Animal-Related Electives

[168135]

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I was wondering what you guys have taken for your animal-related electives.

I go to a small university and I'm not sure what counts and what doesn't count as "animal-related". Is this something I should email my schools about?

The only courses my university offers that may be considered "animal-related" are Animal Behavior, Behavioural Ecology, General Parasitology, Chordate Zoology, and Biomechanics. We also have Orinthology, Ichthyology, which I'm not sure about. What about Neurobiology and Human Anatomy and Physiology? They're about humans, but we'll learn stuff that's relevant, right?

I have Animal Behavior and I am taking General Parasitology now. I'm almost 100% positive that General Parasitology and Biomechanics count, but I'm not sure about the others. I didn't take Biomechanics this year because it didn't fit my schedule and I've heard that it's only offered once every two years.

Any advice? Also curious to hear what you guys have taken... I'm envious because we don't have courses like Animal Nutrition 😛

 

[BlacKAT33]

all of those courses are great to take. since i was a bio major i took animal science courses to fill some of my electives. also, the human anat/phys is fine. i took that because i had no choice being a bio major. lots of the upper level animal sci courses i was not allowed to take because i didnt have enough ansc prereqs. the ones i did take i "pushed" my way in and defended myself by having the background in my bio courses, but for some like anat/phys it couldnt be done and the schools said nothing bad about me taking the human course.
i think you're on the right track and any of those classes you can get in will be great!

 

[168135]

Thanks!

Anatomy is a course I'm definitely going to take next year. I haven't taken any courses like it before so I'm thinking that if I take it and don't care for it or stuggle with it, then maybe becoming a vet isn't the right path for me. I'm freaking out a little bit because I just finished taking microbiology and although I did well in it, I found most of it pretty boring.

 

[cowgirla]

Thanks!

Anatomy is a course I'm definitely going to take next year. I haven't taken any courses like it before so I'm thinking that if I take it and don't care for it or stuggle with it, then maybe becoming a vet isn't the right path for me. I'm freaking out a little bit because I just finished taking microbiology and although I did well in it, I found most of it pretty boring.

Well, I went to a school with a huge AnSci program, but some of the electives I took were:
Equine Sports Medicine
Equine Lameness
Equine Scientific Discipline--Great class, how physiology and training methods relate, and working with young horses
Nutritional Biochemistry (mostly ruminant based)
Physiology of Reproduction
Reproductive Management
Artificial Insemination
Equine Seminar (current events, etc)
Anatomy and Physiology
Veterinary Microbiology
Veterinary Histologic Technique
and a couple dairy classes I don't even remember the names of...basically "who can stick their arm the farthest into the cow"

that being said, I would have loved to take a couple behavior classes, or parisitology, or neurobio, or even the human based immunology, but I ran out of time! If I don't get in this cycle, I'm planning on taking parisitology, histology, and pathologic basis of disease. Then I'll probably start in on some of the medical lab science classes if it comes to that.

ETA: And after taking all those, I'm stucking taking Animal Nutrition online through Oklahoma, because my university doesn't offer it!! Apparently Nutritional Biochemistry doesnt count?

 

[ImaJerseyGirl]

double post

 

[ImaJerseyGirl]

I stuck with Equine science mostly:
Animal Nutirion + Lab
Animal Repro
Animal Phyis
Careers in Ani Sci (freshman yr)
Topics in Equine Sci
Equine Exercise phys
Equine Nutrition
Equine Health and Management
Artificial Insemination (Dairy cows)
Handling (cows, horses, pigs, sheep, goats)
Endocrinology
Human anatomy w/ cadaver

Some I haven't taken but want to (and will if I can't get in this round)
Lab animal
Neuroendocrinology
Immunology
Human Paristology
Histology
Cell Bio
Micro technique and tissue culture
Ima science geek

Does your U have a co-op or visiting student program where you could spend a semester at a U with advanced/elective courses? I'd say take what you can and depending on what you do take, it might set you apart.

 

[168135]

Does your U have a co-op or visiting student program where you could spend a semester at a U with advanced/elective courses? I'd say take what you can and depending on what you do take, it might set you apart.

We have this exchange program where you pay our university's tuition but do a semester abroad. I didn't want to do it this year because I didn't want to give up my apartment and end up back in res :O. I'm thinking of doing an honours thesis next year and don't know if its possible to go while doing that. Last year, I emailed the coordinator because I was interested in going to Ireland.. the university I was looking at had a lot of equine courses... but she said students who go there are music students, so I don't know if it's possible.

Edit: Just checked out the website... they just re-did it, and there is only a page for Folklore and Ethnomusic exchanges. *sigh* I'll talk to my boss about it Tuesday. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂

 

[marycatherine]

My school offers Ornithology and Ichthyology and I'm going to try to audit them (0 credits, so no GPA, but also free!) just to learn and get some animal experience/knowledge.

I'm also taking Primate Behavior right now, which includes some optional research in a zoo, which I'm pretty excited about!

 

[168135]

How do vet schools feel about auditing courses?

 

[ImaJerseyGirl]

How do vet schools feel about auditing courses?

I'm curious about this as well. I took a 1 credit course of the winter and my friend choose to audit it. My thing is, if I do the work, I want proof of it on my transcript! She didn't really need the credits though, she'd already been accepted.

 

[NittanyKitty]

I agree with what the others have said - anything you can take to supplement your knowledge and demonstrate your interest in the field can only benefit you. Even "human-based" courses such as anatomy and physiology will be beneficial since I would think a lot of that information can transfer to veterinary work. Plus, just learning how to study in rigorous courses such as these will help when in vet school.

I also went to a university with a large agriculture program, so I had some good options for supporting courses. There were a LOT I wanted to take, but these are the ones I managed to squeeze into my schedule in four years:

Introduction to Animal Science
Veterinary Ethics/Current Issues in Veterinary Medicine
Animal Diseases
Veterinary Pathology
Pathobiology
Molecular Toxicology
Animal Nutrition
Companion Animal Management
Reproductive Physiology
Immunology
Techniques in Artificial Insemination (practical course)
Comparative Physiology
Principles of Toxicology
Biology of Cancer

 

[SocialStigma]

My school has no zoology/animal science courses 🙁.

I'm taking animal behaviour as an elective right now and that's pretty much my only animal-related course. It's mandatory in my program to take a full year of human anatomy & physiology in second year though (currently taking the second half of it) and I think that should come in handy too. It was also mandatory for us to take 2 years of cell biology (currently taking my second one), psychobiology, and immunology & virology.

My program is more "pre-med" than anything bah. Not complaining though, if I wasn't in this program, I wouldn't have been able to take anatomy & physiology and have access to the cadaver lab.

 

[marycatherine]

How do vet schools feel about auditing courses?

My plan is to use them for experience hours rather than credit, simply because I can't afford them-- it's about $1000 per class, and I'm paying for all my pre-reqs out of pocket. Of course if I get into my application year and have time/money to spare, I'll definitely take them for credit, however I'd probably be accepted/rejected by that time.

I'll probably email adcoms when I get closer to taking the courses to see if there are any suggestions/requirements. But since they're not pre-reqs and I'm just taking them for fun, I don't see why I'd need the hours unless I was trying to up my GPA.