Anybody else stuck with useless pre-vet clubs?

[TrocarKarin]

Sorry, I have a bit of a rant, and was kind of wondering if anybody's in the same boat as me.

A few months ago, I started going to the "pre-health professional" club at school, since I'd never heard of us having a pre-vet club. I heard through the grapevine that if I dug deep enough, that there was a pre-vet club, it just wasn't active.

I emailed the contact person on our school's website, and she got back to me (about a month later) to say that she was at vet school, the school hadn't updated their website, but gave me the email address of the student that was now in charge of the pre-vet club.

I emailed that person, talked to her, she seemed interested in starting something, wanted to set up a time to chat, then contact stopped. I emailed her back, and once again, nada.

Its frustrating. I wouldn't mind doing some of the legwork to get a club going, but when the official person in charge doesn't seem to give a rat's ass, why bother? I'd like to at least meet some other people at my school who are pre-vet, since I don't tend to chat up random people, but there's no venue to do it in. Grr.

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[LadyHitokiri]

Sorry, not in the same boat. The pre-vet club at my school is great. Any club has room for improvement, but mine has active members who are very helpful in getting people prepared for applications, etc. We have monthly veterinary speakers, wet labs, and other opportunities. We even have fun casual outings too, like going to Six Flags theme park.

The pre-vet club officer that you contacted is probably overwhelmed with school, work, etc. (or they flat out don't care). They may or may not want to hand over or share the reins, for whatever reason. But if you are unsatisfied, I'm sure there are plenty of others who would like a good pre-vet club! I say, either start your own but call it something different, or ask the officer to hand over the reins (IF they end up answering their e-mail!). It might be more work on your part at first, but I'm sure other people who end up joining will then take officer positions as well. (it could even be some secret underground group...the "Vets-to-be Society" or something along those lines!) I can see this being a great example to tell the admissions committee as to how you solved a problem, handled conflict, took initiative....basically many qualities they are looking for! Good luck though!

 

[EqSci]

My school doesn't even HAVE a pre-vet club, so I'm right there with you!

 

[ImaJerseyGirl]

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[LadyHitokiri]

I can't remember all of the wet labs, but we also had a suturing and bandaging one, as well as ones where we got to work with some of the large animals. We had a dentistry one too, if I remember correctly. At our meetings, we basically have a veterinarian speak to us (usually an area vet or someone from the Vet School) talk about their specialty area (anything from oncology to exotics to pathology). We have guest speakers too (someone from a game reserve in South Africa, someone from Australia who was researching facial tumors in Tasmanian devils, etc.) Every year we also have a meeting that is a big deal...the admissions head comes and speaks about statistics of vet school applicants at UIUC and also about how to get into Vet school, the admissions process, etc.

 

[halesvet]

My school has a pre-professional or Health Careers Society that was organized to help students going into the health field in general: med school, vet school, dental school, PT, PA, etc.

I'm the president this year and I'm trying to organize the first vet school open house ever in the history of the club to OSU since UPenn doesnt have open houses.

The only problem is that there are about 30 something pre-professional majors, and only 3 of them (including myself) are interested in veterinary medicine. My school has gotten lots of people into med school, dental school, and whatnot, but, to my knowledge only 3 people in the last 5 years have applied to and gotten into vet school.

I'm trying to organize things like trips to shelters and things but almost all of our trips are to med school or PA school open houses and the other students in the club want to do big trips to non-school related places, which is fun dont get me wrong.

Its just hard to focus on what the minority is interested in when there are so many other students interested in human med.

On another point...wet labs?? really? you got to learn how to do sutures??? no way! that is so cool! how did you organize that Heather???

 

[ImaJerseyGirl]

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[BrumleyVet]

We have an advisor, but not sure why. The last function that came up, he emailed the information, then told us if we wanted to go we needed to contact them and make the arrangements ourself. Guidance? Yeah, no. Since there is only a few of us, we usually email or chat in class if anything comes up.

 

[LadyHitokiri]

On another point...wet labs?? really? you got to learn how to do sutures??? no way! that is so cool! how did you organize that Heather???

Let me just start off by saying that I commend you for trying to get pre-vet activities/an open house kicked into gear despite the low number of pre-vets at your school. It must be hard, but good luck!

I personally have not organized the wet labs that we've had. That is the job of the vice president and events coordinators (I don't hold either of those positions!) BUT I'm pretty sure all that you need to do is speak to someone at the Vet School...just ask if they would be available for a few hours one Saturday to do some demonstrations and hands-on stuff for the pre-vet students. Even if it doesn't involve live animals, it is still beneficial...practice suture kits, plush/"toy" dogs and cats to practice things on, etc. etc. are still fun to mess with!

