Where to live?

Most likely for the past four years you have been living in whatever city your undergraduate college was located in. You've probably lived primarily in the dorms or apartments with multiple roommates. In the coming months before you enter into veterinary school you are probably going to need to find a new place to live with new people in a new city. This can seem like a daunting task and it definitely is, but as long as you start planning early and plan smart then  you will find the perfect place to live.

There are four primary housing options for a student in your position. You can live in the graduate/professional student dorms on campus, rent an apartment, rent a house, or buy a home. When determining which option is right for you a lot of different factors need to be taken into consideration. The following are some of the main questions to ask yourself.

- Do you want to live alone or with roommates?
- What is your monthly budget for rent/mortgage?
- How far away from campus do you want to be?
- What quality of housing are you accustomed to or need?
- Do you have pets?

I have personally spent the last four years with at least three to five other roommates living in dorms/apartments and therefore I absolutely do not want to live with anyone else besides my soon to be husband. My situation is a little bit on the unique side because I will be going into veterinary school with a significant other and we plan on buying a home because we have the funds and overall it is much cheaper than renting.

I highly recommend looking at this option, especially in the Lansing area, if you have means (funds and a partner that you can share the responsibility and work with) because you can get a pretty nice house for relatively cheap. Generally buying a house can save you a lot of money over renting because a house is like an investment. However, there are a lot of hidden fees, work, and unexpected costs.

If you are in debt and on your own then it would probably be smarter to use your money for renting. When renting, the problems that you encounter (leaky roof, broken heater....etc) is going to be the responsibility of the landlord. There is going to take a lot of stress off of you. Renting is also great because it provides you with a community, many places come with amenities (pool, fitness center, covered parking...etc).

As most of you probably have pets as aspiring veterinarians, it can make the process much more difficult and a little bit more expensive. Some places don't allow pets (or certain breeds/sizes) and almost all apartments/houses require a pet deposit and monthly fee.

My biggest advice is to start your search early, do a lot of research, know what you want, and know who you want to live with. Veterinary school is going to be stressful enough without you having to worry about your living situation or terrible roommates. A quick tip is that in many cases you can find good housing or even houses for sale from veterinary students at the college you are attending through facebook or other means of communication. As students are graduating, there are going to be rooms opening up each year. Before you jump into a new group of roommates, make sure to visit the location first and get to know the other people before you commit! Good luck!!!

MSU Welcome Day!

This past Friday over Spring Break, I attended the Welcome Day program at Michigan State University for students admitted into the veterinary program. I highly recommend going to this program if you are considering MSU for veterinary school because it provides a great overview of the program, details about paying for veterinary school, a tour of the facilities, and a chance to meet your future professor and classmates. 

It is a totally free event and they provide a pretty nice lunch, but it is quite a long day (10am to 5pm) and you are going to have a lot of information thrown at you. The day begins with a welcome introduction of everyone in the room and then moves on into a presentation of the MSU veterinary curriculum. They do a good job of touching on the basics of the courses, but I would have liked to have gotten a bit more in-depth. Next you hear about different student programs and services, then about financial aid opportunities, and finally a team building activity. A large part of the Welcome Day was about emphasizing the fact that we are a competitive group of people, but to get through veterinary school successfully we are going to need to work as a team. Throughout the day there were three fun team building exercises that allowed us all to get to know each other a little bit better. After a very yummy lunch, we had a Q and A session with two veterinary students, following by a presentation on the technology requirements, followed by a tour of the hospital and college, and the last point of the day was a discussion about scholarship opportunities. 

As you can see it was a long day, but it was filled with lots of great information. A great thing about this program is that family is welcome and encouraged. My fiance went with me and found it very informative as well. It is a great chance for your family/significant other to get an idea of what you are going to be doing with your life for the next four years and help them understand exactly how challenging it is going to be. 

Many schools put on very similar programs to the MSU Welcome Day, so no matter where you are going try to attend these very informative programs or at the very least get a tour of the college before you commit to going. 

To Be Patient or Not To Be Patient???

So......most of you who are applying to veterinary school are probably feeling (and those of you applying in the future have to look forward to) impatient. You started the VMCAS nine months ago and submitted it five months ago. You might have done a few supplementary applications and maybe even a rare interview. Since then all you have been doing is waiting in limbo not knowing which school and for that matter which state (or country) you will be in next year!! Let me tell you, it is tough waiting for that email or letter from the school you applied to. As the estimated date gets closer, you constantly check your email and have mini heart attacks when you get an email from your school but it is just about an update or blog they want you to read.

Stop, relax, and try not to think about it. Time will go faster when you forget that you are waiting for the letter. Soon enough you will get the email/letter and you won't even be expecting it. That is how it happened for my first letter because it arrived a little early. However, these past two letters have been pretty tough because their deadlines were pushed back.

Now, the real question that I had been asking myself is do I just wait around for the letter or do I call them and ask about their timeline. What is the appropriate time frame to give them a call? My patience had held up until today. I called Wisconsin and they were extremely nice and let me know that the letters had actually been sent out in the mail Friday and you wouldn't believe it but two hours later my acceptance letter arrived in the mail. Next I called North Carolina State University and they were a bit shorter with me and didn't give me a good idea of what to expect. However, later that night an email was sent saying the letters were sent today. So here you have a good example with Wisconsin and a questionable example with NCSU.

