If you have been reading my blog over the past year, you know
that I have taken a sabbatical from veterinary school to earn my
MBA through our dual degree DVM/MBA program. It has been an
extremely positive, eye opening experience. I have thoroughly
enjoyed getting to know and learn from my classmates. And the
course work isn't bad either. I don't make it over to the vet
school as often as I like, but when I do, I remember why I made
veterinary medicine my chosen path.
Last week, I got the distinct pleasure of introducing veterinary
school applicants to Texas A&M. In a small way, I was
also introducing them to the veterinarian community. The
veterinary community is very small. As I love pointing out,
you could fit every veterinarian in the US in A&M's football
stadium, Kyle Field, and still have a couple thousand seats left
over. Now, A&M does have a very large football stadium,
but that doesn't diminish the fact that this is a small, tightknit
community. Another way of looking at it, there are more
lawyers within the Beltway in Washington, D.C. than there are
veterinarians in the entire country. There just aren't many
of us out there.
As I walked into the gathering area for the applicants, I felt
the warm blanket of security and familiarity that comes with being
a member of the veterinary community. I saw professors,
advisors, and private practitioners scattered throughout the
room. Many of them came up to me and called me by name,
even though I hadn't been around in several months. I felt
like I was coming home for Christmas. This is my professional
family.
Most other professions are not as lucky as we are in veterinary
medicine. Because of our small size, we can touch so much of
our community with just a few phone calls and handshakes.
This is a community that by and large cares about each other and
the future of the profession. How many other professions can
you name that allow students, not even full members of the
profession yet, to have a voice and a vote in local, state, and
national policies and issues? Yet, next weekend when the
annual TVMA convention comes to College Station, two students will
be voting members in every single committee and will have a say in
every single matter that is confronting veterinary medicine in the
state. By the way, the only reason TVMA continues to have
their annual meeting in College Station is to allow students to
participate. Trust me, as much as I love College Station, I
know there are more exciting locations in the state to hold a
meeting.
If you are reading this and are curious about what it is like to
be a veterinarian, just remember the imagery I used earlier.
The community is like a warm blanket of security and
friendship. I believe people get into veterinary medicine to
help animals, but they stay in it because they love the
people. We have some great folks.