Equine Caseload

[Heartfelt29]

Hello everyone. I've been working on narrowing down which schools I am going to apply to for next year's cycle. I'm having trouble finding much about the equine caseload at each school. I'm very interested in equine medicine, so this is a large part of my decision on which schools to apply to. Can anyone offer any insight on any schools and their equine caseload, particularly which might not have as strong of an equine caseload? Also, other than the obvious cost, any other ideas on how to narrow down which schools to apply to? Thanks.

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[SportPonies]

You're pretty much gonna get a good amount of equine at any school. Equine, canine, feline, and bovine are the bread and butter of most vet med curriculum. I wouldn't say that you should be too worried about not getting enough horse stuff anywhere

...and this is coming from a horse person!

 

[vetmedhead]

You're pretty much gonna get a good amount of equine at any school. Equine, canine, feline, and bovine are the bread and butter of most vet med curriculum. I wouldn't say that you should be too worried about not getting enough horse stuff anywhere

To add on to this, even if you attend a school that you think could have a stronger equine caseload, externships are a great opportunity for you to get exposure to fields you are interested in. Many schools have built in time in fourth year for you to do externships (here it depends on your track but there are a certain number of weeks for each track where you are expected to be on electives, with more time set aside for large/mixed tracks than the small track). You can also schedule externships during vacation weeks in your fourth year, although people are encouraged to not go too crazy there (because taking breaks is important! Don't burn yourself out).

There are also many opportunities you can take advantage of during summer or winter breaks if you are interested. Don't get too bogged down in thinking you won't be good in the field you're interested in based on the school you attend, as opportunities abound for veterinary students.

 

[Trilt]

Broken record but... especially at equine vet salaries, go to the cheapest school that you get into.

You can get experience to fill in any perceived gaps during summers, externships, etc. Very little is worth exorbitant out of state tuition. Every school treats horses and has crazy horse students.

 

[Heartfelt29]

How many schools did you guys apply to? I'm aware as far as deciding I should choose the cheapest school, but when applying I find myself wanting to apply to almost all of them just in case I don't get into my instate or I'm offered a scholarship. I'm just unsure how to narrow it down much at this point because I'm flexible as to where I want to live and so many schools look good. I'm at about 15-17 schools right now and I'm obviously looking to cut that down a bit. Any insight on schools that anyone could offer would be helpful.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

How many schools did you guys apply to? I'm aware as far as deciding I should choose the cheapest school, but when applying I find myself wanting to apply to almost all of them just in case I don't get into my instate or I'm offered a scholarship. I'm just unsure how to narrow it down much at this point because I'm flexible as to where I want to live and so many schools look good. I'm at about 15-17 schools right now and I'm obviously looking to cut that down a bit. Any insight on schools that anyone could offer would be helpful.

I applied to 5 the first time, 3 the second. I took a lot of time choosing the schools with selection processes that would benefit me most. Don't forget tuition cost, cost of living, etc.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's pretty uncommon for an incoming first year to get thrown a scholarship from what I know. I think most schools have all students apply for scholarships later in the academic year. Illinois does give like 3-4 incoming first years a small scholarship for being the top IS applicants, though.

 

[Ashgirl]

How many schools did you guys apply to? I'm aware as far as deciding I should choose the cheapest school, but when applying I find myself wanting to apply to almost all of them just in case I don't get into my instate or I'm offered a scholarship. I'm just unsure how to narrow it down much at this point because I'm flexible as to where I want to live and so many schools look good. I'm at about 15-17 schools right now and I'm obviously looking to cut that down a bit. Any insight on schools that anyone could offer would be helpful.

Some of the things that I chose that might be helpful:
-Cost: Number one. I choose schools that I was IS at or could get IS after one year (Ohio state, NSCU, Mizzou).
- Pre-reqs: I narrowed down at least half the schools due to me not having a certain pre-req class that fit in that school.
- Misc requirements: One school required another Letter of Rec that I didn't have, etc.
- Applying smartly: This is actually really important. What are the strengths of your application? Is it your vet experience? Is it your last 45 credit GPA? Apply to schools that emphasize that. I eliminated schools that I had no chance at, such as schools who highly emphasized the GRE, etc.