I would personal suggest trying to be as patient for as long as you can be. If you do get to anxious and have to call them try to do it near or after their deadline if you haven't received any notifications. I have heard from many different applicants and even some close friends, that they didn't hear any news from their schools until they called them way past the deadline and were told over the phone they weren't accepted. So something you will just need to bite the bullet and call them because they might not reach out and contact you. Overall, my experiences with the admissions staff at all of the schools has been very pleasant and helpful so if you do have a question, even about letter deadlines, just give them a call and ask. Maybe they will like your initiative and interest.

Planning Veterinary School with a Spouse

For those of you in a committed relationship, whether it is a boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance, or husband/wife, your planning process for veterinary school will be a little bit different. Unlike single people, your decision will impact someone else's life to varying levels depending on your level of commitment to that person. There are a lot of things that you have to take into consideration depending on your relationship circumstances.

If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, then you might not have much of a difference to worry about. Significant others at this stage are important but at this point in a relationship you must make the right decision for yourself. This might mean going to a school thousands of miles away from your significant other because it is where you want to be or the only school you got into. Long distance can work, but you have to be prepared that it might not work if you don't work hard to keep the connection there.

The best policy during the application process is to be open and honest with your significant other. You need to make sure that they know where your thought process is at and what your end goal is. A lot of people might not realize what it means to go to veterinary school, so you need to make sure that your significant other understands what they are signing on for when they stick with you through veterinary school. Whether it means a long distance relationship or long days at school with long nights of studying, it is going to be a tough time on your relationship.

I know from experience that this can be tough because I am currently engaged and will be married at the beginning of the summer. My fiance and I have been planning where we wanted to end up for veterinary school since my sophomore year. We have always been very open about where our relationship was going and what each of us wanted. We knew that we were going to be together in the long run, so since the very beginning where I was going to veterinary school was about "us" and not "me". We chose locations that were good for both his job outlook and had good veterinary programs for me. He has been by my side throughout the entire process helping to proofread my application and cheer me on as I get acceptances.

Everyone is going to develop their own way to cope with the impending change that veterinary school will have on their relationship. There is no right way and sometimes it is going to be hard. My advice is to be open with communication, take both people's dreams into consideration, and make sure that you are making the right decision for both of you.

FAFSA

It is that time of the year, FAFSA time! Most of you are probably very familiar with the FAFSA because of undergrad. Some of you might think, oh they aren't going to give me any money for attending a professional school. Which yes, you most likely aren't going to get any government aid, but is still very important that you continue to fill out the FAFSA if you are planning to attend veterinary school. The FAFSA also allows you to get certain types of special loans and It is also a benefit to fill out the FAFSA because veterinary schools look at this form when they are considering people for scholarships. Schools want to be able to help out those who are in financial need and a lot of the scholarships out there for veterinary schools have a "financial need" factor. So, even though it might be a pain to fill out it will help you in the long run!

Tip***
Make sure to get the correct Financial Aid Code for each of your veterinary schools that you applied to for the FAFSA. This will allow the schools to access your FAFSA and takes it into consideration. I will be compiling all of these codes on my website under the Funds Page so take a look there if you need help.

Looking Back on School Selections

As an applicant sitting in limbo during January waiting on my two top schools to make contact with me about my application's status has really made me think about the decisions I made about six months ago when I was choosing the schools to apply to. I have no regrets in applying to the four schools that I did apply to, but what I do regret is not applying to more schools and schools in warmer locations. As many of you are thinking, applying to more schools quickly increases the financial aspect. This did impact my decision to only apply to four schools, but looking back I shouldn't have let this influence me so much. It may seem like a lot of money, with each additional school adding about $100 plus supplemental and interview fees on top, but in the long run it is very little compared to the opportunity of getting into veterinary school.

So when you are selecting your schools, make sure you do so with care. Make sure they fit who you are and what you want out of veterinary school. You don't want to waste your money, but I can guarantee you that you will never say "darn, I wish I would have applied to fewer schools". It will always be the wish that you had applied to more schools because it will increase your chances and bring piece of mind.  

It's been awhile....

This is my first post in a few months. I've been pretty busy with my fall semester and work, but in the coming months I will be busy with my blog and website! I hope to have everything completed by the beginning of April, so stay tuned in for all of the new information I will be putting up and let me know if there is anything you would like me to add!

As far as for me, January is fast approaching which means hopefully hearing from veterinary schools. I have already heard back from one of my schools this past month and it was my first acceptance!!! I'm still waiting to hear back from three schools, but it is an absolutely amazing feeling to know that I will become a veterinarian. For those of you who have received acceptances, congrats! For those of you waiting to hear back, stay strong and be confident because you have worked very hard to get to this spot.

On a little Christmas note! This past holiday I worked at the Animal Emergency Hospital and probably every other patient that walked in was a toxicity, whether it was chocolate, macadamia nuts, or medications. So be careful with your pets around the holidays because there are so many more opportunities for them to get into toxic substances. Some common signs of chocolate toxicity are vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, increased heart rate, restlessness, increased urination, and even seizures, coma, and death. If you see any of these symptoms or know your dog has gotten into chocolate call your local vet or emergency hospital to find out what level of toxicity it is and if your pet needs to be hospitalized. It is always better to be safe then sorry!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Good luck on your coming (and hopefully last) semester : D