Animal Behavior or Endocrinology

[dvmcatdog]

Hi!
My university offers both courses, but I'm not sure which I should take. I find both equally as interesting, which one would benefit more in veterinary school? My initial thought was endocrinology because in animal behavior I heard it's all based on evolution and we're mostly at the zoo, so not much domestic animal talk. I'm interested in small animal, no interest in zoo med. What do you guys think? Any other electives you recommend? Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[rockatiel]

Well, you have a soft science and a more hard science. Do you think you'd prefer to know details, such as the mechanism of X hormone, the physiology of that organ... Or do you want to learn how researchers create time budgets to examine to day to day behaviors of wild giraffes, birds migratory patterns, etc etc? I can only speak on Animal Behavior, but I took it and enjoyed it. Take what you'll have fun with! Nothing will give you a leg up unless you enjoy it and do well.

 

[rockatiel]

PS. I'm small animal focused and though there is very little focus of domestication, the things I took away from that course certainly apply to pets. Anthropomorphism comes to mind.

 

[vetmedhead]

On the flip side of things, I took endocrinology and absolutely loved it! Very interesting material and I enjoyed figuring out how everything related to an overall process. I should also add that endocrine disorders of all sorts run in my family, so I also enjoyed learning more about endocrinology for that reason.

I've never taken a behavior course, so I can't comment on that.

I'm sure both classes will be fun and interesting - what would you like to take? In terms of beneficial to vet school, most schools I've seen teach material from both of the classes you've mentioned, so I think either would be a fine choice. Also, don't worry too much about how much a class will prepare you for vet school - the only knowledge they expect you to come in with is from their prerequisites and they'll be sure to teach you everything else until you're sick of it.

As for classes that I think were personally helpful for me and laid a good foundation for my ability to understand dense subject material:

• Any type of physiology class (endocrinology, neurobiology, reproductive physiology, etc.)
• Anatomy courses
• Histology
• Microbiology
• Animal science classes (nutrition, livestock classes, food animal science, etc)

I also personally found value in classes that emphasized writing, presenting, and critical thinking skills.

 

[dvmcatdog]

On the flip side of things, I took endocrinology and absolutely loved it! Very interesting material and I enjoyed figuring out how everything related to an overall process. I should also add that endocrine disorders of all sorts run in my family, so I also enjoyed learning more about endocrinology for that reason.

I've never taken a behavior course, so I can't comment on that.

I'm sure both classes will be fun and interesting - what would you like to take? In terms of beneficial to vet school, most schools I've seen teach material from both of the classes you've mentioned, so I think either would be a fine choice. Also, don't worry too much about how much a class will prepare you for vet school - the only knowledge they expect you to come in with is from their prerequisites and they'll be sure to teach you everything else until you're sick of it.

As for classes that I think were personally helpful for me and laid a good foundation for my ability to understand dense subject material:

• Any type of physiology class (endocrinology, neurobiology, reproductive physiology, etc.)
• Anatomy courses
• Histology
• Microbiology
• Animal science classes (nutrition, livestock classes, food animal science, etc)

I also personally found value in classes that emphasized writing, presenting, and critical thinking skills.

I think I'm leaning more towards endocrinology because it's more focused on what I'm interested in! I was reading up on the animal behavior course taught in the vet school I'd like to attend and it's definitely focused more on domestic animals and how to handle behavior in the veterinary setting which is what I'm interested in, not so much the evolution side of it which is what is taught at my undergrad. I'm taking most of the classes you're recommending. My school also has a course called Cell & Molecular Neuroscience, what does this course entail of? I'm interested in anything to do with the brain so I thought this class would be awesome!

 

[dvmcatdog]

PS. I'm small animal focused and though there is very little focus of domestication, the things I took away from that course certainly apply to pets. Anthropomorphism comes to mind.

I appreciate your feedback! I think is very much prefer knowing more detail based things. Those time budgets sounds horrible lol

 

[CynicKitten]

Just FYI, my animal behavior course contained a LOT of endocrinology. It was more about the science behind animal behavior than about research methods and time budgets.

 

[pp9]

Just FYI, my animal behavior course contained a LOT of endocrinology. It was more about the science behind animal behavior than about research methods and time budgets.

