Congratulations! You have officially completed the first big hurdle to becoming a veterinarian! By now, you’ve spent hundreds of hours studying, poring through textbooks, researching various topics, and, of course, fighting through the many chemistry courses that are required. Up until now, there has been a lot of uncertainty. What if I can’t get in? What is my backup plan? How many colleges do I apply to? You kept your grades up, interviewed, and maybe even took entrance exams. You waited for weeks, maybe even months, to hear back. How many nights did you just lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, hoping that you would be selected from a pool of thousands of applicants? Then, you saw the email from one, or maybe even multiple colleges, that made your heart skip a beat. You got in. After all this time, you now know you will be attending Veterinary school this fall. So, what now? Unfortunately, more waiting. That does not mean you cannot begin to prepare. For those of you who were selected as alternates, that is a great accomplishment that you should be proud of. I’ve been there, so I understand the complicated feelings you are having. We will talk about what I think your next step is.
Veterinary students can be so ambitious that we look past big moments at the next mountain to conquer. There will be time to plan later, but first, you need to celebrate. Meet up with some friends from undergrad or your hometown, go get dinner, and call your parents! This is the time to go crazy (safely!). Most importantly, spend some time sitting in this victory. You earned it, and you are allowed to be proud of yourself for this. Once you have fully soaked in your accomplishment, it’s time to prepare. August will be a big adjustment for you, but it is nothing that you cannot handle. Remember, they selected you because they decided that you are the type of person who can do this.
Alright, so you called your friends and family, announced on Instagram and Facebook that you will be attending Veterinary school, and stayed up a little too late having fun. Now what? Often, mental preparation is overlooked in Veterinary students, but this can be what sets you apart from your peers for the better. This is the time for positive self-talk, building sustainable habits, and some much-needed rest before school kicks off. Many Veterinary students approach school very nervously, and for good reason. Vet school is hard! It can be a shock, especially if you have historically been someone who does not have to study very much. Do not lie to yourself and say this is going to be easy, because as soon as it gets hard, you will panic. Instead, tell yourself it is going to be hard, but that you are a person who can do hard things. After all, getting in was hard, so you have already proven that. The “load” you are carrying will be heavy, and the road will be long. The best option is to have strong shoulders. This should be your mindset when you walk in on the first day. The worst thing you can do right now is psych yourself out. You are capable of great things; it’s time to own that and do more great things.
Mental health comes hand in hand with physical health, and early to mid-summer is the best time to begin building habits that you will maintain through Veterinary school. I would suggest you begin to meal-prep now. Find good, easy, healthy foods that you can make even when you are short on time. It will save you a ton of time and money when you are short on both. Healthy food will make your body and mind feel better, which allows you to focus longer. Do not forget your veggies! Veggies are high in fiber, and this will keep you full much longer than anything else. Focusing on cellular physiology is difficult anyway, but it is much harder when you are starving!
Sleep is often ignored during college and sacrificed to achieve better grades. This mentality is magnified in vet school, despite being the exact opposite of what it should be. Sleep is when your body and mind repair and reorganize themselves. When you sleep, the material you spent all day studying begins to stick. Lack of sleep is strongly correlated with burnout and poor performance in graduate students (Allen et al., 2020). I have found through my experiences so far that, if the choice is a few more hours of studying or a few more hours of sleep, more sleep helps my grades more. I also tend to be happier and more resilient to stress when I have consistently slept well. This summer is a great time to build up good sleep habits! Classes start reasonably early, so if you are a night owl (like me), it is time to start nudging your sleep schedule earlier in the evening. I would also recommend that you set up a bedtime routine and practice good sleep hygiene. Ideally, you get 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and getting your body used to this can make that first week of vet school much easier.
