If you've been listening to Podcast A Vet for a while, you may remember Zach Lake in Episode 16 talking about what year one of vet school is like. Today we're talking with Cindy Vaca, an almost graduated fourth-year vet student to get a very different perspective, and some tips on the experience of going through veterinary school. Cindy is a fourth-year vet student at CSU, with a unique background from her classmates. She tells us with wonderful vulnerability about her experiences with depression and failure in the decade after high school and before vet school, and how those struggles have given her a unique perspective and unrivaled optimism. We also talk about her top survival tips to get through vet school as well as how she prepared for the NAVLE licensing exam. She tells us about her upcoming internship and why she wanted that particular hospital. We also discover exactly how small the vet med world is!   In this episode: Cindy’s best survival tips to get through vet school Her thoughts on failure and how they made vet school easier An unexpected example of how small the vet world is How Cindy prepared for the NAVLE licensing exam   Quotes: “Failure’s not so scary, it’s just another step that makes you stronger and wiser” 6:09 “It took 30 years of being miserable to find the joy in everything.” 16:22 “Be kind to your intern-mates, and be kind to your technicians, because they’re the ones who are going to bolster you…. For a lot of things, your technicians will know more than you; respect that knowledge.” 54:26   Links: Enjoying the show? Help support Podcast A Vet on Patreon!   Episode 16 with Zach Lake    Find the full show notes here  Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet  Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Join our community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community!