Rejected for a vet school entry
I’ve applied to veterinary schools in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, received offers but I ultimately had to make the hard decision of rejecting them because I just couldn’t afford the huge sum of tuition fees.
After researching a lot (and for a long time) about affordable veterinary schools, I came across a veterinary school at University of Pretoria in South Africa. Since finding out about it at the end of 2020, I have been wanting to get into this Bachelor’s of Veterinary Science (BVSc) program. 2 main points really excite me. One of them being the affordability of the program. It is 5 times cheaper than any accredited veterinary medicine program in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand. The other point is that it is accredited with the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC), the Veterinary Council of Namibia (VCN), the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in the United Kingdom, and the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC) in Australia and New Zealand. Graduates are eligible to register as veterinarians in the above mentioned countries and other countries (Singapore, Hong Kong etc) without having to pass any further professional examinations. As a Singaporean, I was really elated to have found out about this opportunity as I, of course, wanted to have the option of coming back home, where my loved ones are, to work. Definitely, there were safety concerns which I was worried about. However, after enquiring more with the university and students studying there, I was more assured to go ahead with my decision to apply. Here’s more information about the program: https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/13/ug-fb-veterinary-science-2022-final-03.02.2021.zp198771.pdf
Nonetheless, I was rejected by them. They rejected me on the basis of not taking physics at a higher level than O level and/or not taking a related diploma. If this happened to me years ago, I would probably dwell over it for many weeks. I’ll overthink and regret so many things. I’ll regret going to junior college instead of polytechnic. I’ll regret taking A level Biology instead of Physics. I’ll regret taking gap years and question my persistence to continue down this path instead of just getting into a decent course in a Singapore university. Anyhow, I do not regret taking A level instead of a diploma. I do not regret taking biology instead of physics. I do not regret taking gap years instead of accepting the offer from engineering courses in NUS/NTU. I do not regret sticking with my passion to work with animals.
After speaking to many veterinarians, veterinary students and potential veterinary students, I found out that I’m not the only one facing this issue. Many have taken degrees (before a veterinary science degree) and gap years just to get to where they are and want to be. I learnt that it’s not how fast we get there, it’s about enjoying the process of reaching there by staying present.
Therefore, instead of being sullen, I decided to take up this 1 year work and study Specialist Diploma in Veterinary Clinical Practice at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. I didn’t meet the minimum requirements because it’s actually a post diploma program for diploma holders with a relevant diploma. It took them a while to get back to me but I was eventually offered a place! It’s fully funded by my company and I’ll actually learn skills to improve patient and client care. I am especially looking forward to the emergency care module. Click here for more information about the program if you meet the requirements. If you do not meet the minimum requirements like I do, click here to learn more about the program I applied for. You can liaise with your company on sponsorship and they may fully fund it for you. It is also claimable using your Skillsfuture Credit if you are a Singaporean and above 25 years old.
Nonetheless, I’ll reapply again next year with this specialist diploma and more hands-on experience at the animal clinic I’m currently working at. I believe I’ll be more mentally, physically and emotionally ready for veterinary school then.
Why did I decide to take the specialist diploma?
To better equip myself with skills and knowledge useful in the veterinary industry. From about one and a half years of working as a veterinary nurse, I gained a lot of practical skills such as IV catheter placement, blood draw, animal restraining, anaesthesia monitoring and more. However, I realised that I lack the knowledge of the science and reasoning behind the things that we do. For example, calculations of fluid therapy and the type of fluids to give patients. I am able to calculate the fluid rate but I do not understand the reasoning of the fluid rate formula. Furthermore, I am able to prepare and provide assistance in an emergency but I still lack the understanding of when to use certain drugs and provide proper emergency care and trauma management. Other essential knowledge I’d learn would be about regulations and operations of the animal industry. I believe I would gain a better understanding of the whole industry on a more professional level which would definitely come in handy in the future as long as I stay in this industry. With this program, I have greater confidence that I would be a more valuable contributor in the veterinary field.
Next, it is to challenge myself and be more ready for veterinary school. It has been about one and a half years of me being in the workforce (and not as a student) and when university starts I thought I might take a long time to adapt to the rigors of studying. Therefore, I believe that this work and study program would better prepare me for veterinary school as I learn to cope with the intensity of studying, working and doing the things that I love. Additionally, I get to learn things related to the work I do! It’s like killing three flies with one slap. Forming good habits and routines early would allow their benefits to amplify in the long run. Just like writing one blog post per week, that makes 52 posts in a year and 156 posts in 3 years!
