It is that time of the year. Students from all majors are waiting to hear back from the graduate schools of their choice. Some people are still anxiously waiting their final letters, while other are celebrating their acceptance letters.

Robin Lepardo, a senior majoring in veterinary medicine, recently received her letter from Purdue University’s school of veterinary medicine where she will be receiving her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.M.V) Degree.

“I made the alternative list at both Kansas State and Iowa State,” said LePardo. “I applied to ten schools. I thought that was a good number. I didn’t have my heart set on just one school, though.”

But, Perdue is the one that caught LePardo’s eye and the one that she will be attending in the fall.

“I was very happy about getting into Perdue,” said LePardo. “All the people were nice and I heard many good things about the program.”

Many people helped Lepardo on her road to success, both inside and outside of Quinnipiac.

“I had a lot of help from Dr. Clark and Dr. Richardson. At my interview, they actually bought up a project I was working on with Dr. Richardson,” said LePardo. “I also work with a veterinarian that was a Quinnipiac vet tech graduate, Dr. Marcie Mariano.”

Veterinary Medicine has always interested Lepardo. From youth, she has been interested in the sciences and often thinks of Veterinary Medicine as a puzzle waiting to be solved.

“To me, it is like a puzzle that requires you to put the pieces together in order to figure out the big picture,” said LePardo. “Each animal presents with a different illness in which I will have to put the pieces of the puzzle together to determine the cause for the illness and the appropriate treatment.”

Her love for the field goes even further. Lepardo cares a lot about the animals of the world.

“I will be able to give the animals a better quality of life and extend the time their owner’s have to spend with them,” said LePardo. “This is the best part of being a vet. I know from personal experience that it is very difficult to lose a pet and I look forward to extending the owner’s time with their pets whenever possible.”

LePardo feels she is ready to enter the veterinary world. The experiences she has undergone while attending the university has helped her tremendously.

“I have been working at the Ridgehill Animal Hospital for over a year and have had several experiences working with animals throughout the years,” said LePardo. “These experiences have allowed me the opportunity to work with a wide variety of animals from dogs and cats to goats and pigs.”

One of her most exciting opportunities came from a project with Richardson.

“I worked at the Bayer Pharmaceutical and conducted research projects with him,” said LePardo.

She also feels the education she received while attending Quinnipiac gave her a secure background for her future endeavors.

“I am prepared for vet school. I feel the vet tech program has provided me with a secure foundation upon which I can build,” said LePardo. “I feel that this program may have given me a head start in vet school since other accepted students may not have experience with animals or the various procedure performed in the field.”

LePardo realizes Veterinary Medicine is a competitive field and is willing to spend as much time as possible preparing herself for it.

“I will be spending much of my time studying to maintain my GPA,” she said. “Hopefully, I will do as well there as I did here.”

In the future, LePardo hopes to successfully graduate from veterinary school and secure herself a position in a small-growing animal practice.