Advice on becoming a vet as a Business major?

[dayrone150]

Hello everyone. I'm a 21 year old business major. I'd really love to be a vet but if I can't get into vet school my second option is medical school. I really want to be a doctor and I love animals. Right now my GPA is a 3.2 but I have 1 more year in school. I'm trying my best to bring it up as high as I possibly can. I know I have to take the prerequisite classes but I'd like to know 2 things.

I know many people apply to as many vet/medical schools at one time. How can I do so if each medical school require different prerequisites? Were they able to because they were science majors? I'm also worried about the entrance exam. Being a business major I haven't been exposed to much science so it's my weakness. Is there study guides and prep classes for them?

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[LetItSnow]

A few points:

1) Decide whether you want to be an MD or DVM. They aren't the same. (There are a very small number of MD/DVMs that found both interesting, but as a general rule - figure out which you want and do that.) Personally, I'd advise being an MD if you think you'd be satisfied with it. They have their own set of headaches and frustrations, and some of them overlap with DVM (can we say "anti-vax crowd"?), but as a general rule an MD has all the frustration with 2-5x the pay. So personally, I'd go that route, retrospectively (except that people REALLY gross me out). But I personally wouldn't pursue "both" or "either/or" - I'd spend the time to figure out which you really want to do. From the veterinary side, that means getting exposure to what you think you want to do: if you think you want to be a small animal doc, start hanging with one and find out what the job is all about. Etc. If you haven't done that, you probably have a romanticized image of what it's like that you will find out doesn't really reflect reality.

2) The pre-reqs are very similar vet school to vet school. There are differences, but in broad terms if you put together a list of vet schools you want to attend and aggregate their requirements, you won't find a TON of variation. A class or two, maybe.

3) I was a Theology major, so my major was 100x less useful than a Business major would be for vet med (a business background is super useful, and probably attractive to employers). It's just a matter of doing the various pre-reqs one way or another, and people will give you all sorts of conflicting advice about where to do them. My advice, do them wherever is cheapest that meets the requirements of the schools you are interested in.

4) Get your GPA up. 3.2 isn't beyond salvage and is not beyond getting into vet school, but it's sub-par at most schools. If you rock out the pre-reqs with almost all A's you'll be fine.

5) I'm not sure what "entrance exam" you mean. I'm not aware of an "entrance exam" for vet schools, unless you mean the GRE. If that's what you mean, just search for "GRE preparation" and see what comes up.

 

[dayrone150]

A few points:

1) Decide whether you want to be an MD or DVM. They aren't the same. (There are a very small number of MD/DVMs that found both interesting, but as a general rule - figure out which you want and do that.) Personally, I'd advise being an MD if you think you'd be satisfied with it. They have their own set of headaches and frustrations, and some of them overlap with DVM (can we say "anti-vax crowd"?), but as a general rule an MD has all the frustration with 2-5x the pay. So personally, I'd go that route, retrospectively (except that people REALLY gross me out). But I personally wouldn't pursue "both" or "either/or" - I'd spend the time to figure out which you really want to do. From the veterinary side, that means getting exposure to what you think you want to do: if you think you want to be a small animal doc, start hanging with one and find out what the job is all about. Etc. If you haven't done that, you probably have a romanticized image of what it's like that you will find out doesn't really reflect reality.

2) The pre-reqs are very similar vet school to vet school. There are differences, but in broad terms if you put together a list of vet schools you want to attend and aggregate their requirements, you won't find a TON of variation. A class or two, maybe.

3) I was a Theology major, so my major was 100x less useful than a Business major would be for vet med (a business background is super useful, and probably attractive to employers). It's just a matter of doing the various pre-reqs one way or another, and people will give you all sorts of conflicting advice about where to do them. My advice, do them wherever is cheapest that meets the requirements of the schools you are interested in.

4) Get your GPA up. 3.2 isn't beyond salvage and is not beyond getting into vet school, but it's sub-par at most schools. If you rock out the pre-reqs with almost all A's you'll be fine.

5) I'm not sure what "entrance exam" you mean. I'm not aware of an "entrance exam" for vet schools, unless you mean the GRE. If that's what you mean, just search for "GRE preparation" and see what comes up.

Thank you very helpful! You really made my day! I was thinking vet just because I like animals but I am a people person. After thinking I believe I'll go for MD. I'm guessing the pre-reqs for med school are similar as well? I will definitely get my GPA up and ace the pre-req classes. When I mentioned the entrance exam I was talking about Med school, the MCAT. I'm hoping there is a prep for that.

 

[Warderino92]

Most schools require gen chem 1 and 2, Orgo 1 with some requiring orgo 2 and others requiring biochem instead, bio 1 and 2 and physics 1 and 2 at bare minimum. You will take the MCAT after all of this. You have plenty of time to get the pre recs done and figure out a study plan for the MCAT.

 

[LetItSnow]

Thank you very helpful! You really made my day! I was thinking vet just because I like animals but I am a people person. After thinking I believe I'll go for MD. I'm guessing the pre-reqs for med school are similar as well? I will definitely get my GPA up and ace the pre-req classes. When I mentioned the entrance exam I was talking about Med school, the MCAT. I'm hoping there is a prep for that.

I'm not sure about pre-reqs for MDs. I would presume they are similar, at least, but I really don't have any direct experience. Since there are soooo many more med schools, there might be more variability? Or because they depend on the MCAT so highly, maybe there's actually less? I really don't have any idea! But I'm sure googling, and hitting up the pre-MD sections of SDN, can help you.

Best of luck with whatever you end up doing!