nontrad is vet med right for me?

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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vazio12

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Hi everyone I'm new to SDN.

I'm 18 year old college freshmen at a community college and as of now my major is Liberal Arts or AA degree. For awhile now since enrolling I still don't know whether if I should go the career path of a veterinarian or just go to art school to do something graphic design related. I went to an arts highschool and was encouraged by my teacher to attend art college. However I've also always wanted to work with animals. As cliché as it sounds I've always felt a connection with animals and making them feel better whenever they're sick or injured.
Any time we have to take our cat to the vet for an emergency and they prescribe meds I'm always studying their functions and keep track of dosage schedules and such.

But I'm still very undecided. And I understand the competiveness with gaining admittance and all those hours of experience and making sure you have your prerequisites and a solid gpa. Right now I'm taking my general eds but If so, I am looking into double majoring in art and bio-related 2 year degrees due to the certain number of credits needed for art school but this is just a back-up plan that I need just in case things don't work out.

So far for me first semester I feel that I'm doing pretty well. I can expect to have at least a 3.5 or higher. But this is mostly due because I'm not taking math yet as it's not one of my favorite subjects. But I do like biology. As far as experience goes I still don't have any animal experience yet. I'm going to be sending out an application for a pre-vet summer volunteer program at an animal hospital, and I'm going look into the animal clinic across the street for the vet and ask if I can shadow for a couple days to see how things are. In addition to others that I've found. My only concerns are. I don't know If I'm really smart enough because I don't really like math but I've learned to cope with it. whether If I should do the double major- art school as a back up. And making sure I'm really content with these scary sounding prerequisites.

I'm from New York City so finding a vet to shadow can be pretty tough, all these insurance policies. Any how, the closest Vet school to me and instate is Cornell. Its in ivy league school and Its one of the best vet school there are. But this won't discourage me entirely. I've taken biology in highschool, but never taken chemistry, organic chem, and physics is part of the pre-vet courses.
I'm a hard worker and have good study habbits but just the thought of this whole process and the rigorousness seems daunting.

any advice?
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Hi there! Thanks for dropping by.

If you want to know if being a vet is for you, the best way to do that is to spend time around real vets while they do their jobs. I understand that you're having trouble finding shadowing opportunities. Would it be possible to work in a vet clinic? Maybe you could get your experience that way? The experience is extremely important because it's the only way to figure out if this is the job for you.

Also, being a vet doesn't require you to be a genius at math! :)
 
A bit off topic, but what defines a pre-vet student traditional or non-tradtional?

OP,
Start taking the pre-requisite courses and as many upper level sciences courses as possible. You can major in anything to get into vet school as long as you take the all pre-requisite courses required by the specific schools you are applying to. The pre-requisite courses usually fall into the biology major four year course plan in most schools so you may end up having two majors (art and bio) or a biology minor with your degree. However, it is a good idea to build an excellent foundation now to learn veterinary medicine in the future. Take other science courses beyond the pre-requisites such as physiology, anatomy, pharmacology, pathology, ect to help you in the long run. Best of luck and keep looking for shadowing opportunities in the mean time. :)
 
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IMO, a traditional student is one who goes through high school, college, then to professional school without too much of a gap between any of those steps. If someone decides to take a gap year or two before applying, I would still consider them to be a traditional applicant.

A non-trad would be someone who went to high school and maybe college. Maybe they majored in something completely unrelated, and had no intention of going to professional school ever. Or someone who had intended to apply, but life got in the way for a long while. Someone who went on to get a Master's or a PhD. Decided to raise a family or pursue a personal business or had health matters that delayed them for a long while.
 
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Thanks Lilly63, I'll be looking into that minoring area if it's able to fulfill the pre-req and upper level bio courses.
Also, Cornell's preq list for their vet school had physics 1 and 2 there. Does that mean I HAVE to take physics? particularly 1 and 2 or can it just be one? Again I'm not a math person but I don't understand why you would need anything higher than algebra/trigonometry. Forgot to mention, I'm apply for next semester's classes. Does taking public speaking look better on your college transcript when apply to vet school or can I just take something else to fulfill that area for 3 credits? Public speaking I can cope with but concerned of.
 
vazio12 said:
Thanks Lilly63, I'll be looking into that minoring area if it's able to fulfill the pre-req and upper level bio courses.
Also, Cornell's preq list for their vet school had physics 1 and 2 there. Does that mean I HAVE to take physics? particularly 1 and 2 or can it just be one? Again I'm not a math person but I don't understand why you would need anything higher than algebra/trigonometry.
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yes, it means you have to take both. Physics is pretty much all that physiology is based off of. I suspect that is why schools require it.
 
