Is large animal experience needed?

[N1235]

Hello!

While I know that academic standards are a HUGE part of the veterinary application, I'm wondering how important diverse experience is?

I believe I have diverse experience, but I am afraid that since I do not have large animal experience my application will just be shoved aside or that it will hurt me in the final decision.

My experience includes:
Shadowing a small animal vet-35 hrs
Columbus Zoo animal care internship - 385 hrs
research involving exotic birds in Costa Rica - 200 hrs
Researching involving tropical poison frogs/ caring for tropical poison frogs - I have been working in a research lab for the past three years
Shadowing a different small animal vet - 355 hrs
Hired as a veterinary assistant at a small animal clinic - started in April of 2015 and still currently there.
Volunteering at animal shelters - 200 hrs
Club member of Animal Welfare group at my University

I am about to enter my senior year of college. I have decided not to apply this summer for multiple reasons including wanting to retake Ochem 2 and the GRE. I am wondering how much of a priority gaining large animal experience should be for me for this upcoming year ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

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[Gwenevre]

You do have a lot of small animal, and I think that gaining some vet experience in Large Animal or exotics would help you immensely. If you can find LA places, go go go! In my last two application cycles I had 3.5 years of working in SA Neuro, but I was told by both schools that rejected me to broaden my experiences. So I've been doing my best to get that tough to get LA experience.

 

[deleted676737]

I actually have a very similar experience profile to you (though my total number of hours is higher), comprised primarily of zoo, SA, and exotics. Honestly, I think that what you have is okay. It's not ideal, but I definitely know that there is a sizable number of vet school applicants that get accepted with zero LA experience. Some schools value diversity over depth, so do keep that in mind. If your academics are strong, that will help offset things, as well.

LA experience is certainly not required to get accepted to vet school.

That being said, though...

If you can manage to find an LA or even an equine vet to shadow, even if it's only for a day or two (I know that it's hard, trust me), that would set you up pretty dang well experience-wise. But provided that the rest of your application is solid and you're not going to sing praises in your PS/interview about how fantastic LA medicine is and how it's what you're wanting to focus in, I wouldn't stress too much over it.

 

[N1235]

Thanks for the advice! Any advice on where exactly to look for LA experience? I did have some exotic vet experience during my zoo internship. Do you suggest starting off by asking LA vets for shadow experience first?

 

[Gwenevre]

Thanks for the advice! Any advice on where exactly to look for LA experience? I did have some exotic vet experience during my zoo internship. Do you suggest starting off by asking LA vets for shadow experience first?

Yes. Equine, livestock, swine. Those will all qualify as LA.

 

[deleted676737]

Thanks for the advice! Any advice on where exactly to look for LA experience? I did have some exotic vet experience during my zoo internship. Do you suggest starting off by asking LA vets for shadow experience first?

Absolutely! I'm not sure where you're located, but in Missouri our VMA website has a member search function that allows you to restrict parameters to one specific area of vet med (you can even set it to search in a specific county if distance is a potential issue); perhaps your state has something like this? Just keep in mind that a lot of equine and LA vets are pretty big harps on liability issues, so finding one who will allow you to hang with them may prove more difficult than finding someone SA, especially if you have no prior experience beforehand. It's really a game of location and luck.

Which actually brings me to my next point...

Even if you cannot find strictly veterinary experience with LA or equine, it may still benefit you to show familiarity with the species in other ways. For example, while I've recently found an equine vet to shadow, for the longest time I had no luck with it, so I started volunteering at a therapeutic riding facility where I was taught the ins and outs of caring for horses (while I have prior riding experience, it was from when I was very young, so I had mostly forgotten). Maybe you can find a local farm that needs an extra set of hands in exchange for ruminant and swine experience? There's quite a few options out there, and I think getting some experience period with these species, veterinary or otherwise, will help broaden your application.