Getting incredibly nervous.

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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Boidae

Boidae

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Less than two months until I go away to pre-vet/vet tech school and I'm getting incredibly scared that I'm going to fail. I've had such a hard time with math and now I have to take it again, and if I don't maintain a 3.25 GPA I'll be booted from the program completely. They put me in the honors program which requires the same GPA plus community service and honors classes. I'm praying to god that I can focus better when I'm in my own dorm at school because it seems like working constantly is what distracts me.

I know vet school will entail the same pressures but I'm so scared that I won't pull it together and I'll waste all this money. :scared: Is anyone else getting the jitters? Maybe I should start studying now to try to be ahead of the game.
 
What school are you going to? Mercy? (I saw that you're in NY)
 
Yes, I'm going to Mercy. 🙂 It has a beautiful campus and thankfully I have my own dorm but bleh, that's a lot of money I'm throwing around.
 
I did my pre-reqs there, but as a Bio major 🙂 They have an excellent science program! Just get to know your professors, make use of the Learning Center and study. You'll do fine. Let me know what books you need! I have a few that I can let you take for cheap if you need them ;-) And if you have questions about certain profs, etc. ask away!
 
ChittyBang said:
I did my pre-reqs there, but as a Bio major 🙂 They have an excellent science program! Just get to know your professors, make use of the Learning Center and study. You'll do fine. Let me know what books you need! I have a few that I can let you take for cheap if you need them ;-) And if you have questions about certain profs, etc. ask away!
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Thank you so much!!! I'll definitely take you up on that when my profs. finally tell me what books I need. I'm hoping everything will turn out alright if I work hard and don't screw around.
 
Part of being a good pre-vet student is taking every opportunity available that will help you. Very few of us are good at everything. I can tell you that I struggle in ALL my classes. I have a different learning style then most people and I am slow at learning new concepts. Because I know this, I use a lot of tutors and the writing center. It takes so much extra time but I would not have been able to get As in my classes without help. Also, being nervous is not good either. I always do worse on tests that I am incrediably nervous about just because I second guess myself and then change right answers to wrong ones.
 
ChittyBang said:
Go to the bookstore's website and enter in your courses to find out what books you need so that you're ahead of the game:

http://www.bkstr.com/webapp/wcs/sto...gId=-1&demoKey=d&storeId=11553&MobileOptOut=1

Good luck! 😀 👍
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WHAT I didn't even know this existed! 😀 Thank you again!

@Orion: God, it's so good to hear someone say that. I'm not being a jerk or anything but it's nice to know that there are I guess... "normal" people attempting vet school, not just insanely smart people who can coast through the classes. The Khan Academy has honestly helped me so much and someone here showed it to me. I guess I just need to slow down and relax.
 
Boidae said:
@Orion: God, it's so good to hear someone say that. I'm not being a jerk or anything but it's nice to know that there are I guess... "normal" people attempting vet school, not just insanely smart people who can coast through the classes. The Khan Academy has honestly helped me so much and someone here showed it to me. I guess I just need to slow down and relax.
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Bah, that's just what people want you to think. Funny thing about people, we usually don't like to show off weaknesses to others. Don't let em fool you into thinking you're any less smart/hardworking/clever/motivated/whatever the feck else than other people, and that includes your peers.
 
Frozenshades said:
Bah, that's just what people want you to think. Funny thing about people, we usually don't like to show off weaknesses to others. Don't let em fool you into thinking you're any less smart/hardworking/clever/motivated/whatever the feck else than other people, and that includes your peers.
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👍
 
Thank you again guys. I seriously feel so much better and I can finally relax. I have a feeling these forums are gonna become a common place for me over the next four years... 😛
 
Frozenshades said:
Bah, that's just what people want you to think. Funny thing about people, we usually don't like to show off weaknesses to others. Don't let em fool you into thinking you're any less smart/hardworking/clever/motivated/whatever the feck else than other people, and that includes your peers.
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Awesome Frozenshades! 👍👍👍


.... I LOVED khan academy!! 😍 tutorcircle.com too!
 
I graduated from mercy with a degree in biology and will be attending veterinary school in 1 month. Started in the pre-vet/tech program there, and my advice would be to switch your major to a science. Please feel free to message me if you would like to ask any questions!
 
shannon1414 said:
I graduated from mercy with a degree in biology and will be attending veterinary school in 1 month. Started in the pre-vet/tech program there, and my advice would be to switch your major to a science. Please feel free to message me if you would like to ask any questions!
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👍 👍 👍

I didn't want to say it, but YES. When I started there my "advisor" tried manipulating me into the LVT/pre-vet program and I refused after researching pre-reqs. General opinion is that that program just wants $$$. Do what's right for you, but just keep in mind that vet schools don't necessarily care if you took those tech courses.
 
