Advice needed.

[Ochretis]

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First of all sorry if this should just be posted in what are my chances, but I didn't feel this quite fit there.
So after finishing my degree in Zoology I decided to take a while off to decide what I really wanted to do. I used to want to do vet school when I was in high school but later thought I'd be better suited for research in Zoology. This was mainly due to my immaturity thinking I couldn't handle putting down animals that needed to be etc. As time went on and I actually finished my degree I realized that vet school was something I'd actually like to try and pursue. As I was doing research into the application process and saw all the things people had been doing in their years going to college I felt that I was at a great disadvantage and quickly became overwhelmed and decided to bench that idea. After trying to apply for research jobs in biology and just working for a year I've come to the decision that I actually really want this and I know it'll take a lot of work but this time I'm all in.

I had a huge issue with transferring credits because I attended University of Otago in New Zealand for my first two years of college. Later I came back and finished my degree at Illinois State University. Even though I focused on Zoology, I met all the requirements for vet school except for one additional physics course. After meeting with an advisor, he told me that even though I took chemistry and biochemistry in New Zealand that vet schools would specifically be looking for certain courses i.e. Organic Chem I and II. He also told me the physics I took transferred as a certain course and that vet schools like to see fundamentals of physics and college physics or something, so I'd need to take two more of those. So I went and took Organic Chem I last year.

Unfortunately because I wasn't sure I was doing vet school until recently, I don't have much vet experience. I have shadowed a zoo vet for 3 months, I've volunteered at a zoo for a year, as well as humane society for a couple months, and I've done some research for a phd student with house wrens. I've already talked with my current vet in order to start some small animal clinical shadowing but I saw many people apply with 800 hours of both large and small. How can someone like me start to rack up those kinds of hours? Would I need to find an veterinary assistant position or can it be done just shadowing/volunteering?

Currently that leaves me with needing to finish taking my GRE, gaining hundreds of hours of experience in both fields, and potentially taking those three "needed" courses. My question is do I just take the one physics course and focus primarily on pouring hours into clinical and volunteer experience or follow the advice of the advisor and take all those specified courses and just get whatever experience I can before the application deadline this year. I forgot to mention my GPA when I graduated was 3.88.

I realize I threw in a lot here, but I just wanted people to understand my background to give me solid advice and what best course of action to take in order to try and apply this cycle. I realize because of my lack of experience it might prove difficult to get in, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. Thank you for your criticism and time.

 

[Jess Monster]

If you want to do this don't compare yourself to people who went into undergrad as pre-vet. Of course you're not going to accumulate as much experience as them. That's okay. If you have a 3.88 in a science based degree program, you're already doing better than many applicants. Finish up your pre-req's and take the GRE. Try to get a few hundred solid hours before you apply. When you write your personal statement, be sure to include that you didn't enter college as a pre-vet and vet school is something you've decided to seriously pursue after you graduated.

As for taking a job as a vet assistant - I would suggest not going that route if you already have a job that pays you well enough. If you're looking for a job, by all means, go ahead and apply for some vet assistant positions. Realistically, these jobs are not well paid and in many areas it can be difficult to land a job if you don't have previous experience. Plus, you don't need hundreds/thousands of hours working in a clinical setting to understand what veterinarians do. Quality of experience is better than quantity of experience. You can get your hours solely through shadowing and volunteering. Just pay attention and ask lots of questions.

 

[that redhead]

Welcome to SDN 🙂

How can someone like me start to rack up those kinds of hours? Would I need to find an veterinary assistant position or can it be done just shadowing/volunteering?

Currently that leaves me with needing to finish taking my GRE, gaining hundreds of hours of experience in both fields, and potentially taking those three "needed" courses. My question is do I just take the one physics course and focus primarily on pouring hours into clinical and volunteer experience or follow the advice of the advisor and take all those specified courses and just get whatever experience I can before the application deadline this year. I forgot to mention my GPA when I graduated was 3.88.

