2000 Hours????

[starsworld]

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Whenever I look through the vet forums, it seems like everyone has thousands of hours of volunteering and experience and I can't help but wonder, how do you do it? Where do you get the time to volunteer so much when you have classes on top of that + you have high GPAs? Do you never sleep? Are all pre-vets super-humans? Thank you for any answers I get.

P.S. I am not 100% committed to a veterinary career (I'm still making up my mind on what I want) but I figure any advice will be applicable to whatever I choose.

P.P.S. *I tried looking, but I couldn't find anything about this. If I missed anything, please tell me and give me a link*

 

[orca2011]

You don't need 2000 hours. If you check the Successful Applicants thread you'll see that a good number of us don't have those hours. For example, at the time of application, I only really had like 300 vet hours and probably about 200 animal experience because I forgot to include anything like pet sitting. I did have 1000+ hours from my lab assistant job that I did throughout college, so that might have helped me out a bit. During my first cycle I had like 80 vet hours and just my lab experience and I was wait listed at 4 schools. It really can be hit or miss at times.

But for your answer, yes a lot of us put in the extra time to get those hours. I gave up most of my weekends to do an internship at a zoo during my senior year. During the week, I gave up all extra time during the day/in between classes to work in order to earn money and get lab experience that might not be obtained throughout classes. I also did two club sports, so I was lucky if I was able to sit down and do work before 8 PM. However, I'm also one that does better when I'm super busy and have more pressure. If I have too much free time, I get lazy. Not everyone works well under that pressure.

If you work at a clinic/volunteer throughout the summer, you can easily rack up the hours. Many people said they've obtained 500 hours during a summer alone. So if this ends up being something you want to pursue, there will likely be some sacrifices involved, but never take on so much that it brings down your grades. Do what you can handle and don't necessarily follow what everyone else has done on here. There are other aspects of your application that can make you stand out too.

 

[kakurubird]

Also, a lot of those that have hours in the thousands aren't straight out of undergrad and have simply had more time to accumulate hours.

I'll have 1700 or so veterinary hours and around 2000 animal hours by the time I submit, but I graduated a year and a half ago and have been working full-time in a veterinary setting since October and volunteering 5-6 extra days a month.

 

[Lupin21]

One of the reasons that vet schools prefer numerous hours, be they vet or animal care, is to make sure that the applicant knows exactly what is is to be a veterinarian. For someone such as yourself, I would say you should not worry about how fast you rack up hours, but truly gain an understanding of what it is you're considering. Too many people have misconceptions about what it is to be an animal doctor. I would second what Orca has said, make sure you don't sacrifice your grades, but you have to commit and give up free time to truly gain experience and let that be your guide to whether or not you want to make those sacrifices the rest of your life.

 

[Abnerrs]

Also, a lot of those that have hours in the thousands aren't straight out of undergrad and have simply had more time to accumulate hours.

I'll have 1700 or so veterinary hours and around 2000 animal hours by the time I submit, but I graduated a year and a half ago and have been working full-time in a veterinary setting since October and volunteering 5-6 extra days a month.

This. I am not 22 with an undergrad straight out of high school. I am 27 and worked 3.5 years full time before I went to school and wracked up hours during school breaks which is how I have 5000+. I am NOT super human by ANY MEANS. 🙂

 

[DVMDream]

I started gaining animal experience at 12. I started getting veterinary experience at 17... I worked seasonally during school but would often travel home on weekends/short holidays/long holidays and work all summer (full time) just to obtain hours at the vet clinic. I also worked part time for a year while in school and one summer I was working full time at two clinics and taking a couple of summer classes. After 7 years, the hours rack up... don't worry if you don't have 1,000's of hours just be sure that what you do have is quality experience. Be sure that you learn from the experiences you obtain and that you obtain not only in depth experience but also breadth of experience. Don't only get experience with dogs/cats also get experience with horses, pigs, goats, cows, sheep, etc, etc.. if at all possible. The important thing is to be sure that you have quality experience and not so much the quantity. Yes, some schools will look at number of hours but being able to explain what you learned/how it impacted you/how it made you even more interested in vet med is going to be what is important.

 

[Camelidcrazy]

One of the reasons that vet schools prefer numerous hours, be they vet or animal care, is to make sure that the applicant knows exactly what is is to be a veterinarian. For someone such as yourself, I would say you should not worry about how fast you rack up hours, but truly gain an understanding of what it is you're considering. Too many people have misconceptions about what it is to be an animal doctor. I would second what Orca has said, make sure you don't sacrifice your grades, but you have to commit and give up free time to truly gain experience and let that be your guide to whether or not you want to make those sacrifices the rest of your life.

This!

 

[zanydogz]

I also feel that a lot of us have been racking up the hours for long periods of time. For me personally, I now have over 3 or 4K hours volunteering at an animal shelter back home; but I've been volunteering there since I was 13. The hours just accumulated over time. As for vet hours, I worked my butt off during the summers and when I was home on breaks. I also worked part time while in school. It wasn't easy, but it was something I had to do. And working full time during my breaks wasn't exactly the most "fun and relaxing" thing, but the experience was worth it.

If you're still considering vet med but aren't sure, I would recommend that you start shadowing at a clinic and really get a feel for the profession. You can also starting gaining some vet hours and animal experience that way. You can then decide if vet med is the right path for you.

 

[Trilt]

Agree with zanydogs, and also I'll just echo that you definitely don't need thousands and thousands of hours... I got in with 500ish accumulated over two years after seriously deciding on vet med my sophomore year. Because I had limited financial support, I worked other jobs that paid better than vet med throughout the year and just shadowed and volunteered in my spare time. Spread that over four years, and a thousand or so really wouldn't be unreasonable. And more would definitely be reasonable if you were actually working part time.

