This job posting is looking for a part-time or full-time veterinarian at Biscuit & Bath’s New York Veterinary Practice. This job requires a DVM or VMD degree from a university. It also requires a New York State veterinary license of at least two years of veterinary experience or internship hours at an emergency/ speciality center. Their desired qualifications include a genuine interest in the well-being of dogs, the ability to handle multiple responsibilities and complete deadlines in a timely manner in a fast-paced environment. And lastly, the position desires great communication skills both verbally and when writing. 

During my time in college, I will need internship and shadowing experience/ hours. I will also need all the core classes and requirements needed to apply to Veterinary school. I will need to take the MCAT, and obtain a VMD degree after obtaining my Bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University. 

As of right now, I have my four-year plan written out. I have a generalized, but good idea of what classes I want to take each semester so that it meets my requirements for graduation and to apply for veterinary school. I plan to take all the core science courses needed to take the MCAT, and my goal is to keep at least a 3.7 GPA to apply for veterinary school. I also plan on doing summer internships and shadowing veterinarians to accumulate hours of hands-on animal experience. I plan on studying abroad to enrich my education and experience the animal science field outside of the United States. I will participate in multiple clubs and have at least one leadership position on an executive board. I will make connections and establish friendships with professors that can help write my recommendation letters. I will strengthen my communication skills through applying for internships and jobs and through practicing public speaking. I will get a job to help fund my education and further improve my communication skills, preferably one that is related to my field. I also want to have a diverse resume/ application that is not just animal science based. I will continue to dance and pursue my other artistic hobbies in college. I also want to volunteer at shelters. I intend on establishing a minor in business my junior year of undergraduate college to help prepare for possibly opening my own practice one day. I will eventually take the MCAT and apply for veterinary school. I will work hard at classes and accumulate more internship hours throughout graduate school and eventually graduate with a VMD degree. 

This semester so far, I’ve been learning about how culture influences our social development. I was particularly interested in how ideal culture and real culture contradict to result in cultural inconsistency. Basically, this means that there are specific values and  behaviors that are society expresses like honesty. This is the ideal culture. But in reality, people lie all the time whether it is in interviews, on dates, or to your friends. People lie to maintain a certain image of themselves, and this is the real culture. People lying while promoting honesty is a cultural inconsistency. This month I learned that under stress and when overwhelmed with a lot of work, I can still organize my time so that I can space out my school work. I also learned that I have improved at adapting to change. Moving back to campus, going through the airport, and switching from classes at home to classes on campus wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I definitely struggled with balancing work and free-time. With my schedule this semester, I am constantly doing school work and I rarely find myself even having time to watch Netflix anymore. I either spend all day doing work in my suite, or am gone most of the day doing work at the Union. Also, with the cold weather and snow, getting food and going places in general from Morrill has become more difficult. Last night, ice froze all over campus, and walking back to West Campus was pretty scary. On a positive note, I spent a lot of quality time with family over the break. I also acquired a board position in the club Shades of Animal Science as Recruitment Chair. I also continued to strengthen the friendships I made first semester. I feel like I have a solid support system on campus, and many people I can trust.

I interviewed Alyssa Witeof, an animal science major who is currently working towards her graduate degree. She was extremely nice and helpful and someone I would definitely be comfortable reaching out to again. She also works in research in a vaccine development lab. When asked about her time in ENR scholars, she reflected on the great community and convenience of having people near her who shared the same major and classes. In terms of classes, her advice was that even though chem is a tough class, it shouldn’t discourage me completely from staying on the pre-vet track. She recommended equine nutrition, a study habits class, yoga, and horse-back riding as easy GE classes to pair with tough science classes. The clubs she participated in while at the Ohio State University were ski club, animal science club, pre-vet club, sailing club, buckeyethon, and block-o. I had no idea that ski club and sailing club even existed, and both sound so interesting. She said that buckeyethon was a really great experience for her and highly recommended it. She described block-o as being able to make signs and cheer in the stands during football games. She said that sophomore and junior year were good times to study abroad but personally, she herself never studied abroad. In terms of job interviews, she said that it was just as important for you to interview the person/ company interviewing you. Are they a good fit for you? Do they have the same expectations, culture, or setting as you are comfortable in? Good questions to ask them include: Why did the previous person quit? What do they dislike about the job? When asked about her professional world experience, Alyssa replied that people skills are very important in the professional world. She stressed the importance of maintaining a good GPA for veterinary school. Having different, unique experiences that make you stand out in applications is also important. Her last tip for me was recommending a research experience in a lab. Research heightens your resume and application, especially if you have published research. Alyssa originally was on the pre-vet track, but decided not to apply to a vet school after interning at an animal hospital. From talking to Alyssa, I was able to get a good idea of what classes I wanted to take next semester as well as how to approach interviews for internships or just job positions in general. I also received many helpful tips for applying to vet school and how to get more involved at Ohio State. There are definitely a few clubs that I will be looking into, as Alyssa pointed out the many connections and opportunities that you can gain from being a part of clubs related to your field. I learned that having good study habits are the key to being less stressed and feeling less pressure in your everyday life. 

The month of October was very exciting for me. It was the start of in-person labs for my animal science class. I got first-hand, up close experience with cows, pigs, and digestive tracts. I stuck my arm in a cannulated cow and felt its digestive system. I also learned all of the different meat parts of the pig. And I also got to measure the digestive tracts of different species. I learned in my animal systems class how humans evolved alongside animals and also how hybrid animal species are a result of climate change, and are endangering many other species. The second half of the semester, I took on two additional classes, and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to juggle all of the work and fit it all into my already busy schedule. Luckily, I have found that my organizational skills have allowed me to adjust well and I now have a schedule of which classes’ work I work on each day. I also learned that I am good at juggling my work/ school life and my extra-curricular/ relaxation life. I am in three clubs, and I do still struggle to go to every meeting, but I try and participate in them as much as possible. The biggest struggle for me is probably maintaining a good sleep schedule. I also learned that I have pretty good study habits, as my second round of midterm scores have improved. I am also stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things. I joined the dairy club’s cow showing, so I will be able to learn how to halter break a cow. The month of October, I went to Cincinnati for the weekend. I went to a drive-in movie theater for the first time, ate at Skyline for the first time, and left campus for the first time since I moved in. 

I am learning a lot of interesting things in my intro to animal science class. I learned about the controversies surrounding gestation stalls and the controversies surrounding cultured meat compared to plant-based or animal meat. When it comes to controversial topics like these, there is no right answer. Everyone has their own opinions that rightfully support their standpoint and each side has both pros and cons to their stance. For example, some people believe that letting sows be raised free range will give them freedom and that keeping sows in gestation crates is emotionally traumatizing to them. But the other side claims that gestation crates keep sows from getting disease and allows more control over caring for them in feeding them and giving them water. Throughout college so far, I’ve learned that I am pretty good at organizing my time and school work. I learned that I make friends pretty easily. I was worried that I wouldn’t get along with all my suite mates, but we all get along really well. We actually do most things together and we all vibe every night. At first, getting used to Carmen was stressful and I was worried I would miss an assignment or zoom. But six weeks in, I am confident in my ability to use Carmen. Another thing I struggled with was finding my way on campus. Especially since I lived so far from classes. But by mapping out my way to my in person classes, I ended up discovering more of campus and becoming more comfortable with finding my way around campus. One of my goals was to join a club and become more involved, and I have achieved it by joining the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association club and the movement variations club. I also went to the library which I had been putting off because I’d just always been studying in Morrill Tower. I also stay active by going on walks and playing tennis.