Help with finding vet for recommendation (working full time)

[Ryan7946]

Hello all,

I apologize if this is a duplicate thread. I tried a few different search terms and didn't find anything specifically for what I was trying to find.

I've been trying for a long time to decide what I wanted to do after I got out of school and seem to have made the decision too late. I have solidly decided on vet school but am now working full time in a non-veterinary clinical research. I'm trying to weigh my options to find the best route to fostering a relationship with a veterinarian so I could ask for a LoR by next fall.

I am not worried about any other aspect of my vet school application besides getting recommendation from a vet and getting sufficient animal experience. I have extensive experience in human medicine and great grades, test scores, and recommendation from non-veterinarians. I started volunteering at an animal shelter clinic, but don't get much time interacting with the vet.

It seems like my options with my limited time are:
1. work on an online vet tech program and hope I can find an internship to work on weekends and get recommendation from a vet
2. quit my well-paying job that I like/work part time on weekends to start at the bottom of the food chain at a vet clinic and hope I get to interact with the vets
3. ask the vet at the shelter clinic where I'm volunteering what I can do while volunteering to show her I'm a good candidate for vet school

I'm feeling really nervous about this and would be very gracious for any responses.

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[WildZoo]

If you have a decent amount of veterinary experience you should really already have a vet who you can ask for an eLOR, since vet experience by definition is under the supervision of a vet. When you volunteer in the shelter clinic, what are you actually doing? Maybe try asking if you can shadow or work with the vet directly more often.

 

[Ryan7946]

Well I don't have all that much veterinary experience, which is why I started at the shelter. What I have is from years ago, and I didn't maintain a relationship with the clinic where I worked because at the time, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a vet.

At the shelter clinic now, I'm mostly packaging and sterilizing equipment with some cleaning mixed in. I haven't been there very long, so I'm nervous about how appropriate it would be to approach the vet about working more directly with her.

Another thought, is shadowing on a longer than single day basis a thing?

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

Maybe you have a 4th option: ask either the vet at the clinic or other vets in town if you can shadow. Having time with a vet where you can ask questions, engage, and "show" your abilities, even if it's not hands-on stuff will eventually get you a letter of rec.

I don't have nearly as much experience as many of the other members here, but I would think the act of engagement is far more useful than doing X, Y, Z to show you're a good candidate.

In my situation, I shadowed the vet during surgery days 3 times a week for months. It totally depends on the clinic.

 

[finnickthedog]

Another thought, is shadowing on a longer than single day basis a thing?

Yes, if the vet will let you. I've been shadowing my vet for 2-3 years. No set schedule or anything, just whenever I have time and she has room.
I didn't have the time to actually work for her because of my school schedule and other commitments so I just shadowed.

 

[Ryan7946]

I see, so maybe shadowing would be a better route for me. Thank you two so much for that idea! Any thoughts about what kinds of clinics are easier to shadow at (larger, smaller, etc.)?

 

[KCgophervet]

Hello all,

I apologize if this is a duplicate thread. I tried a few different search terms and didn't find anything specifically for what I was trying to find.

I've been trying for a long time to decide what I wanted to do after I got out of school and seem to have made the decision too late. I have solidly decided on vet school but am now working full time in a non-veterinary clinical research. I'm trying to weigh my options to find the best route to fostering a relationship with a veterinarian so I could ask for a LoR by next fall.

I am not worried about any other aspect of my vet school application besides getting recommendation from a vet and getting sufficient animal experience. I have extensive experience in human medicine and great grades, test scores, and recommendation from non-veterinarians. I started volunteering at an animal shelter clinic, but don't get much time interacting with the vet.

It seems like my options with my limited time are:
1. work on an online vet tech program and hope I can find an internship to work on weekends and get recommendation from a vet
2. quit my well-paying job that I like/work part time on weekends to start at the bottom of the food chain at a vet clinic and hope I get to interact with the vets
3. ask the vet at the shelter clinic where I'm volunteering what I can do while volunteering to show her I'm a good candidate for vet school

I'm feeling really nervous about this and would be very gracious for any responses.

Just curious how you've solidly decided on vet school when it sounds like you don't really have much (if any?) vet experience. And no, volunteering with a shelter doesn't count as vet experience unless it's working directly under the supervision of a vet.

Also, you should be worried about your application if you truly don't have much veterinary experience, it is a separate category and pretty much highly emphasized for all veterinary school applications.

If you like research, maybe try to get involved with some pre-clinical stuff and animal models. You could get experience with a laboratory animal veterinarian and see how that goes.

