diverse vet schools in diverse areas?

[turtlturtlturtl]

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hi everyone,

i'm still choosing which schools i'll apply to and was wondering which schools tend to be more ethnically diverse with regards to students, surrounding community, etc. This is an important factor for me. i've looked up some stats but wanted to hear real opinions and experiences instead of just numbers.

So far Penn and Davis seem to be good choices. I'm also thinking of applying to Colorado, Tufts, and Washington. Any thoughts on diversity here? I'd appreciate any opinions or suggestions for other schools. My list of schools is too short! BTW, i'm interested in small animal. Thanks.

 

[VeganSoprano]

Tuskegee is an HBCU, if that makes a difference to you.

 

[Azawakh]

Tuskegee is an HBCU, if that makes a difference to you.

Tuskegee University would definitely be the most ethnically diverse with students of African American, Latin, Caucasian, Asian, and Indian heritages. Western University has a fairly diverse locale and from the students I have met from Western appears to have a somewhat diverse student body as well.

Schools of veterinary medicine are not diverse by any means and it is a social issue not specific to veterinary medicine but endemic to graduate schools and even undergraduate institutions.

 

[AuburnPreVet]

Auburn would be one to remove from your list.

 

[Truth74]

A lot of vet schools are not ethnically diverse. We're talking 10% or less for most schools.
As I've stated elsewhere (underrepresented minority thread), minority student affairs is non-existent at a lot (if not all) of the vet schools. I would contact minority student affairs/department of diversity/education equity (or whatever they call it) at the main university of your prospective vet school. You also have to keep in mind the surrounding communities you would be living in. I think your choice will depend on what your comfort level is and what you are used to seeing. Rural, Urban, or Suburban? Are you interested in a specific region of the country?
Yes, Tuskegee is a HBCU, but they also have a problem with communicating with prospective students and applicants. If you're okay with not hearing from them, then they are the way to go.
Are you stuck on diversity, or are you looking for a friendly, tolerant population? It also depends on your specialty of interest. There may be a diverse population without the electives you might want.
What do you like?
Are you avian? SA? LA? Zoo? Therio? Anesthesia? Pathology?...etc.
You may also want to look at the number of minority faculty at each school as well. I can tell you right now, it's going to be a lot of searching if you go by that.

 

[ShelterGirl]

I could be wrong, but I believe that a big component of Western's class seating is diversity (ethnic, age, experience, interest, etc.) - Twosoakers, is that right? What are your thoughts as to Western's diversity?

 

[Emio]

So far Penn and Davis seem to be good choices. I'm also thinking of applying to Colorado, Tufts, and Washington. Any thoughts on diversity here? I'd appreciate any opinions or suggestions for other schools. My list of schools is too short! BTW, i'm interested in small animal. Thanks.

southwest Philly is pretty diverse! not to mention that 49% of their class is from parts of the country other than pennsylvania, so not only are you in a culturally rich area, but the 110 people you'll be surrounded by are (relatively, for vet schools) also diverse. i've never been to cali, so i can't comment.

i thought cyrille ultimately turned down Tufts because of their lack of diversity? hope i'm not putting the wrong words in his mouth, but i thought that was a big factor for him. fantastic school, but maybe not the way to go if you want variation.

washington has a vet school?

 

[Bill59]

That latest DVM Magazine (August 2007) had an article on this. According to them, the most diverse US vet schools are;

Tuskegee 62%
UC Davis 25%
Cornell 23%
Western 21%
Florida 18%

Least diverse were:
Iowa State 1%
Tennessee 4%
Kansas State 4%
Mississippi State 5%
Auburn 5%

I took these from a graph, so the percentages may be off a percentage point or two. More importantly, they never defined exactly what "diversity" means, but I'm assuming it refers to underrepresented races.

Overall, underrepresented students were 10.7% of US vet students.

They also mention that an increasing number of vet students decline to disclose their race, a 4-fold increase since 2003. Most feel this is a protest to using race as a criterion for admission or recruitment.

 

[Bill59]

washington has a vet school?

yeppers, Washington State University in beautiful downtown Pullman.

 

[Emio]

yeppers, Washington State University in beautiful downtown Pullman.

wow, i had no idea. thanks for the enlightenment.

 

[kate_g]

UC Davis 25%

Davis seems to have more students of Hispanic and Asian descent, and actually a handful of honest-to-god foreign-born students (white or otherwise), but not so many African Americans or students of Indian/west Asian descent. Those biases seem to be reflective of the demography of the surrounding area. It is quite possible to go about your daily life in the area surrounding Davis with very little knowledge of the English language (so long as you know Spanish) but from what I understand the diversity of the area is not itself all that diverse (high Hispanic population, few other minorities). Then again the Bay Area is just an hour away, where you can't throw a stick without hitting people of six different ethnicities. (I mean that as a good thing!) Like everywhere else, though, the class is mostly white gals (I think our class is ~20% male). We haven't started class yet, mind you, so this is just what I observed during interview stuff.

So turtl, which schools suit you might depend to some extent on whether you intend to reverse-discriminate for all races equally, or if there's a particular flavor of "diversity" that you prefer. 😉

(It was a joke! Jeez...)

 

[turtlturtlturtl]

kateg...how dare you say it's a good thing to hit people of different ethnicities with sticks?!? 😱 i'm appalled, outraged---and well, only kidding. anyhow, davis is the only vet school that i'm familiar with, and i'm pretty sure i would be comfortable there. I really like the atmosphere of the city and hey, you gotta love bike circles and crazy egghead sculptures, huh? Thanks for the info and good luck with school.

 

[turtlturtlturtl]

Thanks all for the insight. It's very helpful right now. I know vet school isn't generally the most diverse institution...(understatement of the year!) 🙂 I did my undergrad in L.A. and spent most of my life in fairly diverse areas of CA, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't waste time applying to schools where people are intolerant or completely homogeneous because I don't think I would be happy there. I appreciate everyone's advice. (Party face for no reason at all!)