Currently in Chiropractic school, want to go to Vet school

[agent00dragon]

Hi everyone! I was searching around the forum and saw that there is some pretty good advice circulating around and just thought I'd take advantage of it.

I graduated with a degree in Biology and a minor in Chinese in May of 2010. So, as the title states, I am currently in my first year of chiropractic school. As a matter of fact, I will be completing my 3rd quarter here in the next 2 weeks. Ever since I was 5 years old, I have wanted to be a veterinarian. (I have proof in a book I wrote in kindergarten

) Somewhere along the way during my undergrad, I lost the confidence I needed to pursue my dream. I felt I was no where near as smart or motivated as the other premed/prevet students in my biology courses, and convinced myself that I wasn't cut out to be a vet. For the last two years of undergrad, I did the minimum just to get by and get my degree in hopes that when I graduated, I'd have time to figure out what I "really" wanted to do. Immediately following my graduation ceremony, my mother commenced the pressure of finding a job or finding a grad school to go to. My sister had always tried to convince me to go to chiropractic school ever since she graduated from it, and I had always vehemently refused because, although it's a great career, it wasn't something I was interested in doing for the rest of my life.

I applied to job after job, heard nothing from anything that would accept my BS degree. Bills were piling up, student loan people started hitting me up to pay them back for my undergrad, and I was desperate for money. So, I got a job in retail and worked there for 3 months with people pestering me, "You have a degree in biology? What are you doing here?" I was at an ultimate low point in my life, and was vulnerable to any sort of advice that was given to me. Thus, I applied to chiropractic school, the alma mater of my older sister to be exact, as a back up plan. I got in, and was extremely ecstatic that someone accepted me that all previous notions of me not wanting to be a chiropractor faded from my mind. Keep in mind that this was simply a back up plan, but since I had no original plan to back up to..this plan became my only plan..and now I'm here and not liking it at all. My original plan was to finish chiropractic school, then get a specialty in veterinary chiropractic so I could at least work with animals, but all treatments I would be doing requires that a DVM be present. Then I figured, Ok, I'll finish chiropractic school and since I'll look more competitive, I'll apply to vet school after...But this idea didn't last very long. I don't want to go through so many years of schooling and debt. I just want to take this time to pursue my true dream, which is to be a veterinarian. I find myself depressed every day and the only way I can make myself feel a little better is going to the local pet shops because animals have always made me happy, especially at my lowest points.

Something positive has surfaced from my despair in school, however. I have regained the confidence that I needed to go to Vet school. If I can hack it here, I'm darn sure I can hack it in Vet school, actually doing something I have a passion for. The thing is, this epiphany came really late. Within the last month, to be exact. I just took my GRE's on Thursday for the first time. Chiropractic school didn't require them so I don't have any scores on my records. I did relatively well, reaching the average of the applicants of the schools I wanted to get into. I have a little less than a month to get all my applications in, and since I didn't care much in undergrad about my biology courses, I didn't make any special relationships with my professors, so my LORs would be a simple rehash of any CV or resume I send to my professors that know nothing else of me besides the fact that I took their class some odd years ago.

I guess, what I'm asking after this long winded post is if anyone had any advice on what I can do in such a short amount of time. Also, do I send the transcripts of my chiropractic school to the Vet schools I'm applying to? And also add this to my VMCAS application?

EDIT - Important info:

I worked for 2 years in the animal laboratory at my university under a licensed veterinarian while in my undergrad and I have also done volunteering work with local animal foundations in regards to adopting animals. I've also emailed the 5 schools I will be applying to and they all said that they will still accept the New GRE scores because they know that they will show up in mid november. Also, since I started my undergrad with the hopes of going to vet school, I did make sure to complete all the prereqs as a "just in case" I apply to vet school in the future kind of thing. The only thing I'm missing for most schools is animal nutrition, which wasn't offered at my undergrad, but I believe I can take that online for most schools before I start in fall 2012.

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[libster06]

Do you have any animal experience and did you complete all the pre-reqs for the schools you want to apply to?

 

[kakurubird]

I'm sure someone else will be able to chime in with more/better advice, but...

