The long quest.......

To start, I guess I should begin by telling you about when and how I decided I wanted to become a veterinarian. We always had animal growing up, although I do not remember many of them but my first clear thought was near the end of grade 5, so back in 1991.  I saw this sickly old cat walking by the train tracks near my elementary school.  At first I felt a bit bad, but though nothing of it, just a stray cat.  As the week progressed, the cat didn't leave the perimeter of the school, I began to give it pieces of my lunch, which included some pudding (I was a kid) and some of the free milk we used to get.  Then the weekend came, as I returned to school the next week, I found the poor thing dead near the fence, not sure what the cause was at the time but now I can make a pretty good assumption that it was due to poor nutrition and perhaps age.  I remember thinking, to bad there wasn't someway I could have helped that cat more, to actually make it feel better and help make it healthy again, to save its life. 

I didn't give much more though into becoming a veterinarian until about 3 years later, as I neared the end of grade 7 (secondary 1).  Students were asked to look into and suggest a job they would like to do a one day internship at the location of our choice.  After looking over the list of potential jobs, I came across a veterinary clinic, which all of a sudden re-peaked my interest in my desire to help animals.

So the day came for my internship and I have to say, I loved it!!!!  It is that day, that captivated my continued interest and drive that I have today.   I was only 13 years old, so I can see why the experience is still so vivid in my mind.  I got to see a surgery for a luxated patella (loose knee cap), where the doctor had to grind down the head of the femur bone, so as the patella would properly sit into the joint, then she sutured it in place against the surrrounding tissue.  The second surgery was a poor dog, that got his paw run over and crushed.   The doctor spent over an hour, putting individual pins into each digit on the paw, replacing the bones in proper alignment and fixating the pins so the paw could heal properly.  It was an amazing experience, not to mention the other interesting things I saw that day, such a blood samples, general exams and so on.

The next day, I told the school counselor that I wanted to become a veterinarian.  Of course you get the usual answer you get from any school counselor, you know it is very hard, and you would have to study hard, and perhaps you should think of another career just in case.  I said thank you, but I wanted to become a veterinarian, and I understood the work involved, and I am capable of doing it!

Fast forward to the end of high school, to CEGEP, where I got in Dawson College into the Health Science program.  The plan was to apply to veterinarian medicine upon the completion of my degree.  Unfortunately this was not to be the case, half-way through my degree, in 1999 on the eve of the New Years, I got stricken with kidney stones.  I failed three of my core sciences courses with marks ranging from 35-45%.  This is of course destroyed my R-score (or GPA if you want), not to mention the next few semester I would have sporadic flare ups.  Unfortunately because of this, my R-score was no where close to the level they wanted to get into vet school.  I had a 28.45 they wanted a 33.0. 

Therefore my next step, was to go directly into University and try to complete a bachelor before applying, or completing another degree at the collegial level to try and raise my GPA to the acceptable level they wanted.  I decided to go back to CEGEP, but this time it was at Vanier College into the Animal Health Program.  I figured I could raise my GPA and at the same time I could work as a technician upon the completion of this degree as a fall back position. 

Fast forward another three years, it is now 2004, I am a certified animal health technician and I have been working as a technician for the last two years.  I apply to Université de Montreal (UdeM), the only school offering the program here in Quebec.  Unfortunately even with stellar marks my GPA was still below what they wanted, so I continued my career as a technician.  I did not give up on my dream, but I needed a break from my schooling.  So I spent the next couple of years continuing to work in various vet clinics.  Finally the day came for me to head back to school and to continue my quest to vet school.

I applied into the Biology program at Concordia University even though many suggested I enter into a lesser program to make sure I got perfect marks.  I just couldnt bring myself to "dumb myself down" as I would like to say to my friends.  Biology and the courses with in it were hard, but much more intriguing and interesting to learn.  Plus they apply to the field that i wanted to spend my life doing. 

Upon completion of my first three semesters, I decide to re-apply to UdeM, along with Guelph University in Ontario.  Unfortunately, once again my application gets denied.  Guelph at the time would only accept two students from Quebec every year, so I knew the chances of me getting in were slim, but it was the only other option I had at the time. 

Students from Eastern Canada, cannot apply to vet school in the west (Alberta) or the prairies (Saskatchewan), they just dont accept applications from other provinces.  As for the only other school available which was the one in PEI, they would consider me an international student, meaning I would have to pay international schooling fees.  I found it ridiculous that in my own country, I am pretty much an outsider.  I found it so irritating that i wrote a letter to the premier of my province to complain about our schooling system.  Of course you get the usual diplomatic reply, blah blah blah, we will look into it.

At this time, a friend of mine just completed her degree in veterinarian medicine at a school in the Caribbean.  The school was St. George University located on the island of Grenada.  Half-way through the application, a friend of mine comes across a poster for another school in the Caribbean.  This school was Ross University, which was located on the island of St-Kitt.  So upon the completion of my 5th semester, I finished my applications to both schools.

A couple of months later, I head back from Ross U.  They want to see me for an interview!!!  The next stage of the vet application, the stage I was always hoping to get to, because I knew I would nail it.  So fast forward to the interview, and my interviewer tells my brother "he slam dunked that interview", and that "he would be recommending me for immediate entry into the program".  So skip ahead one week, and I hear back from the school "you are officially accepted into the veterinary medicine program here at Ross University, Congratulations".  I cannot depict how elated and ecstatic I was to hear those words, finally I made it!!!!

There you have it, my long ass quest from the beginning till where I am now.  Hope you enjoyed the long read :)  Next up, will be info about my application to the school, and all the particular surrounding it.

Take Care for Now =D