How much veterinary experience do I need?

[Caterpillar]

Hello there.

So, I was wondering, exactly how much experience do I need to apply for vet school? I have roughly 200-300 hours as a student volunteer now (in the room with doctors during appointments or surgeries). I have about 600-700 hours as a receptionist at the same office, but I have been told this does not qualify as veterinary experience.

I have 13 weeks of summer, during which I plan to get roughly 500 hours of veterinary experience. Will this be enough? I'll have probably 800 hours by the time I apply.

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[98cats]

I feel like it couldn't hurt to apply with 800. I'm not sure how low that is. I can't really talk though. I think I'm a strange case. I somehow got in with a reported ~160 hours of vet experience. I did have great grades, and thousands of hours working for an animal shelter, and I think my interview went well. So, really, it's possible. And 800 is a lot more than 160. So, I think it may also depend on the rest of your stats as well.

 

[98cats]

But also check out the accepted applicants stats thread. It will give you an idea of how many hours people being accepted had: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/successful-applicant-stats-class-of-2018.1044809/

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Hello there.

So, I was wondering, exactly how much experience do I need to apply for vet school? I have roughly 200-300 hours as a student volunteer now (in the room with doctors during appointments or surgeries). I have about 600-700 hours as a receptionist at the same office, but I have been told this does not qualify as veterinary experience.

I have 13 weeks of summer, during which I plan to get roughly 500 hours of veterinary experience. Will this be enough? I'll have probably 800 hours by the time I apply.

I don't think 800 is "too low" to apply! However, you need to have a variety of fields covered in those hours. I had somewhere around 500-600 SA when I applied, and so far my file reviews are telling me my lack of LA is what did me in. Also, if you ask me, receptionist positions do count as veterinary experience. In my case, I was directly hired by the vet, trained by the vet, and went to the vet with questions. You should realize that a reception position is a great way to be introduced to the field. You are getting client contact, learning about vaccine protocols and medical terminology, and understanding how a vet clinic operates. It's all about what you choose to learn. Veterinary experience does not require animal contact, just that the work is related to animals and you are supervised by a "health professional." That job title, however, can be pretty vague...

 

[Karabiner13]

You should also realize that the depth of your experience may count for more than the number of hours you have. It all depends on where you plan to apply. Some schools want to see you get experience in many fields of veterinary medicine while some prefer you to have more depth to your experiences. A lot of schools want more hands on experience than lots of hours observing. I know the first time I applied I had a lot of experience but most of it was observing office visits and surgery. I had hands on experience but not as much as they wanted. When I did the file review that was the thing I was being told to improve. I would try this summer to be more hands on if they will let you.

 

[dydrmr01]

Having just done an application review with Mizzou and being thoroughly disappointed with their response, I would like to comment on this.
I have probably about 1500hrs total veterinary experience, most of which is small animal and some equine. I however did not have much in the way of 'food animal', and I was told it was because of this my application was pushed aside as they were looking for candidates that were "the total package".
What is 'the total package' you ask? Well apparently according to Mizzou this is nothing more than a mere 50hrs with a veterinarian who will then write you a reference. As long as they will give you a reference, quantity apparently does not matter. In my opinion, that's a bunch of horse excrement as anyone can put on a happy face for one week in order to get a DVM approval.
So it really depends on the school, as each one scores things differently, so if you have a lot of different kinds of vets who are all willing to provide you with a reference (and by the way, if the school ACCEPTS 6 references, this apparently means they EXPECT 6 references) then go for it.

 

[Ashgirl]

Having just done an application review with Mizzou and being thoroughly disappointed with their response, I would like to comment on this.
I have probably about 1500hrs total veterinary experience, most of which is small animal and some equine. I however did not have much in the way of 'food animal', and I was told it was because of this my application was pushed aside as they were looking for candidates that were "the total package".
What is 'the total package' you ask? Well apparently according to Mizzou this is nothing more than a mere 50hrs with a veterinarian who will then write you a reference. As long as they will give you a reference, quantity apparently does not matter. In my opinion, that's a bunch of horse excrement as anyone can put on a happy face for one week in order to get a DVM approval.
So it really depends on the school, as each one scores things differently, so if you have a lot of different kinds of vets who are all willing to provide you with a reference (and by the way, if the school ACCEPTS 6 references, this apparently means they EXPECT 6 references) then go for it.

This might be completely anecdotal, but I definitely didn't have 6 references for Mizzou (I actually had 4, but only 2 from actual veterinarians), and I heard several who got in with just 3. My two LORs didn't cover any of my equine, exotic, or research experience and it appeared to be alright. It seems that Mizzou does look at diversity of experience more, which could be good if you dabbled in a bunch of things but not so good if you only got 2000 hours in a small animal vet clinic. I somewhat understand this logic as it helps you get a feel for a lot of other fields in Vet Med, though I could understand if someone was upset at having 5000 hours in small animal but still being "counted down" for not having any in large animal or exotics.

To the OP, it seems that a lot of schools(or at least the ones I applied to) like to see that you have diversity in your experience. So if you could branch out to other areas (exotics, large animal, research, lab animal, etc.), that would help your application even if it's not a lot of hours.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

It depends on the school you want, as I am coming to learn. UF liked my 700 SA hours, but my in-state said they were essentially pointless because I wasn't giving vaccinations or drawing blood.

Not every clinic allows vet assistants to do tech work...

 

[Caterpillar]

I appreciate everyone's input. I'm scared because I essentially wasted a summer taking ochem lab and working in a lab, where I learned a lot but wasn't allowed to do much in. It was a lot of watching and explanations, which was frustrating. I wish I got vet experience during it, but what can you do? Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[kittyy]

Having just done an application review with Mizzou and being thoroughly disappointed with their response, I would like to comment on this.
I have probably about 1500hrs total veterinary experience, most of which is small animal and some equine. I however did not have much in the way of 'food animal', and I was told it was because of this my application was pushed aside as they were looking for candidates that were "the total package".
What is 'the total package' you ask? Well apparently according to Mizzou this is nothing more than a mere 50hrs with a veterinarian who will then write you a reference. As long as they will give you a reference, quantity apparently does not matter. In my opinion, that's a bunch of horse excrement as anyone can put on a happy face for one week in order to get a DVM approval.
So it really depends on the school, as each one scores things differently, so if you have a lot of different kinds of vets who are all willing to provide you with a reference (and by the way, if the school ACCEPTS 6 references, this apparently means they EXPECT 6 references) then go for it.

Him, interesting. During my interview with Mizzou they asked me if I had any food animal experience and I had to just say no. At the time I had about 500 hours SA, and maybe about 100 equine.. and I was waitlisted