There's little chance that you'd be able to apply this cycle. You didn't mention any veterinary experience, so you might have some, but if you don't, this is CRUCIAL. Start working on this now. Shadowing is great and easier to get started with, but, obviously if you're a recent grad, a paying job is better. Don't be afraid to start as a kennel assistant or whatnot. Plenty of people on these forums have started somewhere like that and are now doing tech-type jobs. Get the vet experience, make sure vet med really is something you want to do and that you fully understand everything that that means (and that you can convince an admissions committee of this). Getting good experience (veterinary, but also animal) will also help with letters of recommendation since they don't also have to be academic.

Also, read through previous threads on here. You're right that there's some good advice on here; if you search around enough, you'll be able to find plenty of info on pretty much anything admissions-related that you're looking for.

I'd imagine you'd also have to do a very good job of explaining why you want to do vet med after starting another grad program and (if this is true, just guessing based on your post) why you didn't finish chiropractic school (if true).

This isn't to sound negative, of course, just realistic. There are so many people that are older/career-changers on here in vet school now, so it's do-able, just probably not this year.

Also: just noticed that you said your only GREs were last week. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most schools (one or two exceptions, maybe) aren't taking the new scores yet, so that might stop you from this cycle even if you have good animal/vet experience and all the prereqs. Just something to keep in mind/look into.

 

[agent00dragon]

Oh yes, I did fail to mention that I worked for 2 years in the animal laboratory at my university under a licensed veterinarian while in my undergrad and I have also done volunteering work with local animal foundations in regards to adopting animals. I've also emailed the 5 schools I will be applying to and they all said that they will still accept the New GRE scores because they know that they will show up in mid november. Also, since I started my undergrad with the hopes of going to vet school, I did make sure to complete all the prereqs as a "just in case" I apply to vet school in the future kind of thing. The only thing I'm missing for most schools is animal nutrition, which wasn't offered at my undergrad, but I believe I can take that online for most schools before I start in fall 2012.

 

[libster06]

I'm sure someone else will be able to chime in with more/better advice, but...

There's little chance that you'd be able to apply this cycle. You didn't mention any veterinary experience, so you might have some, but if you don't, this is CRUCIAL. Start working on this now. Shadowing is great and easier to get started with, but, obviously if you're a recent grad, a paying job is better. Don't be afraid to start as a kennel assistant or whatnot. Plenty of people on these forums have started somewhere like that and are now doing tech-type jobs. Get the vet experience, make sure vet med really is something you want to do and that you fully understand everything that that means (and that you can convince an admissions committee of this). Getting good experience (veterinary, but also animal) will also help with letters of recommendation since they don't also have to be academic.

Also, read through previous threads on here. You're right that there's some good advice on here; if you search around enough, you'll be able to find plenty of info on pretty much anything admissions-related that you're looking for.

I'd imagine you'd also have to do a very good job of explaining why you want to do vet med after starting another grad program and (if this is true, just guessing based on your post) why you didn't finish chiropractic school (if true).

This isn't to sound negative, of course, just realistic. There are so many people that are older/career-changers on here in vet school now, so it's do-able, just probably not this year.

Also: just noticed that you said your only GREs were last week. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most schools (one or two exceptions, maybe) aren't taking the new scores yet, so that might stop you from this cycle even if you have good animal/vet experience and all the prereqs. Just something to keep in mind/look into.

I was waiting for clarification from OP, but since you went ahead and acknowledged the elephanyt in the room I will echo.
edit: ok, yea you left out a huge chunk of info

Also, kakurubird is right about the grad program. Same as like a Master's program, it's very frowned upon to start something like that and not finish it because you jumped over to another program. They're thinking is that if you jumped over to vet med, what's to say you won't jump to something else?

 

[libster06]

The only thing I'm missing for most schools is animal nutrition, which wasn't offered at my undergrad, but I believe I can take that online for most schools before I start in fall 2012.

As long as you get the pre-req before May of 2012 you should be good. I don't know of any schools that will let you take courses after May before matriculation.

One note about LORs, it usually takes a REALLY long time to get all that squared away and submitted from your writers. I hope that if you haven't asked for any yet you do so yesterday.

 

[agent00dragon]

Yeah, sorry about leaving out that info, I'll add it to my original post for others to see. Thanks!

