Newbie Questions?

[fraka]

I apologize for the length in advance!
I've recently decided I wanted to pursue veterinary school. I've wanted to be a vet for a really long time now, but for the longest time, it always seemed unattainable. I've been creeping these forums for a couple days now, trying to learn as much as I can, but I still have some questions...
In case it's relevant, I'm 21 right now, and from NS, Canada. The closest vet school is AVC.
I understand a lot of these questions are more so things I need to decide for myself, but I'd really appreciate feed back to help me make decisions.

1) Will my poor marks in high school affect my chances of getting in to vet school?
I had no motivation or confidence in high school, and got some pretty low grades, including failing chemistry and physics. Before even getting into pre-vet school, I will need to upgrade quite a few of my courses. I have full confidence that I can do well now, but will my poor marks in high school, even though I've gone back and upgraded them, affect me?

2) Should I take a "pre-vet" course, or another major before vet school?
I've read that as long as I get all of the pre-reqs it shouldn't matter, but would any be better than the others? I'd want to apply to vet school with the strongest "resume" possible to increase chances of getting in. Whether I took a pre-vet course, or something else, it'd definitely be animal related, as I have no other interests lol
I've read about people majoring vs double majoring - which would take more time and money, but would it be better for an application? I'd rather be a little more in debt and make it.

2.5) Would I be better off taking this course (pre-vet or similar) at AVC to get my foot in the door, or in my community?
Starting off at AVC would help me get my foot in the door, but only for AVC. Whereas if I took the course at the DAL AC, which is a 5 minute drive away, I could stay in my home town longer, which is convenient. Is getting my foot in the door at AVC important? I don't even know if that's where I would go to vet school.

3) Where to go to school?
I know I'm still quite a ways off right now, but I'd like to be able to sort out a basic plan for moving forward, which includes where to go to vet school.
As mentioned in 2.5, AVC is the closest school to me, so probably the cheapest for me to attend. I've read that in order to get into a Canadian vet school, you had to live in the province for at least a year in advance to apply?? Can someone elaborate - this makes no sense to me.
I love the idea of studying abroad, especially in Europe or Australia, but it's only a minor, expensive, factor.
My interests are in pets - cats, dogs, small animals/rodents, and in surgery. From my experience as a pet owner, this seems pretty general.
If I stayed in my hometown area after work, the vets here usually work with pets and farm animals. But I am willing to relocate if need be.
Would I have a better chance getting a job afterwards if I attended a "better" (repuation/education wise) school, or should I just go for the cheapest/closest?
Where are the best places to attend for interests in pets, small animals/rodents and especially surgery?
And again, I'm more interested in a good resume than the debt, mainly because I've read it can be difficult to find a job, and I'd rather have a good job and debt, than a lesser paying job or no job, and still have debt.

4) When and where should I start getting my experience (non-academic requirements)?
I'm still super early into the journey, but I figured the sooner I start gaining the experience the better.
I have one animal shelter in my area that I could volunteer at. There are farms in my area. And there are two vet clinics, one of which I know staff quite well from taking my pets there. And one wild life rehab center, and one wild life park.
Do you need to already be in schooling/pre-vet to shadow a vet?
Should I see about volunteering/shadowing at these places as much as I can, starting now?
How do I go about recording hours at these places right now to present during an application for vet school in the future?

Anyways, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read my questions and I look forward to hearing from you!

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[Coquette22]

1) Will my poor marks in high school affect my chances of getting in to vet school?
No. Despite what everyone told you in high school, high school marks aren't important. You just need to get accepted to a university to your pre-reqs. Good marks in high school do help to get scholarships in undergrad, but that's about it.

2) Should I take a "pre-vet" course, or another major before vet school?
Double majoring won't help you. Pre-vet won't help you. That said, the pre-vet program at Dal Ag does open up a lot of opportunities to get hands on with some harder-to-access species like farm animals. I have a straight up Biology degree from Dalhousie, the one in Halifax.

2.5) Would I be better off taking this course (pre-vet or similar) at AVC to get my foot in the door, or in my community?
Going to UPEI won't help you. You'll still be pooled with the other NS students since that's your province of residence. If it's cheaper and more convenient, go to Dal Ag.

3) Where to go to school?
AVC is basically your only option at this point. OVC, WCVM, FMV, UCalgary won't even look at your applications, just like someone from Manitoba can't apply to AVC. Our provincial governments subsidize the schools, so NS is essentially paying part of your AVC tuition. So most other Canadian schools won't even look at your application. So what about international (US, UK, etc)? Any other school will be WAY more expensive then you should even consider, and you likely won't get financing for it anyway. We are capped with how much we can get in terms of student loans. Go to AVC, save the money and travel. There isn't really a reputation factor in vet med - if you're AVMA accredited, you're fine. I have classmates working all over. AVC will not hold you back.

4) When and where should I start getting my experience (non-academic requirements)?
You don't need to be in school. Dress professionally, make up a resume, go to these places and tell them you're interested in becoming a veterinarian and you'd like to shadow.

If you have any questions from an NSer whose done this song and dance, my PM box is open.