 

[Ashgirl]

I applied to 5 the first time, 3 the second. I took a lot of time choosing the schools with selection processes that would benefit me most. Don't forget tuition cost, cost of living, etc.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's pretty uncommon for an incoming first year to get thrown a scholarship from what I know. I think most schools have all students apply for scholarships later in the academic year. Illinois does give like 3-4 incoming first years a small scholarship for being the top IS applicants, though.

You're right. Scholarships for OOS (or even IS) for many schools are frankly not there. And even if they are, they are frequently scant amounts, such as $1,000, $2,000, etc. Which, every bit counts, but $4,000 when your COA that year is 60,000+++? Not really great, especially if you can go IS.

 

[Heartfelt29]

That's interesting that some school you can get IS tuition after the first year. Do you know of any others other than Ohio state, Mizzou, NCState? I know that I meet all the pre-reqs because I covered all of them for pretty much all the schools. My strength right now is definitely going to be my GPA vs. experience. I am a D1 athlete however so that is part of the reason my experience isn't quite as high as some. Do you know of schools that take into account GPA more than experience? Thank you so much everyone!

 

[pinkpuppy9]

That's interesting that some school you can get IS tuition after the first year. Do you know of any others other than Ohio state, Mizzou, NCState? I know that I meet all the pre-reqs because I covered all of them for pretty much all the schools. My strength right now is definitely going to be my GPA vs. experience. I am a D1 athlete however so that is part of the reason my experience isn't quite as high as some. Do you know of schools that take into account GPA more than experience? Thank you so much everyone!

Michigan State for sure, at least during my applications.

 

[Georgethecat]

How many schools did you guys apply to? I'm aware as far as deciding I should choose the cheapest school, but when applying I find myself wanting to apply to almost all of them just in case I don't get into my instate or I'm offered a scholarship. I'm just unsure how to narrow it down much at this point because I'm flexible as to where I want to live and so many schools look good. I'm at about 15-17 schools right now and I'm obviously looking to cut that down a bit. Any insight on schools that anyone could offer would be helpful.

To go along with what has already been suggested , I'd recommend using an excel spreadsheet to track all this info.

1. Cost should be your biggest concern. Besides your IS, consider the schools that allow you to switch to IS after the first year. Ashgirl has mentioned NC State, Ohio State, Mizzou. UC Davis might also be an option????

2. Double/triple check with each school's website for their pre-req's. No point in wasting application fees, time, and stress over an application that will be automatically booted for not having something like public speaking or stats.

3. Look at previous years' threads for the schools you are interested in and the successful stats threads for those schools to get a feel for who is getting in. Some schools do state pretty clearly on their web pages what they are looking for. Try to match up your strengths with schools that value them.

4. Don't count on or be disappointed if you aren't offered scholarship money. That seems to be the exception, not the norm. And as previously pointed out, a better COA saves you lots more money than a small scholarship.

Best of luck to you!

 

[SkiOtter]

Michigan State for sure, at least during my applications.

Some particularly numbers-focused schools off of the top of my head (especially OOS) include ... Michigan State..... I'm sure that there's some others with very GPA heavy admissions.

I don’t think this is true anymore. They’ve changed their admissions a bit and now you just have to have a minimum 3.0 last 36 and science and once you’re past that you get a file review and your gpa is never looked at again and does not factor into admissions decisions.

 

[M&D]

That's interesting that some school you can get IS tuition after the first year. Do you know of any others other than Ohio state, Mizzou, NCState? I know that I meet all the pre-reqs because I covered all of them for pretty much all the schools. My strength right now is definitely going to be my GPA vs. experience. I am a D1 athlete however so that is part of the reason my experience isn't quite as high as some. Do you know of schools that take into account GPA more than experience? Thank you so much everyone!

If your GPA is great, UC Davis pretty much only looks at that vs. experience (OOS) for invitation to interview. I believe they invite the top 10% OOS based on your various GPA's and your GRE.

 

[cowgirl92]

Washington State also allows you to get IS tuition after the first year.

 

[flameshock]

I applied to 5 the first time, 3 the second. I took a lot of time choosing the schools with selection processes that would benefit me most. Don't forget tuition cost, cost of living, etc.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's pretty uncommon for an incoming first year to get thrown a scholarship from what I know. I think most schools have all students apply for scholarships later in the academic year. Illinois does give like 3-4 incoming first years a small scholarship for being the top IS applicants, though.

