Take that First Step in Climbing Your “Veterinary” Mountain

This year’s Become a Vet Camp Contest is over. Over the past few weeks, we have received many messages from entrants asking, “How can I win next year?” or “What do I need to write to win?”. While veterinary camps are amazing opportunities, there are so many ways to get experience, learn about animals, and explore the veterinary profession. Please don’t sit around waiting for the next camp contest. Get out and explore your passion today. Let us help you!

Vet Set Go was established to help future vets like you explore your dream of becoming a veterinarian. We have created so many resources to help young aspiring veterinarians like you get experience working with a veterinarian, volunteering with animals, and/or learning the basics of animal science. Veterinary camps are wonderful experiences and we are happy to provide scholarships to them each year, but they are only one opportunity out of hundreds you can explore. Right now, you can get important and valuable experience close to home. You just have to get out there and find it!

Becoming a veterinarian is a long journey and the students who will graduate as Doctors of Veterinary Medicine are the ones who understand that their future is up to them. They have to channel their passion into action and find their own opportunities.

Becoming a veterinarian is a long journey and the students who will graduate as Doctors of Veterinary Medicine are the ones who understand that their future is up to them. They have to channel their passion into action and find their own opportunities. Over the past seventeen years, I have heard hundreds of stories of future veterinarians who faced roadblocks in their efforts to get experience, but they NEVER let that stop them. I could list thousands of examples but here are just a few:

• Young future vets who started getting experience at home by asking their parents if they could be the one to care for the family pet. They took on all responsibilities from feeding to grooming to exercise.
• The student who was told by the shelter she was too young to volunteer there. So, she went out on her own and collected donations for the shelter. The shelter was so grateful they let her come in for the day to work with them.
• The students who could not find a place to volunteer in their hometown and instead started their own pet sitting service in their neighborhoods.
• The students who spent their days mucking stalls of their nearby riding stables just to be around the horses

Right now, you can get important and valuable experience close to home. You just have to get out there and find it!

What all of these students understood is you have to start somewhere. Get out there. Do anything you can. Just get that that first experience! Remember, once you get your first experience, it will lead to many other bigger and more exciting adventures. You don’t start you hike at the top of the mountain; you start with the first step. What first step will you take today?

And if you don’t know where to be begin, explore everything offered to you by Vet Set Go. Today, making it your goal to go through EVERY page on our website. Explore these free articles written just for you.

Have you purchased the Vet Set Go book? It has 6 chapters of ideas on how to get experience at any age!

Have you downloaded the Vet Volunteer App? More and more students are using it to track their volunteer hours. As our user numbers increase, more and more volunteer locations are being posted. Download the app and be part of the conversation.

Have you taken one of our courses in the Vet Set Go Academy? The shadowing courses will show you how to find an opportunity to work with a veterinarian in your hometown.

Don’t sit around waiting for next year’s contest. Today, follow your passion and find an opportunity close to home. Get out there and find the experience you crave. And remember, Vet Set Go is here to help you.

Dr. Chris