Any advice for someone just starting out?

[DoggieFanatic]

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Hi everyone! I just found these forums a few minutes ago, and after reading a few of your posts knew instantly I should register🙂

I was hoping to get some advice on what type of Bachelors degree I should pursue before applying to Vet School. I'm in the military right now, but am planning on plugging away at a Bachelors degree starting online, then doing the sit down classwork in a year or so when I settle in to my new station at a more permanent residence. After my 6 year term here, I will hopefully have my Bachelors and will start applying to Vet schools...yay!

I was thinking of a Bachelors in Biochemistry. Does that sound good? Does anyone else mind posting what you have so I can get a better idea of what I should be aiming for?

Thanks for your patience with the newbie, and any replies that may come are greatly appreciated!

 

[PrimalMU]

If I were you I'd take some classes before deciding on your major. Majoring in science will be a major plus, especially biology since it is pretty darn relevant to medicine. However, as someone getting ready to start college I wouldn't recommend picking a major, especially something like biochemistry, without taking any related classes. Or at the very least, don't be surprised if you change your major and end up with a degree in something else (I changed my major 7 times before settling down with biology).

 

[nyanko]

I agree with PrimalMU - get your feet wet with some classes that could be counted as gen eds and see what you enjoy. It doesn't actually matter what your undergraduate degree is in, as long as you take the prerequisite courses and do well in them. If you really enjoy science, major in it for sure - it will definitely help you do well once you get to vet school. But if there's some other field you really like, it wouldn't be terrible to go for that instead - you'll be getting a whole lot of science for the rest of your life. 😉

 

[DoggieFanatic]

Thanks for the speedy replies! I'll definitely follow your advice on not picking a major quite yet, especially since I really have no idea what's going to catch my interest when I get started.
One more question if you don't mind : When should I start being picky about which school I'm getting my degree from? As of now I'm just planning on doing a few general ed courses from Columbia College Online, then I will start applying to more reputable in-class colleges once I get to my more permanent station. Basically I'm just wondering if it's ok to get some of the earlier courses done online (english, history, possibly biology.)
Thanks again for all your help!

 

[LaurenKittie]

If it's just an introductory bio class that should be okay. Most vet schools require a certain number of labs though, so be careful!
And yeah, I changed my mind many many times when it came to my major. I always liked science, but then I took some gen eds and thought I liked religion and history and everything else under the sun. 😛
My other bit of advice, is that once you get settled in somewhere, volunteer/shadow with a vet to make sure this is what you really want! I wish I had done that earlier so I'd have more experience, but oh well ^_^
Welcome to the forum 😀

 

[DoggieFanatic]

If it's just an introductory bio class that should be okay. Most vet schools require a certain number of labs though, so be careful!
And yeah, I changed my mind many many times when it came to my major. I always liked science, but then I took some gen eds and thought I liked religion and history and everything else under the sun. 😛
My other bit of advice, is that once you get settled in somewhere, volunteer/shadow with a vet to make sure this is what you really want! I wish I had done that earlier so I'd have more experience, but oh well ^_^
Welcome to the forum 😀

Thanks! I'll heed your advice then, and just stick to beginner english and math courses for the time being until I find a more permanent residence. In the mean time, I've put in an application to start volunteering at a Marine Animal Rescue. Hopefully I can work with the vets there and start gaining some experience😳

 

[DVMorBust]

I think most schools want the introductory bio "series" (usually two semesters or the school's equivalent, with lab), so that might be difficult to take online.

As far as majoring - don't worry so much about what you major in. And don't major in something just to have it look good! I got a degree in Linguistics, and it was pointed out a strength by a couple schools to have a bit of that non-science background coming into applications. Being a vet isn't all science, it's a lot of communication and a lot of humanities courses can help with that aspect of it.

Of course, you do need a solid basis in science to be competitive, but that shouldn't be prohibitive to majoring in something not traditionally thought of as related. Heck, my roommate did graphic design and she's rocking the anatomy because of her art background. It all depends on what you want to study and, most importantly, what you take out of it.

Besides, when are you going to have the chance later in life to study some of the things you're exposed to in Undergrad?

If you couldn't tell, I'm a big supporter of picking a major based on interest. If you find you're really interested in Biochem, go for it! But don't for a second think that a non-science major would be a drawback in and of itself.

