Books to read before applying/interviewing for vet school?

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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yesnomaybe

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Hello,

I will be applying for vet school this fall and was wondering if anyone knew of any good books that would help me better an even better sense of this field and help prepare me for the interviewing process? Like information on vaccination, euthanasia, etc. Just a broad overview of everything? Does this book exist? ha

Edit: Let me better explain. I have a degree in graphic design and have been fully immersed in this area of study for the last 5 years. I went back to school to get my pre-reqs to apply for vet school and am doing a small amount of volunteer work (need to up this by a lot), but I feel I'm at a disadvantage from the kids who grew up on farms or knew they wanted to be vets since they were little kids. I basically need to "catch up." :(
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I don't think that there are any books that exist to give you a primer on vet med. I wouldn't recommend going about it like that anyway. The best way to get the preparation you're looking for is to actually be there working with / shadowing a vet for some time. Not sure if you actually have worked / are working with a veterinarian since you didn't say, but if you did then great. Keep doing that. Reading about it in a book doesn't isn't really going to do it for you. You need to be there and experience it if you want to know what you're talking about. You also don't need an encyclopedic knowledge about the profession to apply so don't sweat it.
 
No book is really going to give you a sense of this field... Your best bet is to start getting experience working with vets in a hospital setting. That is the best way to really know what you are getting into. In regards to the interview, start looking at current events in the vet field if you really want to start preparing, but I wouldn't start preparing questions until you actually get the interview invites. A good website to get animal health current events is: The Animal Health Smart Brief". Sign up at: https://www2.smartbrief.com/avma/index.jsp. Once you sign up, they send weekly updates to your email with current events.

Once you get the interview invites, SDN has a forum on here with specific interview questions that have been asked at different schools. But a lot of the interview questions will pertain to your vet med experiences (At least at my interviews), so you need to start getting those hours of experience. You have all summer to get experience, good luck!

Edit: You don't need to have grown up on a farm to get into vet school. I've never set foot on a farm and was accepted to five schools. Diversify your experiences so that you stand out. Not growing up on a farm is not a disadvantage.
 
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There is also an "interview feedback" section on this site that can give you a sense of what kind of questions to expect with each school's interview process.
 
Thanks for the responses and links!

I was talking to a friend who told me in the interview process, they would ask me what kinds of vaccines my dog gets as well as what is in the vaccines and what they do. I'm sure this is stuff I will pick up as I volunteer, but it did worry me that I wouldn't be educated enough.
 
yesnomaybe said:
Thanks for the responses and links!

I was talking to a friend who told me in the interview process, they would ask me what kinds of vaccines my dog gets as well as what is in the vaccines and what they do. I'm sure this is stuff I will pick up as I volunteer, but it did worry me that I wouldn't be educated enough.
Click to expand...

I know of someone at one school in particular that was asked something knowledge-based like that and replied, honestly, "I don't know an answer to that question confidently enough to feel comfortable explaining it to you, but I'm curious to look it up and learn more about it so that I can better understand that information."
He said the interviewers seemed pleased with that type of a response and moved on. Things went well, he got in.
So, sure, some of that you may learn, most of your interviews won't be knowledge-based, and never be afraid to say, "I don't know."
 
kakurubird said:
I know of someone at one school in particular that was asked something knowledge-based like that and replied, honestly, "I don't know an answer to that question confidently enough to feel comfortable explaining it to you, but I'm curious to look it up and learn more about it so that I can better understand that information."
He said the interviewers seemed pleased with that type of a response and moved on. Things went well, he got in.
So, sure, some of that you may learn, most of your interviews won't be knowledge-based, and never be afraid to say, "I don't know."
Click to expand...

I've heard of some really random questions popping up in interviews before; I think the point of it is more so to see how you handle yourself than whether or not you actually know the answer.
 
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Interviews aside (I agree with all the other comments about needing real-life experience), if you want an interesting, well-written book to read, I *highly* recommend any of Dr. Nick Trout's autobiographies. My personal favorite was his first book, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," but they are all great.

It can't give you experience, but it can give you an entertaining, vet-related study break!
 
Frozenshades said:
I've heard of some really random questions popping up in interviews before; I think the point of it is more so to see how you handle yourself than whether or not you actually know the answer.
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Yep, agreed here. I feel that a lot of any standard interview (as in, not MMI, not behavioral) is just to make sure you are a real person who can coherently respond to new situations and questions and use your brain when put on the spot.
 
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PippyPony said:
Interviews aside (I agree with all the other comments about needing real-life experience), if you want an interesting, well-written book to read, I *highly* recommend any of Dr. Nick Trout's autobiographies. My personal favorite was his first book, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," but they are all great.

It can't give you experience, but it can give you an entertaining, vet-related study break!
Click to expand...

I am reading that right now.

The James Herriot books!
 
PippyPony said:
Interviews aside (I agree with all the other comments about needing real-life experience), if you want an interesting, well-written book to read, I *highly* recommend any of Dr. Nick Trout's autobiographies. My personal favorite was his first book, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," but they are all great.

It can't give you experience, but it can give you an entertaining, vet-related study break!
Click to expand...

LOVED this book! :thumbup:
 
PippyPony said:
Interviews aside (I agree with all the other comments about needing real-life experience), if you want an interesting, well-written book to read, I *highly* recommend any of Dr. Nick Trout's autobiographies. My personal favorite was his first book, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," but they are all great.

It can't give you experience, but it can give you an entertaining, vet-related study break!
Click to expand...

Love that book!
 
yesnomaybe said:
Thanks for the responses and links!

I was talking to a friend who told me in the interview process, they would ask me what kinds of vaccines my dog gets as well as what is in the vaccines and what they do. I'm sure this is stuff I will pick up as I volunteer, but it did worry me that I wouldn't be educated enough.
Click to expand...

UCDavis asked me a bunch of knowledge based questions and I knew the answer to NONE of them, which I plainly stated. Then they asked me to try to figure out an answer to one of the questions I didn't know.

I thought all in all it was a horrible interview but they let me in anyway, but it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth so to speak and didn't go there (for various unimportant reasons - not all of them named Nyanko:p)
 
PippyPony said:
Interviews aside (I agree with all the other comments about needing real-life experience), if you want an interesting, well-written book to read, I *highly* recommend any of Dr. Nick Trout's autobiographies. My personal favorite was his first book, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," but they are all great.

It can't give you experience, but it can give you an entertaining, vet-related study break!
Click to expand...

:thumbup: agreed. Actually, find the section where these sorts of books are in your library and just browse the shelves there. That's how I found Dr. Trout's book in the first place. :)
 
I will echo everyone else who said that you can in no way understand the field from reading a book. However, there are some books which I have not only enjoyed reading, but have also forced me to look back at my past animal and veterinary experiences and analyze them in different ways. They make me think about new situations differently and more thoroughly as well. They don't all pertain specifically to vet med either. So, if you have the time, I highly recommend you pick up one of these, but remember that experience is your priority. Good luck :)

Tell Me Where it Hurts - Nick Trout
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat - Hal Herzog
Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human - both by Temple Grandin
The Emotional Lives of Animals - Mark Bekoff
Reason for Hope - Jane Goodall, any Jane Goodall book really
The Other End of the Leash - Patricia McConnell
Don't Shoot the Dog - Karen Pryor
 
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