I cannot overstate how important exercise is for Veterinary students. You will be sitting in lecture for several hours a day, followed by either sitting or standing around in labs the rest of the day. Then, you are going to go home and sit down to study. Physical activity is so important for your health and is often overlooked. Not only does it improve your musculoskeletal and heart health, but it can even improve your sleep quality and quantity, especially when you are stressed (Zhou et al., 2025). If you have not already, this summer is the time to begin focusing on exercise. Your exercise regimen does not have to be crazy intense. Resistance training twice a week, for maybe 45-60 minutes, is plenty for beginners. You should also prioritize cardio, but a 30-minute session of zone 2 cardio twice per week will do wonders for your heart health. Exercise is healthy for your body and mind, but it will also improve your academic performance (Teuber et al., 2024). The main thing here is, unless you are training to be an athlete, there is no pressure. Do something you enjoy! Give yourself some wiggle room to move workouts to different days. As long as you are consistently exercising, you will see progress and all of the benefits that physical training has to offer.
If you will be attending a Veterinary school that is different from your undergrad, or if you moved back home between undergrad and Veterinary school, you will need to find living arrangements. Many schools create class Facebook pages where you can connect with classmates. This is a great place to find a roommate. If not, join the town’s community page and look there. There will be a lot of other Veterinary students in your exact position, so it is not usually hard to find a roommate. This is also a great way to meet some of your classmates! I would recommend visiting the town, or at least moving there a few days early, so that you can explore and find good study spots. If you are unable to meet many of your classmates before classes start, do not worry too much. There are all kinds of people in your class, so you are certainly going to find a group that you like to spend time with.
Now, while you build those habits, do not forget that it is still summer! Spend some time relaxing by the pool, reading that book series that you want to finish before you get too busy, and hanging out with your friends. It may be a good idea to work in a Veterinary clinic so that you can keep your skills sharp. Your first year of Veterinary school is likely to mostly cover physiology and “basic” diseases, which will be much more commonly seen in a clinic. Having these fresh on your mind helps a lot when your professor goes on a 20-minute tangent about hepatic lipidosis. Saving up some money, in case of emergencies, is also never a bad idea. Do not work so much that you burn yourself out early. You are likely, going to feel unprepared, and that is okay. You are prepared. You were chosen for this.
Alternates are in a tricky situation. Not knowing if you will be starting school in August makes planning difficult because you do not know if it will be worth it for you. When I was waitlisted the first time I applied, I hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. Many schools offer interviews with the admissions team for alternates and students who did not get in. They will go over the weaknesses in your application and what you can improve the next time you apply. Sign up for an interview and focus on those weaknesses, even if you still do not know whether or not you got in. Spending time improving your application not only strengthens you for the next application cycle but also puts power back in your hands. Try to keep your living situation flexible if you do not live near the school that you are waiting to get into, so that if there is a last-minute call, you can be there. Many schools will inform you in June or July if you got in, but keep in mind that if someone drops out after that, they can still pull more people off the waitlist. In some schools, it is not uncommon for alternates to be contacted just days before school starts.
Being chosen as an alternate is an accomplishment, not a failure, even if you end up having to apply again. They believe you can do this, but they prefer that you strengthen your application before starting school. Capitalize on this and spend the summer pushing hard, as if you are for sure applying again. As an alternate, you are so close. Do not give up. Several people in my class and I were either waitlisted or outright rejected at some point when applying to Veterinary schools. If you are focused and persistent in your efforts, you will make it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Allen, H. K., Barrall, A. L., Vincent, K. B., & Arria, A. M. (2020). Stress and burnout among graduate students: Moderation by sleep duration and quality. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28(1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09867-8
Teuber, M., Leyhr, D., & Sudeck, G. (2024). Physical activity improves stress load, recovery, and academic performance-related parameters among university students: A longitudinal study on daily level. BMC Public Health, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18082-z
Zhou, X., Kong, Y., Yu, B., Shi, S., & He, H. (2025). Effects of exercise on sleep quality in general population: Meta-analysis and systematic review. Sleep Medicine, 125, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2024.10.036