I realize I threw in a lot here, but I just wanted people to understand my background to give me solid advice and what best course of action to take in order to try and apply this cycle. I realize because of my lack of experience it might prove difficult to get in, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. Thank you for your criticism and time.

With a strong GPA, both overall and in your prerequisite courses, you will be able to "get away" with fewer experience hours depending on where you apply.

How many veterinary hours do you have currently? You don't need to be a veterinary assistant at a small animal practice, but it's often the most accessible, fastest way to rack up veterinary hours. I would definitely attempt to get some large animal hours as many/most schools want to see at least some awareness of the food animal side of things.

 

[JJ1019]

First of all sorry if this should just be posted in what are my chances, but I didn't feel this quite fit there.
So after finishing my degree in Zoology I decided to take a while off to decide what I really wanted to do. I used to want to do vet school when I was in high school but later thought I'd be better suited for research in Zoology. This was mainly due to my immaturity thinking I couldn't handle putting down animals that needed to be etc. As time went on and I actually finished my degree I realized that vet school was something I'd actually like to try and pursue. As I was doing research into the application process and saw all the things people had been doing in their years going to college I felt that I was at a great disadvantage and quickly became overwhelmed and decided to bench that idea. After trying to apply for research jobs in biology and just working for a year I've come to the decision that I actually really want this and I know it'll take a lot of work but this time I'm all in.

I had a huge issue with transferring credits because I attended University of Otago in New Zealand for my first two years of college. Later I came back and finished my degree at Illinois State University. Even though I focused on Zoology, I met all the requirements for vet school except for one additional physics course. After meeting with an advisor, he told me that even though I took chemistry and biochemistry in New Zealand that vet schools would specifically be looking for certain courses i.e. Organic Chem I and II. He also told me the physics I took transferred as a certain course and that vet schools like to see fundamentals of physics and college physics or something, so I'd need to take two more of those. So I went and took Organic Chem I last year.

Unfortunately because I wasn't sure I was doing vet school until recently, I don't have much vet experience. I have shadowed a zoo vet for 3 months, I've volunteered at a zoo for a year, as well as humane society for a couple months, and I've done some research for a phd student with house wrens. I've already talked with my current vet in order to start some small animal clinical shadowing but I saw many people apply with 800 hours of both large and small. How can someone like me start to rack up those kinds of hours? Would I need to find an veterinary assistant position or can it be done just shadowing/volunteering?

Currently that leaves me with needing to finish taking my GRE, gaining hundreds of hours of experience in both fields, and potentially taking those three "needed" courses. My question is do I just take the one physics course and focus primarily on pouring hours into clinical and volunteer experience or follow the advice of the advisor and take all those specified courses and just get whatever experience I can before the application deadline this year. I forgot to mention my GPA when I graduated was 3.88.

I realize I threw in a lot here, but I just wanted people to understand my background to give me solid advice and what best course of action to take in order to try and apply this cycle. I realize because of my lack of experience it might prove difficult to get in, but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. Thank you for your criticism and time.

I think this would have been fine in the "what are my chances" thread. That's exactly what you are asking. Do I have a shot?

I came to the realization late, had only knocked out gen chem and physics science wise and still managed to get my prereqs done and gain enough experience while working part time (through 1/2 of it) in about 15 months. I got accepted. You have to know where to apply so you'll highlight your strengths. For me that was my degree, grades, and GRE scores. For others it's the amazing experience hours they have gained.

I'd say focus this summer on knocking out as many vet hours as you can (make sure whatever pre-reqs you have left are acceptable for the schools you are applying to) and work on those after the application has been submitted. I shadowed/volunteered in the summer rather than worried about school. I took 2 classes after my application went in. I had under 500 hours: wide variety of small animal and only 20 or so hours shadowing at a mixed SA/equine. So I have next to nothing in terms of large animal experience, but I also didn't say in my application that I was interested in working on food animals, equine, etc. I think that's a mistake people make. Best of luck, there are lots of "late comers" who have managed to get in and do just fine.