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vazio12 said:
Thanks Lilly63, I'll be looking into that minoring area if it's able to fulfill the pre-req and upper level bio courses.
Also, Cornell's preq list for their vet school had physics 1 and 2 there. Does that mean I HAVE to take physics? particularly 1 and 2 or can it just be one? Again I'm not a math person but I don't understand why you would need anything higher than algebra/trigonometry. Forgot to mention, I'm apply for next semester's classes. Does taking public speaking look better on your college transcript when apply to vet school or can I just take something else to fulfill that area for 3 credits? Public speaking I can cope with but concerned of.
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Only a few veterinary schools require public speaking as a pre-requisite. If that course causes anxiety for you or you feel that you potentially may not get a good grade in the course, don't take it. Keep your undergrad GPA as strong as possible throughout the next few years. You have to show and prove to veterinary schools that you can handle the curriculum of veterinary school. To prove that you can handle veterinary school, take many upper level science courses throughout undergrad and take at least 4 courses per semester. For physics you need to take both I and II.
 
Lilly63 said:
A bit off topic, but what defines a pre-vet student traditional or non-tradtional?
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Literally NOTHING any more. Every single person who shows up here calls themself a "non-trad". I've decided it's no longer a meaningful term, and probably a reflection of how everyone always wants to view themselves as 'different' and 'unique'.

Meh.
 
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He's just mad that he's not a special snowflake anymore :p
 
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I only use the term "non-trad" to note that wanting to become a veterinarian was a decision that was made later on in life rather than since you were a child.
 
LetItSnow said:
Literally NOTHING any more. Every single person who shows up here calls themself a "non-trad". I've decided it's no longer a meaningful term, and probably a reflection of how everyone always wants to view themselves as 'different' and 'unique'.

Meh.
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2796516.jpg
 
Lilly63 said:
Only a few veterinary schools require public speaking as a pre-requisite. If that course causes anxiety for you or you feel that you potentially may not get a good grade in the course, don't take it. Keep your undergrad GPA as strong as possible throughout the next few years. You have to show and prove to veterinary schools that you can handle the curriculum of veterinary school. To prove that you can handle veterinary school, take many upper level science courses throughout undergrad and take at least 4 courses per semester. For physics you need to take both I and II.
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I disagree. It may not be a pre-req for every school, but I think public speaking is still beneficial for many students, especially those who aren't comfortable with it to begin with. It may help OP gain confidence for interview situations, etc.
 
PrincessButterCup said:
I disagree. It may not be a pre-req for every school, but I think public speaking is still beneficial for many students, especially those who aren't comfortable with it to begin with. It may help OP gain confidence for interview situations, etc.
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As someone who was (and still kinda is) absolutely terrified of Public Speaking, I would say that on a fundamental level it helped me to take this class even though I was 100% dreading it, since it helped me think of and try ways of calming down before and during a speech, and it even helped in preparation for a few interviews. (Again, still petrified, but at least now I know a few tricks so I don't look like or feel like a complete idiot haha).

That and it seems more and more schools are starting to require this as a pre-req so it might be a good idea to take the plunge and enroll in this class if the OP is looking to apply to a lot of schools.
 
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vazio12 said:
any advice?
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You're still very young. The point of college is to test the waters and find out what interests you. Take different classes, change your major, maybe change it again, seek opportunities at your school by getting to know your professors. Find some shadowing opportunities within your community. Every vet I've approached has been nothing but supportive and has offered chances for shadowing. Once you see what goes on, that should help your decision.

LetItSnow said:
Literally NOTHING any more. Every single person who shows up here calls themself a "non-trad". I've decided it's no longer a meaningful term, and probably a reflection of how everyone always wants to view themselves as 'different' and 'unique'.

Meh.
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I'm the epitome of traditional.
 
Outside of that, don't most undergrad schools require oral communications or public speaking as some sort of gen ed, anyway?

It's a really, really great class to take, regardless, though. Especially with how imperative succinct and proper communication is within the veterinary profession.
 
vazio12 said:
I only use the term "non-trad" to note that wanting to become a veterinarian was a decision that was made later on in life rather than since you were a child.
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that has nothing to do with being non-trad. Non trad means having finished college or started a career and coming back to school/applications to pursue a different career (in this case vet med).
 
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Lilly63 said:
A bit off topic, but what defines a pre-vet student traditional or non-tradtional?
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Everyone is a little bit nontrad on the inside. Some embrace their inner nontrad more than others. I for one have been nontrad (in a non traditional sense) since I was 10 years old. Why? Because I really loved frogs, unlike everyone else who loved dogs cats and horses.

