Did I start too late?

[_rae_]

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Hello! I'm Rachel and I'm new here. Up until this spring semester I was a junior standing, second year Bachelor of Music - Music Business student. In December of 2018 I revisited my childhood dream, of becoming a veterinarian. After a truly soul crushing semester that made me hate my major, I decided to go for it and entered my school's pre-health program (which covers pre-veterinary as well). I tend to be an over thinker so I did A TON of research. At this point though, I have two concerns:

1. I start my first ever vet shadow tomorrow. Can I still be a competitive candidate with fewer clinic hours? I'm honestly not sure I can get 1000 hours in less than 2 years and still pay for school. And can I use animal experience from before I began this track? I've been volunteering at shelters since I was 8 years old, but I would only use hours within the past few years.

2. I was diagnosed this semester with early onset osteoarthritis in both of my hands. This is from a complication of a hyper flexible ligament issue that's been progressing very slowly. Through a lot of physical therapy, I've halted progression of arthritis symptoms and have it quite well under control, but I'm concerned that this could impact any applications or hands on experience I get. It's not something I hide but I also feel like people hear "arthritis" and think of someone whose hands are nearly crippled most of the time. Does anyone have any insight? Has anyone tried to go through vet school with any kind of physical issues?

It was so relieving to find this place. I've never been this excited about college, even when I got into my dream music school, but the gravity of what I've decided to do is a bit overwhelming at the moment.

 

[PetVet7]

People get into vet school with little experience, but usually have great grades/GRE score to make up for it. All animal experience counts, no matter when it was done. Taking a gap year is never a bad idea. I got loads of experience by taking a year off.

In vet school, we have an entire class based on performing clinical skills. If you don’t think your arthritis will prevent you from handling instruments or animals, I think you’ll be fine.

 

[CoffeeQuestionMark]

Uhm, I can answer the first but not second question.

Yes, you can get in with little to no vet hours.
The way to do this is maintain a really good GPA, have great references, good essays, and apply smartly.

Some schools post their acceptance rubric.

@Elkhart can share a website that gives a breakdown of the differences between schools

 

[_rae_]

People get into vet school with little experience, but usually have great grades/GRE score to make up for it. All animal experience counts, no matter when it was done. Taking a gap year is never a bad idea. I got loads of experience by taking a year off.

In vet school, we have an entire class based on performing clinical skills. If you don’t think your arthritis will prevent you from handling instruments or animals, I think you’ll be fine.

Thank you! My GPA is currently at an overall 3.6 and I intend on getting tutors for all of my core classes to ensure that I get the absolute best grade possible. I'm trying to figure out when the most appropriate time to take the GRE is. The fact that Virginia Tech doesn't require it is so tempting, but I don't want to put my eggs all in one basket. Hopefully after this year I'll have Calc, Bio I and II, Chem I and II, and Anat/Phys I done, so I'll likely try either the summer or early fall of 2020. I've already started looking at study guides and I'm hoping my memories from high school APs will hold up.

As long as I've been following my PT's exercises and rest recommendations, I haven't had any really bad flare ups. I'm fine with holding and restraining animals, but I guess I won't know about instruments until I start getting a bit more experience with them.

 

[SkiOtter]

but I guess I won't know about instruments until I start getting a bit more experience with them.

I’d definitely ask whoever you’re shadowing if you could just play with some unsterile instruments one day. I’m sure if you told them about your arthritis and said that you want to be sure you can use the instruments before you get too far into the field, they’d let you play with some and test it out.

 

[SkiOtter]

The fact that Virginia Tech doesn't require it is so tempting, but I don't want to put my eggs all in one basket.

I assume VA Tech is your in state school? Always recommend going to your in state if you get in since it’ll likely be your cheapest option by far.
FYI there are also a handful of other schools who aren’t requiring the GRE anymore.

 

[_rae_]

I assume VA Tech is your in state school?

Goodness I wish. My address is still Vermont so no in state for me! I'm hoping that wherever I decide to go, I'll be able to move there June before fall semester and get residency in that state after my first year. I've basically accepted my first year of school will cost $40k-$60k, but I'm hoping I can swing in-state for the other three. This is of course assuming I don't end up going to school in Canada or the West Indies. Ross and SGU have definitely been on my radar, but I do have to consider my rabbit and the climate might be too much for him.

 

[SkiOtter]

Goodness I wish. My address is still Vermont so no in state for me! I'm hoping that wherever I decide to go, I'll be able to move there June before fall semester and get residency in that state after my first year. I've basically accepted my first year of school will cost $40k-$60k, but I'm hoping I can swing in-state for the other three. This is of course assuming I don't end up going to school in Canada or the West Indies. Ross and SGU have definitely been on my radar, but I do have to consider my rabbit and the climate might be too much for him.

