Animal High School Internships

[Saki Nishibi]

Hello everybody a relatively new SDNer here

I am currently a junior in high school and I am beginning to look for internships that I can do for the summer of 2016. Does anybody have any input/suggestions as to some good internships that are available to rising high school seniors? I realize that there are very limited internships for high school students but there must be some right?

I did the Cornell Summer College last summer (2015) and I kinda don't want to deprive my mom of another ~$6000 again.

As someone who has limited animal experience (32 hrs at vet clinic and hoping to start at some animal shelters very very soon and the Cornell Summer College thing if that counts) I am willing to work with any type of animal. Wildlife seems very interesting though. I am also open to internships that provide either veterinary and animal experience.

I did a bunch of research beforehand and I found something that seems compelling- https://www.alaskawildlife.org/wp-c.../Summer-Naturalist-Internship-Application.pdf
Can anybody who has had experience with this program comment on it? Was it good/worth it? What did you do and learn? Was there a lot of interactions with animals?

Thank you in advance for any input! 😀

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[DogtorCK]

I live in Connecticut and I know there are internships with the Mystic aquarium, but you'd probably want to check out places more local to you - zoos/aquariums if you're interested in wildlife. Also look for farms to get hired as a farm hand. Some farms around me also do camps where you can be a counselor, which is another way to get paid and get animal experience.

Kudos to you for starting early, but also don't stress if you can't find experience this early on. It doesn't hurt to focus on other things that show your maturity and well-roundedness as a person - holding a job, volunteering, leadership (vet related or not) experience -- even more so if you go abroad to expand your world view. You will have plenty of time and opportunity in college for the animal/vet experience and if you're trying to go straight into vet school as soon as possible, it'll be the things you do aside from getting a 4.0 and having 3000 hours of animal experience that will get you noticed. At least, this is what I've heard from fellow traditional undergrads.

 

[hazelmoo]

If there are any local wildlife rehabilitation centers in your area, you could call and see if they accept high school volunteers! At the one I work in, we have a HS volunteer program during the summers. It is great experience and you get a lot of hands on training.

It's great that you are starting early because that will help a lot with getting more experience later on, however, keep in mind that most vet schools only want to know about experiences that take place after high school! So don't stress yourself out too much! Good luck!

 

[that redhead]

We had someone here (Moose Nanny? I can't exactly remember her username) who I believe did the Alaska program and really liked it.

In general, I wouldn't necessarily look for just something called an internship - you could also look into volunteering at local wildlife rehabs, shelters, etc.

 

[Saki Nishibi]

Thank you all for the replies! 🙂

I agree that I should find some places to volunteer. It's been pretty hard for me to find places to volunteer as I live in the suburbs and there are literally no farms, animal shelters/rescue center, rehabilitation centers, etc. in my neighborhood where I can walk to without asking for a ride (closest animal shelter is 15 min away by car). I recently decided to not allow distance impede me from seizing those opportunities so I'm going to start at a rabbit rescue this winter break, a shelter for dogs and cats in January, and a wildlife rehabilitation center if they ever answer my emails 😡. I will have to take the bus there but I guess it's something that I will have to get used to sooner or later so why not sooner 🙄. I also do other things (church, bunch of clubs after school with some leadership positions, music) so I'm not too worried about that.

I would seriously, honestly love to just volunteer over the summer break- I really would. But a huge reason that I am looking for something called an internship is that my mom knows that colleges look for productive activity over the summer and thus has been pushing me to apply to some programs recently. She wants me to apply to this prestigious research program but I know that that's not happening because I have absolutely zero research experience. She has also heard from a college advisor that taking college courses while in high school looks good, so she wants me to apply to the Cornell thing again, but I don't think that this is the greatest idea as my family is low income and I read in many places that it doesn't help me look good to undergrad colleges as I am paying a large sum to attend it. Anyways, her recent push for me to apply to these things has taught me that she would not be content with me to just plain volunteer.

