Abandoning a degree before completion

[kittensmeow]

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Hi everyone. I have a somewhat unusual concern.

I'm a Canadian interested in pursuing veterinary medicine as a second career. I already have three degrees (Bachelors, Masters and B.Ed), but there is one 'stain' on my academic history: A few years ago I went to law school, hated it, and dropped out after completing my first year. I did very well academically but I am concerned about how vet admissions might view me abandoning a professional program? Do you think it will be held against me? Has anyone out there been accepted into a DVM despite having an incomplete degree in their past?

Perhaps I'm being overly stressed about this (a specialty of mine) but I do worry that admissions might think I'm some kind of flake and will have a similar reaction to vet school (not like it and drop out).

I left law school in very good standing so I could always return to complete my degree, but it seems absurd to do that just to show the vet schools that I'm not a quitter! Also, it is very hard to get As in law school, so if I were to go back I would likely get some lower grades which might tarnish my overall GPA (of course I don't know if vet schools would even look at a law degree when calculating an applicants GPA)

Thanks in advance for any opinions on this!

 

[485501]

I don't have any specific knowledge on this, but it seems to me that if what you're worried about is the adcoms thinking you'll flake on vet school, you could tailor your personal statement to show your long-term committment to vet med. Have you been getting experience over a long period of time? Working on completing your pre-reqs for a while? Do you have a story about how your desire to become a vet has stayed with you despite trying other career paths?

I would think that it wouldn't matter to the adcoms that you stopped partway through law school as long as you can show that you understand what vet med and vet school are like and are committed to them.

 

[that redhead]

If I were an adcom reviewing your application, I would want to know why you think vet med is the right choice when you had to put in a lot of time and effort to get to law school (and get through the first year). I guess in the situation, it's better to have left through your own choice than to have failed out, but I hope you have the experiences to really prove your interest and commitment to vet med.

You don't mention what sort of hours you have (veterinary, animal). Assuming you have the experience to back up your decision to switch in, I would write an explanation in the "explanation statement" portion or focus heavily on your decision to go into vet med and how your experiences have really solidified that decision. If you don't have the experience yet, I would strongly advise you to take some time to get to know the field a bit better before applying.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Similar response...

Even if you don't address Law School anywhere in your application, it will be VERY IMPORTANT for you to demonstrate that Vet school is right for you and the same thing won't happen.

That is best addressed in a PS for the vet school part... I wouldn't necessarily talk to much about law school except to the extent you contrast it with your current plans.

And "stressing" about it, doesn't really help. It happened... move on. Now just address calmly!

 

[Trematode]

What vet school are you applying to? I am a Canadian applicant.

AVC would not give a crap. At all.

Yes, you have to send in all of your transcripts but they only look at your pre-reqs (and they expire after 5 years) and whether you took them with a full course load. They give you an interview based on that. Also, they don't accept grad level courses as pre-reqs.

The interview is closed-file and behaviour based. The only way AVC would know about this is if you brought it up in your interview.

And every year, applicants "abandon" their current degree to go to AVC because you can get your pre-reqs in two years if you plan right or do the pre-vet program at the agricultural campus. I know many students who quit their BSc to attend vet school.

Look up your school requirements (interview type, expiration date on grades). I am going to assume that it does not matter, especially if you have done well in all of your education.

 

[kittensmeow]

I don't have any specific knowledge on this, but it seems to me that if what you're worried about is the adcoms thinking you'll flake on vet school, you could tailor your personal statement to show your long-term committment to vet med. Have you been getting experience over a long period of time? Working on completing your pre-reqs for a while? Do you have a story about how your desire to become a vet has stayed with you despite trying other career paths?

I would think that it wouldn't matter to the adcoms that you stopped partway through law school as long as you can show that you understand what vet med and vet school are like and are committed to them.

Thanks for the advice. I do have some experience volunteering with animals and I began doing this before I went to law school, so I guess that's a positive sign. I did my B.Ed. after leaving law school and am currently employed as a teacher, so perhaps that will look positive as well.

What I'm missing are the prerequisites, which I plan I doing part time over the next couple of years.

 

[that redhead]

Thanks for the advice. I do have some experience volunteering with animals and I began doing this before I went to law school, so I guess that's a positive sign. I did my B.Ed. after leaving law school and am currently employed as a teacher, so perhaps that will look positive as well.

What I'm missing are the prerequisites, which I plan I doing part time over the next couple of years.

I would look into gaining a lot of experience - more veterinary than just animal - before applying, but you have plenty of time. Good luck

 

[kittensmeow]

What vet school are you applying to? I am a Canadian applicant.

AVC would not give a crap. At all.

