even though it was not my first choice, I am more and more excited every day, especially as more information pours in. 


This blog I hope will allow people to follow my journey through vet school, and all my prep work before hand.  I would write more tonight but this blog post is long enough and I am tired- looong day of work looking me in the face for tomorrow!  Tomorrow or the next day, I hope to write about some of the things I've have done so far as prep work, and also about pre-conceived notions that might be out there about the school! 

A view of the campus!