Anyone else switch from pre-vet to pre-med?

[petmedicine]

Hi all,

I am in somewhat of an uncommon situation, but I'm wondering if anyone here (be it a fellow pre-med, med student, doctor, etc) has switched from pre-vet to pre-med. I am planning on staying in my animal sciences degree since I graduate in three semesters and all of my pre-reqs for med school are the same. Afterwards, I'm taking a prep class and studying for several months then taking the mcat and a gap year. I'd like to work full time in research using animal models for human diseases and medicine during that year, but if my gpa is garbage, I'll probably do an SMP.
What I'm wondering is how medical schools will look at my experience in the veterinary field. I've been a vet tech in emergency and critical care for about 14 months now (roughly 600 hours, I haven't counted in a while). I have full responsibilities equating to that of a human RN. I get my own in-patients, triage, give medicine, draw blood, run blood tests, place IV catheters, help run codes, etc etc. Is it likely anyone on an admissions committee will consider this as clinical experience or will it be disregarded entirely because my patients are dogs and cats? Is there any amount of interviewing skills I can use to play up my valuable time spent in this field?

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[Catalystik]

1) I'm wondering if anyone here (be it a fellow pre-med, med student, doctor, etc) has switched from pre-vet to pre-med. I am planning on staying in my animal sciences degree since I graduate in three semesters and all of my pre-reqs for med school are the same. Afterwards, I'm taking a prep class and studying for several months then taking the mcat and a gap year. I'd like to work full time in research using animal models for human diseases and medicine during that year, but if my gpa is garbage, I'll probably do an SMP.

What I'm wondering is how medical schools will look at my experience in the veterinary field. I've been a vet tech in emergency and critical care for about 14 months now (roughly 600 hours, I haven't counted in a while). I have full responsibilities equating to that of a human RN. I get my own in-patients, triage, give medicine, draw blood, run blood tests, place IV catheters, help run codes, etc etc.
2) Is it likely anyone on an admissions committee will consider this as clinical experience or will it be disregarded entirely because my patients are dogs and cats?
3) Is there any amount of interviewing skills I can use to play up my valuable time spent in this field?

1) I went from pre-vet to pre-med, back in the day. Current field is pediatrics, which is as close as it gets when dealing with pre-language age groups.

Research using animal models is fine for a med school application.

2) Experience with animals will NOT be considered as active clinical experience of the sort adcomms are looking for. It is still valuable experience, but you need to have a job or volunteer position where you interact with humans. About 150 volunteer hours gained over 1.5 years is typical. You will also need to shadow human physicians while they interact with their patients. About 50 hours is the average listed and should include office-based primary care.

3) You'll have the opportunity to play up your skills, many of which will be transferable, on your written application, in both the Personal Statement and in the Activities section. But don't seem too animal-focused. And don't appear as if you have poor communication skills with humans.

@Doctor-S for additional thoughts.

 

[petmedicine]

1) I went from pre-vet to pre-med, back in the day. Current field is pediatrics, which is as close as it gets when dealing with pre-language age groups.

Research using animal models is fine for a med school application.

2) Experience with animals will NOT be considered as active clinical experience of the sort adcomms are looking for. It is still valuable experience, but you need to have a job or volunteer position where you interact with humans. About 150 volunteer hours gained over 1.5 years is typical. You will also need to shadow human physicians while they interact with their patients. About 50 hours is the average listed and should include office-based primary care.

3) You'll have the opportunity to play up your skills, many of which will be transferable, on your written application, in both the Personal Statement and in the Activities section. But don't seem too animal-focused. And don't appear as if you have poor communication skills with humans.

@Doctor-S for additional thoughts.

Thank you for your response! Do you know if admissions usually prefers volunteer hours over paid hours for human clinical experience? And would it be expected of my to have as many hours as other applicants to be competitive with my late in the game career goal change? I'm pretty limited by my rigorous course schedule and the requirement to work if I want money to live on. That's mainly the reason I didn't quit my job as a tech to shadow physicians this summer, as much as I would have liked to.

I'd like to think that I have decent communication skills. There are many trade-offs between human and veterinary medicine, and now that my heart has changed, there's no going back for me. I still love and respect the field and thoroughly enjoy my job as a vet tech, but it's not where I see myself in the future.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Do you know if admissions usually prefers volunteer hours over paid hours for human clinical experience?
2) And would it be expected of my to have as many hours as other applicants to be competitive with my late in the game career goal change? I'm pretty limited by my rigorous course schedule and the requirement to work if I want money to live on. That's mainly the reason I didn't quit my job as a tech to shadow physicians this summer, as much as I would have liked to.

I'd like to think that I have decent communication skills. There are many trade-offs between human and veterinary medicine, and now that my heart has changed, there's no going back for me. I still love and respect the field and thoroughly enjoy my job as a vet tech, but it's not where I see myself in the future.

1) It doesn't matter.

