Undergraduate Achiever Scholarship

Winning the Undergraduate Achiever Scholarship is an honor.  Recognition like this keeps me and students like me motivated and encouraged.  The knowledge that someone out there is cognizant of my hard work and dedication will sustain me during my future studies. 

I am part of an increasing number of students who have returned to college seeking a new start.  I initially graduated from Georgia College & State University with a degree in Mass Communication.  I worked in sales for a year and then took a position at a company owned by my father.  I thought that the financial security of the job would outweigh my personal dissatisfaction but, after working there for a year, I realized that I needed a change.  There was one field I always enjoyed but never pursued and, after much consideration, I decided to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. 

For those of you who have considered applying to veterinary school, you know that it is a rigorous application process. There are only 20 something vet schools in the country and they are notoriously hard to get into.  My GPA from my first degree was not where it needed to be but I felt motivated like never before. 

Over the past year and a half, I have worked zealously at Clemson University to complete the prerequisite courses for admission to vet school.  I knew that my GPA needed to come up a lot and the only way to do that was to get all A's in some of the most difficult science classes (the ones often referred to as 'weed out' classes: O Chem, Biochem, etc...).  I am happy to say that I have maintained a 4.0 GPA in all semesters at Clemson.  During this time, I also needed veterinary supervised hours and recommendation letters for my application.  In addition to my full load of classes, I worked weekends and did everything I could to impress my supervisors and the veterinarians I worked with.  This semester I was notified of my acceptance to UGA's College of Veterinary Medicine and will attend class there in August.

Attending Clemson was vital to my success.  It is a wonderful institution that rewards students for their academic success.  As a result of sound leadership and a commitment to recognizing academic success, Clemson recently broke into the top 20 rankings for public universities.  My most memorable moment at Clemson was being an inaugural recipient of the Barker Scholarship. 

The Undergraduate Achiever Scholarship will help me fulfill my dream of attending Veterinary School.  In order to reserve my spot at UGA, a deposit is required.  This award covers that deposit in full. 

Thank you so much for the recognition and for renewing my dedication.