 

[WildZoo]

I see, so maybe shadowing would be a better route for me. Thank you two so much for that idea! Any thoughts about what kinds of clinics are easier to shadow at (larger, smaller, etc.)?

In my experience, it was easiest to get in at shelters, then small animal clinics, and I didn't have any luck with large animal shadowing (perhaps because of where I live).

But you'll want to have some diversity in your vet experience anyway, so you may need to try for all of those. There are a lot of different categories within vet med. Schools like to see that you've explored more than just one or two.

 

[finnickthedog]

In my experience, it was easiest to get in at shelters, then small animal clinics, and I didn't have any luck with large animal shadowing (perhaps because of where I live).

I didn't have any luck with large animals either. There are clinics in my area that take shadows but they all have strict requirements for who they'll allow and it just ended up not working out for me (so far--I'm still trying).

 

[WildZoo]

I didn't have any luck with large animals either. There are clinics in my area that take shadows but they all have strict requirements for who they'll allow and it just ended up not working out for me (so far--I'm still trying).

Yeah, I basically had to try to make up for it with zoo/exotics experience.

 

[LetItSnow]

Well I don't have all that much veterinary experience, which is why I started at the shelter. What I have is from years ago, and I didn't maintain a relationship with the clinic where I worked because at the time, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a vet.

At the shelter clinic now, I'm mostly packaging and sterilizing equipment with some cleaning mixed in. I haven't been there very long, so I'm nervous about how appropriate it would be to approach the vet about working more directly with her.

Another thought, is shadowing on a longer than single day basis a thing?

Sure. I shadowed at one clinic pretty much one day a week for ... geez .... two years?

Honestly, whenever people post about being nervous to go talk to the vet I always think they same thing: "Just play it straight."

I mean, I understand the nervousness. It's hard to approach someone. I get it. But just be honest and polite! Find a good time to talk to the vet - i.e. when they're not running five different directions at once - and be honest. Tell them you're hoping to get into vet school. That you're trying to build experience. That you know you'll need veterinary recommendations and you're wondering what would have to happen for them to write you one.

Most people will appreciate that sort of honest approach. Most vets won't bite you for asking for their help.

Don't be afraid to leverage friends of friends .... somebody you know, or someone your parents know, or someone a friend knows, or .... etc. .... is a vet who owns a clinic. Use that to get in the door. Don't try and 'marry' the clinic on day 1 - just show up for a casual day of shadowing. Be polite. Stay out of the way. Ask a few good, well-timed questions. I.e. make a good impression. Then ask if you can come back for one more day. Next thing you know you'll be the equivalent of the clinic cat, just roaming around with freedom to come and go as you please.

 

[DogtorCK]

When I started, I asked my personal vet if I could shadow, but it was a VCA so she said it wasn't really up to her and I'd have to try to apply for a receptionist job if one opened up, which I knew wouldn't give me the experience I wanted. So my mom asked her vet if he was amenable to the idea, and then I went with her to one of her appointments to meet him. He's had numerous students shadow over the years, and luckily he's a mixed practice large and small so I got experience with both. As long as you don't get in the way, your being there won't have much bearing - or any - at all on the operation of the clinic so I found him to be very casual and flexible about the whole thing. Obviously you want to be professional and show up when you say you will, but he didn't really care when I went on vacation or that my schedule changed from semester to semester. Shadowing is difficult because you don't get paid (typically) so it's definitely a financial burden, but definitely reach out to pet owners and ask if they'd be willing to introduce you to their vets or find out if their vets have shadowing opportunities.

 

[Lab Vet]

To the OP:

Some veterinary schools require you to have significant 'veterinary' experience in multiple areas of the profession. NCSU, for example, requires a minimum of 400 hours just to be considered. Competitive applicants have significant experience in 3 (or more) areas of the profession. For most folks, that encompasses small animal medicine, large animal medicine, and a specialty of their choosing. Absence of large animal experience (at least for some schools) is what sinks an otherwise good application in many instances. If you are serious about applying for next year's cycle, I would suggest a review of school-specific requirements when it comes to experience. It's a fact that you won't be admitted to vet school without [any] veterinary experience, but schools can vary as to what they expect of their incoming class (some schools emphasize breadth over depth, vice versa, or both). It's important for you to know that in planning your application strategy.

Also, I would be careful in being too confident regarding the remainder of your application. Many, many people with excellent grades and solid test scores are denied admission each year. I'm not intimating that you're not competitive, I just warn you of the 'my application is too great to fail' syndrome.