2) Yes. Keep your vet tech job and get your human experience through volunteer gigs. If you can't accumulate the usual and customary ECs by application time with a decent amount of longevity to show medicine isn't an impulsive decision, then put off applying for another year. You can shadow physicians for a few hours a week outside of your work hours. ER docs, for example, work all night long. Here is a cautionary tale of n SDNer who started as prevet , switched to premed, applied with an MCAT of 40 3-4 times and never got in. He said in post 7 (going into his second application cycle) "I'm not going to go through absurd steps like volunteering in the local ED for 4 hours a week as a water-fetcher/bench-sitter solely to impress adcoms.": Need some help coming up with a school list

Your goal isn't to apply as soon as possible, but to apply only once with the best possible application. Read these forums widely to learn about the system and the games you have to play to be successful.

 

[Blanky]

1) It doesn't matter.

2) Yes. Keep your vet tech job and get your human experience through volunteer gigs. If you can't accumulate the usual and customary ECs by application time with a decent amount of longevity to show medicine isn't an impulsive decision, then put off applying for another year. You can shadow physicians for a few hours a week outside of your work hours. ER docs, for example, work all night long. Here is a cautionary tale of n SDNer who started as prevet , switched to premed, applied with an MCAT of 40 3-4 times and never got in. He said in post 7 (going into his second application cycle) "I'm not going to go through absurd steps like volunteering in the local ED for 4 hours a week as a water-fetcher/bench-sitter solely to impress adcoms.": Need some help coming up with a school list

Your goal isn't to apply as soon as possible, but to apply only once with the best possible application. Read these forums widely to learn about the system and the games you have to play to be successful.

Lol what ever happened to him?

 

[Catalystik]

Lol what ever happened to him?

He last posted two years ago, just prior to applying to DO med schools for his 4th cycle, and was soliciting donations on his G0-Fund-Me page for application dollars.

 

[deleted103644]

Do you want to put your patients to sleep or sleep with them?

I suppose you can do both in either profession, but with different degrees of professional/legal difficulties.

 

[petmedicine]

1) It doesn't matter.

2) Yes. Keep your vet tech job and get your human experience through volunteer gigs. If you can't accumulate the usual and customary ECs by application time with a decent amount of longevity to show medicine isn't an impulsive decision, then put off applying for another year. You can shadow physicians for a few hours a week outside of your work hours. ER docs, for example, work all night long. Here is a cautionary tale of n SDNer who started as prevet , switched to premed, applied with an MCAT of 40 3-4 times and never got in. He said in post 7 (going into his second application cycle) "I'm not going to go through absurd steps like volunteering in the local ED for 4 hours a week as a water-fetcher/bench-sitter solely to impress adcoms.": Need some help coming up with a school list

Your goal isn't to apply as soon as possible, but to apply only once with the best possible application. Read these forums widely to learn about the system and the games you have to play to be successful.

Yeah, I definitely don't think that the "bottom of the totem pole" jobs are beneath me. When I was a baby pre-vet, I cleaned kennels for months before I got into my clinic. Literally just washing dog **** down the drain for hours. But I really like the fast paced environment of the ER. Maybe because it's the most medicine I've ever been exposed to, but I wouldn't mind trying shadowing an ER doc. I've been trying to get my foot in the door of a human medicine job for several months now, but my area is so crowded with pre-med students already. My GPA isn't the best right now, so I'm going to have very little freetime until I get that under control, but I'll definitely fit at least 200 hours in between now and graduation, even if I have to do it over my breaks.

It's good to see an actual physician that started out pre-vet. I may have to seek you out when I go to write my personal statement. I have so many words about why I changed that it's hard to express them coherently.

 

[Doctor-S]

Agree with all of the valuable comments provided by @Catalystik.

Your vet tech job is a "compensated" job (i.e., gainful employment). It has nothing to do with "human" medicine nor "human" clinical experience. You are paid a salary as a professional vet tech. Now you need to acquire (human) clinical experience and provide positive evidence demonstrating your passion to pursue a career in human medicine. You can discuss your vet tech clinical skills in your personal statement/activities section but definitely make sure to emphasize your strong commitment to human medicine.

It's okay to change your mind to pursue a human medical career instead of a veterinary medicine career. It's okay to earn a salary as a vet tech to support yourself. We get it.

One of my undergraduate classmates applied to veterinary medicine school three times and was rejected three times. Feeling discouraged, he seriously re-evaluated his life's goals. He was fascinated with "medicine." So, he decided to work in a human research lab for 2 years, shadowed some physicians, volunteered with several human-health-and-wellness groups, and volunteered in the emergency department of an academic medical center. He fell in love with human medicine and could not imagine himself being happy in any other career. Determined to become a physician (and having successfully completed all pre-requisites as a pre-vet med undergraduate), he scored well on the MCAT, and was 100% ready to apply to MD programs. Now, he is a physician and extremely contented in his professional career.

[TL/DR: it's okay to change your mind and pursue a professional pathway to become a physician instead of a veterinarian. Show evidence of passion and commitment to human medicine. Plan wisely.]