General Questions

[nsdhfk]

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[alonepear]

What schools are the best for those who want to go into specialties like surgery later on?

Unsure if any one school is better for this.

To be board certified, do you have to complete a 2 year internship AND a 3-4 year residency, or just the residency?

From what I understand, you pretty much need to do an internship (1-2 years) to get a residency.

How are you paying for your school if you don’t get government funding and you can’t afford to pay out of pocket?

Every member of my class was eligible for the full amount offered by government financial aid, regardless of how much they made beforehand (or their family). No one is expected to fork over $20-some grand a semester out of pocket!

What’s different about life in veterinary school as opposed to undergrad, what’s better/worse, any regrets/suggestions?

For me, I never cared much about grades in undergrad, so being around all these people who get extremely worked up about every test is really pushing me to try really hard for good grades too. Also, for the most part everyone is a lot more mature and professional, minus a few classmates who are permanently stuck on "high school" mode.

For those attending these schools:

I have a GPA 3.7 and GRE close to 1500, but my animal experience is lacking (about 400 hours), assuming my recommendations and essays are good, what are the chances of getting admitted into Penn, Cornell, Champaign, Colorado?

My experience with Penn is that you need tip-top grades to be considered for out-of-state, which you seem to have (or just a family member that has donated a large sum of money to them!) Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) was really interested in a well-rounded person, for instance my grades were nowhere near as good as yours, but I had a lot of varied experience, and they offered me admission. Unsure about the other two, but they're both considered "top tier" in a lot of people's minds.

 

[silverelf]

don't bother applying to penn if you don't have research. i had similar gpa/gre stats and didn't even get an interview from them. i had 2000+ hours of clinical experience, but no research experience. plenty of other schools didn't care, but penn interviewed/accepted a lot of kids that i knew that had lower stats but had research. The app process with penn really turned me off to their program...there is more to being a vet than reading gels in a lab. but anyways, that's my 2 cents on penn out of state

 

[Emio]

the specialties are just that - specializations. everyone graduates from vet school with the same basic understanding of animal medicine (obviously some schools offer say, more exotic electives than others). after that, you can (a) go straight into practice, (b)take a one year internship and THEN practice, or (c) take a one year internship and then specialize in a field of interest by doing a 3-4 year residency, doing research, and passing the board exam, and THEN practice.

i too was under the impression that the $40k in stafford loans was guaranteed for students. it not only pays for school, but the refund should cover most other expenses like rent, utilities, books, and food.

dude... vet school is so much better than undergrad, in my opinion. yeah, there's some drama, just because you're sitting in a classroom for 8 hours with the same 100 people day in and day out. but they're *all* animal people, and they're *all* medicine/science-oriented people. i think it's great; my roommates probably think i'm a sap, lol.

my only regret was going to a private school and coming in with 80 grand in debt.

my gpa was less than yours (3.5) and a similar gre, and i was denied cornell, but accepted at penn (i'm also a pa resident). penn has a really high percentage of its class from oos, but you'd be competing against a phenomenally high number of oos applicants. you're academics are fantastic; of what type was your 400 hours? if its pet sitting, no i don't think your chances are great, even with the great scores. if its research and/or emergency clinic work, or maybe even if its a great variety of experiences, i think you have a shot. are your good recs from at least one vet that you've worked closely with?

sorry that was so long-winded. hope some of it was helpful.

 

[nsdhfk]

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[Electrophile]

You sound a lot like me about 1 year ago to this date...I had a TON of lab animal hours (1 year of undergrad and 3 years of grad school will do that to you), some zoo vet and some small animal hours, but NO large animal hours. GET LARGE/FOOD ANIMAL HOURS AND BE AT LEAST OPEN TO DOING MIXED PRACTICE! That is the best piece of advice that was given to me and I think that really helped me get in as I don't have super duper stellar grades (3.3 both in undergrad and grad school). At first I was like, "ugh, cows, whatever..." but really, after I shadowed with a mixed practice vet for about 15 hours a week for like 2-3 months, it really made me not mind the cows so much!

Everyone on the admissions committee knows there is a massive large animal shortage and this is what the mixed practice vet told me: if you say you want to do small animal, you are going to have to have super stellar everything. But if you tell them you want to be a pig vet, you could be the dumbest SOB in the surrounding 3 counties and they'll be like "come on in!"

I'm not saying lie to the committee or on your application, but get yourself a little more breadth and they'll really like that. And you might find something else you like and don't mind doing. If you want to be a zoo vet, just remember that a lot of the animals you're going to be treating are rather like exotic cattle or goats or whatever. Well, not quite, but just keep it in perspective.

Another faculty member of the vet school here had a chat with me right around this time last year and he was like, 80% of those applying to vet school are white females and 90% of those 80% want to do small animal. Don't be caught in that percentage unless you're just about perfect in every other way!

 

[Pigsfoot]

: /

 

[Pigsfoot]

uhh..i wanna be a pig vet. pigs are the best!
seriously...

 

[Electrophile]

I likewise love our swine friends large and small, but it's not widely considered the most glamourous or most highly desired specialty by most.

 

[Bill59]

To be board certified, do you have to complete a 2 year internship AND a 3-4 year residency, or just the residency?

To become board certified you have to successfully complete an approved residency (3 years usually) and pass the other criteria -- examinations, sometimes publications and/or case reports.

To get a residency it's very helpful to have completed a 1-year rotating internship. Technically this is not usually required, rather they will say something like "a rotating internship or equivalent experience?".

But for the more competitive residencies (and small animal surgery is quite competitive) you better plan on a rotating internship. In fact, many successful applicants have a rotating internship and a surgery internship.

The school you obtained your DVM (or equivalent degree) is not that important for residency as all the AVMA-approved schools are considered to be excellent by most residency selection committees.

 

[nsdhfk]

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[chipster]

don't bother applying to penn if you don't have research. i had similar gpa/gre stats and didn't even get an interview from them. i had 2000+ hours of clinical experience, but no research experience. plenty of other schools didn't care, but penn interviewed/accepted a lot of kids that i knew that had lower stats but had research. The app process with penn really turned me off to their program...there is more to being a vet than reading gels in a lab. but anyways, that's my 2 cents on penn out of state

id have to disagree about needing research experience to get into penn. I got into Penn with a lower GPA than that of nsdhfk and I only had about 200 more hours. im also out of state. so its definitely possible, go for it and never give up.