Overcoming Doubt

So, this week's (well, last week's by now) blog post of the week was "Tell us about an experience that made you doubt your ability or desire to go into vet med. How did you end up overcoming that doubt?"

I, like many others, wanted to go to vet school for as long as I can remember. My parents tell me that they can remember me talking about it from the time I was three years old. I absolutely never "doubted" my desire to go into vet med, but I could say that I questioned my ability sometimes.
I applied to several schools for my first year of applying. I didn't want to apply multiple times, so I figured I might as well go all out with my applications. My application from NCSU was disqualified, not rejected, almost immediately. They require a much higher GPA of out-of-state students than in-state, and I hadn't found that on their website. Money wasted. I was rejected from my in-state, which was not a huge loss but kind of a disappointment. I didn't like my in-state, but it would be much cheaper to go there, not to mention my boyfriend was out there and family was only two hours away. Oh well. I got into the Caribbean schools, surprise, surprise. Looking back, I shouldn't have applied for those at the same time because they got back to me really soon and made me feel like they were my only option. Plus, they have rolling admissions so I could have just waited.
The rest of the schools I applied to took so long to get back to me. I was waitlisted at Guelph, my top choice, and I didn't even hear back from them until I had started orientation at WesternU! Talk about nervewracking. The wait is what made me start to doubt myself. I looked into applying to medical schools and law schools, as well as other graduate programs. I applied to a couple Masters programs at my university: biology, chemistry, biomedical sciences... the programs actually sounded really cool, and I don't doubt that they would have helped me prepare for vet school, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. I made myself satisfied with the decision that I would apply to both vet and medical schools the next year and if I didn't get in the next year, I would apply to vet, medical, and law schools after that. I knew I wanted to be some kind of professional -- not just someone who got their Bachelors.
I ended up getting into a Masters of Art and Teaching program. It was a good program and part of me still wonders if I should have done it, gotten the money they would have paid (that's right, they would have paid me) and gone to vet school with that money. The program was a one year Masters in which you went to school full-time in the summer and then took a couple classes in fall and spring while you worked as a teacher at a local middle or high school. So, basically you were paid a salary (and apparently the money was pretty good) as well as you had all of your tuition and books paid for. It was a good deal, but I ultimately turned it down and wound up at WesternU. What a relief when I found out I'd be going to vet school! Later on, despite how many speeches we had on this and how sure I was that I wasn't going to be a victim, I did suffer from a little bit of imposter syndrome but I can safely say I overcame that as well.