Karly Bower

From an early age, senior Karly Bower developed an affinity for animals through her passion for horseback riding, a hobby she started when she was 5 years old. This love for animals combined with a fascination with physiology initially steered her toward a career in veterinary medicine during her middle school years.

“I really liked working with horses and dogs growing up,” Bower said. “I had a period of time where I wanted to be a horse vet specifically because of running horses. [But] my parents kind of warned me all about medical school stuff because my dad was gonna go into medical school and he decided not to do it [and pursued] a different career path. I just heard horror stories about going into it and not getting a lot of payback, so I kind of got scared away from doing any veterinary stuff.”

This skepticism led Bower to shift her interests initially toward law, motivated by her enjoyment of debate and writing. However, Bower ultimately settled on majoring in economics after hearing that it would result in a stable career path from current economic major students. Despite these shifts, Bower still cherishes her original passion for animals and physiology and hopes to achieve her dream of combining economics with veterinary medicine in the future.