Few questions from a high school student

[Visionist]

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I will be finishing grade 11 in about a week and a half, I have an average of 91 currently. I am very interested in becoming a vet and until recently I though I was going to go into Computer Science, but I just can't give up doing what I really want to do, I have always had a passion for animals and I want to pursue that. There is one problem, I will only have one grade 12 science when I graduate as I am doing grade 12 biology next year. I could take Biology and earth systems(a grade 12 science that has no grade 11 per-requisite) at the same time, but I am not sure if that would satisfy the two sciences requirement most programs have.

I am in Newfoundland, Canada and I was looking at http://nsac.ca/prevet/ since there is no pre-vet program anywhere locally. Would I be better served to take an undergrad in Biology or the like at Memorial university locally and then apply to Vet school from there? The only thing that worries me about that is getting the experience hours. If the Biology program at mun requires two sciences I can satisfy that with earth systems and biology as Mun accepts earth systems.

Can anyone give me some advice? Would a biology degree satisfy the requirements for the 4 vet schools in Canada?

 

[PetPony]

Just look at the vet school websites to see what the requirements are to apply. Do the same for undergrad. What you take in high school is only important for applying to an undergrad school.

It also doesn't matter what your major is as long as you meet the prerequisites.

I can't really help much more than that because I don't know much about Canadian schools.

 

[Escalla]

Since you are from Newfoundland, the only school you are eligible to apply for is AVC due to residency requirements. The other 4 schools (for a total of 5) each have specific provinces that they take students from.

A Biology degree would satisfy the requirements, but a full degree isn't required. Take a look at the AVC website and see what their prerequisites are. You have to be careful with substituting prerequisites when applying for vet school. So your best bet would be to write down what the specific requirements for AVC are and see if they are offered by the university you want to go to (just to make sure). If there are any questions as to whether they would be accepted or not, I would email the admissions department at the school. They will know for sure.

Hope this helps! 🙂

 

[Visionist]

Since you are from Newfoundland, the only school you are eligible to apply for is AVC due to residency requirements. The other 4 schools (for a total of 5) each have specific provinces that they take students from.

A Biology degree would satisfy the requirements, but a full degree isn't required. Take a look at the AVC website and see what their prerequisites are. You have to be careful with substituting prerequisites when applying for vet school. So your best bet would be to write down what the specific requirements for AVC are and see if they are offered by the university you want to go to (just to make sure). If there are any questions as to whether they would be accepted or not, I would email the admissions department at the school. They will know for sure.

Hope this helps! 🙂

I can only apply to one school? Well damn.. AVC only takes 2 students from Newfoundland...I would probably be best off to just take the full biology degree in case I don't get into vet school.

Can I apply to any of the schools in the U.S? Or do they only take students from certain states?

 

[Emiloo4]

I can only apply to one school? Well damn.. AVC only takes 2 students from Newfoundland...I would probably be best off to just take the full biology degree in case I don't get into vet school.

Can I apply to any of the schools in the U.S? Or do they only take students from certain states?

Correct me if I'm wrong someone, but yes you can apply to state schools, you just have to write the GRE. And it is about 4 times more expensive for you to go to the states (literally 4😱).

 

[Coquette22]

It's 3 from Newfoundland now. But they don't get a ton of applications from Newfoundland either, so don't let that discourage you. It was either last year or the year before, they had 7 applications from Newfoundland. 3 acceptances for 7 or 8 spots are pretty good odds, if you ask me. Your chances of getting in to AVC are far higher then getting in as an out of state student at an American school, not to mention the tuition difference ($12,000-ish a year at AVC, vs $30,000-$50,000 for out of state American students at American schools).

You don't have to go to NSAC. As long as you fulfill the pre-requisites, you don't need to do a "pre-vet" program. Two of the Newfoundlanders in my class went to Memorial. Given the ridiculously low tuition at Memorial, GO THERE. I mean, the decision is ultimately where you think you'll be happy, but don't let "pre-vet" sway you. I went to Dalhousie and did a degree in Biology. I did a year at NSAC, thinking I needed a "pre-vet" school. The school wasn't a good fit for me though, and I was so much happier at Dalhousie.

 

[Escalla]

I can only apply to one school? Well damn.. AVC only takes 2 students from Newfoundland...I would probably be best off to just take the full biology degree in case I don't get into vet school.

Can I apply to any of the schools in the U.S? Or do they only take students from certain states?

That's exactly what my thought was when I first started university at the University of Calgary (although Alberta has 52 seats between UCVM and WCVM 🙄). You can most definitely apply to the U.S.!!! In fact, that's what I did. The GRE is required by AVC anyways, so it wouldn't take much to apply down south as well.