Boidae said:
WHAT I didn't even know this existed! 😀 Thank you again!

@Orion: God, it's so good to hear someone say that. I'm not being a jerk or anything but it's nice to know that there are I guess... "normal" people attempting vet school, not just insanely smart people who can coast through the classes. The Khan Academy has honestly helped me so much and someone here showed it to me. I guess I just need to slow down and relax.
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Oh man. If I can make into vet school, anyone can. Seriously, I worked really hard to get there.
 
I have the SAME problem with math. I'm really good at the normal stuff, like history and English and whatnot, but pretty much all of that is done and now it's all science/math. But like I said, it's so great to hear that I'm not alone.

Gosh, now I'm regretting Mercy... SUNY Albany is half an hour away from me but I don't want to go there because the school is enormous. 🙁 Plus Mercy accepted me into their honors program which I'm hoping will make me look a bit more impressive to schools. I went for the pre-vet/tech degree because of the guaranteed admittance to Ross. You guys think I should just drop it and go to straight biology?

Honestly, I only picked this school because of that dual degree and the fact that it's really little. There's definitely cheaper options... but I figure I'll be up to my eyeballs in debt either way. Blehhh.
 
Boidae said:
I have the SAME problem with math. I'm really good at the normal stuff, like history and English and whatnot, but pretty much all of that is done and now it's all science/math. But like I said, it's so great to hear that I'm not alone.

Gosh, now I'm regretting Mercy... SUNY Albany is half an hour away from me but I don't want to go there because the school is enormous. 🙁 Plus Mercy accepted me into their honors program which I'm hoping will make me look a bit more impressive to schools. I went for the pre-vet/tech degree because of the guaranteed admittance to Ross. You guys think I should just drop it and go to straight biology?

Honestly, I only picked this school because of that dual degree and the fact that it's really little. There's definitely cheaper options... but I figure I'll be up to my eyeballs in debt either way. Blehhh.
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Ross is extremely expensive.. just a thought. Which I'm sure you know. 🙂
 
Yeah I know :/ I liked being guaranteed admission, really. I don't know how I'm gonna get hands-on experience when I'm away at school either. Everyone around here shoos me away but the program at Mercy apparently lets you go to zoos and different offices and stuff.
 
Boidae said:
Yeah I know :/ I liked being guaranteed admission, really. I don't know how I'm gonna get hands-on experience when I'm away at school either. Everyone around here shoos me away but the program at Mercy apparently lets you go to zoos and different offices and stuff.
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I got all my vet experience over breaks, mostly summers, and that's with taking summer classes over one break. I still had approximately 1000 hours of experience by the time I applied since I'd been working at it since the summer after freshman year in undergrad. If you can get some experience through school, it might be a good way to get your foot in the door while you're home over breaks.
 
equineconstant said:
I got all my vet experience over breaks, mostly summers, and that's with taking summer classes over one break. I still had approximately 1000 hours of experience by the time I applied since I'd been working at it since the summer after freshman year in undergrad. If you can get some experience through school, it might be a good way to get your foot in the door while you're home over breaks.
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👍

Sometimes it seems like an insurmountable obstacle when you first start but it really isn't. This August will make 3 years ago that I started undergrad. I had zero vet experience. Manage your time, look for every opportunity. You can do it.
 
Boidae said:
Gosh, now I'm regretting Mercy... SUNY Albany is half an hour away from me but I don't want to go there because the school is enormous. 🙁 Plus Mercy accepted me into their honors program which I'm hoping will make me look a bit more impressive to schools. I went for the pre-vet/tech degree because of the guaranteed admittance to Ross. You guys think I should just drop it and go to straight biology?
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I would think that most people in that program want to go to Ross. A friend of mine is at Ross now, from Mercy, but just did their pre-reqs. You have time to decide. You seem to really like the school so go. Enjoy dorm life, talk to professors and other students (talk to vet schools too) and change majors after a semester or two if you want. Just keep in mind that Mercy will most likely try to persuade you to stay in tech program. Oh! And know that the tech program requires 3 credit Biochem, but most vet schools want the 4 credit. Take the 4 credit.
 