FYI, most vet schools do not allow residency changes. Once you’re OOS, you’re OOS. There are a few that do, but generally have a ton of applicants in the OOS pool because everyone wants that IS tuition. Your best bet for getting IS tuition somewhere is to actually move to a state with a school that you match or exceed the average stats to before applying, if you want to go that route.

 

[flameshock]

Goodness I wish. My address is still Vermont so no in state for me! I'm hoping that wherever I decide to go, I'll be able to move there June before fall semester and get residency in that state after my first year. I've basically accepted my first year of school will cost $40k-$60k, but I'm hoping I can swing in-state for the other three. This is of course assuming I don't end up going to school in Canada or the West Indies. Ross and SGU have definitely been on my radar, but I do have to consider my rabbit and the climate might be too much for him.

VA-MD is not one of the schools that will let you switch residency, I’m afraid.

 

[PetVet23]

Goodness I wish. My address is still Vermont so no in state for me! I'm hoping that wherever I decide to go, I'll be able to move there June before fall semester and get residency in that state after my first year. I've basically accepted my first year of school will cost $40k-$60k, but I'm hoping I can swing in-state for the other three. This is of course assuming I don't end up going to school in Canada or the West Indies. Ross and SGU have definitely been on my radar, but I do have to consider my rabbit and the climate might be too much for him.

I would do a lot of checking before getting too set on establishing residency, most schools don't switch once you've started as one or the other (Va-Md definitely doesn't because of commonwealth laws). I do know however that NC State does this, and unless things have changed since I visited there a couple years ago, they actually have counselors available to help with the process of establishing residency after your first year

 

[deleted676737]

1. I start my first ever vet shadow tomorrow. Can I still be a competitive candidate with fewer clinic hours? I'm honestly not sure I can get 1000 hours in less than 2 years and still pay for school. And can I use animal experience from before I began this track? I've been volunteering at shelters since I was 8 years old, but I would only use hours within the past few years.

Yes, it is absolutely possible to have a successful application cycle with fewer than 1000 hours. If the academic side of things is competitive (you mentioned 3.6, which I would say is right around average and in the general range of “competitive” for most schools), then you may be able to squeeze through with several hundred hours worth of quality vet experience. That said, obviously, as a general rule, if you can get more than that you’ll be better off. I do think most accepted applicants these days are usually at least pretty close to that 1000 mark; I’ve seen a couple of people get in with as low as 200 hours, but they were absolutely stellar applicants otherwise with 4.0s all across the board.

You should shadow at multiple clinics in multiple different facets of the profession if at all possible so that you can get a well-rounded view of things and really, truly determine if this is something that you want to do. The financial (and emotional, too) burden of vet school is just far, far too great to not be certain that it is 100% for you.

2. I was diagnosed this semester with early onset osteoarthritis in both of my hands. This is from a complication of a hyper flexible ligament issue that's been progressing very slowly. Through a lot of physical therapy, I've halted progression of arthritis symptoms and have it quite well under control, but I'm concerned that this could impact any applications or hands on experience I get. It's not something I hide but I also feel like people hear "arthritis" and think of someone whose hands are nearly crippled most of the time. Does anyone have any insight? Has anyone tried to go through vet school with any kind of physical issues?

As has been previously mentioned, ask if a vet wherever you’ll be shadowing would be willing to let you play with some instruments. The only way you’ll know if it’s going to be a real hurdle for you is to try it out for yourself. Insofar as handling/restraining animals, I think you’ll be fine.

I don’t have arthritis or anything like that, but I do tend to have a lot of difficulty with fine motor skills and had some issues with my first surgery class in school. It just took me a little longer than my classmates to pick up and be able to create the different suture patterns.

@Elkhart can share a website that gives a breakdown of the differences between schools

Still not quite done getting things updated on the site (honestly, I've considered just scrapping it because not many people seemed to utilize it last year for it to be worth it and it also takes such an incredible amount of time to compile everything on my own and with how much I've been working, progress has been at a snail's pace), but if @mybunnyismybff happens to have an idea of what school(s) they might want to apply to, I could probably post the individual school pages for those that are finished. VMCVM is not done yet, unfortunately, so can’t help with that one at the moment.

I still have the Factors When Picking a School doc hosted on Google Docs, though, if you want to maybe peruse that for a cursory idea of some of the pros and cons of the schools. There’s a link to that in my signature below the post.

ETA: I also would be doing a disservice if I didn’t point out the VIN Cost of Education Map. Consider either applying to schools that allow for a switch in residency after the VM1 year (Ohio State, Mizzou, NCSU, UC Davis) or moving to a state with a cheap IS option and establishing residency there (generally takes a year or two) before applying in order to save on tuition and fees. You need to ensure that you are very cognizant of just how much debt you'll be in should you pursue this path.