The cons of being a Canadian and going to school in the U.S. (which I know all too well since I completed my undergrad in Minnesota 😉 ):

1. $$$$$$$$$$$ - you're not eligible for in-state tuition and therefore pay a very large amount to go to vet school. Kansas State accepted me, but I will be paying ~$44,000 to go there versus ~$8-10, 000 to attend UCVM/WCVM each year.
2. The application process is also more expensive.
3. You need special permission to work on-campus -- but that's it. You cannot go and get a normal job.
4. Travel expenses - international flights are more expensive than domestic ones.

That being said, they have waaaay more spots than we do. So it never hurts to apply! 🙂

 

[Visionist]

It's 3 from Newfoundland now. But they don't get a ton of applications from Newfoundland either, so don't let that discourage you. It was either last year or the year before, they had 7 applications from Newfoundland. 3 acceptances for 7 or 8 spots are pretty good odds, if you ask me. Your chances of getting in to AVC are far higher then getting in as an out of state student at an American school, not to mention the tuition difference ($12,000-ish a year at AVC, vs $30,000-$50,000 for out of state American students at American schools).

You don't have to go to NSAC. As long as you fulfill the pre-requisites, you don't need to do a "pre-vet" program. Two of the Newfoundlanders in my class went to Memorial. Given the ridiculously low tuition at Memorial, GO THERE. I mean, the decision is ultimately where you think you'll be happy, but don't let "pre-vet" sway you. I went to Dalhousie and did a degree in Biology. I did a year at NSAC, thinking I needed a "pre-vet" school. The school wasn't a good fit for me though, and I was so much happier at Dalhousie.

Thanks for the kind words, that is almost a 43% acceptance rate. Ouch...that is a LOT of money...I think I will stick with doing a biology degree at Mun first.

 

[Escalla]

Thanks for the kind words, that is almost a 43% acceptance rate. Ouch...that is a LOT of money...I think I will stick with doing a biology degree at Mun first.

43% might seem low right now, but I promise, that's a great chance for vet school. 😀

 

[Coquette22]

43% might seem low right now, but I promise, that's a great chance for vet school. 😀

Yep. Nova Scotia's odds for AVC are usually around 25%, PEI and NB fall somewhere in the middle. And I seem to recall that OOS acceptance rates for the American schools are really really low. Randomly picking Texas here, they had 98 out of state applications. Only 8 of those were accepted.

 

[Escalla]

Yep. Nova Scotia's odds for AVC are usually around 25%, PEI and NB fall somewhere in the middle. And I seem to recall that OOS acceptance rates for the American schools are really really low. Randomly picking Texas here, they had 98 out of state applications. Only 8 of those were accepted.

Depends on where you go in the U.S. -- you happened to pick one of the schools with the fewest OOS seats in the country. 😛

The odds aren't better, but more schools in total adds to your chances of vet school in general.

 

[Visionist]

I was actually pleased to hear 43% acceptance rate. That really boosts my confidence. I think what I may do is just apply after I finish my second year of University, if I don't make it its no big deal, I will just finish my biology degree and then apply again. I am pretty sure that MUN meets the requirements http://www.mun.ca/biology/undergrad/scan001.pdf

What is the GRE?

Required Courses (50%)
A total of 50 points of the applicant score will be based upon grades attained in the 20 required courses (15 specified and 5 electives with the highest grades). These 50 points will be calculated as follows:​

a) 30% or 15 points from the average of the four biological science prerequisite courses, including Genetics, Microbiology, and two animal Biology electives;​

b) 70% or 35 points from grades in the remaining 16 required courses as listed:​

• 2 Math courses (one being statistics)
• 3 Chemistry courses (one being Organic Chemistry)
• 1 Physics course
• 2 English courses (1 being Composition)
• 3 Humanities and/or Social Sciences
• 5 Electives in any area

Normally, these courses must be completed while the applicant is enrolled as a full-time student carrying at least 9 semester-hours credit (3 courses), excluding labs. Science courses will normally have a laboratory component and be completed within six years of the date of application. Exceptional circumstances will be given consideration; however, it is necessary for all applicants to demonstrate the ability to master difficult subject matter in the context of meaningful full-time activity.

 

[Coquette22]

I was actually pleased to hear 43% acceptance rate. That really boosts my confidence. I think what I may do is just apply after I finish my second year of University, if I don't make it its no big deal, I will just finish my biology degree and then apply again.

That's what most people do. If at any time, you're choosing university courses and you're not sure if you're on the right track, don't hesitate to e-mail AVC to make sure. 🙂 Your experience hours and extra-curriculars can go back 5 years, so make sure you're logging everything now. Summer jobs, volunteering, school clubs, vet/animal experience, etc.

ETA: Cross-posted, I was posting the same info you did. The GRE is the Graduate Records Exam. There's a writing section, a verbal/vocabulary/reading comprehension section and a math section. http://www.ets.org/gre/

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me!

 

[hopefulinva]

Just putting in my two cents - one of the doctors I work with (the one who wrote my letter of recommendation, in fact 😀 ) was a Computer Science major in college. It's definitely doable!

It's in fact very helpful, because we do our records entirely on the computer, so when things get finicky she can help us out. =)