General information and advice

[raab32]

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Hey everyone, I just registered and I'm glad I found these forums, def seems like an invaluable resource.

Anyway, here's my situation. I'm a sophomore in college right now and, entering school, I was pretty sure I wanted to go pre-med but I started reconsidering this a few months ago. I'm on winter break right now and I've been thinking about my future (and life in general) a good deal. I reached an intricate conclusion about the world that's dripping in existentialist thought that I won't bore you with here lol, but the important part is that I decided that I really want to pursue veterinary medicine.

And that brings me here. Admittedly, I'm fairly uneducated on the topic and I figure this is the best place to ask about it. I'm sure these are all questions you've heard before, but, as a sophomore who just decided to go pre-vet, what kind of things should I be looking to do? I've heard the pre-vet courseload is the same as pre-med, so I think I'm on the right track academics-wise. What kind of volunteer/research opportunities should I be looking at and where can I find them? What is the application process like? And, most importantly, what exactly is being a veterinarian like? And any other pointers you have would be great. Thanks for your help and sorry for the lengthy post lol.

 

[nyanko]

Welcome! 🙂

The application process is well detailed and documented both on these forums and on the AAVMC website. If you peruse this very forum you will see a lot of little tidbits of information and approximate timelines for the different schools based on what people are posting - interview offers, rejections, acceptances, etc. A lot of the vet schools have some different pre-requisites (some maybe oddball like animal science and nutrition) that med schools wouldn't have, so make sure you check the schools to which you are considering applying for these types of things - it'd be advantageous to do it this year, before you're in the application time and have to try to schedule them in a probably already full year. Your in-state school is generally your best shot, but many people here have gotten in at out of state schools while not getting in at their in-state schools so sometimes it can be a little random! Most of the schools will require that you take the GRE general exam so I'd schedule that during your junior year once so that if you do badly you have the time to do it again before the application cycle.

As far as volunteer and research opportunities, obviously one priority should be to look into veterinary clinics in your area, both large and small animal, exotic, etc. You also could check with zoos in your area for volunteering. If you don't already have an idea of what you want to do with a DVM degree (and that's okay!) then these things will be doubly important both for the hours they provide to put on your application (plus the rec letters) AND for the actual experiences themselves, to try to figure out in what direction you'd like to take your degree. Research is always important (in my opinion anyway!) and any kind of biomedical research at your school is probably some good experience for you to have under your belt as well.

I can't speak as to what being a vet is like as I am not one, just a lowly pre-vet currently in the nerve-wracking admissions cycle for Fall 2008. If I missed anything let me know. 😛

 

[lailanni]

. I'm sure these are all questions you've heard before, but, as a sophomore who just decided to go pre-vet, what kind of things should I be looking to do? I've heard the pre-vet courseload is the same as pre-med, so I think I'm on the right track academics-wise. What kind of volunteer/research opportunities should I be looking at and where can I find them? What is the application process like? And, most importantly, what exactly is being a veterinarian like? And any other pointers you have would be great. Thanks for your help and sorry for the lengthy post lol.

Nyanko gave a good summary 🙂

Check if your school has a pre-vet advisor, they can usually help with most questions. If you schedule an appointment with them, they can walk you through the pre-vet stuff and details about your in-state school if you have one.

As most people know around here, I'm a HUGE advocate of getting experience in the vet field. There are many, many kinds different jobs for vets. Clinics, research, wildlife, behavior, food animals, etc etc.

Get involved hands on as much as possible to make sure vet med is for you. It's a long, expensive, and very time consuming process - experience in the field will let you know if this is something you want to do.

In the US, most (if not all?) schools have a requirement for animal experience hours. Generally applicants have hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of experience with vet med. See if you can shadow/volunteer/work at your local clinic. Get involved with research, if that's of interest to you.

You will need at least one letter of recomendation from a DVM, so the sooner you can establish a relationship with clinic/DVM/vet researcher, the better.

Let us know if you have any questions - we're a friendly lot for the most part 🙂

 

[RaptorRehaber]

My advice:

Once you get a job or an opportunity to get a little hands on, have someone teach you how to express anals. if you can handle that beautiful task, then you should be golden. 🙂

I'd also recommend that you do some research and really assess your interest in the field. After three years of working with small animals, I got burnt out on designer breeds and their rich owners, so I started freaking out and thought I should go into human nursing instead. After about six months and a new job working with raptors, I realized it was just a lapse in judgment and that nursing was definitely something I didn't want to do. Animal medicine is disgusting, the owners are cranky and the patients are mute, you have to really be passionate about it. It's not for people who simply "like animals", it's certainly a commitment. If you're really interested, you'll absolutely love the challenges it brings.

 

[pressmom]

I started later too, in fact, even after I already finished undergrad. Here's how I got experience:

First, I called up my personal vet to see if she would take on a shadow to see what she did. They allowed me to come in once a week at first, but when they saw that I was willing to do the dirty work, they invited me to come in whenever.

Then, I started volunteering at my local SPCA shelter. It was great to get an idea of how to work with difficult dogs, cats and rabbits (as well as the good ones!)

I was eventually hired on at the vet I was shadowing as a room tech/assistant and receptionist. This allowed me to go in rooms, restrain, run bloodwork and urinalysis (some of which I'd been doing as a shadow), draw blood and read fecals.

Then I started volunteering at a wildlife clinic to get diversity experience. This was a major turning point for me and sparked my interest in exotics, so I began shadowing at an all-exotics pet clinic. (Moral of this story is that even if you think you're small animal, research, equine, whatever, go for those odd experiences because you never know what you'll like!)

I did 100 hours of equine the next summer to make sure that isn't what I wanted to do. (And it isn't! No offense to horsey people!) I also took a class through an animal science department at a school that allowed me to work with food animals, so I'd feel comfortable working with them in vet school.

I moved and was hired as a tech again at a small animal clinic and was given more responsibility such as taking and developing x-rays and running anesthesia.

Then I got into vet school! YAY! And here I am. This summer I'm going to try to get some research experience to see if I like that, but I have a feeling I'm going to end up a clinical person. But it really is important to just dive in wherever you can and try to be as diverse as possible. Go for one deep experience in the field you are most interested in and other "diversity" experiences.

Also, I got all this 1200+ hours I had of experience in just over 2 years while going to school full or part time. So it is possible to do it in the time you have a available. Just make sure you're taking the right pre-reqs for the schools you are applying for. Good luck!