This may be true in general, but there are definitely some schools that do this. Ohio offered me a substantial first year scholarship (> 20k) to offset the costs of potentially choosing them over my in state school. I think Penn and Cornell may do some hefty offers as well. But it’s definitely not something to count on and it’s much safer to proceed assuming it won’t happen.

 

[SkiOtter]

Ah, gotcha. When I applied, they were still very GPA heavy and using the SIS system, I believe.

Yeah, they just switched from the SIS system to their new system for this cycle so I wanted to make sure OP was getting the most updated info about MSU

 

[Shepherd Lover]

Like everyone else said, cost is always #1. One factor not mentioned above that you might want to consider is the option of tracking. Tracking allows you to focus on one or a few species during your fourth year rotations (as opposed to seeing all large and small species). For example, at Purdue those interested in horses can track Equine Only, Companion (Horses, Cats and Dogs) or Mixed (Traditional Track with Cows, Horses, Goats, Cats, Dogs, ect.).

 

[JustPaws]

When factoring in cost, don't forget cost of living. Some colleges are less expensive especially IS but the area to live in might be very expensive or you may need to commute for too long to live in a cheaper area

 

[finnickthedog]

How many schools did you guys apply to? I'm aware as far as deciding I should choose the cheapest school, but when applying I find myself wanting to apply to almost all of them just in case I don't get into my instate or I'm offered a scholarship. I'm just unsure how to narrow it down much at this point because I'm flexible as to where I want to live and so many schools look good. I'm at about 15-17 schools right now and I'm obviously looking to cut that down a bit. Any insight on schools that anyone could offer would be helpful.

I only applied to one school. My IS.

Granted, this isn't the best decision for everyone but it was for me because I preferred the possibility of a gap year over paying substantially more in tuition. There were no schools that I was eligible to apply to that were cheaper or close enough to my IS tuition for me to feel comfortable accepting an offer to those schools vs applying again. So this is something to consider. Only apply to schools that you would attend if they were your only offer. That may be a lot of schools or it may only be a handful.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

I don’t think this is true anymore. They’ve changed their admissions a bit and now you just have to have a minimum 3.0 last 36 and science and once you’re past that you get a file review and your gpa is never looked at again and does not factor into admissions decisions.

lol are you kidding?

Edit: Looked at their website, they even did away with the GRE. Hmm. I see they have had a lot of staff changeover too.

 

[SkiOtter]

lol are you kidding?

Edit: Looked at their website, they even did away with the GRE. Hmm. I see they have had a lot of staff changeover too.

Idk if they were really all that gpa heavy before they switched either tbh
They DID have their sis score, but you could make up for a lower gpa with a higher gre score or a higher other gpa if just one was a bit lower.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Idk if they were really all that gpa heavy before they switched either tbh
They DID have their sis score, but you could make up for a lower gpa with a higher gre score or a higher other gpa if just one was a bit lower.

They really were pretty GPA heavy though. You could make up for it to an extent but your GRE had mid to high 160s to make up for a below average science or last 45. They used to have an SIS calculator that I used frequently for years, plus all those cherished visits with their pre-vet counselor Also experience was pretty inconsequential at the time and their interviews were brand spankin' new.

I just am loling (but also salty af) because admissions tended not to treat some MSU pre-vets all that well and said some downright nasty things at times (at least the crowd I talked to), and some of those people are at Illinois now...and their new admissions is very similar to Illinois'. Just ironic...but again, new people in admissions probably makes it a very different environment than what I experienced. Don't get me wrong, some people had very positive experiences back then too.

This may be true in general, but there are definitely some schools that do this. Ohio offered me a substantial first year scholarship (> 20k) to offset the costs of potentially choosing them over my in state school. I think Penn and Cornell may do some hefty offers as well. But it’s definitely not something to count on and it’s much safer to proceed assuming it won’t happen.

Come to think of it, I have heard 'stories' of Ohio doing that before. I've heard lots of things about their aggressive recruiting tactics (and I don't mean that in a bad way). Things like phone calls to offer admission before the VMCAS deadline, etc. Don't know how true it all is but it's good to hear they are giving some scholarships out to incoming first years.

