Medical experience with humans, but not animals?

[TheHumanElement]

Hello everyone!

So I always wanted to be a DVM, unfortunately life got in the way as it often does and I found myself in a situation where 8+ years of medical training just wasn't possible with my situation at the time.

Instead I became a Respiratory Therapist and I've been working full time for about 7 years now. I've finally arrived at a place however where trying for veterinary school is actually a possibility. I could feasibly get my Bachelors at UC Davis and then apply for vet school. The only issue I'm having with this is attaining experience/hours in animal practice.

As it stands I have 7 years of experience in just about everything. I currently work at UC Davis Medical Center, and I've worked in ICU's, the OR, Acute Care, Case Management and Rehabilitation, and the ED which is a very large Level-I Trauma Center. I've had exposure to patients in basically every specialty from Trauma/Burn/Neuro/Cardiothoracic Surgery to Pulm/Endo/Cardiac/EverythingElse Medicine.

But like I said before, I lack any animal experience. My partner is actually an RVT so I'm maybe a bit more familiar than a layman, but that's about it.

So I'm left wondering, would my current medical experience make up at all for a lack of work experience with animals? How do admissions boards look towards candidates with a decent amount of human medical experience (either positive or negative)? And if I did have to get some experience, between working full time and school full time, about the best I could probably do would be unpaid volunteer work at a clinic, would that at all be considered adequate to be a competitive candidate?

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[Coquette22]

You will need veterinary experience; your human medical experience will count for little if anything at all. Unpaid work is fine, and lots of peoeple get in without paid veterinary work. I would encourage you to ask to shadow rather than volunteer though, because the legal implications are different and clinics may not be willing to have volunteers, but may be willing to take shadows.

As to whether it works for or against you, I can't confirm it, but I have heard that too much human medical experience can count against you a bit because they may question if you're actually committed to vet med. In addition to getting lots of good veterinary/animal experience, you should be prepared to explain in your personal statement why you have so much experience in human med and that you are really dedicated to vet med.

 

[Gwenevre]

Having the medical experience is great, but mostly if you're going to med school. If you're seriously considering vet school, you need those veterinary hours to back up that claim. In your situation, you'll also have to show that you are dedicated to changing fields from human to animal, and explain to schools why you've made that decision now instead of X years ago. Admissions will look at your human hours AND your vet hours, so get some of those ASAP. Unpaid volunteer work, as long as you're still working with/under a veterinarian still counts, just stick with the experience to make friends at your clinic and rack up a good amount of hours. You'll also need to find at least one veterinarian to write you a letter of recommendation.

 

[that redhead]

So I'm left wondering, would my current medical experience make up at all for a lack of work experience with animals?

No. It isn't actually that they want you to have a ton of experience with animals in the physical/technical sense (although that's fine if you end up learning those hands on skills!); they want you to understand what a veterinarian does on a day to day basis and what tough situations might arise as a veterinarian. While I'm sure that you've learned a lot about tough situations in human medicine, there are many issues that just don't translate.

How do admissions boards look towards candidates with a decent amount of human medical experience (either positive or negative)? And if I did have to get some experience, between working full time and school full time, about the best I could probably do would be unpaid volunteer work at a clinic, would that at all be considered adequate to be a competitive candidate?

I would imagine that admissions committees would want to know that you are indeed committed to veterinary medicine and not human medicine. Some people start out as pre-med or make the switch to vet med if they don't get into human medical schools. Adcoms want people that want to go to vet school, not just get a medical-based education. So you may consider addressing all of your human medical experience in your personal statement and be sure to communicate your understanding of vet med vs human med. As for paid vs unpaid - it doesn't matter

Good luck!

 

[MouseWrangler]

I actually made the switch from human med to vet med as well. I knew I was interested in medicine, and was guided (not quite pushed) toward being a human doctor. The particular med school I attended is mentally and emotionally abusive toward its students and it was just a terrible fit for me. This year I applied to vet school for the first time and I was accepted with about 300 hrs of equine/food animal shadowing and about 50 hours of small animal ER shadowing. However, I also had almost 4500 hours of research experience with animals.

My advice to anyone switching from human med to vet med would be to really play it up in your personal statement when applying. Make sure you don't talk about hating human med or your current career path, but talk about how you want to expand your knowledge base and use what you already know in working with many species, not just humans. You have to enjoy working with people in order to work with animals. Everyone who applies says "I've always wanted to be a DVM" but you have to make yourself stand out and talk about the positive reasons why you chose the path you did. For example, I left out the part about the school I was at being abusive and horrible, and I talked about how I knew I loved medicine, anatomy, and physiology, and how my experience in research and shadowing really showed me that yes, vet med is the right path for me. The One Health concept is really big so use your experience to your advantage. That being said, yes, you absolutely have to spend some time in vet med before applying.

 

[McVet0071]

I made this switch as well. I have a BS in nursing and was not completely happy with it soon after graduation. I wanted more in depth knowledge, so I originally started looking at med schools. It was only after dealing with a chronic disease with my dog that really made me look seriously at vet med. When I applied, I had 2 years of experience working as a peds nurse. I didn't have a lot of vet hours, but I made sure they were varied and that I had a thorough understanding of what I was getting into. I think you need to have a very good reason for switching and explain how you think your human experience can help. That was a big part of my personal statement. I don't think the human hours will hurt and in general, I think they have helped me in school. There are some things that I feel behind in without the hundreds of hours some people have, but overall I have been able to manage. Like the previous comment, there is a big push for public health, so definitely play that concept up.

 

[Gemgrrrl]

So I'm left wondering, would my current medical experience make up at all for a lack of work experience with animals? How do admissions boards look towards candidates with a decent amount of human medical experience (either positive or negative)? And if I did have to get some experience, between working full time and school full time, about the best I could probably do would be unpaid volunteer work at a clinic, would that at all be considered adequate to be a competitive candidate?

I think you should go for it! I went back to school as an NT as well, and worked while getting my bachelor's. I wasn't really sure that I wanted to pursue vet med until my last two years, and was still able to gain a respectable amount of experience by the time I graduated. I just did it over breaks and on weekends. I also got a spot in a research lab on campus, so I could work in between classes.

I don't think human med would make up for a lack of animal experience - but I definitely think it will be a plus on your application overall. It might also help you land a spot in a research lab, which would be a big plus on your application. Whether the experience is paid or not isn't an issue. What they want to know is that you have a good idea of what the industry is like, what you'll really be doing day to day, and that you have been exposed to more than one area of the field.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I don't mean this in an accusatory way...but if I were on an adcom, the first thing I would ask would be:

How on earth does this person know they want to be a vet when they have never even set foot in the field before?

You will need veterinary experience. Not just for applying, but to familiarize yourself with the field and determine if this is what you truly want to do. Doesn't have to be thousands of hours, doesn't have to be specifically clinical/general practice, but some kind of solid veterinary experience.