 

[Osudairy]

Your GPA is pretty solid and make sure that your GRE scores are above average. You will also want to get some good LOR's from people who truly know and support your decision to attend veterinary school. These attributes will help offset the lack of experience. That being said, I would still try to get as much quality veterinary experience as possible. This will only help you in the long run.

 

[KCgophervet]

I would also add that you might want to look at the prerequisite courses for the schools you're thinking of applying to and see if your current coursework would fulfill it before taking additional chemistry and physics courses. Not saying that your adviser was necessarily wrong in thinking that you needed to take more, but they might not actually be correct (a lot of pre-vet advisers can give out some pretty horrendous advice unknowingly, sometimes it is better to do some of the legwork yourself, including emailing admissions personnel directly to see if your current coursework would qualify, or even just reading the pre-requisite descriptions). Just a thought, don't want to waste your time and money taking courses if you don't actually need them.

 

[Ochretis]

First of all just wanted to say thank you all very much for your helpful advice. Second of all one of the problems I was facing was if I should even bother taking more courses or just focus on gaining the experience. After visiting that adviser he made me question what pre reqs I needed. Seeing as my transcript is pretty confusing with all of the transfers, it makes it a bit difficult to discern. I'm planning to apply to UoI champaign-urbana and University of Wisconsin. When I read the pre reqs, they just state they require a set amount of chemistry, biology, and physics hours. Which I meet all already, however because some of my courses from New Zealand didn't transfer as nicely as I would have liked, the advisor was urging me to take 3 more chemistry and 2 more physics courses, hence the reason I had started taking additional courses to begin with. I just don't want to apply to vet school and be disqualified right away for not meeting minimum reqs. I tried contacting UoI about requirements and they just told me that they can't tell me anything from my transcript unless I'm already applying. So I guess my question would be do I continue to just take these additional courses just in case (though it costs money and time), or just focus all out on experience? Again thank you for all your help!

 

[Kyoht]

So you have a bachelors right? If so these are the IL requirements:

Applicants with a B.S. or B.A. degree in any major field of study from an accredited college or university may qualify for DVM admission under Plan A.
The minimum requirements under Plan A are:

• 8 semester hours of biological sciences, with laboratories
• 16 semester hours of chemical sciences, including inorganic, organic, and biochemistry; both inorganic and organic must include laboratories (a minimum of 3 semester hours of chemical science laboratories is required)
• 8 semester hours of physics, with laboratories.

I took a year of inorganic chem, 1yr of organic, and a biochem. I took 1yr of physics. I would highly recommend calling the U of I admission office and asking about the classes you took out of the country. At least see if they have someone that can look at your transcript to make sure that everything transfers and is accepted before you take anymore classes. Sometimes schools also require that you take the higher level science courses at a 4yr university.

---- I just read your last post and I didn't know you had already contacted them. That seems weird that they told you that since they helped me when I was applying. Maybe they didn't understand what you were asking. You could also schedule a tour of the school and ask questions then.

 

[Ochretis]

Hmm, so I have 16 semester of chemical sciences because I have the first two general chemistry courses, two organic, and one biochemistry, with labs in all courses. I only have one physics course that I took in new zealand with a lab, however the adviser told me it'd transfer as a certain class and that vet school really wants me to have these two other courses, thus the reason he thinks I should take two more physics courses, as well as my biochem just transferred as a chemistry elective, so he got me to take the two organic ones I hadn't prior to graduating. Do I need to take inorganic chemistry as well now or can I just take the physics course to finish my pre reqs? Sorry just want to make sure I have them all in a row so I know what I need to take this summer/fall.

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

Get as much experience as you can, obviously, but you still have a chance with low experience hours. I only had 120 hours total of shadowing experience and was accepted. Play to your strengths.

 

[Kyoht]

Inorganic is general chemistry in regards to their requirements. Just make sure things actually transfer instead of going by the advisor. I urge you to contact the vet school again and also go on a tour.