After Graduation

The day to pick classes is approaching so fast!! I have been trying to make time to make a visit to the ACES Career Center but with all my midterms lately, I haven't had time. Regardless, if I can't make it before Nov 4th, I will still go because I feel like they are the only ones capable of answering my broad career questions. In the meantime, like how I said before, I am taking classes to explore my interests further. When I talk about not planning to further my education past a bachelor's at the moment, I almost feel a little embarrassed. I know I am smart enough to do it, and I feel a little guilty to not take advantage of the skills and knowledge I have been blessed with. However, right now with the way my cards are playing out, I think I will be capable of finding a successful job after graduation. Also, I plan on trying my hardest to graduate as a James Scholar and that would be so helpful in verifying my credibility and hard-work when applying to jobs.

Registration... It's so close!

I got my time ticket to register for classes the other day, and since I am a James scholar, I register November 4th. Ah! After my initial freak out, hyperventilation, my rant to my roommate about how I have no clue where I'm going with my life, and a half a package of cookies later... I think I have it figured out. I am going to wait to take organic chemistry until junior or senior year, to see where my interests take me. I'd hate to put myself through all of the work and not even need it in the end. I want to spend this time figuring out what it is that really intrigues me. There are so many things I could potentially do and species I could work with, so I'd rather get a sense of direction before taking another time-consuming class. It is hard to narrow down my choices at this point in time because I do not know enough about each facet of animal science to know if I truly don't like it yet. I really like the idea of hands-on work. I definitely do not want to be cooped up in a lab or office all day because I know I'll go crazy and get cabin fever. I also really like the idea of animal agriculture tied into environmental sciences. I remember in ANSC 101 talking about how we use cattle to restore over-farmed land, the methane production of cattle, and different things like that. I am wanting to take more classes involving these types of things, but I am not so sure which classes correlate with it. I'll have to ask one of my professors to further explain to me the opportunities in this field and the classes I could take. I think by keeping my mind open and learning more about what may interest me rather than going right into organic chemistry is the best decision for me right now.

Academic Plans

For me, I think that this year is the year I finally decide on if I would like to go to veterinary school or not. The more I think about it, and the more I am educated on other options, the less I want to pursue it. I think that when I was younger and knew that I wanted to work with animals, that I kind of interpreted this as being a veterinarian because I didn't know about any other careers in the animal science field. Actually, the animal science 'field' was nonexistent to me, I basically never gave thought to the fact that not everyone working with animals directly is a veterinarian. So here I am now, contemplating my options. I believe to have three. One- go to graduate school. Two- pursue a Master's degree. Three- find a job with my Bachelor's degree. Ideally, like I have mentioned before in this blog, I would love to have a job right out of college. But, I am also not sure how plausible this is. Perhaps I can speak to someone at the Career Center for clarification. If I decide to go on with my schooling, I am afraid that I will have to choose to take organic chemistry and biochemistry. Although these are not required for a Bachelor's in Animal Science, during ANSC 298 today Dr. Hurley told us that we should consider taking those because they will help with a lot of research based things. I had felt such a relief when I X'ed out vet school and therefore did not have to take those classes, but now that I might have to take them, I am so unsure. Ah! I want to prepare myself for my future, but I also do not want to work myself to the bone.

Lab Fun

Yesterday I went to the poultry farm for my second round. The first time we went, I was freaking out so badly because I've never had experience with chickens, and quite frankly they just scare me. Last time, we had to catch chickens in cages and in pens while they were running around everywhere and weigh them. This week someone started a rumor that Chet beheaded the chickens at the second poultry lab. Needless to say, I was super scared to go to the second lab. After going through it though, I thought it was a really cool lab! I definitely learned a lot and saw some really cool stuff. We learned how to vaccinate with the wing web stab technique and how to blood test them. I tend to get kind of panicky when I do stuff like that, and I'm not sure why. I've passed out 3 times before so I just kind of panic that it'll happen again and then I freak myself out worse than I already am. But we were incident free, and now I'm confident that I can do it again no problem, without freaking myself out. At the end we got to dissect them, which was also really neat. Some chickens had reproductive problems and had eggs stuck inside them actually rotting! One also was so covered with cancer, there wasn't a tissue that didn't have tumors on it. And we got to see a lot of ovarian cysts, which are directly relatable to human health because it looks the exact same and research done with chicken ovarian cysts has changed the way we treat humans with them. This lab I was so determined to prove myself because everyone thinks that (even though it's not true) anyone who feels woozy when doing this stuff is unfit to work with animals. But I succeeded! And I have some cool stories to tell!

