Tell us about your background (education, work, journey, experiences).
I graduated from California Polytechnic University, Pomona with my Bachelors of Science in Animal Science with an emphasis in Pre-Veterinary Science in May 2022. Throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate education, I have dipped my toes into many different aspects of the veterinary field including, vaccination clinics, small animal GP, emergency and urgent care medicine, shelter volunteering, wildlife rehabilitation, laboratory animal husbandry, and livestock husbandry. During undergrad I also worked at an educational outreach branch of the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture at Cal Poly Pomona called AGRIscapes, where I helped teach the local community and schools about the importance of agriculture.
How is/was this program beneficial for you?
The program not only brought my brain back into learning after having been out of school for about a year, but also gave me some insight at graduate level courses. Each POD meeting brought an interpersonal problem-driven, case-based teaching approach which I felt really helped to lock in the information after having done my lectures prior to class. Talking about cases with others resonated with me better than traditional textbook learning alone would. I am always able to see connections between the concepts we talk about in class and real life scenarios at work in the hospital.
What part of the program did you find most impactful (specific course, mentoring, community, skill development, etc.)? Describe that impact.
When I originally found the certificate program, I was very intrigued by the mentoring aspect of the program. My POD leader, Dr. Maria Byrd, blew my expectations through the roof with how helpful and encouraging she is both during class and even outside of class. I applied to vet school while in the program, and when I found out I was offered interviews for 2 schools, with no hesitation and lots of excitement, Dr. Byrd took time outside of class to help me with interview prep. This prep really helped prepare me for my interviews and made me less nervous and better at navigating the difficult questions they had to ask.
What is one thing you would say to someone considering this program?
This is a very good program if you’re looking to apply and go to vet school. The program also is a great transition if you are interested in getting a masters before vet school since the 12 credits from the certificate program transfer to the Master of Veterinary Science degree program.
What’s next in your journey (vet school, graduate school, work, etc.)?
I will be starting vet school at UC Davis in August [2024]! I’ m excited to start my lifelong dream! I’m unsure what direction I would like to take my vet career in but my main goal is to bring better patient care to those in the Latinx community as someone who is bilingual and can speak with them more efficiently.