Advice on going back to college, completing prerequisites etc ...etc.

[Kasiopea]

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Hello everyone,
I am seriously considering going back to school and obtaining a veterinary degree, specializing in equine medicine eventually. I have extensive experience with horses, over 10y in carrying, owning and breeding.
I am doing some in depth research on admissions and prerequisites, difficulties of the career, finances etc... and I have a ton of questions!
I am in my 30s and have a Bachelors degree in arts. I know that there are a lot of people who came into Vet Schools from different backgrounds, as long as the prerequisites are all completed and gpa, test scores are high. My question is, for those of you who have come back to complete the prerequisites, how did you manage it? How did you balance going back to school with having to work at the same time etc. I know some colleges offer weekend classes, and online courses. But I'm also reading that certain vet schools don't want to see Community College credits, and some don't accept online classes credits?
Another question for those of you who specialize in large animal medicine. What advise can you give to a starting student? What did you wish you known about the industry before you got into it.
The loans, financial aspect also worries me. For those of you who practice or work in the large animal field, is it a struggle to make ends meet? Is this something I should be worried about?

I have a strong passion for the equine field, and I think I could be successful as a medical practitioner. But being older and having to start from scratch seems a bit overwhelming, any advice on which end to approach this at is greatly appreciated!🙂
Thank you!

 

[genny]

I think your best bet is to target your instate vet school. What do they say about prereqs? You can tailor your courses to what they recommend, so you’re not taking more classes than you need to and so that you know that the ones you do take will count.

My degree was in psychology, so I had to take a bunch of chem and bio classes when I went back to school. My IS school accepted community college credits for lower level courses, but wanted organic chem, biochemistry, and genetics from a 4yr school. Saved me money because I could do gen chem and intro bio and math at the CC level.

 

[britzen]

First, figure out which schools you want to apply to. Do some research, and make your list of your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc choice.

Next, figure out what pre-reqs each of them need. Prioritize classes that are required at all programs, then prioritize based on the requirements of your 1st choice. Then 2nd. Then 3rd. And so on.

Determine if any of those programs will allow community college classes. If not, consider whether you *really* want to go there if community college is the easiest and cheapest option for you to complete pre-reqs.

Determine if any of those programs will allow online classes. If online is the best thing for your schedule while working, determine if you *really* want to go to a program that doesn't accept them.

If you want to give yourself the broadest ability to apply, just take all of your classes in person at a 4-year college. But if you have a targeted list you can have more flexibility based on specific schools requirements.

I came back to school ~10 years after graduating undergrad with a humanities based degree. I only took courses geared toward my in-state first, with plans to complete specific pre-reqs for 2nd, 3rd, etc later if I didn't get in to my IS on the first try. This ended up not being necessary. But, for example, after completing my in-state pre-req I would have taken Animal Nutrition (required at my 2nd choice) and then Animal Physiology (required at my 3rd choice). No point in taking them now, since I am already into a school that doesn't require them as a prerequisite.

I did not consider any schools that would not count my original undergrad coursework. Some schools want classes that are no more than 7-10 years old. If they wanted that, I discounted them so that I didn't have to re-take everything.

Once you decide what schools you want to apply to, chip away at the pre-reqs in a smart order. Start with Gen Chem I for sure your first semester because the number of chemistry classes is the longest sequence to get through - it will take 4 semesters minimum to get through all of the chemistry if you start from the beginning. Other classes you can take simultaneously (genetics and microbiology can be done at the same time, for example)

Many colleges offer a post-baccalaureate program for career changers trying to go into the medical field. It's not necessary to do one, but these programs are geared toward people like you and will give you a structured program to follow. Then you just need to modify a few things to make sure you are hitting the pre-reqs for vet school (as opposed to say, dental school). The basics are all the same for professional medical field degrees, but there is some variation depending on the type of program you will apply to.

 

[that redhead]

Hello everyone,
I am seriously considering going back to school and obtaining a veterinary degree, specializing in equine medicine eventually. I have extensive experience with horses, over 10y in carrying, owning and breeding.
I am doing some in depth research on admissions and prerequisites, difficulties of the career, finances etc... and I have a ton of questions!
I am in my 30s and have a Bachelors degree in arts. I know that there are a lot of people who came into Vet Schools from different backgrounds, as long as the prerequisites are all completed and gpa, test scores are high. My question is, for those of you who have come back to complete the prerequisites, how did you manage it? How did you balance going back to school with having to work at the same time etc. I know some colleges offer weekend classes, and online courses. But I'm also reading that certain vet schools don't want to see Community College credits, and some don't accept online classes credits?
Another question for those of you who specialize in large animal medicine. What advise can you give to a starting student? What did you wish you known about the industry before you got into it.
The loans, financial aspect also worries me. For those of you who practice or work in the large animal field, is it a struggle to make ends meet? Is this something I should be worried about?

