Advice on Practical Experience

[Lucy410]

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I am a career-changer in my mid-twenties. I planned to go to vet school from high school through my first year of college, but ended up taking an unrelated track from sophomore year of college through the first four years of my career. I am now committed to getting back on the pre-vet track through a post-bacc and relevant experience. I'm most interested in shelter medicine and/or exotics. My goal is to apply to UC Davis (and probably some others, but I'm in-state for Davis and it's the best location for my husband's work) in October 2015.

Because I was on the pre-vet track for so many years I have about 3,900 animal experience hours (primarily through volunteer work and part-time employment at small animal and wildlife rescue organizations) and about 620 veterinary hours (a summer of working for a small animal vet plus a month shadowing a large animal vet). However, the vast majority of my animal hours are from 2004-2007 and all of my veterinary hours took place in 2007.

So, I'm trying to get back in the saddle by devoting the next year and a half to getting pre-reqs done in a post-bacc, taking the GRE, and getting as much experience as I can - and getting letters of rec from vets since I'm no longer in touch with the vets I worked for 7 years ago.

My current plan is to try to get a part-time veterinary assistant job wherever I can, then pick up some supplementary volunteer or shadowing experience on the side as long as it doesn't interfere with my study time for post-bacc classes and the GRE.

Questions:

1. Does this seem like a solid plan?

2. Do you think it's going to be an issue that my hours are from so long ago?

3. Where do you think I should focus on getting hours? Some available options I could pursue are volunteering at a marine mammal rehabilitation clinic (might just be animal care, not sure if I can shadow vets), volunteering at an animal behavior/conservation research site, volunteering to assist vets at a shelter spay/neuter clinic, or pursuing a volunteer or shadow position with a private clinic.

Thank you!

 

[LetItSnow]

Seems like a reasonable plan.

I don't think it will necessarily be an issue in the sense that they won't give you credit for the older hours; they definitely should. But it may come up at some point in interviews. Something along the lines of "It looks like you were headed down this path and then left vet med. Why do you want to return to it now?" You <might> consider subtly tackling that question in your personal statement. Don't have to be overt in directly answering it, but ....

I think you still want to focus on getting a somewhat diverse set of hours. 85% of your hours can be in one area - ideally the one that you say you're interested in, for consistency - but the other 15% or so should be spread around. Shadow an equine vet for a week. Hang with a farm vet. Go check out a wildlife rehab place for a week.

 

[StartingoverVet]

I mostly agree with LIS, but I feel you already have diversity in the past, and you don't need to focus on it now. I think your most important goal is to get vet hours in the area you are interested in, especially at UCDavis. So I would choose the neuter clinic where you can get vet hours and it is in shelter med which is your area.

Your overall animal experience is fine, just focus on vet hours, but in general you have a good plan.

Also, LIS' point to address the gap in your " resume" is fair. If you ignore it, the ad com is gonna wonder. Use it to your advantage....if true, something like " I spent 3 years distracted by a goal of being a circus clown, but all that did was reinforce how much I really was interested in vet med". Or whatever. You get the point ( I hope)

 

[Lucy410]

Thank you both for your help! I really appreciate it.

Do you think it's an issue that I have zero hours in a research setting? It's not what I plan to pursue in a DVM program.

 

[LetItSnow]

No. Research helps, but lots of things help. You don't have to be perfect in every category - you just need to have a consistent story that spells out a strong desire and capability to succeed in school and, in theory, in vet med.