B.S.Pre-veterinary major vs B.S. Animal Science major

[Spintix]

I'm having a hard time choosing one or the other. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of each? Aren't they almost identical?

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[twelvetigers]

That's odd, pre-vet was an option at my school that would be 'tagged on' to a major... I'm a Zoology pre-vet major. How could 'pre-vet' be a B.S. degree?

 

[sumstorm]

No idea. If a school has those, you would have to compare the classes/requirements. We had neither at our school, though we have a very strong pre-med program.

 

[bmichs75DVM]

Pre-Vet isn't really a major, its more a set of requirements but some schools have it as a major. I would personally go the animal science route because it is an actual major and gives you something to fall back on.

 

[bunnity]

Not that this really helps your decision, but your actual major isn't that important as far as getting into vet school - getting your pre-req's done, and doing well in them, is what matters. Especially between those two majors I can't imagine one or the other would give you a better shot. Major in the one that is more interesting to you, or even the one with the better advisor (if you can figure that out from other students).

If you want to base it solely off of getting into vet school, what I would probably do is get some idea of the schools you want to apply to, and look at the pre-req's they require. For example, some schools might want animal nutrition, some might want micro, some might want public speaking. Then you can look at which major fits better with the pre-req's for the school you want. Another thing to consider is, down the line, worst case scenario, if vet school doesn't pan out, which is going to give you a better back up plan?

 

[fierymicky]

I would look at the list of class requirements for each major, and go with the one that you think would benefit you the most.

Another thought: how similar are the majors? If there is only one or two classes that are different between the two, how feasible would it be to double major, and do both?

 

[sumstorm]

I would look at the list of class requirements for each major, and go with the one that you think would benefit you the most.

Another thought: how similar are the majors? If there is only one or two classes that are different between the two, how feasible would it be to double major, and do both?

Check with the school about double majoring. Some schools don't allow it if the class requirements are too similar. My alma mater doesn't allow double majors if they share more than 2 classes in the required classes, and you can't overlap courses (ie if you are required to take upper level classes but there is a list of what is acceptable vs a specific class, you can't take one and count it for both majors, even if it is available for both majors.)

Summer

 

[TSUJC]

What happens if you don't end up going to vet school? If I was an employer and you applied for a job with a pre-vet degree I would be very suspicious as to why you didn't go to vet school?

At my school pre-vet was a declared major but I chose Animal Science "just in case". As far a pre-reqs go, if Animal Science doesn't require X class but it is a requirement for a particular vet school...just take it as an elective.

 

[chagheill]

"Pre-vet" is not a major - I have never in my life heard of anyone with a BSc (pre-vet). Pre-vet is most often used to describe the course stream of the first 20 classes taken during freshman and sophomore year to ensure all pre-requisites for vet school are met (nb: at some schools it includes the junior year as well, if biochem or other upper level classes are required).

The way I've had it explained to me by a counsellor at the university is that the pre-vet stream exists mainly to ensure that students who do not get into vet school still have feasible major paths that will allow them to graduate within four years of enrolling.

For example, most pre-vet programs have you doing more coursework than is actually required for vet schools. The pre-vet stream at my undergrad university, for example, has two semesters of calculus and two of physics - the vet school here only requires one semester of each. But, both the biology major and chemistry major here requires two semesters of both calculus and physics, so if you don't get into vet school, you don't find yourself missing a requisite class for graduation later on down the road.

 

[TSUJC]

"Pre-vet" is not a major - I have never in my life heard of anyone with a BSc (pre-vet)

While the majority of schools have a pre-veterinary emphasis there are some schools that do in fact have a B.S. in pre-veterinary medicine.

Off the top of my head I know that UMass Amherst has a B.S. in pre-veterinary medicine.

 

[chris03333]

"Pre-vet" is not a major - I have never in my life heard of anyone with a BSc (pre-vet). Pre-vet is most often used to describe the course stream of the first 20 classes taken during freshman and sophomore year to ensure all pre-requisites for vet school are met (nb: at some schools it includes the junior year as well, if biochem or other upper level classes are required).

The way I've had it explained to me by a counsellor at the university is that the pre-vet stream exists mainly to ensure that students who do not get into vet school still have feasible major paths that will allow them to graduate within four years of enrolling.

For example, most pre-vet programs have you doing more coursework than is actually required for vet schools. The pre-vet stream at my undergrad university, for example, has two semesters of calculus and two of physics - the vet school here only requires one semester of each. But, both the biology major and chemistry major here requires two semesters of both calculus and physics, so if you don't get into vet school, you don't find yourself missing a requisite class for graduation later on down the road.

My undergrad degree reads:

Bachelor of Science
Animal Science/Pre-Veterinary Sciences

(Cal Poly Pomona C/O 2002- I know they have changed the AVS degrees somewhat since then)

 

[chris03333]

While the majority of schools have a pre-veterinary emphasis there are some schools that do in fact have a B.S. in pre-veterinary medicine.

Off the top of my head I know that UMass Amherst has a B.S. in pre-veterinary medicine.

The word "medicine" rarely shows up in a bachelors degree in the US. It would be Pre-Veterinary or Pre-Veterinary Science. It looks like UMass Amherst is the former.

 

[chagheill]

That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Why would they not just make it an AnSci or bio major? For the life of me I can't think of anything unique about "pre-vet" that would differentiate it from either.