Blurry Clarity

Today in my ANSC 298 class we talked about the option of getting your Master's Degree after a Bachelor's. I hadn't really considered it before today, I think it mostly just escaped me as an option. But the more I think about it, the more I am considering it, especially for someone like me who wants to do hands-on work. Also, I have always said that I don't want school to get in the way of my life. I don't want to get out of school at age 26 and have over $80,000 to pay off in student loans, I want to have a family, and start my life relatively soon. I think that this is why I struggle with my decisions for schooling so much. However, a Master's Degree really isn't that much more time, and I think that if it would make a significant difference in my career's pay I should totally do it. Listening to Cassie talk was interesting because she does so much hands-on work, which definitely is a perk. Also, she said she got married over the summer, so this reassures me that this further schooling won't get in the way of life. Obviously I am not planning on doing anything like that as soon as she did, but it was good to know that these types of students have actual lives beyond their schooling. One big factor for me, though, is cost and the availability of grants and a stipend. I'm not quite sure how available these grants are, let alone the fact that I am still unsure of what kinds of animals I would enjoy working with most. I know I have time to decide, but I am the type of person who likes to have a set plan, or at least an idea of what I want to do before I go ahead and do whatever. I think I should also work on this, because no matter what their major, the majority of people just like me have no clue what they want to do either. I just can't help but be scared by this unknowing! I'll leave it at that... But I am left today with yet again more options, but also more insight into what the best option may be.

The Older, the Wiser

I hate saying this because I am, after all, just a sophomore. But, the freshman in animal science are so naive. I know I was basically like this last year, but I just find it so hard to believe how differently I view things after just a short year of schooling. I had a conversation with three freshman in the animal science program and they all wanted to be veterinarians. I asked if they had anything else in mind and they said no because there weren't any jobs for people who didn't want to be a vet. What?? They were also all vegetarians or vegans, except one. I asked why and they said because of animal welfare reasons and the way they are kept in housing was terrible. Again, what?? I'm absolutely in awe of how much one year of schooling can really change you. Instantly I wanted to refute their argument, but instead I just told them to wait until their second semester classes sink in. It is crazy to think that last year I was dead set on vet school and even may have had some of their same opinions about animal welfare, and this year I am throwing vet school out of the equation, focusing on animal agriculture, and want to preach to first year students.

College Life

I've come to the realization that no matter what major you have, I guess you're always going to feel overwhelmed. Fall is the time people apartment search, sign leases, have midterms, get into the full swing of club meetings and extracurriculars. It never ends! That being said, I unfortunately did not get to go to the career fair this week. I went last year and it was actually pretty neat seeing all those companies there, but this year I felt like it came up so quickly and I didn't have time to prepare myself the way I would have liked to. I'm not sure the best way to go about approaching what I need to know about the field of animal science before I go job searching, but what I do know is this- I need to figure it out! Most people are in the same position as me I guess, but since I came here wanting to be a veterinarian, I'm used to having my mind set and already made up. Now I'm faced with all these choices and decisions and nothing to go off of. I don't know a specific species I'd like to work with, I don't know what companies hire people with a bachelor's degree, I don't know the median salary of any job except a veterinarian, etc. What I do know is this: I want to work with animals, I would like my work to be somewhat hands-on, and I would not like a repetitive, draining job. Is that too hard to ask??

More Confusion

I was talking to some of my friends today and they asked me what I wanted to do with my animal science degree. "So, do you want to become a veterinarian then?" If I had a dime for the amount of times I've been asked that, I'd be rich. Sometimes I nod my head and just say yes, but others I try to explain how I'm not really sure but there are a lot of opportunities in the animal field and I just am trying to get a grasp on a few things I may really enjoy. The second response leaves them confused, but rightly so, because I am confused as well! I'm not quite sure how to find out what types of jobs are available with my bachelors, or if I should stick around and go to grad school to get a higher-paying job. I think I may try to make an appointment with the career center to try to figure out options. I've talked to professors of course but they know jobs mostly in their field, and I'd like to get an outsider's opinion for once.