Dare to be different. Admissions committees are not judging applicants based upon how badly they want to get into veterinary school or how long they’ve been working towards that goal. Believe it or not it can strengthen your application if you show that you haven’t always been interested in veterinary medicine or that you’ve tried other things and returned to vet med. Having experiences in other fields or professions can demonstrate to the admissions committee that you are sure that veterinary medicine is the career best-suited for you. If you had nothing else to compare it to, how certain can you be, right?
My advice:
- Embrace your unique qualities that are NOT related to veterinary medicine. By showing admissions committees that your world does not revolve around veterinary medicine, but that you are a well-rounded individual with a multitude of interests.
- Demonstrate in your personal statement how your seemingly unrelated experiences apply to veterinary medicine and will help make you a better veterinarian in the long term. By doing so you are showing the admissions committee that you do not just have “experiences” but you have gained qualities and/or tools that will be useful to you in your newly chosen career.
- Don’t worry about sounding indecisive. As long as you show your “journey” and how you’ve changed, grown, etc., you will not be mistaken as a person that just cannot make up his/her mind.