Can some please help me?

[rawrcakes]

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okay, so i am a junior in hs. I wanted to go to vet school.
the local university has a pre-vet transfer programs.
you take stuff like chemistry, biology, maths, more chemistry, more biology for freshman and sophomore year then you transfer to a big university.
the big university has:
undergraduate
graduate
vet medicine school.
the stuff i do at the first university meets the requirements of the vet medicine school, so is the undergraduate and graduate the same thing as what i would take at the small university?
that sounded really confusing 😕

also, if i start studying hard now, would it make it easier? I am not that good in biology. I passed, but never studied, so that might be why it confuses me. Also chemistry is easy for me, so maybe i can pass that.
thanks if you actually understand and can help 🙂

 

[rawrcakes]

also, do they really operate on live animals then kill them after?
somewhere i read that, i emailed the university and they haven't responded(i doubt they will)

also, do they teach about killing animals(proper word- euthanasia) If so do most schools make you take that?
hopefully someone will answer eventually 🙂

 

[evenstar7139]

I can tell you about the studying part:

I definitely, definitely recommend studying up on complex subjects like biology and anatomy. I took Biology in college and I got a 96% when other students, who worked hard, were getting C's! Why did I do so well? I'd been studying for the class before I even took it. I had a biology textbook and I read a good 3/4ths of it. I also read out of Genetics for Dummies and a chapter in a Human Anatomy book on cells. I got as much as I could out of these resources before class started. It was INVALUABLE. I had the main concepts down. I could relax during the lectures and soak in the details: and learning the details is what earned me an A!

I've been studying Anatomy since 2002. It is a COMPLEX subject. It is SO MUCH material to be given one mere semester to learn. START NOW.

Biology and anatomy are going to be corner stones of our career, so I think it behoove's us to know them well.

 

[sumstorm]

OK, is the local university a 4 yr? If so, you could take some or all your pre-reqs there, assuming they offer all of them. In my opinion, the most important thing to do in attending undergrad is find a school that you can thrive at. If you are a first generation college student, you may want to look at schools that have programs for first gens. As long as you take he necessary pre-reqs at an accredited college and get good grades, it won't matter whether it is big or not. The exception MAY be community colleges, which some vet schools aren't as fond of.

As for undergrad vs grad; bachelor's degrees are obtained in undergrad. Masters/PhD's and some other doctorates are obtained in grad school. DVM/MD/JD are obtained in professional school, which is a type of grad school. So it doesn't matter whether your undergrad (where you will go after HS) has a grad school or not.

Learning and retaining basic info now, and throughout college, especially in the science, will make future classes easier, and probably help your GPA. developing good study habits and skills will help you as well. Don't forget, to enter into vet med, you will also have to get vet experience to gain admissions to vet school.

some schools do terminal surgeries (that is the term for what you are referring to), some don't. Most surgeries that students perform aren't terminal; ie spay/neuter for local shelter. Emailing now may not get a quick response as schools are evaluating applicants for the class of 2014, but every school I have talked to will answer this question if asked. At some schools, terminal surgeries are optional and/or restricted to electives (classes you don't have to take.) Some terminal surgeries may be performed on animals that some individuals don't find as 'challenging' like rats/pigs/etc.

I assume that every school educates students about humane euthanasia. If you object to humane euthanasia, you may want to reconsider this field.

Good luck!

 

[rawrcakes]

thanks so much for the replies.
the small local university is a 2 year and i think you are supposed to transfer to the 4 year vet medicine school.
i did not want to be a vet, just mainly know everything there is about animals, so that i can help more in a shelter i want to own 😀
so i guess vet school would be stupid, but i just wanted to know stuff. I might do pre-vet then apply for vet school maybe 2 times, then change majors.
🙂 I am not too sure yet, as you can probably tell

 

[evenstar7139]

You COULD get a degree as a veterinary technologist (like a vet tech but it's a 4-year rather than 2-year program) but the salaries for a vet technician/technologist are pretty bad. You could probably make more running a cash register. But people do it so I guess it's worth it to them. They probably have a husband or family members that help support them. With just a vet technician/technologist job, I think it would be very hard to live by yourself and pay all the bills.

