Advancing the Veterinary Industry Through Strategic Consulting

A month after our first meeting, Dr. Corsale let me know he had signed up and was completing a class on mindfulness and communication styles through the undergraduate college in order to enhance his ability to communicate with and advise me. He sent me home with a book about mindfulness that corresponded with his course a few weeks later, and my mind again circled back to the “how did I get so lucky?” line of thinking. His dedication to our mentor-mentee relationship only grew as time went on, resulting in him becoming the first person I wanted to ask for advice from in most situations. By the end of our first year together, he had taught me the basics of how to play chess, had given me numerous informative novels, had kept me on track with my courses, allowed me to meet and become friends with quite possibly the cutest Boston Terrier around, and had made me feel like I mattered in an environment where it became increasingly easy to feel like I didn’t. Going through vet school is difficult, and having someone in your corner advocating for you that has already been down the path before is invaluable. There were so many occasions where I would come into his office extremely upset but leave feeling like I could conquer the world. He just had that effect. When it came time for my clinical year to begin, he reviewed all of the rotation offerings with me meticulously, ensuring that my ranking and time slot placement requests were perfectly aligned with my future career goals. We discussed practice ownership, what I wanted my impact to be on the veterinary community, the important takeaways of specific courses, and how to be successful in an academic setting. Dr. Corsale has always been so unselfish with his expertise, time, and knowledge in the entirety of the time I have known him. He could have easily satisfied the faculty mentor requirements by meeting with me once per semester, completing a quick checklist to make sure I was taking the right courses for my small animal track, and by sending me on my way. Instead, he treated me like family and helped not only navigate the trials of veterinary school, but also the difficulties of everyday life. He served as a constant source of wisdom, guidance, encouragement, and support throughout my journey. Knowing that he believed in me made all of the difference on the days where I didn’t think I could keep going. When he let me know that our time as mentor and mentee would be coming to an end, I was honestly heartbroken. However, little did I know that a year later, he would be by my side once again advising me through the process of contract negotiation for my first job post veterinary school. They tell you to read contracts carefully in school and to not sign the first thing that’s put in front of you, which seemed simple enough in theory. Yet, the first job contract I read was overflowing with phrases, language, and specifications that I didn’t understand whatsoever. Again, if I didn’t have someone with the degree of knowledge and expertise like Dr. Corsale in my corner, I’m not sure what I would have done. He combed through every contract I sent him expeditiously, highlighting areas of importance/concern and offering thoughts and suggestions on revisions that could be made that would benefit me. By working with him throughout my contract negotiation process, I gained a much better understanding of the verbiage of contracts and had the confidence that that my interests could not have been represented by a more qualified party. The difference between the first version and final version of the contract I accepted was significant, and that wouldn’t have been possible without Dr. Corsale. I can look back and confidently say that being matched with Dr. Corsale was by far the best thing that happened to me during my four years of veterinary school.