To meet my long-term goal of obtaining a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tufts, the Animal Science program at Rutgers is the wiser choice. Unfortunately, their School of Environmental and Biological Sciences is in New Brunswick, kind of too far away to be a realistic option (a little over an hour away, without traffic). How am I going to work full time and attend classes there? As a science major, most of my classes involve labs - you can't complete those through distance learning.
The Drexel program won't be as strong on my resume, obviously, but I'm going to work hard to supplement that shortfall by volunteering/interning(?) at a couple farms near our house. That way I'll at least be able to demonstrate I'm serious about working with animals and have the experience to back it up. And the best thing about Drexel (other than it being a very good college) is that I can complete my bachelor's degree right at one of the BCC campuses, so my commute will only be about 25-30 minutes. Totally do-able.
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A part of me is still really disappointed with myself for waiting so long to go back to school. I could be a year away from a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree by now (assuming I went to college straight from high school and accounting for the lost year of my deployment to Iraq). Instead I'm a year away from an associate degree, which basically means nothing in today's job market.
Maybe I'm being too hard on myself, I don't know - I just never invisioned myself in this situation, relying on the Army for employment because I have no other options. If I could get out of the Army tomorrow I would, but then I wouldn't have a job. So I stay. It's a terrible place to be in, and I have no one to blame but myself. :(