 

[sumstorm]

thanks so much for the replies.
the small local university is a 2 year and i think you are supposed to transfer to the 4 year vet medicine school.
i did not want to be a vet, just mainly know everything there is about animals, so that i can help more in a shelter i want to own 😀
so i guess vet school would be stupid, but i just wanted to know stuff. I might do pre-vet then apply for vet school maybe 2 times, then change majors.
🙂 I am not too sure yet, as you can probably tell

Ummm....I would STRONGLY suggest rethinking that plan. don't apply to vet school unless you need the DVM to do the wok you desire. It i highly competitive, very difficult, and EXPENSIVE! Even once you have the degree, you have to maintain active licencing, insurance, etc. Not worth it if your goal is to operate a shelter. Also, in MOST places, pre-vet isn't a degree; and even if it is, my recommendation is to obtain a degree that is practical for other careers if you do not get into vet med school.

 

[twelvetigers]

.....my suggestion would be to take things one step at a time. Don't worry about the details just yet, just choose a university when it comes time and start taking the required courses.

Evenstar, be careful about giving lots of advice - you just joined. 🙂

Vet techs certainly make more than someone working a cash register, at any rate.

 

[sumstorm]

You COULD get a degree as a veterinary technologist (like a vet tech but it's a 4-year rather than 2-year program) but the salaries for a vet technician/technologist are pretty bad. You could probably make more running a cash register. But people do it so I guess it's worth it to them. They probably have a husband or family members that help support them. With just a vet technician/technologist job, I think it would be very hard to live by yourself and pay all the bills.

I know vet techs who make more than I did as a curator at a zoo, and I managed quite well. It depeds on the tech, the location, thier skill set, negotiation ability, etc.....much like vets.

 

[rileyroo]

Evenstar, be careful about giving lots of advice - you just joined. 🙂

Vet techs certainly make more than someone working a cash register, at any rate.

agreed. and agreed. i made really good money as a vet tech at an emergency/specialty clinic.

 

[evenstar7139]

Alright, I'll leave it to the experts 😀 Now don't let me down! 😉

 

[BlacKAT33]

I can tell you about the studying part:

I definitely, definitely recommend studying up on complex subjects like biology and anatomy. I took Biology in college and I got a 96% when other students, who worked hard, were getting C's! Why did I do so well? I'd been studying for the class before I even took it. I had a biology textbook and I read a good 3/4ths of it. I also read out of Genetics for Dummies and a chapter in a Human Anatomy book on cells. I got as much as I could out of these resources before class started. It was INVALUABLE. I had the main concepts down. I could relax during the lectures and soak in the details: and learning the details is what earned me an A!

I've been studying Anatomy since 2002. It is a COMPLEX subject. It is SO MUCH material to be given one mere semester to learn. START NOW.

Biology and anatomy are going to be corner stones of our career, so I think it behoove's us to know them well.

what?? omg. i dont know whether to be scared or laugh.
OP- please dont let this freak you out. I have never studied for a class before the class started and you can easily get As if you stay on top of the work and dont party too much 😀. No, i'm not a genius. But you seriously dont need to study undergrad courses before you take the class. Besides-who has time to do this?? assuming ull be working during the summer or taking summer classes or doing research/lab work. The summer is super short, and so is winter break! so i dont know how you'd fit studying for biology and anatomy courses before they start. Especially with anatomy...unless you keep refreshing yourself on all of the bones, muscles, veins etc etc you will forget them!! just focus on keeping up with the subjects during your semester and dont fall behind.

Also, a lot of your biology courses will overlap. And the basic anatomy that you learn will be NOTHING compared to upper level anatomy. You should automatically be building up your sci knowledge as you go through your four years, so don't worry about it.

 

[Coquette22]

OP- please dont let this freak you out. I have never studied for a class before the class started and you can easily get As if you stay on top of the work and dont party too much 😀.

Same here! I've been a straight A student in all my biology courses (basic biology, genetics/molecular bio, microbio) and I certainly didn't study over the summer for it. There is a lot of overlap; things that come up in first year biology will inevitably come up in other areas (like DNA replication; I can't tell you how many times I've learned it!). Just stay on top of the work, get help when you need it, do the suggested readings and go to lectures.

To the OP: Do figure out why you're struggling right now. The things you learn in high school bio are the building blocks for university bio, so if you're confused now, you certainly might struggle with university level biology.