I could not choose between two specializations therefore I did them both

Prior Education

At primary and secondary school I always knew what I wanted to study, namely Veterinary Medicine. After my pre-university secondary education (VWO) I tried to enroll but unfortunately I was not accepted for 3 years in a row for the Bachelor's Veterinary Medicine. So I started a Bachelor’s Biology in Utrecht. I soon noticed that this did not satisfy my interests in animals and people. During my Bachelor’s Biology I therefore took a lot of courses from different programs, including Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy. After attaining my Bachelor’s Biology I quickly knew that I wanted to do a Master’s, also because it is hard to find a job with only a Bachelor’s Biology.

Follow-Up Training?

After having made the decision to do a Master’s I spent quite some time doubting which one I wanted to do exactly. I really liked Neurosciences, but other Master’s at Biomedical Sciences also drew me. Furthermore, I attended the Open Day in Wageningen as also Animal Sciences interested me. After the Open Day I knew it for sure, the latter is what I was going to do.

Master Animal Sciences

I started with Animal Sciences in the directions Applied Zoology and Animal Health and Behaviour. Within these specialisations I could chose exactly what I found interesting. At Applied Zoology I chose for Human and Animal Physiology and at Animal Health and Behaviour I chose for Adaptation Physiology. I could not chose which specialization I wanted to do as minor and which as major and therefore I did them both as major. At the moment I am doing my last major at the Veterinary Medicine Faculty in Utrecht, where I am researching the developmental process of Oserchondrose in foals.

Experiences

I find the Master’s program very doable because I had already attained a lot of knowledge during my Bachelor’s. In Wageningen everything is in English, but luckily you accustom to this quickly. What I really liked about the program is that the Master’s program can be organised as you like. Beside this, I liked that I could acclimate my graduation courses and internships according to my own interests, namely illnesses and deviant processes in the body and then especially in horses.

Future

In November I will graduate. Ik would like to find a job that fits my interests. If this is with a company of at a university does not really matter to me. Ideally, I would like to combine both specialisations in my job in order to keep the work varying. Maybe I would even like to do a PhD now, something of which I never would have thought previously.

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