Working as a Kennel Tech plus my other experiences - what are my chances of getting into vet school?

[abc6]

Hello all,

I am going to be a junior in undergrad after summer break. I am going to apply to vet school next summer, the cycle after this current one. I began my job as a kennel tech almost a year ago at a small animal vet hospital. I am running out of time to gain experience and this issue is on my mind 24/7 to the point that I am losing sleep over it, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

As I have stated, I have been a part-time kennel tech for almost a year, and I have almost 1,000 hours of this experience and counting. I estimate I will have close to, if not more, 2,000 hours by the time I apply. I clean and stock, but whenever I have downtime (which is during every single shift I work), I cross over into some assistant/tech duties. I prescribe and fill medications, draw blood, run lab work, draw up and give injections/vaccines, schedule appointments, work on call-backs, just anything an assistant/tech would do except for the fact that I do not see appointments. However, the more I spend time on this network, the more I begin to doubt that kennel teching counts as veterinary experience. Prior to working this position, I have had no veterinary experience, so I was desperate to get my foot into the door as a kennel tech. I want to ask if I can move up to a vet assistant since I have been here for almost a year and can do basically everything, I just need training on how to work the computers. However, once school starts, I will be very busy and I am not sure if I can properly manage being a full-time student + working as a vet assistant. As a kennel tech, my job has been very flexible with my schedule but I know that if I become a vet assistant, they will not be as flexible with my schedule. So, I would greatly appreciate any second thoughts on this and any advice as to whether or not my current experience counts as veterinary experience? If kennel teching does not count as veterinary experience, I will for sure ask if I can move to vet assistant.

Now, here are my animal experience hours:

• I was an Exotic Animal Keeper at an animal shelter working with various small exotics such as snakes, tortoises, lizards, hedgehogs, chinchillas, and more: 52.7 hours
• I currently volunteer at a wildlife rehab center where I feed and take care of probably 70 orphaned baby birds. I currently have 32 hours, but I estimate I will have 100-104 hours of this experience. I also plan to move to the medical unit once baby bird season ends.
• I currently volunteer at the zoo as a Hoofstock Zookeeper where I am a zookeeper working with various large exotic animals. I currently have 24 hours but I estimate I will have 120 hours of this experience.
• I currently volunteer at a therapy horse riding center where I clean stables and feed and interact with the horses. I currently have a little over 3 hours but I estimate I will have 18-19 hours of this experience.

I currently have a 3.99 GPA and the courses I am taking are all on the pre-vet track although I am a biology major. I have completed 4 semesters of college and I have been a Dean's List Honor Student for all 4 semesters.

I also am a violin performance minor and I teach violin! I currently have 102 hours of teaching.

I know I still have a year, but once school starts, I will no longer have the time to volunteer and increase my animal experience hours so these estimated hours will be very very close to what I will apply with. I estimate I will have at least 292 hours of animal experience by the time I apply. And not only that, but this whole kennel tech issue is really stressing me out and if this experience doesn't count as vet experience (which will be 1,000 hours), I need to change my job asap. Again, any advice for anything is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

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[Ptsivik]

my only suggestion I could give would be to possibly take up a vet assistant job even if it's for 4 hours on the weekends which is what I did. I have about 110 hour under my belt working at a nature preserve so I have experience with working with all kinds of animals ranging from spiders to birds to lizards. The only thing I felt I was missing was a job with a vet so I took that up last summer and got around 1000 hours of experience (by the time I apply this cycle). Your GPA basically blows 95% of people out of the water as far as that goes (my current cumulative by vmcas standards since an A- is a 3.7 would be around 3.53). I honestly think you will be fine. The only thing I am not sure on is your kennel situation because I am not sure if you work with a vet at all since around my parts (NY) that would be considered working for a vet if it's in a practice. Hope this helps!
Edit: Asking others who have applied in the past, if you are working with a veterinarian then it counts as veterinary experience. My girlfriend got in to Veterinary School this last cycle and she worked mainly as a receptionist in the veterinary office, but like you got some hands on work as well. That counted as veterinary experience for her. If you are not sure about anything, she says the best bet is to simply ask the veterinarians you work with, as they have already gone through this process themselves and are often super open about the do's and don'ts for applications.