 

[DVMDream]

Step 1 is just getting that experience. And don't just shadow/volunteer at/work at one clinic, go to multiple clinics, multiple types of clinics (small/large/mixed/GP/Specialist/ER). Be 1,000,000% sure you want to do this. After you are 1,000,000% sure, read all of the issues in the field related to it having high burn out and suicide. If you are still 1,000,000% sure, start thinking about finances. Do NOT just "apply anywhere to get in".... having $300k+ of debt is demoralizing and painful, trust me. It sucks. Every day. And will suck every day for the rest of my life.

If you are still 1,000,000% sure.... now find a way to get cheaper tuition... like someone mentioned move to a state with a vet school that you will be competitive at. You need to live there for a year before you even apply.

Always, always, always remember this is life. This isn't a race or a competition. There is no rule that you need to be settled into that one career you want and working by the age of 30, 35 or even 40. I had classmates that were in their 40's and vet med was their 2nd/3rd/4th career. Take your time to be certain of what you are doing, what you are getting into and to take the time to try to reduce the debt this field puts you in as much as possible.

 

[_rae_]

Thank you everyone for the advice! I just finished up for the day and I learned a ton. Currently I'm at a GP hospital so mostly cats, dogs, and routine surgeries. I'm waiting to hear back from a different clinic that does a wider variety of animals for this summer. Unfortunately, I'm in an area that doesn't have a lot of vets, let alone easily accessible ones.

I am acutely aware of how much everything costs. I watched my brother make some very poor decisions about financing in college and I and my parents are still paying the price. I have a spreadsheet of schools - required classes, average GPAs/GREs, etc - that I got from my pre-health advisor, and I think I'll add whether they allow residency changes or not. If anyone wants that spreadsheet template, let me know.

 

[britzen]

I got in with about 350 vet hours all in one type of medicine (sheltering), and the bare bones pre-requisites so it is possible. I also had a different career for 10 years in between graduating from my BA program and vet school. Don't worry about starting too late or needing some extra time to get your pre-reqs or experience in order - you'll still have a 30+ year career as a veterinarian.

As for the osteoarthritis: explore what your physical limitations are and decide whether you could work all day, every day (12+ hours) with them in your chosen field within vet med. Could you do all the skills you needed to do? Would the level of pain be acceptable to you or controllable with medication?

Also decide whether you would be okay with your decision to be a veterinarian if you had to chose a different sub-field because your problem worsened. There are some areas of the profession where fine tune motor skills are less important - could you be happy in one of them? For example, would you be okay going into something like nutrition or government policy work instead of clinical practice if you needed to? There are probably other fields too, which would be a good conversation to have with people you are shadowing or with the people tasked with career guidance at your vet school if you get in.

(The nutrition example is a real life one, btw - one of our instructors told us about a former student that injured her hand severely enough that she could no longer practice small animal clinical medicine. She ended up going back to school to do a residency in nutrition.)

 

[OVC2023]

If you're thinking of applying to OVC, then no. You could start a week before the application is due as long as you have the 2 references you need LOL they only really care about grades. Essays and references letters are just requirements.

 

[_rae_]

If you're thinking of applying to OVC, then no. You could start a week before the application is due as long as you have the 2 references you need LOL they only really care about grades. Essays and references letters are just requirements.

Guelph is definitely on my list! I'm also looking at UC Davis, Ross, SGU, U Illinois, Mississippi State, VA Tech, and Washington State. I don't think I'll be applying to all eight so that list will probably shrink, but based on requirements and average students, those seemed to be the best and most logical choices.

 

[DVMDream]

If you're thinking of applying to OVC, then no. You could start a week before the application is due as long as you have the 2 references you need LOL they only really care about grades. Essays and references letters are just requirements.

Going to be mighty hard getting vet reference letters if you start gathering experience only the week before.

 

[OVC2023]

Going to be mighty hard getting vet reference letters if you start gathering experience only the week before.

Most vets have templates. I only said that because I've seen it done before resulting in an acceptance. Some people slip through the cracks of the admission process unfortunately lol

 

[deleted676737]

Most vets have templates. I only said that because I've seen it done before resulting in an acceptance. Some people slip through the cracks of the admission process unfortunately lol

I don't think that this is what DVMD means. Like, yes, the vet can certainly physically write the letter and finish it prior to VMCAS close. But can you really have a thorough, well-rounded enough view of an employee/shadow/volunteer after only a week's worth of experience to be able to write an actually genuine, strong letter of recommendation for that person? Not likely. Building those relationships takes time.