LIS on the other hand is a nontrad in the traditional boring sense of the word because he's really really old.
 
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Minnerbelle said:
Everyone is a little bit nontrad on the inside. Some embrace their inner nontrad more than others. I for one have been nontrad (in a non traditional sense) since I was 10 years old. Why? Because I really loved frogs, unlike everyone else who loved dogs cats and horses.

LIS on the other hand is a nontrad in the traditional boring sense of the word because he's really really old.
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You went to vet school for the frogs? :eek:
 
Taking this Public Speaking class might indeed be a good idea. Watching shows about veterinary clinics I noticed how succinct and proper their communication is. I'm not an extremely shy person but maybe this class can help with the process of thinking then speaking. Also, I looked at other schools but one of my top lists are Cornell which is my instate school so it would more or less be less costly and doesn't have PS on there pre-req list, if I actually go the vet path.

Since I'm currently at CC I'm thinking of how I'm going to fit in all my pre-req with being able to have at least 18 art credits if I apply to art school.
Meh, and I still don't know what to get a bachelors in unless I get early acceptance, but that's a whole other thing. The point is, in highschool I wasn't very academically inclined to the math and sciences. I do like biology and medicine but always leaned more towards literature and art fields. Telling my family that I'm going to have to take something like organic chem and a year of physics would puzzle them, as I would never set my self up for those classes unless it was for something like vet school. I don't qualify for financial aid and I don't want to be in CC for 3 years or more constantly spending money. At least I don't have to work since my parent is paying for my tuition. Which gives my so much free time even though I'm full time student.
 
vazio12 said:
Taking this Public Speaking class might indeed be a good idea. Watching shows about veterinary clinics I noticed how succinct and proper their communication is. I'm not an extremely shy person but maybe this class can help with the process of thinking then speaking. Also, I looked at other schools but one of my top lists are Cornell which is my instate school so it would more or less be less costly and doesn't have PS on there pre-req list, if I actually go the vet path.

Since I'm currently at CC I'm thinking of how I'm going to fit in all my pre-req with being able to have at least 18 art credits if I apply to art school.
Meh, and I still don't know what to get a bachelors in unless I get early acceptance, but that's a whole other thing. The point is, in highschool I wasn't very academically inclined to the math and sciences. I do like biology and medicine but always leaned more towards literature and art fields. Telling my family that I'm going to have to take something like organic chem and a year of physics would puzzle them, as I would never set my self up for those classes unless it was for something like vet school. I don't qualify for financial aid and I don't want to be in CC for 3 years or more constantly spending money. At least I don't have to work since my parent is paying for my tuition. Which gives my so much free time even though I'm full time student.
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Oh Honey...:smack:
 
vazio12 said:
Since I'm currently at CC I'm thinking of how I'm going to fit in all my pre-req with being able to have at least 18 art credits if I apply to art school.
Meh, and I still don't know what to get a bachelors in unless I get early acceptance, but that's a whole other thing. The point is...I don't qualify for financial aid and I don't want to be in CC for 3 years or more constantly spending money. At least I don't have to work since my parent is paying for my tuition. Which gives my so much free time even though I'm full time student.
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It sounds like you've got a lot to figure out. The easiest way to figure out if you want to be a vet, is to spend time shadowing vets. I understand that you're having trouble with this, but can you find some clinics that you haven't asked yet? Have you tried telling them that you are doing this because you're thinking about going to vet school? Maybe then they'd let you do it.

vazio12 said:
...in highschool I wasn't very academically inclined to the math and sciences. I do like biology and medicine but always leaned more towards literature and art fields. Telling my family that I'm going to have to take something like organic chem and a year of physics would puzzle them, as I would never set my self up for those classes unless it was for something like vet school.
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If you want to get better at studying science and math, it's something you can learn, but since you'd only take this stuff if you were trying for vet school, the most important thing to find out is if you want to be a vet.

vazio12 said:
one of my top lists are Cornell which is my instate school so it would more or less be less costly and doesn't have PS on there pre-req list, if I actually go the vet path.
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I don't mean to be discouraging, but Cornell is pretty hard to get into: What Cornell Looks For
 
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Thanks Starry-chan, this week I'll be sure to see if my local small animal vet can have me shadow for a day or two just to see. Taking things step by step...
 
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vazio12 said:
I only use the term "non-trad" to note that wanting to become a veterinarian was a decision that was made later on in life rather than since you were a child.
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Heh. It's ok, I wasn't attacking you. I just ... the term used to be meaningful, but now pretty much everyone who posts here refers to themselves that way.... just doesn't mean much anymore.
 
