u/discountdogs

Hi everyone. I was recently admitted to St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine for the January 2027 term, but I was just offered the chance to start early in August 2026 instead. I have to make my final decision by 10 AM Central time tomorrow, and I am honestly really torn. Financially, either option is manageable, so that is not really part of my decision. My biggest concern is burnout and whether starting earlier would be a mistake mentally or emotionally. For context, I just graduated from undergrad last Thursday, and I am trying to decide whether it is smarter to start while I still have academic momentum or to take the extra months to genuinely rest and reset before vet school. For current vet students (especially SGU students), do you regret not taking more time before starting? Or did waiting make it harder to get back into school mode? How overwhelming is the first semester really? If you were in my position, which start date would you choose and why? I would really appreciate any honest opinions or advice because this decision suddenly became very real very fast! 😅

I adopted a dying dog. Her name is Queen. I knew she was dying when I adopted her. She landed in the county shelter with several other dogs she was surrendered with after their owner passed. Months later, only two dogs were left, Queen being one of them. She grew lethargic shortly after her sister was adopted, so the shelter called every single person on their list with a dog in the home. I was the last on their call list, and the only one with the time and space to take her on for a week or so. Queen arrived at my place and perked up a bit, but was still generally lethargic and displaying symptoms akin to what I suspected was a foreign body. She went in for x-rays, only to find that her lungs, spleen, and heart are irreversibly damaged from heartworm disease. I adopted her immediately after, so she'd have a home in her last days. Her final appointment is technically today (past midnight in my time zone) at 2pm.

I'm grieving her harder than I've grieved any dog before. It feels silly, I've only known her for a little over a week, but that doesn't change how I feel. She deserved a life. She deserved an owner who cared enough to get her on heartworm preventative. She deserved a family to give her all the firsts she'll never get to have. I should've been a footnote in her story, not the final chapters of it. I love her so much. Her journey across the rainbow bridge will be peaceful and surrounded by love. I just wish it hadn't happened so soon.