Therefore I need to appease my mom and find somplace I can apply to. I prefer an internship (or something close to that) because I would be able to earn some new experience while earning some volunteer hours or potentially a stipend. I guess a summer program could also work, but not those crazily expensive ones. My mom says no to a job during school ("you need to focus on your education" says she) but I guess a summer job wouldn't hurt. Any other suggestions for a productive summer are greatly appreciated, just not one with plain volunteering because my mom would clearly disapprove.

Also I could be wrong but I thought that I read somewhere that vet schools also accepted experiences from high school? Could someone please clarify this for me?

 

[KCgophervet]

Also I could be wrong but I thought that I read somewhere that vet schools also accepted experiences from high school? Could someone please clarify this for me?

Probably depends on the school, but yes you should include HS experiences on your application (eventually, you're a ways away from that at this point). Even if not all schools count it, some will, but they can't decide whether to include it or not if you don't give it to them to start with.

What will help you in the long run is to start documenting those experiences, what you did, who you worked with, a contact number, and how many hours you spent doing it. You will thank yourself later, trust me.

 

[hazelmoo]

Some schools I applied to said only to put college and later experiences on the application, but I'm sure not all of them do that!

 

[katashark]

Yeah not all do, but some only want college and later. Some don't care

 

[Minnerbelle]

Probably depends on the school, but yes you should include HS experiences on your application (eventually, you're a ways away from that at this point). Even if not all schools count it, some will, but they can't decide whether to include it or not if you don't give it to them to start with.

Yes they absolutely count. My only contact with veterinarians were from back in high school (some of that same experience trickled into the first summer after starting college). And I applied 6 years after high school graduation!

 

[hazelmoo]

Dang, if I would have known that I would have put all my stuff from HS on my application. Lol

 

[Devastating]

Yeah, I didn't add anything from high school at first because I assumed it might be considered too old, but once I started reading SDN more I decided it was important to add my HS shadowing activities in too (given that it took place my senior year just a bit before a few of my undergrad things, and especially since it contains the bulk of my clinical experience hours...) As long as a school doesn't specifically request no HS experiences I figure it can't hurt to list them.

 

[Saki Nishibi]

Cool, thanks for the clarification everybody 🙂

I did some research and came across with this very interesting program- http://www.vet.utk.edu/summerexperience/index.php
It seems like something I would definitely do but it's only open to Tennessee students
Does anybody know of any other programs like this that are open to NY residents? (cuz that's my home state) Or the US in general?

 

[Devastating]

in spring 2013 when I was still in undergrad, I applied for a veterinary summer program at MSU (I was accepted as an alternate so I didn't get to actually attend unfortunately). I don't remember if there was a specific name for this program, but it took place over several weeks in the summer, and there were more seats available because they had different "levels", the one you fall under depends on where you are academically--there was one for students who have already been accepted to a vet school and will complete this program prior to starting, another for undergrads/people in the process of applying (where I fell), and I think level 1 may have been for high schoolers? It was open to anyone (I'm from TX) so it might be worth looking into!

 

[Pugsforlove2014]

@Devastating, that's for undergrads and vet students I believe actually. For Saki, no one your age has much research experience I can promise you that so I'd go ahead and apply to it and see what happens. Also don't ignore opportunities outside of vet med/animals especially at your age, you could spend the summer with a humanitarian volunteer organization and it would be well spent. Otherwise it sounds like you're super motivated so nice job on that 🙂. I know some places might also hire you for summer work as a kennel aid and that would be great to start building your contacts!

 

[Minnerbelle]

Tufts has a program for high schoolers open to anyone. It's just costly I think

 

[Devastating]

Oh, yeah, just checked their site and the lowest level is still for undergrads who have completed basic biology and chemistry. Sorry 🙁 Something to look at once you start college, though!

ETA: http://cvm.msu.edu/about/diversity/enrichment-summer-program/esp-program-details

 

[pp9]

Cool, thanks for the clarification everybody 🙂

I did some research and came across with this very interesting program- http://www.vet.utk.edu/summerexperience/index.php
It seems like something I would definitely do but it's only open to Tennessee students
Does anybody know of any other programs like this that are open to NY residents? (cuz that's my home state) Or the US in general?