I have a strong passion for the equine field, and I think I could be successful as a medical practitioner. But being older and having to start from scratch seems a bit overwhelming, any advice on which end to approach this at is greatly appreciated!🙂
Thank you!

Have you ridden with an equine vet yet? Not just helping out with your own horses at a farm call, but actually spending full days with someone?

Equine med is known to be one of the toughest in vet med - one of the worst paying, tough hours, the required physicality and the debt on top of it all. Talking to some equine vets would be a great first step.

 

[JustPaws]

I have a film degree, graduated in 2006. I slowly took all my prereqs at a bunch of different places. First, I took some at a 4-year college and took out a big private loan to live on ( wouldn't recommend). Then I realized how I was purging money, changed to a community college and took 2-3 classes while working 30ish hours. The nice thing about community college is that I have found better access to night, weekend, and online classes to keep working. I ended up sending in 3 transcripts for undergrad and will send 4 transcripts for prereqs, all different schools. Only two of those were 4 year colleges, and several classes were online.

Michigan State did not care that about 50% of my prereqs were community college, so I would say it depends on the school!

PM me if you want to discuss further

 

[Kasiopea]

Thank you so much this is great info! 🙂
I am starting to look into local schools that offer the needed prerequisite classes. Going in to an Advisory appointment tomorrow.
I have not ridden with a vet a full day yet. But this is something I am planning to organize soon. I just haven't figured out how to talk to my equine vets about this yet, breaching the client to student line. I also have a small veterinary doctor I can go intern (possibly work) with for some time to get a broader experience.
I know that the equine industry is though, but I'm already in it, I work with animals daily, long hours and physical strain. Completing a degree just seem like the next logical step for me.

 

[EngrSC]

I’m currently a post-bacc student. I took stats, gen bio, and gen chem one at a time at my local community college. I continued working full time in engineering and part time in a vet hospital and it was rough at times. I was living in California at the time and we just couldn’t afford for me to leave engineering and I wasn’t about to part with my vet hospital job! My husband is active duty military so when he was up for orders we decided it was time to leave so I could get on with this vet school thing (I’m now 30). He got orders to Georgia and I applied as a post-bacc student to the nearest university. It has worked out really well - I still work remotely 30 hours/week for the same engineering company and I’ve been taking 12 credits/semester. Theoretically I’m ready to apply this next application cycle but I’m having a major surgery this summer as well as studying for the GRE and it makes more sense with my husband’s orders to apply for c/o 2024. The only prereqs I have left are biochem and genetics but I plan to continue taking classes full time next fall and spring before I apply. I’m taking classes that I think will benefit me - like I plan on taking histology and immunology, etc.

Anyway, sorry that was more fluff than I had intended to write. My advice is do your very best to take your post-bacc classes without student loans (this is the reason I’m STILL working in engineering), don’t overdo it and get crap grades, and get an idea of where you want to apply because that may affect where you take your classes. As an example, OK state requires o-chem be taken at a 4-year university (at least they did last I checked) and UGA requires a certain number of upper division biology electives.

Best of luck!

 

[CoffeeQuestionMark]

Thank you so much this is great info! 🙂
I am starting to look into local schools that offer the needed prerequisite classes. Going in to an Advisory appointment tomorrow.
I have not ridden with a vet a full day yet. But this is something I am planning to organize soon. I just haven't figured out how to talk to my equine vets about this yet, breaching the client to student line. I also have a small veterinary doctor I can go intern (possibly work) with for some time to get a broader experience.
I know that the equine industry is though, but I'm already in it, I work with animals daily, long hours and physical strain. Completing a degree just seem like the next logical step for me.

I wouldn't worry so much about the client/student thing. I applied to work at my dog's vet clinic when I was 16, before they really knew me and before I knew I wanted to be a vet. Then I was visiting the clinic regularly while my dog was fighting IMHA. I decided I wanted to be a vet when I was almost 19, made them aware of it, they kept making comments about stealing me away from my job and once I was ready to take a job at a clinic they offered me an interview (but I couldn't work FT so didn't even end up going)

So just make it clear what your interests are. In my experience many vets are wanting to help students trying to get into veterinary school. I feel that has been my one-up every time I am competing for a job under a veterinarian.