Changing majors... behind

[ylrebmik]

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I wanted to be a veterinarian for many years, but my parents didn't think it was an acceptable career path because they felt vets made little money and too much schooling. I decided to try it their way, and I am a sophomore undergraduate studying business now.

But my heart is still in the desire to help animals. The only college-level science classes I have taken is biology w/ lab and astronomy.

Is it too late to go back to vet sciences, getting all the experience and courses, etc.?

Do you have any advice?

 

[DVMDream]

I wanted to be a veterinarian for many years, but my parents didn't think it was an acceptable career path because they felt vets made little money and too much schooling. I decided to try it their way, and I am a sophomore undergraduate studying business now.

But my heart is still in the desire to help animals. The only college-level science classes I have taken is biology w/ lab and astronomy.

Is it too late to go back to vet sciences, getting all the experience and courses, etc.?

Do you have any advice?

Unless you have a goal set for yourself to be working in the one career that is 100% right for YOU by the time you are 27; there is no time that is too late to go back and start getting experiences and taking classes. You are only a sophmore in college you have plenty of time. Look into the classes you will need to take (it might take you 2 more years to get them all) and you do not even have to change your major if you don't want to. You can still get a business degree and just take all the pre-reqs for vet school (this also shows diversity to the adcoms when you do apply). I do recommend that you get some experience with a veterinarian. Explore as many options as you can: small animal, large animal, food animal, research, etc. Be sure you get experience with veterinarians before you start getting all of the classes because you want to be sure that you absolutely want to be a vet and have seen exactly what a vet does. Good Luck! Stick around and ask questions...everyone is really friendly here.

 

[New Foundland]

I started out in a business program, decided that i hated it too much during my third term. It took a while, but I went on to spend a full four more years to obtain a B.Sc. (hons) and don't regret it one bit..
Now I couldn't be happier with the path I'm on (despite the possibility that I won't get into vet school for another two-three years)

You don't even need a degree to apply to a dvm program, so of course it's not too late..
You could be applying strongly in two years I'd bet.

I don't know how competitive your american in-state situation is.. But there's probably no need to get anxious just because you don't have 2500 hours of SA assistant experience..
A couple years of good grades and efficient commitment to obtaining a diverse range of vet experience, and you'll be applying alongside the best of them i'm sure.

It's never too late to choose to do what you want in life. 👍

 

[hunterjumper12]

No, it's not too late.

I started my 1st year of college as a nursing major. After the first semester, I decided that I wanted to pursue the pre-med path and switched my major to biology. After the 1st semester of my 2nd year, I decided that I wanted to purse vet med and began shadowing vets. Also, I will be graduating this May (2011) after only 3 years of college, so technically my 1st year was my sophomore year. I am applying this cycle, and have the majority of my courses out of the way (have 3 required prereqs left: taking 1 this semester and 2 in the spring semester). It is possible to get all of your veterinary prereqs out of the way and graduate on time (provided you don't get set back by not passing a class, etc.). However, you will probably have to take a full schedule and/or summer classes in order to make it happen. My advice would be to go ahead and start getting veterinary experience NOW. Good luck!