Animal owner-where do I put this on my application?

[Highlsnds3]

I've owned horses for 20 years and cows/goats for the past 10. Can I put this on my application for animal experience? I've got plenty of small animal experience from working at a vet and boarding kennel, but not sure what to do about the large animal. Thanks for any help!!

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[Backwoods Boy]

For the most part, they don't consider owning animals as animal experience. Don't quote me on this but I believe that is the general consideration.

 

[bunnity]

If I were you I would include it in your personal statement (just briefly, if you can work it in there) but not in the experiences section. If you put it in the experience section, I think it looks like you are trying to pad your hours, especially since pretty much everyone applying to vet school has owned animals. If you work it into your personal statement, adcoms can assume that you are familiar and comfortable working with horses and goats, which is a good thing.

Now if you've done something like competitive showing or teaching riding lessons, I think that would be appropriate to list in the experience section.

There was a thread a while back debating what things are appropriate to include in the experience section; I'll see if I can find it. There wasn't a complete consensus and after all none of us are experts - if you want the best answer you should probably consult the schools you plan on applying to, or check out this forum that is run by the VMCAS staff: http://vmcas.myfreeforum.org/.

ETA: Here's the link to the thread where this issue was debated in detail:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=634653&highlight=pet+ownership

 

[Highlsnds3]

Thanks so much! This is my first go round (hopefully my ONLY) and the application has been giving me fits!

 

[aspiringDVM]

Auburn told me to include my hours with my herd of dairy goats. They also said to be careful not to go overboard with it, which is easy to do if you've had animals for the past decade or two. With my goats I tried to estimate the time I spent doing non-routine stuff, like delivering babies, caring for orphan kids, etc.

 

[twelvetigers]

OKState likes to see your hours as a pet owner included. I thought it was strange.

 

[amom427]

OKState likes to see your hours as a pet owner included. I thought it was strange.

Where would we put that since the other schools don't want hours as a pet owner?

 

[twelvetigers]

Err... well, if you're applying elsewhere, I suppose I would just make an effort to mention pet ownership/care in your PS. That's apparently why they want to see it in your experiences. I don't know how many vet school applicants out there have never cared for pets before... but apparently it's a concern. Lol.

Don't worry about it too much, anyway - I'm not really sure how much of a difference it makes to your application as a whole.

 

[sumstorm]

If you have bred, shown, or participated in the business aspect of meat/fur/service animals, include it in animal experience. These skills are different than routine feeding/grooming/cleaning of pets. If you grew up on a working farm, I would include that too, but I would underestimate time spent, and possibly outline how you came to the amount of time. There is a difference between a 15 minute feeding/cleaning (currently what it takes to feed my 8 pets) and 2-4 hours of farm chores on a working farm.