(just on a sidenote, how are you dealing with the wait of hearing from Iowa? I'm just a LITTLE bit obsessive! )

 

[wildvet]

I can't remember all of the wet labs, but we also had a suturing and bandaging one, as well as ones where we got to work with some of the large animals. We had a dentistry one too, if I remember correctly. At our meetings, we basically have a veterinarian speak to us (usually an area vet or someone from the Vet School) talk about their specialty area (anything from oncology to exotics to pathology). We have guest speakers too (someone from a game reserve in South Africa, someone from Australia who was researching facial tumors in Tasmanian devils, etc.) Every year we also have a meeting that is a big deal...the admissions head comes and speaks about statistics of vet school applicants at UIUC and also about how to get into Vet school, the admissions process, etc.

I'd like to add also that our pre-vet club also has a contract with a local shelter where there's a year-long surgery observation program with the vet over there. And the program is only open to active members of our pre-vet club, so you need to put in the proper amount of fundraising hours and go to meetings to earn it. For the first semester you volunteer your time to sort of shadow them for 4 hours a week, and then you take a written exam (if I'm not mistaken... I've never actually done it myself) to test your skills about the tools they use and surgery in general. If you pass, second semester you actually get to help out with surgery. Granted, you probably just hand them the tools and maybe inject a few drugs, but it still is a pretty cool thing.

The only bad part about our pre-vet club is that although it's not useless, it's sort of a little too far on the other end, as in they're a bit too strict. They restrict a lot of programs from people who don't meet the point quota. In a sense, this is a good thing so they can keep people out that join the club just for one of the programs. But it also can be bad... for instance, last year I had physics lab/discussion 2 nights a week and it always fell on the nights that we had meetings or events, so I had excuses not to show up, but they still restricted me from doing some programs. I worked my way around it though by personally contacting these shelters and clinics and just participated on my own.

 

[LadyHitokiri]

I'd like to add also that our pre-vet club also has a contract with a local shelter where there's a year-long surgery observation program with the vet over there. And the program is only open to active members of our pre-vet club, so you need to put in the proper amount of fundraising hours and go to meetings to earn it. For the first semester you volunteer your time to sort of shadow them for 4 hours a week, and then you take a written exam (if I'm not mistaken... I've never actually done it myself) to test your skills about the tools they use and surgery in general. If you pass, second semester you actually get to help out with surgery. Granted, you probably just hand them the tools and maybe inject a few drugs, but it still is a pretty cool thing.

The only bad part about our pre-vet club is that although it's not useless, it's sort of a little too far on the other end, as in they're a bit too strict. They restrict a lot of programs from people who don't meet the point quota. In a sense, this is a good thing so they can keep people out that join the club just for one of the programs. But it also can be bad... for instance, last year I had physics lab/discussion 2 nights a week and it always fell on the nights that we had meetings or events, so I had excuses not to show up, but they still restricted me from doing some programs. I worked my way around it though by personally contacting these shelters and clinics and just participated on my own.

I agree on the fact that things can be a little too strict. I always just barely get all of the fundraising hours and sometimes I'm low but they let me slide (woops!) I've been able to attend most of the meetings, but usually skip on the fun outings and barcrawls and whatnot due to time constraints. But I still enjoy our club nonetheless.

I know what you mean about the restrictions though! I didn't get picked for the CCHS medical lab program, so instead I sent in an application to do a medical lab internship there next semester, which I just found out I got accepted for! So...I think a very important thing that people need to learn is that sometimes opportunities fall into your lap, but for the most part you need to go out and grab them! Schools like seeing that type of initiative (i.e. seeking your own research projects, getting a new club jumpstarted, etc.)

 

[wildvet]

I agree on the fact that things can be a little too strict. I always just barely get all of the fundraising hours and sometimes I'm low but they let me slide (woops!) I've been able to attend most of the meetings, but usually skip on the fun outings and barcrawls and whatnot due to time constraints. But I still enjoy our club nonetheless.

I know what you mean about the restrictions though! I didn't get picked for the CCHS medical lab program, so instead I sent in an application to do a medical lab internship there next semester, which I just found out I got accepted for! So...I think a very important thing that people need to learn is that sometimes opportunities fall into your lap, but for the most part you need to go out and grab them! Schools like seeing that type of initiative (i.e. seeking your own research projects, getting a new club jumpstarted, etc.)

Woohoo! Congrats on the internship! That should be a lot of fun!