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vazio12 said:
Thanks Starry-chan, this week I'll be sure to see if my local small animal vet can have me shadow for a day or two just to see.
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Awesome sauce! If you do it, and like what you see, ask to go back and shadow more! If you ever apply for vet school, one thing they're going to want to see is that you have a lot of experience with the field. Shadowing counts!

I think one reason the schools require the experience is they want to make sure you're really really really really really sure you want to be a vet. Burnout and depression are huge problems for vets because they basically paid with their soul to have this job. Vet school is extremely expensive and extremely hard. And then once you're a vet you have to deal with all kinds of tough stuff. For instance, vets regularly have to euthanize animals that they could have saved because the owner can't afford the treatment. It sounds cruel but if a vet gave away free services to every owner that needs them, they'd go out of business.

But not every vet is depressed. There are happy vets! So apparently this career can work if you super love it and find ways to make the tough stuff manageable. I'd say that having a positive (yet realistic) outlook and a good support network helps a lot!

So yeah, try to do a bunch of shadowing and see what you think! Maybe you'll love the field so much that it will make being a vet worth it for you. Or maybe you'll decide it's not worth it. That's okay!

vazio12 said:
Taking things step by step...
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That's the best thing to do. Definitely don't want to get overwhelmed. You have plenty of time to figure out your life :)
 
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Minnerbelle said:
LIS on the other hand is a nontrad in the traditional boring sense of the word because he's really really old.
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This needs to be reiterated over, and over, and over again.

Btw, I am now in an industry where many/most of the people are older than me. Kind of refreshing not to be the old guy anymore. Also in another opposite, it is mostly male dominated; not so sure that is an improvement. Still low pay though, so at least something is familiar.
 
StartingoverVet said:
I am now in an industry where many/most of the people are older than me. Kind of refreshing not to be the old guy anymore. Also in another opposite, it is mostly male dominated; not so sure that is an improvement. Still low pay though, so at least something is familiar.
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I'm in a club for people that do activities with their dog (agility, herding, nose work, etc.) and almost everybody in it is at least 20 years older than me. However, it never feels weird because they share my love of dog sports. Also, several of them of them are/have been my classmates in dog sport classes. Right now I'm in a class with five other people, two of which I regularly see at club meetings. :D
 
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vazio12 said:
I'm from New York City so finding a vet to shadow can be pretty tough, all these insurance policies. Any how, the closest Vet school to me and instate is Cornell. Its in ivy league school and Its one of the best vet school there are. But this won't discourage me entirely. I've taken biology in highschool, but never taken chemistry, organic chem, and physics is part of the pre-vet courses.
The way I found places to work/volunteer/shadow/whatever:

Went to google maps and looked up "Vet Clinics". Made a list of 100 clinics within 20 miles of my house. Went to the first 20 in a day. Got two offers and one turned into a paid position.
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I'm struggling to fix my post....
 
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batsenecal said:
Went to google maps and looked up "Vet Clinics". Made a list of 100 clinics within 20 miles of my house. Went to the first 20 in a day. Got two offers and one turned into a paid position.
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100 in a 20 mile radius? Whoa. Do you live in a metorpolitan area?
 
Starry-chan said:
100 in a 20 mile radius? Whoa. Do you live in a metorpolitan area?
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I was living in Aurora, Colorado with my parents before I moved out to Nebraska. I could have easily made it 200 within 25 miles (radius; so a 40-50 mile diameter). If I had a more economical vehicle, I would have done it that way. However, I drive a '97 Suburban. lol.
 
batsenecal said:
I was living in Aurora, Colorado with my parents before I moved out to Nebraska. I could have easily made it 200 within 25 miles (radius; so a 40-50 mile diameter). If I had a more economical vehicle, I would have done it that way. However, I drive a '97 Suburban. lol.
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How do you tell google maps what radius to search in? I just went there and typed in "vet clinics" and I only got 10, but it might have just been a 5 mile radius or something.
 
I didn't really tell it a radius. I did the search and then (since I know the area super well), I picked an arbitrary clinic that looked like it was about 20 miles away to see how close I was to that 20 mile mark. I was pretty on the nose with that. I just zoomed in until that clinic was on the edge of my screen. At that point, I just made a list of the clinics within the screen in order of distance from my house.
 
batsenecal said:
I didn't really tell it a radius. I did the search and then (since I know the area super well), I picked an arbitrary clinic that looked like it was about 20 miles away to see how close I was to that 20 mile mark. I was pretty on the nose with that. I just zoomed in until that clinic was on the edge of my screen. At that point, I just made a list of the clinics within the screen in order of distance from my house.
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Maybe there's only 10 clinics around me, then? It's all I see on the map. I live in a fairly well developed area (~300,000 people) but the surrounding areas are mostly open land.