 

[OVC2023]

I don't think that this is what DVMD means. Like, yes, the vet can certainly physically write the letter and finish it prior to VMCAS close. But can you really have a thorough, well-rounded enough view of an employee/shadow/volunteer after only a week's worth of experience to be able to write an actually genuine, strong letter of recommendation for that person? Not likely. Building those relationships takes time.

Oh I agree 100%. Not only is 1 week not enough for the veterinarian to get a wide enough scope of you but in my personal experience, I don't think 1 week is enough time for me to become truly comfortable with a veterinarian.

 

[DVMDream]

Most vets have templates. I only said that because I've seen it done before resulting in an acceptance. Some people slip through the cracks of the admission process unfortunately lol

No I mean, most vets would borderline laugh in your face if you asked for a letter after only a week or two. I'm not writing anyone a letter that I don't know really, really well and that I haven't had a good minute to sit down and discuss the career, their goals, expectations, etc.

 

[SkiOtter]

Most vets have templates. I only said that because I've seen it done before resulting in an acceptance. Some people slip through the cracks of the admission process unfortunately lol

I mean
I want a personal letter from someone who knows me well. Not some templated generic letter where they just fill in a couple blanks.

 

[OVC2023]

I mean
I want a personal letter from someone who knows me well. Not some templated generic letter where they just fill in a couple blanks.

of course, as do I. OVC honestly doesn't care though and it's one of the downfalls of their application process in my opinion. The only way they would have a problem with your reference letter is if it was negative.

 

[OVC2023]

No I mean, most vets would borderline laugh in your face if you asked for a letter after only a week or two. I'm not writing anyone a letter that I don't know really, really well and that I haven't had a good minute to sit down and discuss the career, their goals, expectations, etc.

And thats 100% how it should be

 

[biomajor2019]

Hi there! I, too, changed my career path during junior year of college, and I had the same fears as you! I decided to take two gap years off, and fully dedicate myself to the field, and being the best I can be, and I am thriving! I saw in the thread you mentioned you're in Vermont? If so, that is where I am currently residing, too! It is definitely possible to get experience in this small state, you just have to be creative! 🙂 In one year, I have already done work in wildlife rehab centers, aquariums, shelters, horse centers, and I am working full time as a veterinary assistant (training to be a tech) all of this while going to school full time, places are flexible and enthusiastic in this state! If you would like to reach out to me, if you have any further questions or need guidance, I'm always available!
I am applying next May, so I can't say if my plans are the golden route, but I feel confident, and I am having so much fun leading up to the application cycle, that I believe admissions committees will see that! 🙂 No harm in not being the person with 10,000 hours! I was scared of that, as well, but I've been told countless times as long as you have quality hours, that's all that matters! Working full time for a year and a half, by the time applications are submitted I will have over 2,000 quality hours, and I feel that that is plenty!
PS lots of places in Vermont seem to be hiring for vet assistants! and many of the hospitals take shadows, as well! 🙂 I hope I was helpful!

 

[CanadatoUS2019]

If you're looking for the best value for your money you could consider taking your gap year in the state you are hoping to apply to with IS tuition. If you find one that you think you have a good shot at it wouldn't be a bad idea to get IS there since your state apparently doesn't have any agreements anywhere.

Obviously that would depend on you getting some form of employment for the year but if you're taking that gap year for experience anyway, it couldn't hurt.

Then just remember to go to the cheapest school. Prestige does NOT matter in veterinary medicine. There are students who graduate from non-AVMA accredited schools that get some of the hardest internships/residencies in the US or Canada, so if you think graduating from UC Davis or Cornell is going to make you a better vet you got another thing coming I guess.

Best of luck!

 

[PippyPony]

2. I was diagnosed this semester with early onset osteoarthritis in both of my hands. This is from a complication of a hyper flexible ligament issue that's been progressing very slowly. Through a lot of physical therapy, I've halted progression of arthritis symptoms and have it quite well under control, but I'm concerned that this could impact any applications or hands on experience I get. It's not something I hide but I also feel like people hear "arthritis" and think of someone whose hands are nearly crippled most of the time. Does anyone have any insight? Has anyone tried to go through vet school with any kind of physical issues?

I have issues with my hands including, but not limited to, osteoarthritis.

I do have trouble on occasion with things that require me to grip large instruments and apply heavy pressure. But I leverage against my leg or something similar whenever that comes up. It is also sometimes an issue because I take hand written notes (just learn better that way) and I have occasionally had to stop and seek pain relief when cramming for tests.

Honestly it's more of a problem for me at home than it is at school, so if you have come up with some solutions you should be ok in school. Beyond that is going to depend upon your individual disease progression and which vet med route you choose.