Veterinarian Career Essay

Ever since I was 5, I was asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Most kids answer with astronaut or professional baseball player, but my answer was always the same, veterinarian. There is no concrete reason for me wanting to be a veterinarian. No one in my family works with animals and my parents never really even liked animals or had pets, until I came around that is. I wish I could explain the exact moment when a lightning bolt struck and all the sudden I knew I was meant to be a veterinarian, however nothing like that has ever happened to me. What made me initially want to be a veterinarian was the way I felt around animals. Nothing could cheer me up more after a bad day than my cat curling up on my lap or clearing my mind while

My teachers would give me career aptitude tests, and I researched job after job. I looked into research careers, I liked science and I always did well in my lab classes, I also looked into careers in marine biology as a possibility. The more I researched, however, the less interested I became in these careers. No matter how much I explored, I always came to the same answer: Veterinarian. So as soon as I was able I got a job, it was at a veterinarian’s office. This was my last attempt to make sure this was my true calling, and it was. I loved working with the cats, dogs, birds, and whatever else came through the door. Watching the veterinarian diagnosing pets and observing him in surgery was inspiring to me, I tried as hard as I could to take it all in. During my first job, I was in charge of watching over the exotic animals that were brought to the clinic. One day a box of stranded new born opossums were dropped off to be taken care of. The helpless little things looked to me to take care of them, I fed them, stimulated them to urinate and defecate, and made a cozy place for them to sleep. It was an amazing feeling watching an animal heal because of something you did. The bunch began with seven opossums, only four survived to be released. It was disheartening to see the three pass, but the joy of watching the four make it

To open my horizons I took horseback riding lessons, studied sea turtles, and volunteer at Zoo Atlanta. Taking up horseback riding was a challenge for me, I didn’t start until I was in middle school, while most of the other riders started as soon as they could walk. However, I was determined to gain as much experience as possible. So I put my pride aside and took lessons with the younger girls, and I am glad I did. I learned so much about the great creatures, and at Rose Ridge I was even able to observe when the vet came to check up on the horses. To gain as much knowledge as I could I volunteered with the camps for children and assisted in training the new horses. Being able to get a horse to trot and canter from just leading her with a lead rope was challenging, but felt extraordinary once mastered. I loved learning to work with animals that were bigger than I was, they could easily overtake me, but being confident with my skills made it all possible. I took great delight in working with horses, but I still wanted to experience more. So when I learned that my college offered a research program with sea turtles, I took it. I went along with 17 other students to a tiny island off the coast of Georgia. The island was amazing, barley any human influence, wild animals were everywhere. Deer would come and eat right out of your hand, ring-tailed lemurs, there