 

[SkiOtter]

They really were pretty GPA heavy though. You could make up for it to an extent but your GRE had mid to high 160s to make up for a below average science or last 45. They used to have an SIS calculator that I used frequently for years, plus all those cherished visits with their pre-vet counselor Also experience was pretty inconsequential at the time and their interviews were brand spankin' new.

I just am loling (but also salty af) because admissions tended not to treat some MSU pre-vets all that well and said some downright nasty things at times (at least the crowd I talked to), and some of those people are at Illinois now...and their new admissions is very similar to Illinois'. Just ironic...but again, new people in admissions probably makes it a very different environment than what I experienced. Don't get me wrong, some people had very positive experiences back then too.

Pretty sure that once you met their cut off they didn’t look at your academics anymore before this year, too. People with lower GPAs definitely got in in the past at MSU before they started this new way of evaluating applicants before a file review.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Pretty sure that once you met their cut off they didn’t look at your academics anymore before this year, too. People with lower GPAs definitely got in in the past at MSU before they started this new way of evaluating applicants before a file review.

Academics were still part of the final decision when I was applying, but yes, people with lower GPAs/GREs definitely did get in still

 

[ziggyandjazzy]

Washington State also allows you to get IS tuition after the first year.

WSU allows i

Washington State also allows you to get IS tuition after the first year.

You can get IS tuition after the first year if you begin at the Pullman campus. If you start at the other one, I think in Utah, you have to pay 4 years all OOS. You can specify on the app whether you want to be considered just for Pullman or for either.

 

[SkiOtter]

Academics were still part of the final decision when I was applying, but yes, people with lower GPAs/GREs definitely did get in still

So they still weren’t super gpa focused before though since people with lower gpas got in on the old system

 

[pinkpuppy9]

So they still weren’t super gpa focused before though since people with lower gpas got in on the old system

Really...When did you start applying? There were 5 categories you had to achieve in to make up for low GPA/GRE (research, food animal experience, socioeconomic disadvantage, etc). I'm not trying to be snarky but idk why you're insisting that I'm wrong when it can still be found on their website: Two-Step Selection Process if you really cared to look. I spent so much time talking to admissions between 2010-2015 that I could have walked you through every step of their process in my sleep lol. Really, that SIS score was your ticket in and they cared whether it was high enough because of GPA or GRE. If you didn't have the SIS, although you still had to have their minimum number, you had to have "exceptional achievement" in one of those five categories.

 

[SkiOtter]

Really...When did you start applying? There were 5 categories you had to achieve in to make up for low GPA/GRE (research, food animal experience, socioeconomic disadvantage, etc). I'm not trying to be snarky but idk why you're insisting that I'm wrong when it can still be found on their website: Two-Step Selection Process if you really cared to look. I spent so much time talking to admissions between 2010-2015 that I could have walked you through every step of their process in my sleep lol. Really, that SIS score was your ticket in and they cared whether it was high enough because of GPA or GRE. If you didn't have the SIS, although you still had to have their minimum number, you had to have "exceptional achievement" in one of those five categories.

I’m just sayin, if there’s other ways to make up for a lower gpa, they’re not heavily gpa focused. If you had a high gre, you could easily make up for a low 3s GPA for your sis score.
And then on top of that if you had a ton of experience and a huge breadth, you could make up for a lower sis score, just like you said up there.

I will admit that I misspoke earlier when I said they didn’t care about academics at all after their cutoff, I was remembering wrong because it’s no longer on their website, just archives, but there WERE ways to make up for a lower GPA or a lower SIS score... which many people did.

They’ve changed their system now but you shouldn’t be rolling your eyes at that because you missed out on it. They also changed their curriculum. They’ve changed a bunch of things. Yeah you can be annoyed you didn’t get into MSU, but you ARE in a vet school now so it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it? I’m sure you certainly wouldn’t drop out of 3rd year and reapply to MSU to start as a first year again.

 

[vetmedhead]

 

[Shepherd Lover]

I’m just sayin, if there’s other ways to make up for a lower gpa, they’re not heavily gpa focused. If you had a high gre, you could easily make up for a low 3s GPA for your sis score.
And then on top of that if you had a ton of experience and a huge breadth, you could make up for a lower sis score, just like you said up there.