 

[DVMDream]

And just a little side note: I did have the 1,000's of hours and it still took me 3 application cycles to get in... Experience isn't everything... They really do look at the entire application... And sometimes it is just completely random (like throwing darts at a dartboard).

 

[storyofmylife]

I will be a junior in undergrad this fall (20 years old) and I am almost up to 2,500 veterinary hours. I have been foal watching/helping deliver foals, shadowing, and volunteering TONS with my equine vet since I was a sophomore in High School. I volunteered 1 semester in research and have worked in a SA clinic as a veterinary assistant for 1 year, working full time in the summers and about 20ish hours/week during the semester. I am by no means a super human! It takes a LOT of time and commitment to really rack up the hours. Sometimes, I didn't sleep. I would help foal out mares at night, ride with my vet during the day, and do it all over again. Totally exhausting. I swear I will have a party when I hit 2500!!! Good luck, you CAN get tons of hours and a good GPA! It will just take some time. I have kind of been consumed with this for years. It is also very important to remember, like others have said, you do not need thousands of hours.

 

[Abnerrs]

And just a little side note: I did have the 1,000's of hours and it still took me 3 application cycles to get in... Experience isn't everything... They really do look at the entire application... And sometimes it is just completely random (like throwing darts at a dartboard).

Oh yes. This. I am reapplying this year.

 

[SocialStigma]

As everyone else has already stated, you don't need 2000 h and a lot of the applicants who do have 5000 h are either a) non trad applicants who had more time to accumulate hours or b) people that grew up on a farm or who have friends/family who are vets.

I applied and was accepted with 1246 h vet experience and 657 h animal experience.

 

[Hotfillyky]

This. I am not 22 with an undergrad straight out of high school. I am 27 and worked 3.5 years full time before I went to school and wracked up hours during school breaks which is how I have 5000+. I am NOT super human by ANY MEANS. 🙂

This is all true. I am non-trad (39 YO) and have been in other fields but always with animals. Vet med has been my job for most of the last 10 or so years and that is how I have acculumated my hours. Therefore, I have like 20k hours of vet experience and 18k animal experience. I am still getting experience in the fields that I don't know much about.😀

It is more about the quality (IMO) of your experience.

 

[orca2011]

This is all true. I am non-trad (39 YO) and have been in other fields but always with animals. Vet med has been my job for most of the last 10 or so years and that is how I have acculumated my hours. Therefore, I have like 20k hours of vet experience and 18k animal experience. I am still getting experience in the fields that I don't know much about.😀

It is more about the quality (IMO) of your experience.

I think this point is something important to consider as well. For example, in my first cycle when I had a shameful number of hours, I was very surprised to get interviews at three schools. However, even with those minimal hours I think I was able to convey that I understood the profession and what I was getting into. I've definitely learned more now that I have 1000+ hours, but I think if you are really able to prove that you understand the field and learned a lot of about the profession during your time, it can go a long way. And keep in mind that every application cycle is different. While there are definite numbers that seem to be hold true no matter the year and definite requirements for each school, I really don't think if I had applied this year with just my 80 hours, that I would have been accepted. Each year is based on the applicant pool and I think this year had a pretty strong applicant pool which is one of the reason you're seeing these thousands of hours as well. But that's just my person opinion, I don't have actual proof.

 

[starsworld]

Thank you to everyone for all of your advice. I was really confused at how people seemed to have so many hours. I guess I should have spent more time looking through the accepted students page, but I saw so many 2000+ hours it scared me away! So thank you all for clarifying this for me.

Up until recently, the only careers in my mind were nursing and medical doctors (because those are the only careers my parents pushed), so I'm just now exploring beyond those two careers to see what else exists out there (and sdn conveniently happens to have a lot of the medicine-related careers that interests me). I start college in the fall (actually less than a month to go!!) and my school is pretty big on veterinary medecine, so I'll see if I can shadow a vet and see if I like what I see.

 

[Finnsheep]

Honestly, even if you have "enough" hours, you will probably want to keep on accumulating them. For me, much as I enjoy learning, when you are spending a lot of time studying things that at least at the time do not seem like they will ever apply to vet school or veterinary practice (a lot more than you think truly will- so don't get discouraged!), you can start to lose sight of what you are aiming for. Riding along on farm calls, assisting with the bull castrations or ewe c-sections or whatever it we are doing on each call is very motivating.

I'm in a special program for pre-vet students who want to do production medicine. My veterinary hours are lower than many because they want food/fiber animal vet hours and those are hard to come by in most places. I spend my breaks and summers shadowing.

However, I do have thousands of hours of animal experience, mostly in livestock. I did grow up on a farm, but until I was 14, all we had was a small poultry flock for eggs and meat and some gardens and a large field that was rented out. Then when I was 14 I got into sheep. I am the only person who cares for them and I am responsible for every single aspect of their management. VERY educational and a huge responsibility, especially at 40 head now. It's possible to really rack up the hours during lambing season, and trust me, you are WORKING. More like not sleeping, as Storyofmylife said about his/her foaling experience.

Some say that your animal hours should not be from your own pets, or at least to keep your pet experience hours very, very conservative. I take this to mean walking the dog and scooping the kitty litter...livestock management is a different category. But you would do well to try to get experience in different clinics, farms, shelters, etc.

Really, the main purpose for requiring hours as everyone else said is to prove that you understand the profession and what it entails. Most vet schools want diverse experiences. The program I am in is very different and solely focused on cattle, sheep, swine, etc. I do have plenty of small animal vet hours- just not as many.

If you are going to a land grant institution, you might be able to get a job on one of the university farms, caring for cattle, sheep, swine, horses, poultry, etc. Even if you feel you want to do SA only, it looks very good on your application to have LA experience.

Best of luck to you!