I'm surprised that they didn't let you do it before. I shadowed in the surgery ward this past summer and did my own "surgery observation program" for a few days. Afterward, they told me that they were always looking for people to help out in the lab. I guess the restriction might be a combination of the club and the volunteer directors, not so much the medical lab themselves. So that definitely surprised me because they really seemed like they needed people for it. I wanted to help out, but it's a time commitment that I didn't have this semester.

 

[LadyHitokiri]

Hrm...I posted a reply before. Guess it got erased when the system was goofy.

Anyway, thanks, I'm excited about next semester.

But yeah, I don't know why they restricted me, but it doesn't matter anymore I guess. That's cool that you took advantage of your summer to get more experience! I used my summer to get some new experiences as well.

lol This turned into our own conversation thread. XD Sorry to the original poster!

 

[TrocarKarin]

So I posted in December ranting about the pre-vet club at my school. I got an email from the president of it a few days ago asking me to take it over. Yay!

While I'm waiting for people to get back to me, I thought I would ask on here - what would you want out of a pre-vet club?

 

[smm482]

That is such exciting news! I'm glad you finally heard back and that you will be able to "restart" the club. I'm sure many posters have much more practical info. to share with you, but this is just my 2 cents. I was scared off by my school's pre-vet club my freshman year b/c the officers were really conceited and not at all warm and welcoming. As we all know, applying to vet school is a highly competitive, stressful, and intimidating process. Especially when you've just started undergrad and everything is a bit new and scary. I stopped going to meetings after the first few weeks because I got tired of listening to officers talk about themselves and walking out of every meeting feeling like I didn't have a chance in heck of getting into vet school. In hindsight I wish I had stuck with it because the following year's officers were much better and everyone seemed to have nothing but great experiences from then on out. Since you get to pretty much start from scratch, I'd make sure to foster an environment where everyone feels welcomed. It would be nice to see a pre-vet club full of people who are supportive of eachother much like the attitude here on SDN. Good luck!

 

[Poochlover11]

So I posted in December ranting about the pre-vet club at my school. I got an email from the president of it a few days ago asking me to take it over. Yay!

While I'm waiting for people to get back to me, I thought I would ask on here - what would you want out of a pre-vet club?

Some things I would say that have made my school's pre-vet club successful would be connections to the vet school, interest groups, and publicity.

First, definately get a hold of the vet school that is connected with your university (if there is a vet school near by? not sure if there is or not sorry ). I know our vet club has a connection with the vet school that allows people in undergrad to do different volunteer opportunities at the vet school (pretty awesome ).

Also think about different interest groups. Get different people to be " chairs" for equine, production, small animal, exotic, etc-and have them find interesting events or speakers that the club members can become involved in.

And finally PUBLICIZE-sounds like the vet club at your school is pretty hush hush-so if your school has a day where clubs set up booths (like a club fest or something)-get one for the pre-vet club and get the word out about it. Posters, emails, etc.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

[david594]

I stopped going to meetings after the first few weeks because I got tired of listening to officers talk about themselves and walking out of every meeting feeling like I didn't have a chance in heck of getting into vet school.

In hindsight, do you really think they were being overly harsh about your prospects at the time though?

Having spent some time at a school with easily 100+ freshman a year coming in who might call themselves "pre-vet" students and the reality that ~10 actually graduate and go on to veterinary school each, maybe they weren't being overly harsh. Sitting in the fresman ansci class I don't think it would have been well received if the instructor stood there and said "Look around! 90% of you won't be accepted to vet school after graduation. Heck, 75% of you won't even apply to vet school when your done."

Keep in mind there is a huge difference between a freshman "pre-vet" student and someone who is still a "pre-vet" student come graduation, and the individual probability of a pre-vet student getting in to vet school increases greatly the farther they make it in their program.

 

[Poochlover11]

In hindsight, do you really think they were being overly harsh about your prospects at the time though?

Having spent some time at a school with easily 100+ freshman a year coming in who might call themselves "pre-vet" students and the reality that ~10 actually graduate and go on to veterinary school each, maybe they weren't being overly harsh. Sitting in the fresman ansci class I don't think it would have been well received if the instructor stood there and said "Look around! 90% of you won't be accepted to vet school after graduation. Heck, 75% of you won't even apply to vet school when your done."

Keep in mind there is a huge difference between a freshman "pre-vet" student and someone who is still a "pre-vet" student come graduation, and the individual probability of a pre-vet student getting in to vet school increases greatly the farther they make it in their program.