I will admit that I misspoke earlier when I said they didn’t care about academics at all after their cutoff, I was remembering wrong because it’s no longer on their website, just archives, but there WERE ways to make up for a lower GPA or a lower SIS score... which many people did.

They’ve changed their system now but you shouldn’t be rolling your eyes at that because you missed out on it. They also changed their curriculum. They’ve changed a bunch of things. Yeah you can be annoyed you didn’t get into MSU, but you ARE in a vet school now so it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it? I’m sure you certainly wouldn’t drop out of 3rd year and reapply to MSU to start as a first year again.

I’m sure she wouldn’t drop out now and start over at MSU but she still has the right to feel burned over a negative experience she had. She’s not trashing MSU, just sharing her personal experiences with a future colleague.


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[pinkpuppy9]

I’m sure she wouldn’t drop out now and start over at MSU but she still has the right to feel burned over a negative experience she had. She’s not trashing MSU, just sharing her personal experiences with a future colleague.


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Although mathematically, I had calculated at one point that I could have dropped out of Illinois after first year, restarted at MSU, and still come out cheaper than doing all 4 years at Illinois

I'm rolling my eyes because I was quite literally told at one point that MSU would only take a certain type of student, and I wasn't that student...not because 'Oh I should have waited until they changed their system' (not that anyone could have predicted it). Yet it looks like they're moving towards the admissions process of the school that did accept me, so I appreciate the irony there. And they had very specific criteria you had to meet to get the extra SIS points from those 5 categories...but we won't get into that since it's completely irrelevant now.

Certainly not trashing MSU, but yeah, I'm not the only one that had a pretty terrible experience with them. Other schools have their applicants who have salty stories to share, so it's not like it's just MSU or anything. I could honestly talk about this for hours, but yeah, thread hijacked.

 

[KCgophervet]

Only apply to schools that you would attend if they were your only offer.

This.

 

[Mattcj]

How many schools did you guys apply to? I'm aware as far as deciding I should choose the cheapest school, but when applying I find myself wanting to apply to almost all of them just in case I don't get into my instate or I'm offered a scholarship. I'm just unsure how to narrow it down much at this point because I'm flexible as to where I want to live and so many schools look good. I'm at about 15-17 schools right now and I'm obviously looking to cut that down a bit. Any insight on schools that anyone could offer would be helpful.

Hi! I went all nerdy before applying. I created an excel spreadsheet on all the vet schools based upon their required GPAs, GRE scores, how many out of state students get interviewed vs accepted (im in vermont, so no school is my in state). From there I tried to determine the schools I have the best chance for. For example, I wanted to apply to Texas A&M, but they only accept less than 20 out of staters a year, so unless I have a 4.0 GPA and a 160+ on my GRE sections, I didn't apply there. I ended up applying to 10 schools all in all.

 

[Cephal0pod]

That's interesting that some school you can get IS tuition after the first year. Do you know of any others other than Ohio state, Mizzou, NCState?

I think Wisconsin? Can someone else confirm that?

I applied to a total of 3 schools - my IS and two OOS that would allow me to get instate tuition after the first year.

Vet school is a pricey ordeal - it's expensive to apply, it's expensive to travel for interviews, it's expensive to potentially move, and it's expensive to attend. Unless your financial situation is such that cost genuinely isn't a concern for you, think very carefully about all of those variables when deciding where to apply.

 

[SkiOtter]

I think Wisconsin? Can someone else confirm that?

AFAIK Wisconsin doesn’t let you but just has a lower oos tuition rate

 

[Coopah]

That's interesting that some school you can get IS tuition after the first year. Do you know of any others other than Ohio state, Mizzou, NCState? I know that I meet all the pre-reqs because I covered all of them for pretty much all the schools. My strength right now is definitely going to be my GPA vs. experience. I am a D1 athlete however so that is part of the reason my experience isn't quite as high as some. Do you know of schools that take into account GPA more than experience? Thank you so much everyone!

I believe someone already mentioned this. Davis does both of these things. They factor GPA very heavily and invite almost solely on numbers (they don't even consider experience hours as long as you meet their minimum of 180 hours) then admit based ONLY on how well you did on the interview. Plus they allow switching to IS tuition after your first year. The catch here is that living expenses in Davis are fairly high. It might be worth a look. I also applied to a lot of schools and the best way to narrow everything down is the total cost of attendance including living expenses.