Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I’m missing Christmas and still find myself listening to Christmas music and watching classic Christmas movies. Anyways, it’s time to get back to studying for my MCAT and preparing for next semester. I can already feel the stress building up. *Sigh* But it’ll be okay in the end. I’m happy to be back on my blog and excited to share new posts.
This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sara, a current vet student at Ross University. She is awesome and inspires me to keep reaching for my goal of becoming a physician. If you are interested in veterinary medicine, I’m intending to get another interview with Sara about her journey and her experience at Ross. Anyways, without further ado, here is Sara’s interview. Hope you enjoy the read!
Tell me a little bit about yourself. What is your main career goal?
Hi! I’m Sara Perfin. I’m 23 years old, and a first semester student in veterinary school at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts, West Indies. I’m from rural West Virginia, but I got my Bachelor of Science in Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. I loved animals growing up, but I went into undergrad as a creative writing major. It wasn’t until I had a rough freshman year and adopted a cat to help with my depression and anxiety that I discovered I wanted to become a veterinarian. To make a long, sad story short: my cat only lived to be six months old. He was very ill, and the vet I took him to did not seem to care. After back to back daily visits for a week, I decided to take him somewhere else, and that vet knew that she needed to perform surgery on him immediately in order to save his life. He didn’t survive one of the subsequent surgeries, but that vet’s difference in attitude, her will to help my cat: inspired me to become that kind of veterinarian myself. I had years to make up on my journey to become a vet, but I worked hard to gain experience and completed a biology degree in just three years. My main career goal is to become a veterinarian (duh), and practice small animal emergency medicine in a rural area.
What’s a fun fact about yourself?
I’ve hiked the highest point on the Appalachian Trail! 6,623 ft!
Where are you in your pre-med journey?
Currently accepted and attending veterinary school!
What kept you motivated throughout college?
It was hard. I won’t lie. A couple days after I changed my major from creative writing to biology, I told my (then) boyfriend over dinner. He laughed; I’ll never forget the pain I felt then. He told me, and I’ll never forget these words and the way he said them: “Good luck with that.” I was met with a lot of that sentiment as I started out on my journey. An advisor at VCU told me that I would likely not get into vet school due to my low GPA (3.4 at the time), and handed me a brochure on ecological fieldwork. I had professors tell me that my dreams likely weren’t going to come true. Even veterinarians told me the chance was slim. Every time I sat down to study I found myself thinking: Why? Why even try? Because there was a chance it could happen. There was a chance to prove every single person wrong. And that was worth the constant mental push to myself to study my butt off, and work my butt off in the veterinary field, in pursuit of my dream. It never got easier. Most of my friends spent their senior year having fun, partying, enjoying their last chance at being a “kid.” I spent it getting 6 rejection letters from veterinary school, one after the other, until I got that one interview. That ONE acceptance. And that hope that that could happen was what kept me motivated.
How do you stay motivated now?
This question is a lot harder for me than traditional veterinary students. Not only is the curriculum at Ross accelerated (seriously, such a large volume of information is thrown at me on a daily basis, my head hurts); I’m on an island, far away from friends and family. In a totally different culture. I sit down to study, and I start to think about how much I miss my cat. Then my mom, my boyfriend, my family, my little nieces. It’s really tough to stay focused in this isolated, high-pressure environment. In times like these I’m reminded of a quote from John Steinbeck: “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” I’ve jumped the hurdle of getting into vet school, and many more hurdles stretch in front of me (gross anatomy, parasitology, clinicals, etc.)…but I’m in the race now. At the end, I don’t get a trophy, I get a DVM. If I fail a test (already have), if I fail a class: so be it. I know, and I believe, I am capable— I belong here. THAT’s my motivation.
Finally, what advice do you have to students who wish to have a career in medicine or STEM?
Don’t be afraid to fail. Seriously. Did you fail a test? That’s okay. Study differently next time and give it another go. Did you fail a class? So did I, and guess what, I got into vet school. Did you fail multiple classes? That’s okay too. You do not need to be perfect. You are human, and humans fail. What you need is you need to have passion, you need to work hard. The rest will fall into place, eventually. I promise you that.
What’s your favorite quote or proverb?
“Life must be rich and full of loving— it’s no good otherwise, no good at all, for anyone.” – Jack Kerouac
Special thanks to Sara for sharing. Thanks for visiting my blog! Be sure to check out my other posts. There is more to come soon! Until then be kind and remember tomorrow depends on what you do today. Hope you enjoyed reading! — Taylor ❤
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