This is true. I do feel though that when you are a freshmen it is nice for clubs to be warm and welcoming. Freshmen have just finished high school, are living in a totally new environment, and are still trying to find their way around campus. Pre-vet is tough-and it's important for freshmen to understand that, but that doesn't mean upper classmen shoudn't give them a helping hand (and remember they were once lost freshmen too). Just my two cents.

 

[SHEEPRL]

So I posted in December ranting about the pre-vet club at my school. I got an email from the president of it a few days ago asking me to take it over. Yay!

While I'm waiting for people to get back to me, I thought I would ask on here - what would you want out of a pre-vet club?

I think structure is really helpful for new members. Last years president stepped down after a long year of indecisiveness and ineffectiveness that really made us unappealing to new people. Now we have an agenda that we can easily say this is whats going on for February, March etc. This little change has really helped us out

 

[HopefulAg]

In hindsight, do you really think they were being overly harsh about your prospects at the time though?

Having spent some time at a school with easily 100+ freshman a year coming in who might call themselves "pre-vet" students and the reality that ~10 actually graduate and go on to veterinary school each, maybe they weren't being overly harsh. Sitting in the fresman ansci class I don't think it would have been well received if the instructor stood there and said "Look around! 90% of you won't be accepted to vet school after graduation. Heck, 75% of you won't even apply to vet school when your done."

Our particular club solved that by having a veterinary 'advisor' for the club (all clubs on campus must have an advisor from the faculty). That way the officers could still be awesome and the advisor (who's also on the admissions committee) could get the message across. Once a semester s/he does a presentation on what it takes to get into vet school, what your GPA/GRE should be, your chances, your competition, etc. It's very informative and a great presentation. I've seen the same presentation 7 times now but still learn something new every time.

It does help that the advisor is a really great person, though, and not condescending or anything like that. S/he just tells you flat out what you're up against, which I'm sure we can all agree is extremely important.

 

[Maddsmoltz]

So I posted in December ranting about the pre-vet club at my school. I got an email from the president of it a few days ago asking me to take it over. Yay!

While I'm waiting for people to get back to me, I thought I would ask on here - what would you want out of a pre-vet club?

The prevet club at the University of Minnesota is pretty worthless. I was hoping for opportunities to volunteer as a group and, you know, make a difference in the community. Instead, we have two volunteer events (a car wash-to raise money FOR THE CLUB) and volunteering at some livestock competition (which also does nothing to help actual animals). I think a prevet club should make use of a group of active people who care about animals to make a difference in the well being of animals in the community-not just raise money for sweatshirts.

 

[StealthDog]

Hey Maddsmoltz, did you go to that student panel last week? I was there!

 

[cozycleo]

The prevet club at the University of Minnesota is pretty worthless. I was hoping for opportunities to volunteer as a group and, you know, make a difference in the community. Instead, we have two volunteer events (a car wash-to raise money FOR THE CLUB) and volunteering at some livestock competition (which also does nothing to help actual animals). I think a prevet club should make use of a group of active people who care about animals to make a difference in the well being of animals in the community-not just raise money for sweatshirts.

Agreed. I'm a member too and I'm very frustrated with the group. It hasn't been very beneficial and I'm actually doing better getting things figured out on my own.

My biggest gripe is that if I send an email asking a question, it takes days to get a response. Maybe I'm just too hard up from working with professionals for so many years, but that will NOT fly in the professional world. When someone needs a response from you, you can't take a week to respond (or not respond at all). I feel like an old fart with that group and frankly after only a few months I've lost my patience.

StealthDog, I wasn't at the panel last week, but I'd love to meet you sometime! I think it'd be beneficial if I could pick your brain over coffee or something.

 

[Skillet9886]

Hm, I hope no one comes on here and says that UF Pre-Vet Club is useless!

TrocarKarin, congrats on taking over the Pre-Vet Club. It's a lot of work, though! The PVC here is pretty successful, I think. We have, on average, a little over 100 people at each meeting. Some things that I think make it generally work....

-Pizza. Our members pay dues, and we use some of that money to buy pizza and drinks for every meeting. It's a draw.

-Guest speakers. The main focus of our meetings is the guest speakers we get. We usually have someone from the vet school admissions committee each year or semester, and then we do our best to cover a wide array of aspects of vet med. We try to have small animal people, exotics, large animal people, etc. A few weeks ago we also had a "volunteer" meeting, where a bunch of local rescue organizations, shelters, etc. came to give short presentations about their organizations and what they need volunteers for. They gave out brochures and contact information, and hung around after the meeting to talk to students and answer questions. We also have a vet student panel meeting, where 4ish vet students (usually freshmen) just come in to answer questions for an hour. We just try to arrange speakers that will interest most people in the club, and make them aware of local opportunities.