That doesn't seem right, though. How could 10 clinics serve that many people (even if only half of them are pet owners) :eek:
 
batsenecal said:
I didn't really tell it a radius. I did the search and then (since I know the area super well), I picked an arbitrary clinic that looked like it was about 20 miles away to see how close I was to that 20 mile mark. I was pretty on the nose with that. I just zoomed in until that clinic was on the edge of my screen. At that point, I just made a list of the clinics within the screen in order of distance from my house.
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I read zoomed as "zoo-med" lol. What is wrong with me?!
 
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Starry-chan said:
Maybe there's only 10 clinics around me, then? It's all I see on the map. I live in a fairly well developed area (~300,000 people) but the surrounding areas are mostly open land.

That doesn't seem right, though. How could 10 clinics serve that many people (even if only half of them are pet owners) :eek:
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The Denver-Metro area (which Aurora is a part of) is about 2.7 million people. lol. So that's about 9 times the size of your area. lol.

A vet (older, very cynical dude, mind you) told me that there should be a vet for every 10,000 people to make it worth the money. So for you, that would mean 30 vets, which would only be 3 vets per clinic. For my neck of the woods, that would be 270 vets. Granted, I don't know how much I trust that vet cause he was very cynical. Like, if people think we're cynical/mean/bitter on this forum, they have no idea what this dude is like. So I could see 10 clinics serving 300,000 people. But it depends on the structures of the clinics and the population.
 
batsenecal said:
...if people think we're cynical/mean/bitter on this forum, they have no idea what this dude is like.
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Yeah on the mean scale this forum ranks pretty low. You gotta have a little bit of a thick skin to post here, but not too much. Posts might come across a little grumpy sounding but it doesn't seem like people here are out for blood. I used to go on a forum that had a lot of dog show people, people I sometimes showed against in real life, and they spent a lot of their time thinking up lies about each other and their dogs. And I'll never forget how supportive they are to you until you started beating them. Then all of a sudden you're a horrible person with vicious, disease ridden dogs and must be bribing the judges. And nonsense like that -_-

At least we don't have THAT on SDN!
 
I just had my first instance with shadowing. Afterclass I decided to just drift by the seemingly close petshop/SA clinic to see of the vet was in and she was!
I asked about shadowing and what not and the vet there seemed more than welcoming. In terms for a clinic practicing environment I'd rank it a 3/5, which is why the vet is actually opening her own small practice next door.

I was not really mindfully prepared to stay there for about 2 and a half hours as time just flew by. I helped hold one of the two dogs, one which went through anesthesia for tooth extraction because severe periodontal disease, and another which just came for a wellness exam. Yuck.

Overall things seemed really busy as I when I found a proper chance I introduced myself and chatted some but the patients just kept rolling and rolling.
For now, I'd think Ill swing by again but would rather go once that new practice is open. The vet noted how lucky I was since its very had to find a vet to shadow in nyc.
btw the practice is literally three minutes away from my house.
 
vazio12 said:
I just had my first instance with shadowing. Afterclass I decided to just drift by the seemingly close petshop/SA clinic to see of the vet was in and she was!
I asked about shadowing and what not and the vet there seemed more than welcoming. In terms for a clinic practicing environment I'd rank it a 3/5, which is why the vet is actually opening her own small practice next door.

I was not really mindfully prepared to stay there for about 2 and a half hours as time just flew by. I helped hold one of the two dogs, one which went through anesthesia for tooth extraction because severe periodontal disease, and another which just came for a wellness exam. Yuck.

Overall things seemed really busy as I when I found a proper chance I introduced myself and chatted some but the patients just kept rolling and rolling.
For now, I'd think Ill swing by again but would rather go once that new practice is open. The vet noted how lucky I was since its very had to find a vet to shadow in nyc.
btw the practice is literally three minutes away from my house.
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Oh my gosh, that's awesome!! You remind me of myself a little bit. Back when I was thinking about going pre-vet, I tried to find a clinic to shadow at and had no luck (granted, I only got up the nerve to ask like two places.) If I'd have found one, time would have flew for me too! I wouldn't have wanted to go home! And if the vet had actually let me do something, I'd have been smiling ear-to-ear!

On that note, if I had the chance to shadow, I'd snatch it at the drop of a hat. But I don't have the opportunity, because I never ask. I don't feel like I have any business asking when I know I don't plan on attending vet school.
 
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