Freshman and Exp

[LittleBear2]

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Hi my name is Amy and I am a freshman at my community college. I plan to transfer to USF and get my B.S. in Biology, then hopefully off to Vet school.
I know they look at your previous schools and am worried that having to go to a community college first will look bad /:
as well as keeping my GPA up what else can I do to make myself desirable to be accepted?
Already I have 2250 hours volunteering with exotic animals at my local zoo
500 equine hours
800 hours working at the zoo(not w/ animals)
500 hours working with kids at an elementary school

Its not much but its a start. this month I will start volunteering at the humane society's spay & neuter clinic 2 days a week and in august I start volunteering at Big Cat rescue here in Tampa 2 days a week as well. all while going to school full time.

Is there any advice or pointers for beefing up my profile?

Thanks!

 

[LetItSnow]

Is there any advice or pointers for beefing up my profile?

Welcome to SDN! The community college shouldn't matter. It didn't for me, anyway (I did all my pre-reqs at one.). And in any case, you're txfr'ing to UF, so....

The only advice I have would be to make sure you have *veterinary* hours, not just animal hours. Most of what you listed sounds to me like animal?

 

[jmo1012]

seems like everything i've ever read or heard suggests that vet schools dont particularly care where the classes come from as long as you do well and prove that you can handle a heavy course load. i've heard this isn't true for some of the other pre-professional schools which is a bummer, because its always nice to spread the load out or start education at a CC and then transfer

 

[EllieGirl89]

Eee I love people who go to community college 😀 I went to community college for my first to years and then transfered to Ohio State and am headed to OSU's vet school this fall! So no, CC's are NOT looked down upon as many people think.

I actually played up my CC experience. I talked about what a good decision it was for me financially (it was free for me) and how that showed my foresight and planning. If you got it, flaunt it!

Welcome to SDN!

 

[jsp132]

Eee I love people who go to community college 😀 I went to community college for my first to years and then transfered to Ohio State and am headed to OSU's vet school this fall! So no, CC's are NOT looked down upon as many people think.

I actually played up my CC experience. I talked about what a good decision it was for me financially (it was free for me) and how that showed my foresight and planning. If you got it, flaunt it!

Welcome to SDN!

I totally agree, I went for my first two years at a CC it was a great experience, I learned alot and it wasn't easy for sure.....

There's too much of a stigma which is ashamed, granted some of the laboratories may not be as up to snuff with major universities but overall it was a great experience, and i'd vouch for anyone to go to a cc for there first two years

saves ALOT of money to, also if you have partnerships to 4 year universities like mine did, you get transfer scholarships to save more money

soo.....I think as long as you do well in those classes your well on your way.........imo you have a great start

good luck! just try not to cram too much onto your plate at once

 

[LittleBear2]

Wow thanks for all the replies and welcomes!

The only advice I have would be to make sure you have *veterinary* hours, not just animal hours. Most of what you listed sounds to me like animal?

Yea pretty much just animal. How do I get the vet hours if I do not have the qualifications(or time) for a job? Do alot of vets allow shadowing and volunteering?

 

[jsp132]

Wow thanks for all the replies and welcomes!



Yea pretty much just animal. How do I get the vet hours if I do not have the qualifications(or time) for a job? Do alot of vets allow shadowing and volunteering?

well how it came up was I went to my local veterinarian for a daily checkup, and I asked him how it was like being a vet..........I said I was interested in it

so he goes you can come and shadow me if you want ..........i'm sure there are better ways.............but that's how I found out even about the need to shadow

 

[jmo1012]

i dropped my resume off at places and asked if i could shadow. the resume was simply so theyd have full contact info and could get to know a little bit about me if they wanted. make sure to be persistent and follow up if they dont!

 

[LetItSnow]

How do I get the vet hours if I do not have the qualifications(or time) for a job? Do alot of vets allow shadowing and volunteering?

I think you'll find three *primary* categories for people gaining hours, followed by a few thousand novel and interesting situations in which people managed to accumulate them.

1) A job. A lot of people applying worked as a vet tech, vet assistant, or some such.
2) Shadowing. Many of us just approached a vet or vets and said "I'm trying to get into vet school and am looking for a place to gain some experience to put on my application. Can I shadow you?" I don't remember my total hours, but half of mine were done this way - A smidgen at an equine clinic, another smidgen with a farm vet, and then a TON with a small animal doc. I still shadow her 1.5 days/week because I love it and it's fantastic clinical experience.
3) Volunteering. Some vets may allow you to volunteer. More often they won't because of liability concerns on their part if you manage to get your face chewed off by a fractious cat, so more typically this is done at a shelter or a larger hospital. The other half of my vet hours came this way, doing dog rehab at our university hospital.

You'll find countless variations on those - some people really have found some unique and cool ways to build hours - but I bet those three account for the vast majority of the applicant hours in a given year. I had no qualifications either, so don't let that stop you. 🙂

 

[heylodeb]

I also went to a CC. and VERY VERY excited to be starting vet school in the fall!

I actually did all three things in the list above. 🙂 I showed up at my vet with my dog who had a UTI and asked her if I could shadow her. She said I could and then I asked if I could come agian and maybe help the techs out since they seemed so busy. So then I started volunteering. After I volunteered for a while, they offered me a job. 🙂

 

[LittleBear2]

Would getting my Vet Tech cert be helpful? I can get it at the same time as taking classes for my AA.

 

[LetItSnow]

Would getting my Vet Tech cert be helpful? I can get it at the same time as taking classes for my AA.

Well, it would lead to a job which would lead to hours. So I don't think anyone could say it wouldn't be helpful. I think you ought to consider whether it's an efficient use of your money. I don't know much about vet tech programs, but my impression is that they aren't cheap. If your goal is a DVM, you'd just be adding that much more educational cost burden onto your life, when it probably isn't *necessary*.

So... I dunno. I'm not sure anyone can really answer that question straight up for you, but my gut says that if you're confident about going the dvm route, then vet tech cert isn't likely to be a great use of your time/money.