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/Admissions/high_school_students/HSSummerProgram.cfm Although I think it's open to any state.

Edit: Sorry, I suck. I completely missed that you already did this Who says you have to be able to read to get into veterinary school?

 

[heyyimhayley]

I did a bunch of those summer college type of things (Cornell, Tufts AVM, and one at SGU). I really enjoyed them, and I put them on my VMCAS! I highly doubt they will mean anything to admissions (possible except showing long term dedication), but I figured it couldn't hurt. More importantly, having that on my resume I think definitely helped me get my first vet/shadowing positions. Again, as others have said, only downside is that you have to pay for them, but if you have the resources to be able to afford it, then absolutely go for it. I know my parents were willing to pay for things like that because they wanted me to be doing something worthwhile with my summers.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I did a bunch of those summer college type of things (Cornell, Tufts AVM, and one at SGU). I really enjoyed them, and I put them on my VMCAS! I highly doubt they will mean anything to admissions (possible except showing long term dedication), but I figured it couldn't hurt. More importantly, having that on my resume I think definitely helped me get my first vet/shadowing positions. Again, as others have said, only downside is that you have to pay for them, but if you have the resources to be able to afford it, then absolutely go for it. I know my parents were willing to pay for things like that because they wanted me to be doing something worthwhile with my summers.

The schools that are hurting to get qualified OOS students to accept a spot and pay tuition I'm sure sees that and go, cha-Ching! Accept unless horrible! J/k

 

[LetItSnow]

Hello everybody a relatively new SDNer here

I am currently a junior in high school and I am beginning to look for internships that I can do for the summer of 2016. Does anybody have any input/suggestions as to some good internships that are available to rising high school seniors? I realize that there are very limited internships for high school students but there must be some right?

I did the Cornell Summer College last summer (2015) and I kinda don't want to deprive my mom of another ~$6000 again.

As someone who has limited animal experience (32 hrs at vet clinic and hoping to start at some animal shelters very very soon and the Cornell Summer College thing if that counts) I am willing to work with any type of animal. Wildlife seems very interesting though. I am also open to internships that provide either veterinary and animal experience.

I did a bunch of research beforehand and I found something that seems compelling- https://www.alaskawildlife.org/wp-c.../Summer-Naturalist-Internship-Application.pdf
Can anybody who has had experience with this program comment on it? Was it good/worth it? What did you do and learn? Was there a lot of interactions with animals?

Thank you in advance for any input! 😀

I got no good advice for you, but I gotta say I like your attitude.

 

[Vdubs03]

I attended a veterinary enrichment camp at Texas A&M when I was going into my junior year of high school (summer of 2010). It was a really cool experience. I highly recommend it! Sadly it's more expensive than when I attended. You would also need a letter of rec from a veterinarian that you work for or shadowed. All the information can be found here:
http://vetmed.tamu.edu/bims/future/veterinary-enrichment-camp

 

[CynicKitten]

For anybody looking at this thread in the future, Nashville Zoo has high school internships, but only for the school year (no summer ones, unfortunately):
https://www.nashvillezoo.org/internships-and-externships

Scroll down to (or Ctrl+F) "INTERNSHIPS FOR HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS". It's $30, which is awesome if you live nearby, or can afford to travel.

 

[Saki Nishibi]

@Devastating thanks! I looked at the link and it looks interesting! Definitely something I will look more to once I get into college.

@pinkpuppy9 lol yea I did the Sustainable Animal Husbandry one. Never worked with farm animals before that but it was fun!

@heyyimhayley I will definitely put the Cornell program on my VMCAS (that's for vet school admissions right?)! I really wish these programs are free so I could afford to go.

@Minnerbelle Oh yeah I also applied there and got accepted but I turned it down to go to the Cornell program. But I agree that it's a little too expensive.

@LetItSnow Thanks! I try to keep my mind open to new ideas/possibilities

@Vdubs03 Cool thank! I will check it out.

@CynicKitten that seems like such a great opportunity! I wish I would attend 🙁