Lol, my animal behavior course was one of the worst courses I've ever taken at my undergrad. I took the zoology one, I heard the animal science one was much better. I'd talk to people who have taken either course previously and get opinions too.

As for which will benefit you more in veterinary school, maybe neither. We learned all we needed to know this year regarding endocrinology, it wasn't expected of us to know that coming in.

 

[Pugsforlove2014]

Lol, my animal behavior course was one of the worst courses I've ever taken at my undergrad. I took the zoology one, I heard the animal science one was much better. I'd talk to people who have taken either course previously and get opinions too.

As for which will benefit you more in veterinary school, maybe neither. We learned all we needed to know this year regarding endocrinology, it wasn't expected of us to know that coming in.

Same class I'm thinking of? What a waaaaaaaaaste of time haha!

 

[pp9]

Same class I'm thinking of? What a waaaaaaaaaste of time haha!

Haha yuuuuuuup. I can honestly say I learned absolutely nothing from that class. I had high hopes for it as well.

 

[LyraGardenia]

I took an animal behavior class in undergrad. It was through the psych department rather than the bio department (I did a psychology minor), and I don't think we talked about domestic animals at all. The material was kinda interesting, but my professor was incredibly dull, plus it was a night class and he showed a lot of videos, so it was a struggle to stay awake. 😴 It was fine, but I would go with endocrinology if you want something more applicable to vet school.

 

[hazelmoo]

I LOVED my animal behavior class (for my zoology major), but I agree that endocrinology would probably be more applicable. One thing I would urge you to consider is using ratemyprofessor.com to check out the professors before you register for the class. A professor can really be the factor that makes or breaks the class in terms of how much you like it. Ratemyprof was my best friend in undergrad, it's great because it's pretty accurate when letting you know what you're getting yourself into 🙂 good luck!

 

[vetmedhead]

I LOVED my animal behavior class (for my zoology major), but I agree that endocrinology would probably be more applicable. One thing I would urge you to consider is using ratemyprofessor.com to check out the professors before you register for the class. A professor can really be the factor that makes or breaks the class in terms of how much you like it. Ratemyprof was my best friend in undergrad, it's great because it's pretty accurate when letting you know what you're getting yourself into 🙂 good luck!

Koofers is a similar site. Keep in mind too that some professors' reviews may not be super accurate, as a lot of students will post bad reviews if they don't do well in the class.

 

[Vdubs03]

I took both endocrinology and ethology at my undergrad, and while I LOVED both, I think that endo will be more useful in the future. As was mentioned, there is a decent amount of endo in an animal behavior course. I don't think you can go wrong, but I highly recommend endocrinology. It was my favorite course in undergrad!

 

[Ashgirl]

As for which will benefit you more in veterinary school, maybe neither. We learned all we needed to know this year regarding endocrinology, it wasn't expected of us to know that coming in.

While I 100% agree that they are good at getting everyone on the same page, it theoretically could be nice to already have the basics of endocrinology down before starting school, since it can be a really complicated system. I took repro physio during undergrad (another confusing system), and I was sooooo happy I took it because while everyone else was floundering on the very basics, I understood most of the words/concepts, and could help my classmates as we worked up from there.

 

[Gwenevre]

While I 100% agree that they are good at getting everyone on the same page, it theoretically could be nice to already have the basics of endocrinology down before starting school, since it can be a really complicated system. I took repro physio during undergrad (another confusing system), and I was sooooo happy I took it because while everyone else was floundering on the very basics, I understood most of the words/concepts, and could help my classmates as we worked up from there.

Reproooooo. I still have those class notes. Will never let them go.

 

[vetmedhead]

While I 100% agree that they are good at getting everyone on the same page, it theoretically could be nice to already have the basics of endocrinology down before starting school, since it can be a really complicated system. I took repro physio during undergrad (another confusing system), and I was sooooo happy I took it because while everyone else was floundering on the very basics, I understood most of the words/concepts, and could help my classmates as we worked up from there.

Reproooooo. I still have those class notes. Will never let them go.

I took a reproductive physiology class last semester. Complicated is an understatement, haha. I had a ton of respect for my professors who clearly loved the subject and seemed to understand what I was pretty sure was alien biology.