Accumulating Enough Contact Hours

[Mangojuice]

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Hi everyone!

I'm a new forum member with a burning question:

How did y'all gain SO MANY contact hours with animals while going to school and working? I realize that some of you perhaps were in a position where you didn't need to work (parental support, etc), but I do work--an average of 30 hours per week.

Did you simply use all of your free time for volunteering/shadowing? I'm a new pre-vet student, and a non-traditional one at that. I'm trying to get a handle on how I will need to distribute my time. I've been browsing the threads and am frankly astounded at the amount of experience some of you have! I have a undergrad degree already and am a working professional, just back in school to get the prereqs for applying to vet school. I have 2-3 years to volunteer/shadow, while working and attempting to get the highest grades possible. I'm concerned that this isn't enough time to fashion myself into a kickass vet school applicant as far as experience goes.

Any feedback would be appreciated. 🙂

 

[LetItSnow]

Hi everyone!

I'm a new forum member with a burning question:

How did y'all gain SO MANY contact hours with animals while going to school and working? I realize that some of you perhaps were in a position where you didn't need to work (parental support, etc), but I do work--an average of 30 hours per week.

Did you simply use all of your free time for volunteering/shadowing? I'm a new pre-vet student, and a non-traditional one at that. I'm trying to get a handle on how I will need to distribute my time. I've been browsing the threads and am frankly astounded at the amount of experience some of you have! I have a undergrad degree already and am a working professional, just back in school to get the prereqs for applying to vet school. I have 2-3 years to volunteer/shadow, while working and attempting to get the highest grades possible. I'm concerned that this isn't enough time to fashion myself into a kickass vet school applicant as far as experience goes.

Any feedback would be appreciated. 🙂

I am/was a non-trad working full time and going to school and managing a growing family. So, a couple thoughts.

1) Lower your expectations. I had around 500 hours (I think? It's been a few years so I'm not precise.). You don't need the X-thousand hours that you read about.

2) Just accept that you need to make sacrifices. Our friends all went out Friday nights. I volunteered at a wildlife rehab.

3) Find regular gigs that fit into your sched. My job required a high number of hours but it was flexible as to when I needed to be there. So one day a week I blew out of there and volunteered at UMN VMC in rehab for an afternoon. Two years of that: ~250+ hours.

3) Build in a bit of diversity. I also spend a day a week with a small animal vet and made up the work hours on the weekend. 8 hours a week? 400 hrs/yr.

So, you have sufficient time if you're organized, disciplined, and dedicated.

Class-wise, I took 1-2 classes/semester (usually 2). Evenings/weekends mostly.

My biggest advantage was having a flexible work schedule, for sure. But even if you need to have a fixed work schedule it's doable - if you can hang with a vet every Saturday that could be 400 hours in one year. Volunteer at an avian rescue, horse rescue, wildlife rehab, etc, one night a week is another 150 hrs/yr.

 

[that redhead]

Like LIS said, small amounts at a time may not seem like much, but they will accumulate. Don't be discouraged by the high hours other applicants have, just work toward your own application. Remember that better GPA and GRE scores will also help balance lower experience hours.

Use all of your free time - nights, weekends, days off, etc - to get that experience. You may have to give up happy hour or baseball games or doing nothing on Sundays, but it will pay off.

 

[Mangojuice]

Thank you both for your replies. They were enormously reassuring! 🙂

 

[ChittyBang]

I'm also non-trad, post-bacc so I get it. Go for *good quality* hours (veterinary is best). They add up fast and they provide a welcome break from studying.

Expect to devote most of your waking hours to classes and experience. Will you be tired? Yep. Will you cry sometimes? Yep. Wanna give up? Yep. But times flies and before you know it you'll be filling out your coursework and experience on VMCAS!

Build them and they'll accumulate 😉.