Originally from Sydney, Dan decided to move to Melbourne in 2020. ‘Great year to move to a new state where you know no one,’ he jokes, given Victoria plunged into extended lockdowns soon after his arrival.
Dan’s decision to join the Trinity community was inspired by his older brother and sister. ‘My siblings went there and always talked highly about college,’ he says, adding that out of all the colleges he looked at, Trinity was the one he most liked the look of.
Upon moving to Melbourne, Dan began studying to become a vet. He developed a love of animals and a desire to become a vet while spending time at his family's farm in Goulburn, New South Wales, and says he’s the type of person who offers kangaroo road rescue kits to his mates before they go on a road trip.
At the University of Melbourne, Dan is part of a program that lets him use the final year of his Bachelor of Science degree (in which he's majoring in Animal Health and Disease) as the first year of a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine, essentially cutting a year off his studies.
Dan realised this was possible during the second year of his undergraduate studies, when he was asked by the University to submit a letter about why he wanted to become a vet and his level of experience. He was also invited to sit a situational judgement test, and was assessed as a candidate to fast track his degree.
Dan credits Trinity College for helping him through the process and helping him to ultimately submit a successful application. ‘Trinity's great [in that] all the students that want to get into vet band together,’ he says, explaining that this opens up discussions about things like fast-tracked degrees. ‘You always have everything on your radar.’
‘I was lucky that my SC [Student Coordinator] in first year was gunning for the program that I’m now in, and so she gave me the heads up on everything like ‘here's the dates’, ‘here's the things you need to start preparing for’,’ Dan says.
At Trinity, students also have access to academic and professional support provided by Resident Advisors and the college administration team, who are always happy to help students on their study journey. Dan received guidance from Trinity’s Warden and CEO, Professor Ken Hinchcliff, too, who is the former Dean of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences.
Further, Trinity’s alumni network, made up of thousands of industry professionals gives current students another valuable pool of knowledge to tap into. In one of his two placements, Dan spent two weeks on a pig farm run by Trinity alumni. ‘It was nice,’ he says of the experience. ‘I can connect to these people and reach out and be like ‘hey, do you want free labour?’.’ It's win win.
Dan’s advice to current and future Trinitarians who are looking to pursue accelerated or specialised fields of study is to take up the many opportunities that college presents. ‘You’d be surprised by some of the things you can find [at college] and the opportunities you can get by exploring them.’
By Jemma Wilson