Furthermore, it is only a 1 year course and it is fully sponsored by my company. Since I have another year in Singapore I thought I might just take up this opportunity to almost fully immerse myself in this field and learn as much as I can. There is really not much cost and opportunity cost to it other than the time spent on it. However, honestly, there is really not any course out there in this field that is 1 year and allows me to work to save money for veterinary school at the same time. The only opportunity cost I can think of is that I could be spending the time studying an engineering degree (if all else fails) in a Singapore university instead of pursuing this route. That thought was on my mind a couple of years back but not anymore, I’ve made up my mind to keep pushing through. Besides, the things I’m doing now are mostly aligned with my internal values and aims.
Potential struggles
- Time management:
Besides working full time at a busy animal clinic, I am also volunteering with a special needs boy twice weekly and tutoring twice weekly. Night classes would be from 6pm to 10pm. I would need to really make good use of all my time. To me, little time can also be used wisely and efficiently such as time spent travelling on the train or bus. Many people might think otherwise that it is alright to just spend it mindlessly scrolling through social media. Anyways, it is only 20 to 30 minutes. Is it really just 30 minutes? I’m learning to kick away that bad habit and I’m glad to say I’m starting to see progress!
Finding out the reason for my urge to grab my phone and ways to tackle that urge really helped me find the breakthrough to my incapability to remain focused at the task at hand. I recommend reading ‘Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life’ by Nir Eyal if you also have the same problem as I did. One of the biggest takeaways I learnt was time management is pain management. Distractions cost us time and they are spurred by the desire to escape discomfort. I wanted to finish reading my book before it was due for return but I was distracted by scrolling through social media for that 10 minutes to escape the discomfort of reading and digesting new information for the betterment of myself. I wanted to spend that 1 hour I had between volunteering and meeting a friend for dinner writing a blog post but instead spent it on replying to messages and updating my social media about what happened 2 days ago. Of course, these distractions would not be called a distraction if they were really what I wanted to do and allocated time for. Planning ahead is the only way to know the difference between traction and distraction.
Another big takeaway I learnt was that we don’t run out of willpower. Believing we do makes us less likely to accomplish our goals by providing a rationale to quit when we could otherwise persist. I’ve been learning coding for the past few months. On some days I planned to revise some codes I’ve learnt but many times after a long day at work, I would just lay in bed and spend hours watching youtube videos because I believe I lack the willpower to study as my mind was ‘tired’ from working. If my mind was really tired, I could have slept early, giving myself the self-compassion to ‘quit’ instead of forcing myself to revise codes or spend hours with my eyes glued to my phone screen. This vicious cycle of lack of sleep and thinking I’ve run out of willpower can be difficult to escape.
I would have to remind myself of these beliefs if I ever catch myself about to fall into my bad habits. In school, we are not taught how to properly manage and protect our time, our finite resource. We learnt to give our time to people and things that don’t align with our values. I’m slowly learning to realise that and hope to help others do the same.
Additionally, time spent with people who matter most to me — family and friends — is equally important to my personal and work time. They surely do not deserve leftover time. Managing my time includes allocating quality time with these people. Deepening relationships are essential to our social being. Loneliness can be detrimental to our health.
Sundays are reserved for my family. I still do 2 hours of tutoring on Sundays and occasionally I would be called in to work (once every few months). However, I made a promise to my parents that I would let them try something novel or rarely done each Sunday, regardless whether I had work or tutoring, be it trying new food, watching a new movie, making a decoration for our home or even gardening.
It was definitely easier to keep close friendships in school because of how frequent we saw our friends and how predictable our school schedule was. However, as we reach adulthood and start to work, we live separate lives and we forget the importance of friendships. We let our friendships starve to death and same for our mental health. I plan to meet a friend at least once a week for at least 1 or 2 hours for a meal. That I believe would keep me sane. It is to also let my friends know that I still think of them and that they still matter to me.
- Inability to cope with the study contents and lack of knowledge:
I graduate from a junior college in 2019 and have been working full time since then. For nearly 2 years, I have not been actually studying, taking examinations or submitting graded assignments. I do miss that rigour of study (definitely worse in veterinary school) but I am also nervous about what is to come and how I would be able to handle it. The grading system for this program is like university, with the use of GPA, which I have never experienced before. Furthermore, I do not have any related diploma or degree. I am afraid that I might not be able to understand the information enough to apply to real life scenarios.
However, I believe these doubts are probably a sign of imposter syndrome and I can hopefully get past these thoughts. Having about 2 years of work experience in this field would certainly be of help to me and my learning. The knowledge gained would only improve my confidence and enhance the patient and client care I provide.