 

[LaurenKittie]

Thanks! I'll heed your advice then, and just stick to beginner english and math courses for the time being until I find a more permanent residence. In the mean time, I've put in an application to start volunteering at a Marine Animal Rescue. Hopefully I can work with the vets there and start gaining some experience😳

That sounds REALLY cool. Have fun! 😀 I'm mad jealous, no opportunities to do marine animal rescue in the midwest 😉

 

[Trilt]

If it's just an introductory bio class that should be okay. Most vet schools require a certain number of labs though, so be careful!
And yeah, I changed my mind many many times when it came to my major. I always liked science, but then I took some gen eds and thought I liked religion and history and everything else under the sun. 😛
My other bit of advice, is that once you get settled in somewhere, volunteer/shadow with a vet to make sure this is what you really want! I wish I had done that earlier so I'd have more experience, but oh well ^_^
Welcome to the forum 😀

Haha, I do like just about everything under the sun! Exception: organic chemistry. (I'm a zoology/philosophy double major...)

I definitely agree with the other people- take a few gen eds, dabble in sciences if you find favorable classes. I know that some unis actually offer distance education laboratory classes (which I find odd, but I'm sure could work.)

Also agreeing with others - don't major in something just to look good. A friend of mine started as a biochem major here just because it would 'look good' on a med school application, and it really did a number on her for the two semesters. She's now Arts Applications with a minor in bio. Go figure.

 

[DoggieFanatic]

Thanks for all the continued advice, everyone🙂

One more thing I'm kind of confused about is how the experience hours work. I figure this is probably one of the top priorities for me to work on right now, since I don't have a wealth of schooling available to me at the moment. My questions are:
-What is clinical experience, exactly? Would you have to actually be working with a veterinarian assisting with procedures, or can it be simple things like bathing animals at shelters or giving medication?
-What is the deciding factor on what is "Veterinary" experience and what is just plain "Animal experience?" If I'm assisting cleaning up animals who were harmed in oil spills at the Marine Rescue (washing them, etc..) which category would that fall under?
-(Last question, don't worry,) How do you get research experience? Is it just labs in college classes or is there some other way to get this sort of experience?

Again, thanks everyone for your patience with my never-ending questions! I've been researching on this website for a few hours each day, but there are a few things I just can't seem to find on my own😕

 

[Angelo84]

-What is clinical experience, exactly? Would you have to actually be working with a veterinarian assisting with procedures, or can it be simple things like bathing animals at shelters or giving medication?

Clinical experience is generally defined as under the supervision of a vet. So working in a clinic/hospital, at a shelter if working with the vet. The vet hours also include research under a PhD for the application. Just washing dogs at a shelter or helping out with a local dog wash would count as animal expereince.
-What is the deciding factor on what i "Veterinary" experience and what is just plain "Animal experience?" If I'm assisting cleaning up animals who were harmed in oil spills at the Marine Rescue (washing them, etc..) which category would that fall under?

Assuming your work was under a vet it would be veterinary experience.

-(Last question, don't worry,) How do you get research experience? Is it just labs in college classes or is there some other way to get this sort of experience?

I worked with a professor for an honors thesis, and did some field work for a few weeks with another professor.

 

[nyanko]

I feel like once you get out and actually start working in the field you will get a good idea for what is vet vs animal experience. If a position is more like "kennel" type work, even if it's at a vet clinic, I'd probably put it under animal experience. Maybe if you did kennel and then shadowed or maybe helped restrain or whatever a couple hours a week, you could split the experience and put the shadowing hours under vet exp. I really don't feel like working a kennel position alone gives you a good feel for the clinical aspects of veterinary practice.

Research experience is nothing like undergraduate lab courses. Real research experience requires problem solving skills, a passion for a field and the ability to motivate yourself to make discoveries about the world. The lab courses merely teach you some techniques you could use to do this. People usually get this experience starting in undergrad. Maybe there's a lecture in a class that really sparks interest, or there's a journal article they just can't put down, or a professor really takes a liking to them and thinks they would make a good researcher. A lot of people start out in research as undergrads assisting graduate students with their research, and if they show potential will often be handed their own smaller projects to work on independently. Research is the foundation of science and I happen to be enamored with it, so if you have any other questions once you actually begin science courses and find an interest, let me know! It can be frustrating and tedious at times, but when things go well, it makes all that worth it. And even when they don't, you learn something. 😀