What kind of Animal are you?

When you ask a five year old what they want to be when they grow up, the answer changes daily.  From a fireman to a fairy, and everything in between, their career goal normally depends on the most recent character they’ve seen.  Well not for me.  At that age, I would regularly tell my Mum that I wanted to be a vet.  I tried (in vain) to practice my vet skills on our family zoo, with our cats, dogs, turtles, birds, geckos and rats all learning to either run or play dead whenever I came near with my stethoscope and wads of plasters.

 Knowing what I wanted to do meant school seemed a breeze.  I went to our career guidance counselor in Year 11 to make sure I was doing the right subjects to get me to where I wanted to be.  I was specifically told “you don’t need any particular sciences; however it would be handy if you had at least one, so just pick your favourite”.  So I did.  I stuck with biology and happily dropped both Chemistry and Physics.  The third term rolled around in my final year at high school, and I applied for the one and only degree that I wanted to do.  I was accepted pending my end of year exams, and when those results finally came through; I counted up my credits and ran around the house screaming when I realised I had gotten in!

 Now some might not know, but Palmerston North is the only place in New Zealand that you can do Veterinary Science.  So I packed up my life, and moved by myself from Auckland to Palmy.  I settled in quickly and started Uni.  My first day was such a huge shock that I went home, watched Home and Away and ate stack loads of sugar.  I had quickly learnt that not only was it a good idea to have sciences, but I would be doing a whole paper on Chemistry and Physics, neither of which I had even looked at since year 10.

 Needless to say, the first part of the semester was a struggle.  Then on the Easter break, all vet students were required to do 10 hours practical work in a vet clinic.  My eyes were harshly opened.  The life of a vet was not what I had thought it was.  He would start at a reasonable hour, then proceed to do three cat teeth cleans, a couple of spays, a couple of neuters and then a few more cat teeth cleans.  This was not the life I had wanted.

The rest of the semester passed in a blur of indecision and time wasting.  I decided I definitely didn’t want to be a vet, therefore I mucked around, missed half my classes and sometimes didn’t attend exams.  The next two years passed in much the same fashion, while I dabbled in ecology, zoology and sometimes, just for good measure, some world religion.  With a very sizeable student loan and nothing really to show for it, I decided it was time to go home and decide what my next step would be.  This decision never really eventuated either.  After sitting around for a few weeks, and realising just how much I didn’t like doing nothing, I went out to find any job that I could.  I ended up being offered a receptionist role, which surprised not only myself, but my family as well – I’d never particularly liked people, hence one of the reasons behind the vet decision.

Two years on, I’m still with the same company, and have moved on from reception to be a PA to 3 people while also taking on general office administration/manager responsibilities.  With $23,000 still left to pay on my student loan, and no formal qualifications to my name, I really did waste two and a half years.  Of course I made great friends, but I could have done that while I was earning money, or doing a degree that I really wanted to do. If I could do it all again, I would definitely do some more research and make sure I knew exactly what was ahead of me once I left school. You can’t take anything for granted.

Jen - 23 - Auckland