Is it actually a 4 year degree or is it a 2 year diploma?

 

[fierymicky]

I have a BS in Pre-Veterinary Medicine and Biology (my school let me double major because they were so similar). My school also recently developed an animal science major, so that is now an option there too.

 

[DVMorBust]

What do the existing pre-veterinary majors require that aren't also prereqs for vet school?

 

[fierymicky]

The courses required for my pre-vet major that were not requirements for my bio major include:

Physics I and II
O. Chem I and II
Biochem

So, the pre-vet major was acutally a closer fit for the requirements for vet school, and I picked up a bio major along the way because all I had to do to get it was take Botany.

There was also quite a few "animal science" type courses that pre-vets were encourage to take (i.e. Animal Handling, Animal Nutrition, Reproduction, Small Animal Med, Large Animal Med, Livestock Diseases...) Some of these would count as part of the 30 required hours of upper level courses (300/400 level).

 

[Pistol Pete]

Most Pre-Veterinary programs I've seen are programs front loaded with all requirements to get in vet school after 3 years and allows successful candidates to receive a BS degree in Animal Science after 2 semesters of CVM.

PP

 

[bunnity]

The courses required for my pre-vet major that were not requirements for my bio major include:

Physics I and II
O. Chem I and II
Biochem

Bio didn't require physics / ochem / biochem?!

 

[fierymicky]

It might have required Physics I, I can't remember. But it did not require o. chem or biochem. It was primarily bio classes: bio I, botany, zoo I and II, anatomy I and II, micro, chem I and II, cell bio, and biology related electives (i.e. you got to pick 2 classes out of a set of 6 to count toward your major, and then 3 classes out of another set).

 

[rugbychick16]

A girl in my class from University of Findlay (ohio) has her degree in Pre-Veterinary Medicine, apparently the school is quite well known for having a very good track record of students with this major getting into vet school their first try. She described it as sort of a combination of a biology-zoology/animal science degree, with all the science pre-reqs required by most vet schools plus classes like fundamentals of animal disease, animal reproduction, nutrition, dairy science, equine science, etc.
I had never heard of it being a degree before either, so it was news to me! Although most of the classes sound similar to animal science ones I took in undergrad

 

[fierymicky]

A girl in my class from University of Findlay (ohio) has her degree in Pre-Veterinary Medicine, apparently the school is quite well known for having a very good track record of students with this major getting into vet school their first try. She described it as sort of a combination of a biology-zoology/animal science degree, with all the science pre-reqs required by most vet schools plus classes like fundamentals of animal disease, animal reproduction, nutrition, dairy science, equine science, etc.
I had never heard of it being a degree before either, so it was news to me! Although most of the classes sound similar to animal science ones I took in undergrad

I went to the University of Findlay too!!!!!! What a coincidence. lol

But, yea, that's exactly what I was talking about.

 

[fierymicky]

http://www.findlay.edu/academics/colleges/cosc/academicprograms/undergraduate/PVET/default.htm

This the website for the University of Findlay pre-veterinary medicine program, if anyone wanted more info about that.

 

[chris03333]

http://www.findlay.edu/academics/colleges/cosc/academicprograms/undergraduate/PVET/default.htm

This the website for the University of Findlay pre-veterinary medicine program, if anyone wanted more info about that.

Sounds like a good program.

 

[chris03333]

That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Why would they not just make it an AnSci or bio major? For the life of me I can't think of anything unique about "pre-vet" that would differentiate it from either.

Is it actually a 4 year degree or is it a 2 year diploma?

I know for Cal Poly when I graduated there were multiple Animal Science Degrees, so the second part distinguished which type of degree you had. Back then Animal Health Technology (also 4 year), Ag education, and a couple of others were the second title on the Bachelor's degree other than Pre-Veterinary Sciences. The other degrees had the same animal science requirements, but did not include most of the vet school prereqs. My degree required both the AVS classes and the vet school prereqs.

 

[Lckynmbrslefman]

I am currently Preveterinary at UMASS and the only difference between prevet and ansci is that the prevet majors have to take physics 1 and 2, microbiology, micro lab, immunology and organic chemistry lab. The animal science majors do take an "easier" organic class called 250 rather than the majors' 261, and take animal diseases rather than immunology. As stated previously the prevet major is basically just selected by people who are sure they want to go to vet school and the tracking helps them to cover all of the possible requirements that anyone could ever need (except public speaking!). I don't think it makes much of a difference when applying for vet school...a lot of my friends chose to be animal science over prevet just because they thought it sounded better as a bachelor's degree😛

At our school you can also only change your major to prevet once you have completed two years as an animal science major with good academic standing. Technically prevet majors are animal science majors too, since we finish all of the animal science requirements. The great thing about being just animal science however, is that it allows you to take more management related electives like Small Ruminant Management, Camelid Management, etc etc. You can do it with prevet but you always end up with a credit overload.

 

[Backwoods Boy]

That's odd, pre-vet was an option at my school that would be 'tagged on' to a major... I'm a Zoology pre-vet major. How could 'pre-vet' be a B.S. degree?

Exact same here. Zoology pre-vet.

At my school one can be labeled a pre-professional for two years before the are required to choose a major. I don't whether this also applies to pre-med or not but anyway.