From Med to Vet School?

[ndmed]

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I am currently a first year in med school and have lately been re-examining my career choices. I am doing fine academically in med school right now and course work etc, is not really an issue. I just sometimes seriously wonder if I would enjoy becoming a vet rather than continuing on my path to becoming a physician.

What I'm really wondering is if anybody could give me a better idea of what vet school is like and what steps one has to take after school to solidify their career? Also, what steps does one have to take to apply/be accepted to a program.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[Angelo84]

I am not sure what you mean by solidify your career. Once you graduate vet school and pass the national boards (and your state boards) you are licensed to practice. If you want to you can do an internship (usually one year at low pay). If you want to specialize you can then do a residency (3 yrs?) and then sit your specialty boards. As far as applying to vet school you likely have most of the courses already from medical school. Schools differ to some extent most require a year of general chemistry, organic (one or two semsters depending on school), a year of physics, statistics/calculus, some english composition. A few school require animal nutrition or genetics. Aplication open in the end of June and are due October 1st for the following fall matriculation. You also need a decent amount of experience in the field of veterinary medicine. You pretty much need some clinical experience and more is never bad. Research experience is good too. You might want to check out the pre-vet forum as well.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Think very carefully about why you are leaning in this direction. Why specifically do you think you would enjoy it more?

Vet school IS med school - except we do animals, and multiple species which are all different. It sometimes seems like going to medical school multiple times ! 🙂

I myself had a tough time choosing between med and vetmed...I'm a bit pushed for time right now so I can't expand but I would be glad to discuss with you over PM - feel free!! 🙂

 

[Bill59]

How familiar are you with vet. med? Have you ever worked with a veterinarian or at a veterinary hospital? If not, you need to. For two reasons.

1.To make sure that's what you really want to do. Just like human medicine, there's the general public perception of what it's like to be a veterinarian and then there's the reality.

2. You will probably have a hard time getting accepted into vet. school if you don't have some veterinary experience. The schools also have a vested interest in their students knowing what they're getting into.