Chasing Your Childhood Dreams

Like many young children, when Lauren Paules ’26 thought when she grew up, she wanted to be a veterinarian. Unlike most kids, though, Paules never changed her mind about her dream, just specified her goals.

 

An internship in high school at a small animal clinic solidified that choice for her, and while she wasn't sure then what kind of veterinary medicine she wanted to pursue, or what size animals she wanted to work with, she knew she wanted to work with them in a medical setting. 

It was another internship, this one with The Wenger Group between her second and third years at Washington, that focused her veterinary medicine goals: swine vet medicine. 

“I didn't even know you could specialize in swine and literally just focus on pigs,” Paules said. That was until she spent the summer with The Wenger Group—working with vets helping pigs, chickens, and cows—and shadowed a swine vet. 

“I went on a house call with one of the swine vets and I got to trim the tusks and the hooves of a pig,” Paules said.

The learning didn't stop there, though. The vet had gone out to the farm to collect blood and liver samples from industry pigs. To make those collections, the animals must be euthanized, so they chose pigs that would not have made it to market but were still healthy enough to get accurate samples. 

“He let me do two of them. From there I was sold,” Paules said. “I could see myself being a swine vet and knew it's what I wanted to do.”

To become a swine vet, Paules must go to veterinary school, but getting in is no easy feat. She has been working with the Pre-Veterinary track of the Pre-Health Professions Program to make sure she has everything she needs to make that happen. 

“I'm very meticulous in planning and knowing exactly what I need and when I need it,” Paules said. She has done a lot of research into the vet school application process, making sure she's taking the right courses and required classes for each of the 10 programs she's interested in, fleshing out her résumé, and getting a letter of recommendation from a vet by completing the necessary veterinary experience.

Through the pre-vet track, Phil Ticknor, coordinator of the Pre-Health Program, and Elizabeth Yost, who oversees the pre-veterinary track, have helped her with the process, particularly with her personal statement. 

“I think I wrote about 12 drafts of my personal statement,” Paules said. “There's a character element to it and they were really helpful in that, giving their input. I also had it read and edited by my creative writing professor, which was really helpful because he knew how to word things in a better way.” 

“I knew that the faculty would be able to help me,” Paules said of the pre-vet track getting her closer to her dream of being a vet. “Your professors want to help you. You know them and those close personal connections have been really helpful.” 

Another resource Paules has tapped into during her time at Washington is the Center for Career Development, which helped her build her résumé and find a three-day job shadowing opportunity with a veterinary clinic in Delaware. 

Paules is spending her summer applying to vet school. 

“It's so difficult to get into vet school, so I'm keeping an open mind,” she said of her prospects. “I have a list of about 10 that I'm applying to, but I don't have anywhere that my heart is set on. I want to keep an open mind because they all have something really cool to offer, and a lot of them have a pretty strong swine program.” 

— MacKenzie Brady '21