Kim Kirkbride

Bio

I'm a non-traditional student who decided to leave a career in land conservation to puruse veterinary medicine.  I had originally planned to apply to vet school when I graduated from Virginia Tech in 2008, but getting involved in climate activism my senior year changed my course and I spent 15 years devoted to environmental issues.  While those issues are so important to me, the career just wasn't fulfilling and I began to regret not having applied to vet school.  After a few days being bummed out, I decided to apply anyway thinking that I was a long shot and I just wanted to tell myself that at least I had tried.  But amazingly, I was accepted to the class of 2027 and every day I'm certain I'm on the right path and that VMCVM is the perfect school for me.  

I would like to practice in a mixed animal practice upon graduation, but will likely track Food Animal, and am interested in emergency medicine.  I also have a passion for wildlife rehab and intend to donate my time to that cause throughout my career.  At home I have 3 cats, 4 dogs, 24 sheep and 4 cows.  Keeping my farm going during vet school is an additional challenge but my critters also are my best source of stress relief at the end of a long week at school, so we're going to get through it together one way or another!

I'm excited to be an ambassor because I appreciate so much about our DVM program: the community is so supportive and we have incredibly dedicated faculty and staff. I would love to be encouraging to non-traditional students because so much more is possible than I knew prior to school and I think being nontrad actually has its advantages in the program.  Please reach out to me with any questions! kkirk17@vt.edu