 

[abc6]

my only suggestion I could give would be to possibly take up a vet assistant job even if it's for 4 hours on the weekends which is what I did. I have about 110 hour under my belt working at a nature preserve so I have experience with working with all kinds of animals ranging from spiders to birds to lizards. The only thing I felt I was missing was a job with a vet so I took that up last summer and got around 1000 hours of experience (by the time I apply this cycle). Your GPA basically blows 95% of people out of the water as far as that goes (my current cumulative by vmcas standards since an A- is a 3.7 would be around 3.53). I honestly think you will be fine. The only thing I am not sure on is your kennel situation because I am not sure if you work with a vet at all since around my parts (NY) that would be considered working for a vet if it's in a practice. Hope this helps!
Edit: Asking others who have applied in the past, if you are working with a veterinarian then it counts as veterinary experience. My girlfriend got in to Veterinary School this last cycle and she worked mainly as a receptionist in the veterinary office, but like you got some hands on work as well. That counted as veterinary experience for her. If you are not sure about anything, she says the best bet is to simply ask the veterinarians you work with, as they have already gone through this process themselves and are often super open about the do's and don'ts for applications.

Thank you so much for your advice! I will ask my manager if I can assist/tech on weekends, but I have begun applying to other hospitals in case they say no.
I have heard lots of mixed opinions about kennel teching, so I will have to ask the doctors I work with if they think it counts as veterinary experience. It's a bummer that it is such a blurry line.

 

[Lupin21]

Hello all,

I am going to be a junior in undergrad after summer break. I am going to apply to vet school next summer, the cycle after this current one. I began my job as a kennel tech almost a year ago at a small animal vet hospital. I am running out of time to gain experience and this issue is on my mind 24/7 to the point that I am losing sleep over it, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

As I have stated, I have been a part-time kennel tech for almost a year, and I have almost 1,000 hours of this experience and counting. I estimate I will have close to, if not more, 2,000 hours by the time I apply. I clean and stock, but whenever I have downtime (which is during every single shift I work), I cross over into some assistant/tech duties. I prescribe and fill medications, draw blood, run lab work, draw up and give injections/vaccines, schedule appointments, work on call-backs, just anything an assistant/tech would do except for the fact that I do not see appointments. However, the more I spend time on this network, the more I begin to doubt that kennel teching counts as veterinary experience. Prior to working this position, I have had no veterinary experience, so I was desperate to get my foot into the door as a kennel tech. I want to ask if I can move up to a vet assistant since I have been here for almost a year and can do basically everything, I just need training on how to work the computers. However, once school starts, I will be very busy and I am not sure if I can properly manage being a full-time student + working as a vet assistant. As a kennel tech, my job has been very flexible with my schedule but I know that if I become a vet assistant, they will not be as flexible with my schedule. So, I would greatly appreciate any second thoughts on this and any advice as to whether or not my current experience counts as veterinary experience? If kennel teching does not count as veterinary experience, I will for sure ask if I can move to vet assistant.

Now, here are my animal experience hours:

• I was an Exotic Animal Keeper at an animal shelter working with various small exotics such as snakes, tortoises, lizards, hedgehogs, chinchillas, and more: 52.7 hours
• I currently volunteer at a wildlife rehab center where I feed and take care of probably 70 orphaned baby birds. I currently have 32 hours, but I estimate I will have 100-104 hours of this experience. I also plan to move to the medical unit once baby bird season ends.
• I currently volunteer at the zoo as a Hoofstock Zookeeper where I am a zookeeper working with various large exotic animals. I currently have 24 hours but I estimate I will have 120 hours of this experience.
• I currently volunteer at a therapy horse riding center where I clean stables and feed and interact with the horses. I currently have a little over 3 hours but I estimate I will have 18-19 hours of this experience.

I currently have a 3.99 GPA and the courses I am taking are all on the pre-vet track although I am a biology major. I have completed 4 semesters of college and I have been a Dean's List Honor Student for all 4 semesters.

I also am a violin performance minor and I teach violin! I currently have 102 hours of teaching.

I know I still have a year, but once school starts, I will no longer have the time to volunteer and increase my animal experience hours so these estimated hours will be very very close to what I will apply with. I estimate I will have at least 292 hours of animal experience by the time I apply. And not only that, but this whole kennel tech issue is really stressing me out and if this experience doesn't count as vet experience (which will be 1,000 hours), I need to change my job asap. Again, any advice for anything is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

I wouldn't write prescribing medication as part of your application as only a DVM can do this.

You can certainly put a few hours down if you are overseen by a vet on any of those types of tasks. I split many hours between animal vs veterinary at the same place.

 

[abc6]

I wouldn't write prescribing medication as part of your application as only a DVM can do this.

You can certainly put a few hours down if you are overseen by a vet on any of those types of tasks. I split many hours between animal vs veterinary at the same place.

Hello,

You're right, I guess I just meant that I take doctor's instructions on what is prescribed and fill it I will do that - thank you so much for your advice!

 

[LetItSnow]

Well, you have generally more veterinary experience than I did, and I'm now out practicing medicine, so ... I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Don't get sucked into the hole of thinking "I don't have as much as that other poster!" There will always be someone with more experience. There are people with less who are applying as well.

It doesn't come across as "deficient" or something like that.