Yes, you have to send in all of your transcripts but they only look at your pre-reqs (and they expire after 5 years) and whether you took them with a full course load. They give you an interview based on that. Also, they don't accept grad level courses as pre-reqs.

The interview is closed-file and behaviour based. The only way AVC would know about this is if you brought it up in your interview.

And every year, applicants "abandon" their current degree to go to AVC because you can get your pre-reqs in two years if you plan right or do the pre-vet program at the agricultural campus. I know many students who quit their BSc to attend vet school.

Look up your school requirements (interview type, expiration date on grades). I am going to assume that it does not matter, especially if you have done well in all of your education.

I live in Ontario, which means I can only apply to OVC. I will also have to do the science prereqs part-time (I have all the non-sciences) due to my job, and OCV seems to frown upon that. I'm not going to pin all my efforts onto one school, so I plan to apply internationally, to schools that seem a little more non-trad friendly than the Canadian ones.

 

[Trematode]

That was going to be my next question 😀

If you have to mention it, put a positive spin on it.

I just didn't want you to get overwhelmed and stressed if you were applying to a Canadian school that had a different admissions standards. I don't remember what OVC requires off of the top of my head. Just looking at the requirements should give some hints though.

 

[kittensmeow]

Now my final question is:

Does anyone here think it would be to my advantage, as a future DVM applicant, to finish my law degree and then do the prereqs, etc. for vet school?

I know this sounds like a crazy thing to do but it is a possibility - I could return to law school this September if I wanted to. I don't want to because the subject doesn't interest me and my heart is set on veterinary medicine....but if I thought that my incomplete law degree would be forever held against me in future vet school applications, then I would consider finishing the degree just to say I did it.

Any thoughts? Thanks again!

 

[EngrSC]

Now my final question is:

Does anyone here think it would be to my advantage, as a future DVM applicant, to finish my law degree and then do the prereqs, etc. for vet school?

I know this sounds like a crazy thing to do but it is a possibility - I could return to law school this September if I wanted to. I don't want to because the subject doesn't interest me and my heart is set on veterinary medicine....but if I thought that my incomplete law degree would be forever held against me in future vet school applications, then I would consider finishing the degree just to say I did it.

Any thoughts? Thanks again!

Why would you do that to yourself?? ... Sounds like a miserable 3 years

 

[felinelvr44]

Now my final question is:

Does anyone here think it would be to my advantage, as a future DVM applicant, to finish my law degree and then do the prereqs, etc. for vet school?

I know this sounds like a crazy thing to do but it is a possibility - I could return to law school this September if I wanted to. I don't want to because the subject doesn't interest me and my heart is set on veterinary medicine....but if I thought that my incomplete law degree would be forever held against me in future vet school applications, then I would consider finishing the degree just to say I did it.

Any thoughts? Thanks again!

That sounds like the biggest waste of time and money. If you want to be a lawyer - get your JD. If you want to be a vet - work towards getting into vet school.

 

[pandaclaus]

I live in Ontario, which means I can only apply to OVC. I will also have to do the science prereqs part-time (I have all the non-sciences) due to my job, and OCV seems to frown upon that. I'm not going to pin all my efforts onto one school, so I plan to apply internationally, to schools that seem a little more non-trad friendly than the Canadian ones.

I applied as a non-traditional, international student to OVC. I did my science pre-requisites part-time while working full-time in an unrelated field. I was still accepted to OVC. It's definitely doable. They did ask about my career switch a lot in my interview and they wanted to be really sure that I would not give up on veterinary medicine as I am doing now in my current career (engineering).

 

[that redhead]

That sounds like the biggest waste of time and money. If you want to be a lawyer - get your JD. If you want to be a vet - work towards getting into vet school.

👍 Don't make yourself miserable.

 

[kittensmeow]

I applied as a non-traditional, international student to OVC. I did my science pre-requisites part-time while working full-time in an unrelated field. I was still accepted to OVC. It's definitely doable. They did ask about my career switch a lot in my interview and they wanted to be really sure that I would not give up on veterinary medicine as I am doing now in my current career (engineering).

Well that is good to hear, and congrats on your acceptance to OVC! (I don't know how it is for internationals but for Ontario residents (me, unfortunately) OVC is supposedly extremely competitive to get into.

Of course, you're talking about abandoning a career while my concern is that I abandoned a program of study (and a taxing professional one at that). Of course, I'm a music teacher right now so I'll be abandoning that too if I eventually get into a DVM! Such is the situation of a non-trad, I guess - we've all tried at least one other pursuit before deciding on vet med.

I do agree that it seems pretty self-punishing to complete two more years of law school, article and write the bar exams, just to prove to the DVM admissions committee that I'm not a quitter.