Today we are diving into the mind of an undergraduate student with plans to go to veterinary school. Lance Sommer is a 3rd-year pre-vet student majoring in zoology and is here to share an interesting perspective about wanting to go to vet school, what the perception of going to vet school is like and his thoughts on the current state of the profession. The Vice President of the pre-veterinary club and avid traveler, Lance has a curious and candid outlook on how to better yourself in order to become a better veterinarian. He is sharing his thoughts on being okay with failure, why it's important to be passionate about what you do, and why optimistic stubbornness can be the key to success. An optimistic voice for the future generation of veterinarians, Lance promotes a mentality of working hard, staying open to new possibilities and having some fun along the way. What struggles and stresses are you pushing through in your vet school journey? Let us know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode How to thrive in the sink or swim college environment Bringing a global perspective to future veterinary endeavors The benefits of joining a pre-veterinary club in your undergrad Why some students are choosing to take a ‘gap year’ to better themselves Finding unity through suffering through vet school   Quotes “It’s almost backward you know, if someone is kind of low energy or not striving so much in a very mellow environment, you feel like if they had more on their plate they would just kind of give up or like roll over or something. But it kind of just put a fire under my bum and I got going.” (15:07) “It's not always intelligence that can carry you through. It's very important to know what you have learned. But also just to put your nose to the grindstone and realize that it's a certain amount of work that it takes to succeed in these classes.” (17:11) “A lot of things won't come naturally to you, and failure will be a constant companion I suppose. And that’s almost a driving factor, something you should take and motivate you even more. Failure shouldn’t be something that defines you, something that instead makes you want to move forward.” (18:57) “I know that we are all aware of the work-life balance that veterinarians sometimes suffer with, and just being aware of that is one step towards not suffering from that.” (28:34) “There are a lot of daunting and discouraging things that come across your path, and those are things you have to take into consideration, and almost use to make yourself better. Don’t get beaten down by them, instead use them as inspiration.” (33:10)   Links Veterinarians Without Borders PAV 029: Gretchen Delcambre BASE Camp Fort Collins   Find the full show notes here  Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Join our free community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community! We'd love it (and you) if you would take 1 minute and leave us a review on iTunes!