Any suggestions to me (current Pre-Veterinary students and veterinary students)?

[Laurren]

I start college in January. However, I am thinking that I should transfer to a different college, a college more well-known (I live in Georgia), such as Berry or UGA.
So far, I have 1,500 hours of volunteer work in a veterinary clinic (not sure if this counts, but 350 with livestock, 5,500 hours with a groomer, dog kennel, through training classes, dog shows, aswell as 150 with a fish hatchery). I'm sure I will have to go back and accumulate more hours, however, I do have a few years left, being as I'm just a freshman.
I had a few questions:

What can I do to make myself a more qualified applicant (aside from the good grades and GRE, of course)?

What is an ideal amount of hours for veterinary experience and is there anything "unique" I could be doing to make myself stand out?

Should I take the GRE after I complete my standard English, math, etc. classes (I'm required general education, I can't just go straight to Pre-Veterinary with the school I'm at) so I have plenty of time to go back and re-take? I plan on taking classes in the summer to finish with school earlier, as well.

Is there any advice that can be offered?

Thanks!

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[Lissarae06]

I start college in January. However, I am thinking that I should transfer to a different college, a college more well-known (I live in Georgia), such as Berry or UGA.
So far, I have 1,500 hours of volunteer work in a veterinary clinic (not sure if this counts, but 350 with livestock, 5,500 hours with a groomer, dog kennel, and through training classes, and dog shows, aswell as 150 with a fish hatchery). I'm sure I will have to go back and accumulate more hours, however, I do have a few years left, being as I'm just a freshman.
I had a few questions:

What can I do to make myself a more qualified applicant (aside from the good grades and GRE, of course)?

What is an ideal amount of hours for veterinary experience and is there anything "unique" I could be doing to make myself stand out?

Should I take the GRE after I complete my standard English, math, etc. classes (I'm required general education, I can't just go straight to Pre-Veterinary with the school I'm at) so I have plenty of time to go back and re-take? I plan on taking classes in the summer to finish with school earlier, as well.

Is there any advice that can be offered?

Thanks!

It sounds like you are on the right track with your veterinary experience. Is all of that at a clinic/with an actual vet? or is some of it more animal experience?

Don't worry about how well known your school is. That is something most schools don't really take into consideration. Just focus on making good grades and continuing to get good vet experiences. I don't think I took the GRE until I was a junior or senior in college so you have plenty of time before you need to start worrying about that.

 

[DVMDream]

It sounds like you are on the right track with your veterinary experience. Is all of that at a clinic/with an actual vet? or is some of it more animal experience?

Don't worry about how well known your school is. That is something most schools don't really take into consideration. Just focus on making good grades and continuing to get good vet experiences. I don't think I took the GRE until I was a junior or senior in college so you have plenty of time before you need to start worrying about that.

to this... And enjoy undergrad too, you only get to do it once. Enjoy it while you can... Not to the detriment of your grades, but have fun! Try not to get too worked up in making sure your application is "perfect". Work hard, study hard, gain experience but also do something that isn't science/vet related... take up a piano class, photography anything. The adcoms like to see those types of things as well. Enjoy it, because it is a quick four years and then you never get the opportunity again.

 

[sumstorm]

Figure out how you learn and study best. Find healthy ways to relieve stress. Get experience in areas of vet med that aren't as common (wildlife, exotics, research, shelter, public health, food animal, equine). Get experience with a variety of vets, different vets do things differently. Consider fun courses as well as courses in leadership, consensus building, and communication. If you have opportunities to evaluate yourself (career center, filmed interview practice, Meyers Briggs, etc) use them even if the results don't matter to you because you never know when something will pop up. Take an indepemdent study/honors/etc on something you are passionate about.

 

[Laurren]

Well actually, I am involved in a number of things outside of animals, concert band, piano, bass, and guitar, to name a few, and I planned on continuing those in college, aswell. They take those into consideration?

I'm getting A LOT more sensitive about veterinary school than I was a few months ago. Mainly because of my experience with undergraduate admissions. I just KNEW I was going to get into a school, however, I wasn't accepted, rejected, or waitlisted, they just wanted me to re-take my ACT (however, I didn't, because after two tries before applying, I lost hope :/ ), so that "knocked" me down a few notches.

Yes, my experience was in a clinic and it was 100% volunteer.

What is an ideal amount of clinic hours to have?

I live in Georgia so I was hoping to attend UGA, and I was also hoping that since we have the zoo, aquarium, wild life parks, etc. that I might be able to find some internships during the summer, but I haven't looked into it yet.

 

[futurehealervet]

It already sounds like you have more experience than most people have when they apply. If the vet clinic was SA, I'd try diversifying the experience a bit, get some LA for sure and try something a little less common like exotics or aquatics. I would say your interest in music helps A LOT . Most people who apply have solid grades and GRE scores. You need to make yourself stand out and look interesting. Show that you have a wide variety of interests and are trying to get the most out of college. Good luck!

 

[Jamr0ckin]

Hi Lauren. I graduated from Berry College!

If you can get accepted there, I would highly recommend it. They now have 3 DVMs on staff and a wonderful animal science department!

The advisors are well versed in vet school admissions, and UGA CVM knows Berry and respects the caliber of student coming from there.

Standardized tests are not easy. I took the ACT 4 times and the SAT 3 times in attempts to raise my score, so I feel your pain. Its best to take the GRE after you've taken a year or two of college and a practice exam or two.

If you want to talk some more, feel free to PM me.

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[PetPony]

I'm an undergrad at UGA and work and shadow at the teaching hospital, so feel free to PM me if you have any questions about UGA.

 

[Jamr0ckin]

I'm an undergrad at UGA and work and shadow at the teaching hospital, so feel free to PM me if you have any questions about UGA.

You've got 2 really great resources in PetPony and myself!

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[Museum Nerd]

I start college in January. However, I am thinking that I should transfer to a different college, a college more well-known (I live in Georgia), such as Berry or UGA.
So far, I have 1,500 hours of volunteer work in a veterinary clinic (not sure if this counts, but 350 with livestock, 5,500 hours with a groomer, dog kennel, and through training classes, and dog shows, aswell as 150 with a fish hatchery). I'm sure I will have to go back and accumulate more hours, however, I do have a few years left, being as I'm just a freshman.
I had a few questions:

What can I do to make myself a more qualified applicant (aside from the good grades and GRE, of course)?

What is an ideal amount of hours for veterinary experience and is there anything "unique" I could be doing to make myself stand out?

Should I take the GRE after I complete my standard English, math, etc. classes (I'm required general education, I can't just go straight to Pre-Veterinary with the school I'm at) so I have plenty of time to go back and re-take? I plan on taking classes in the summer to finish with school earlier, as well.

Is there any advice that can be offered?

Thanks!

I wouldnt worry about changing schools as long as you can get all of the pre req at your current school or if you can't make sure that you have a plan to get all of them. You might be able to take on-line through another university to fulfil them. Make sure that you look for pre req at ANY school you may be interested in. While there is a lot of cross over on most of the basic science courses some schools have uniques requirements.
Volunteer work counts as long as it is with a Vet. It does not have to be paid.
You dont need to worry about the GRE right now. It might even cost you more money because i dont know how long scools hold onto your scores and you might have to re submit closer to application time anyway.

 

[Laurren]

Thanks, everyone!

I was looking on UGA's CVM admissions requirements, just to figure out which classes to take, and it stated that six hours of English and eight hours of humanities/social studies is part of Pre-Veterinary.
Would that be English 101, English 201, Sociology, and General Psychology?