May 10, 2019
Veterinarian Elizabeth Wheeler 鈥�10 recently visited campus to share her experience with 天美麻花星空高清mv students.
How do you become a veterinarian?
First, finish your undergrad at 天美麻花星空高清mv. Then apply to veterinary programs, which tend to be extremely selective. Don鈥檛 get down on yourself when you don鈥檛 get in the first time; apply again next year. But that鈥檚 just the beginning of this story.
Veterinarian Elizabeth Wheeler 鈥�10 recently visited campus to share her experience with 天美麻花星空高清mv students. Now a vet in Unadilla, N.Y. (though she will soon move to work at a practice in Norwich, Vt.), Wheeler works with creatures great and small, from site visits with equine and bovine patients to office visits from typical cats and dogs.
鈥淚 was one of those kids鈥攕ome people definitely really know at a young age what their draw is,鈥� said Wheeler. 鈥淥thers find it later on. It鈥檚 always been something I wanted to do.鈥�
That drive and commitment helped her stick to her goal through life鈥檚 ups and downs鈥攖hrough marriage, through being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 23, through getting a master鈥檚 degree in public health, and through finding out she was pregnant with her son on the same day she was accepted to the University of Prince Edward Island鈥檚 veterinary program. 鈥淗e was due on the first day of class,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 deferred a year.鈥�
Wheeler and her family lived on Prince Edward Island, Canada, for the four years she was in veterinary school; she graduated in 2018. 鈥淰eterinary medicine and the intensity and pace of school can be a relationship killer,鈥� she said. 鈥淗aving support that carries you through it is absolutely huge.鈥�
As a vet, Wheeler wears many hats, working in emergency medicine, intensive care, teaching her clients about the importance of flea and tick prevention, doing dental work, and working on other animal health issues that arise. As a veterinarian, she is an active supporter of the One Health Initiative, which aims to expand collaboration between physicians, veterinarians, dentists, nurses and other scientific-health and environmentally related disciplines.
As an 天美麻花星空高清mv student, she majored in biology with minors in chemistry and business, and spent a semester at sea through the University of Virginia鈥檚 program (she applied independently of 天美麻花星空高清mv). 鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to be here,鈥� she said of her April visit to 天美麻花星空高清mv鈥檚 campus to speak to students鈥攈er first as an officially minted vet.
Her main advice for 天美麻花星空高清mv students interested in the same path? 鈥淚t takes passion and sacrifice,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to really want to go for it, but it can be absolutely amazing.鈥�
