If you are considering a career in Veterinary Medicine it is important to find a mentor at any stage of your program, whether you are a pre-vet (planning on pursing veterinary school), current veterinary student, or recent veterinary school graduate. The veterinary profession is one that relies on continuous learning (i.e. you never stop learning in this career). I know a lot of people learn things on their own, but that's not what the veterinary profession is about either. It is about collaboration of professionals that are working together collectively to solve problems and help animals. Like I have mentioned in previous posts, once you start veterinary school you are part of a professional cohort.
A lot of pre-vets ask me HOW to get valuable veterinary experiences (which is required for your veterinary school application). I believe that getting valuable experiences starts with finding a great mentor. Having done it myself, I would have to say that finding a mentor is not always easy. It is easier if you have access to local veterinary clinics/practices or research universities/laboratories like UC Davis.
I have had many mentors in my life, but I will comment on how I found a few of them. My most recent mentor was a professor at UC Davis SVM. I contacted her regarding her research and laboratory interests. I had previously read some of her published papers and her online biography so I knew what I was getting into. I introduced myself as a junior student at UC Davis and told her that I was interested in pursuing a career in veterinary medicine. She was willing to meet and after meeting, allowed me to join a project in her lab. It is important to continue facilitating a working mentor ship. For example, I didn't just disappear in my mentor's lab never to see her again, I routinely met her about once a week or every two weeks and discussed everything with her from my research project, to my pursuit of veterinary school/research, and even horses. Almost 2 years later, I am in veterinary school and I ride one of her horses. We still continue to have a great mentor/mentee relationship.
Another great mentor I had was a local equine veterinarian who happened to be my horse's vet. After beginning my education at UC Davis I approached him to ask if I could do a ride along with him over the summer and told him of my intent to pursue veterinary school. He said he would be happy to have me along, but as summer approached I had to call him multiple times and email several times to secure a date I could do a ride along. I guess the point I am trying to get across is that you have to be willing to go out on a limb to find your potential mentors, if they show interest in you from the start, but then disappear off the radar for a bit doesn't mean that they don't care about mentoring you. Most veterinarians live very busy lives and it comes down to you just having to be persistent. I ended up getting a job as an ambulatory technician with my new found mentor and am glad I didn't give up trying to contact him!
If you are interested in reading more about the importance of mentor-ship and how to engage and develop a successful mentor-ship relationship (specifically in vet med), please read this article: http://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/MentoringGuidelines.pdf
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| http://www.popgive.com/2008/02/big-vs-small-animals.html |
1 comment:
This is a great post! I love hearing about how others met mentors. I was very lucky to land at a practice where the owner became my mentor. You're absolutely right, you do have to be persistent, and even go out on a limb sometimes.
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