-Events. We have a ton of events, and they vary a lot. We do social activities, like tonight we are going bowling. We also do a lot of animal-related activities. We go at least twice a semester to a horse retirement farm to help them out, we go to a local primate sanctuary, we help out the humane society with adoption events they have. We have a bunch of events that aren't so work-intensive as well. This Sunday we're doing a manatee swim, and in a few weeks we'll be taking a tour of the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. Just a lot of cool events that people might not necessarily be able to do outside of the club.


I understand what you guys were saying about officers. My freshman year I thought the officers were scary and unapproachable at first. I'm hoping now that officers do not come across as standoffish, but it's hard for me to tell. We do have a lot of freshmen participate, though, so I feel like that's a step in the right direction.

 

[smm482]

In hindsight, do you really think they were being overly harsh about your prospects at the time though?

I see what you're saying, but a freshman comes into college with a clean slate and the chance to make themselves into whatever they want to be. Yes, it is important to be realistic, but providing support and encouragement is much more helpful than telling timid newbies that they'll never amount to jack squat. I think taking the approach of "the odds are against you and many of you may not be here in 4 years, but here are the resources and the tools that you can choose to use if you want to succeed" is much more effective than using scare tactics to cut down on club numbers and potential competition. Kids that are just starting school don't yet have a bruised GPA or any of the other pitfalls that keep people from applying to vet school. We should be encouraging them to work their butts off, gain lots of experience, and pursue their goals. A pre vet club is the perfect venue to provide the resources and the support needed to become a successful candidate.

 

[2BaVet]

I felt the same way when I was a freshman.. Our pre-vet club had a GPA rule. If it was below sth (I don't remember but something like 3.4-3.5), you could not participate. The weird thing was the prevet community at my school is sooo smalll.. In my third year, everybody on that prevet club graduated and the club dissolved.. We took it into our hands and the very first thing we did was to change that GPA rule.. I feel like it is more welcoming now.. However, this time we are facing an other problem: we are so relaxed that ppl don't show up to regular meetings, even officers.. And they get to write "member or officer of prevet club" into their resume.. I personally don't care about it because I believe that vet schools hardly look into our social activities.. but still it is not fair.. now we are taking attendance and I guess we will be removing those people who do not attend regularly.. I'm glad I read this thread.. there are so many great ideas that we can do in our prevet club.. and so many things that we cannot because our city is so small... and I hope no one will come in and say bad things about my schools' prevet club..!!!

 

[Maddsmoltz]

Hey Maddsmoltz, did you go to that student panel last week? I was there!

no, sorry. I actually was just a member for a year in 2007. I guess its possible it's changed but not that I've heard.

 

[Lambgirl]

I just found this fourm last week and love it.

When I started my freshman year, there was no official club at Central Washington University. After jumping through numerous hoops and rounding up the necessary members to start a group, we officially became a recognized club this year.

We are now up to 18 members (not bad for a school with no ag or animal classes).

So far this year we have had several guest speakers from local vets to state vets.

Activities so far; Veterinary Career Day at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.
Lambing school in March.

We have also organized for the recruiter from WSU CVM to come and meet with the club members next week.

In April we will be attending an event called Discover Veterinary Medicine at WSU, and the following day attending the Vet School open house.

I really like the idea doing wet labs.

Just this week while observing at one of our local clinics, one of the long time doctors asked to be part of our club, acting as a professional advisor. He also offered to our club members setting up times for them to observe on a regular basis at the clinic. So cool.

Great thread!!!

 

[Ausheya]

I'm secretary of the pre-vet club at my school, but it's really difficult because we took it over from people who weren't really motivated last year, and the other officers aren't really motivated this year. But I'm already planning ways to make it better for next year. This thread definitely has some awesome ideas! Hopefully I'll be able to put some of them into practice next year and get the club up and running again.

 

[StealthDog]

I guess its possible it's changed but not that I've heard.

Hmm, I'm not sure it's changed too much- they lured all of us vet students there with the promise of free pizza, but then all they gave us were chips and cookies. :-/

StealthDog, I wasn't at the panel last week, but I'd love to meet you sometime! I think it'd be beneficial if I could pick your brain over coffee or something.

I'm always up for coffee! I start clinics in April, but my schedule is pretty open before that

 

[Maddsmoltz]

Hmm, I'm not sure it's changed too much- they lured all of us vet students there with the promise of free pizza, but then all they gave us were chips and cookies. :-/

haha, yeah, you can't turn down free pizza. Just bad mouth all the current club members to the admissions committee for lying to you...it would really help my odds