Double major?

[Kiannetto]

Does double majoring increase your chances for getting into vet school? Or does it look better to focus on one major and a bunch of clinical, volunteer, etc experience? I'm currently a Biology major with a chemistry and astronomy minor, but I don't feel like that makes me stand out very much. If double majoring I would probably do spanish and drop the astronomy. I'm coming up on my sophomore year in college and have no idea what I should be doing. Thoughts?

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[BeamingLight]

Does double majoring increase your chances for getting into vet school? Or does it look better to focus on one major and a bunch of clinical, volunteer, etc experience? I'm currently a Biology major with a chemistry and astronomy minor, but I don't feel like that makes me stand out very much. If double majoring I would probably do spanish and drop the astronomy. I'm coming up on my sophomore year in college and have no idea what I should be doing. Thoughts?

If you are going to double major, do it because you are genuinely interested in the subject and want to challenge yourself that way. Plenty of pre-vet students have been admitted into school with a single major; I don't think it will dramatically improve your chances, but it can make you stand out. At the end of the day, your undergraduate GPA and veterinary/animal experiences matter the most. Your college experience is practically just beginning. Enjoy it while it lasts because those are four damn good years.

 

[kaydubs]

Agreed with Beaminglight. I went to a liberal arts school and double majored in biology and philosophy and minored in English lit. I've always loved the arts and wanted to have the science and writing together despite my crazy courseload. That said, I built the strongest relationships with my philosophy professors because that was where my love was. I had beautiful letters of recc from my biology profs too but my heart belongs to philosophy for sure.

After just finishing vet school and finally returning to my creative side, do what you love is my advice. Veterinary is your profession. Science being slammed into me for 8+ years was rough and I am so glad my creative spring wasn't destroyed by all the science facts that I needed to ingest for vet school. Best of luck, if you have questions, post more or PM me

 

[Doctor-S]

Does double majoring increase your chances for getting into vet school? Or does it look better to focus on one major and a bunch of clinical, volunteer, etc experience? I'm currently a Biology major with a chemistry and astronomy minor, but I don't feel like that makes me stand out very much. If double majoring I would probably do spanish and drop the astronomy. I'm coming up on my sophomore year in college and have no idea what I should be doing. Thoughts?

I do not believe a double major increases your chances for being admitted to DVM school (and "increases" is the operative word in your post).

When you apply to DVM school, you will be competing against a tidal wave of eager applicants who have distinguished themselves in many unique ways (e.g., ECs). They will probably have excellent GPA and GRE scores.

On the other hand, if pursuit of a second major does not sabotage your study time (GPA/GRE), and you're really interested in the subject matter of the second major (e.g., Spanish which is a common major for a lot of students), and you ace your Spanish courses ("A" grades) ... okay, have fun. If you earn a GPA of 4.0 in a Spanish major (and your Biology major GPA is also high), it may demonstrate that you're able to properly manage a greater academic workload - meaning you're presumably less likely to be an academic risk as a DVM student. Otherwise, a double major is probably not going to be a significant factor, with the exception of showing that you have an interest in Spanish as a student AND you can carry on an interesting conversation in Spanish.

Thank you.

 

[dyachei]

It doesn't increase your chance. heck, if you finish all the pre-reqs, they don't care if you major in fashion.

You still need to take higher course loads because some schools weight that and do well in your classes.

 

[Doktor Timo]

If you have to choose between the additional coursework of a double major or getting more actual veterinary/research experience, choose the experience all day every day.