 

[bunnity]

Oh man, I wouldn't really know where to start with this, but I do want to say that there are so many things you can do with animals / to help animals without being a vet. You can volunteer with a shelter, volunteer at a wildlife rehab clinic, raise guide puppies, learn sports with your own dog, foster animals... the list goes on.
I thought about this a lot before vet school and when I took a leave first year... honestly, my perfect job does not exist (at least not as something that also involves a paycheck) and being a vet is the closest thing for me. But I strongly considered working elsewhere in the animal field and/or getting a "money job" and then using extra time and income to work with shelter animals. The director of the rescue I foster for works for a financial company - boring yes but it puts her in a position where she has the time and money to run a really good rescue and to save lives.
I guess what I'm trying to say is there is a love of animals, and a love of medicine, and you really need both to want to be a vet. And that there is more than one way to work with animals, and more than one way to save lives. If you just have the animal thing without the love of medicine, there are so many other avenues for that, that won't involve the immense amount of stress and logistics of what you are considering.

 

[agent00dragon]

Ah, yeah, I understand what you're saying. But I do have a love of medicine, that is why I majored in Biology and that I am currently in a type of medical professional school. It's just that the type of doctor I'm studying to be isn't the type of doctor I want to be. A doctor is something I had always dreamed of being and, combining it with my love of animals, a veterinarian is the perfect fit for me.

 

[rubygirl]

finishing the chiropractic program you are in isnt a bad idea before starting vet school though, im not sure how long that takes to do but if you wont be done before starting classes if you get in this cycle it may be a good career choice to finish the program you are in then add more to the palate. you can always use chiropractic with traditional medicine more and more people are wanting new ways of healing their pets and if you can provide that service at a clinic by being trained in alternative medicine it may give you a leg up over other new grads when you are applying to jobs after you get out of vet school. just my 2 cents, i have seen some interesting things when chinease medicine is used to complement traditional medicine (not instead of traditional medicine), not trying to start a debate here just my personal take on this

 

[jmo1012]

Ah, yeah, I understand what you're saying. But I do have a love of medicine, that is why I majored in Biology and that I am currently in a type of medical professional school. It's just that the type of doctor I'm studying to be isn't the type of doctor I want to be. A doctor is something I had always dreamed of being and, combining it with my love of animals, a veterinarian is the perfect fit for me.

although this has little to do with anything, one of my classmates did something with chiropractic medicine before becoming a student here (i'm a little hazy as to whether he went to school and switched or went through the program and is now here)

 

[Wubbles]

If you are really truly set on going to vet school, I wouldn't try to rush through the application process this year. It seems like that is just setting yourself up for disappointment and un-needed stress. I would finish your current program and try to get some more volunteer experience in. But that's just me. 👍
And bunnity brings up an excellent point - there really are tons of ways to be involved with animals. I've met some amazing people who dedicate their spare time to shelters. At a clinic I shadowed at, one of the techs was an elementary school teacher during the school year and spent each summer as a tech! I thought that was amazing dedication to a field she loved.
You really have a lot of options; think long and hard and I'm sure the right one will come up.

 

[that redhead]

Ever since I was 5 years old, I have wanted to be a veterinarian.

I have a little less than a month to get all my applications in, and since I didn't care much in undergrad about my biology courses, I didn't make any special relationships with my professors, so my LORs would be a simple rehash of any CV or resume I send to my professors that know nothing else of me besides the fact that I took their class some odd years ago.

My advice is to wait a year. During that time, expose yourself to other more common fields in the profession to acquaint yourself with what you're getting into, so to speak. You've seen one, less common aspect of the profession but there is so much more out there. Those experiences will likely also yield better eLOR writers. Besides the basic fact that most schools require at least one veterinarian as a reference, your letters from past professors who likely don't remember you or your positive attributes will only hurt you. The eLOR section isn't just a letter- there are boxes to check in regards to your performance/behavior in certain scenarios. You definitely don't want all of them for every writer to be "don't know/didn't observe". Especially when making such a drastic change (dropping out of one professional school to apply for another), I think you're going to need some solid references to back this decision.

I would also use the time to work through a really excellent personal statement. I don't know about the admissions' people, but I would be a little skeptical about someone dropping out of another professional school apparently willy-nilly to pursue something else; you'll want to be compelling in your reasons with a strong application behind you. Another question you'll need to address is the "why" aspect of it all. So far your only reason appears to be that you love animals and have always wanted it which is frankly not good enough. There are many careers you can pursue working with animals - what is it about vet med that draws you?

Take some time to collect yourself. This has been a big moment in your life, a big change. I'm the look before you leap sort of person, and maybe you aren't, but it's in your best interests to collect your thoughts and organize yourself before you drop a lot of money, time and effort into the application process.