Will do! I'm gonna take as many of the higher-level courses as possible. Also, you guys got me to go look at my current degree evaluation and I looked at some prereqs for different vet schools. Can anyone help me out with this? I don't know if I've met anything or... they tend to lump a lot of stuff together.

Communications
ENGL 111 & ENGL 112 complete - 6 credits (A & B)

Speech
SPCM 110 (Oral communications) - 3 credits (Taking this semester)

Mathematics
MATH 116 - 3 credits (Taking this semester)

Lit & Communications
ENGL 202 (Business writing) - 3 credits (A)

History/Global Perspectives
HIST 105 - 3 credits (A)

Social Perspectives
PSYN 101 - 3 credits (B)

The Arts
ARTT 107 - 3 credits (Taking this semester)

Core Liberal Arts (? I don't know why they separate this.)
HIST 106 - 3 credits (A)
SPAN 115 - 2 credits (Taking this semester because I don't remember any freaking Spanish so 116 might be too big of a leap.)

Electives
OOEE 111 - 3 credits (B) (This was the Animal Law class I took at community college.)
PSYN 312 - 3 credits (B)

Am I on the right track? Is anything I'm currently taking a waste of time? Mercy is forcing me to take a foreign language but I don't think I saw it on any of the prereqs... I have 6 total history credits as they were part of a one-year class I took in high school. I took several of these in high school, actually...
 
Looks good so far. Based on this I'd think you really only had the sciences and a math/stats course left to do for most schools. What sciences do they have you taking in the fall?
 
Yeah that's what I figured. Thank god; I'm so sick of English.

I'm not taking any sciences this semester. 🙁 I have to complete College Algebra before they let me into the Bio class I need. Next spring I intend on taking regular biology and Spanish 116 to fulfill my speech requirement. Dunno what else though... I took a screencap of the current pre-vet curriculum though!

mercyvet_zps70cbe63f.png
 
I don't know about your specific program, but the way I picked my classes in undergrad was by looking up the requirements at my IS and making sure I would meet those. There were some schools I couldn't apply to because I was missing classes (largely genetics compounded by not being sure if my psych stats class would be accepted for statistics, but some also wanted animal nutrition, animal science, or "technical writing" [Texas!]), but I just saw that as a way to narrow down my school choices. If you want to broaden you application possibilities, definitely take those stats and genetics electives; not having genetics cut my school choices to about 8. Some schools also require a certain number of credits of biochem that a single semester may not suffice, so you might want to look into that.
 
equineconstant said:
I don't know about your specific program, but the way I picked my classes in undergrad was by looking up the requirements at my IS and making sure I would meet those. There were some schools I couldn't apply to because I was missing classes (largely genetics compounded by not being sure if my psych stats class would be accepted for statistics, but some also wanted animal nutrition, animal science, or "technical writing" [Texas!]), but I just saw that as a way to narrow down my school choices. If you want to broaden you application possibilities, definitely take those stats and genetics electives; not having genetics cut my school choices to about 8. Some schools also require a certain number of credits of biochem that a single semester may not suffice, so you might want to look into that.
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Yes, I will, thank you! Unfortunately my IS school is Cornell which... lol, I'm not sure if I'm quite Cornell material. I wish because my grandfather would probably cry if I got into Cornell but... yeah, I went through and did comparisons and I think I'm on the right track. I honestly don't know which school in particular I want so I'll just take as many classes as I can to try to compensate for what I may miss! Biochem seems to be really high up there.

A few schools want physics without lab. Weird...
 
Boidae said:
A few schools want physics without lab. Weird...
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I wouldn't think a physics lab would be a negative, though. Maybe just they need however many credits not including the lab credit(s) so the lab isn't necessary for them?
 
equineconstant said:
I wouldn't think a physics lab would be a negative, though. Maybe just they need however many credits not including the lab credit(s) so the lab isn't necessary for them?
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That's what I'd imagine. Still weird though... some of them refer to it as a "lecture series" so maybe it's different somehow? My manager at work is going to school to become a math teacher and he took a six week physics class without lab over the summer. He said it was brutal which is not nice to hear from a guy who loves math.
 
I'm terribly sorry for the double post but I have another question... I've been considering my animal experience and I was wondering if I could put my copious amounts of reptile care. I've been breeding snakes for the past two years, as well as rats to feed said snakes. Is this the kind of thing I could put on my future application? I've owned pretty much every type of animal: mammal, reptile, amphibian, bird, etc. I actually owned two pigeons that I bred and trained to come home at night.

I've done so much animal breeding since I graduated high school lolol. I love baby animals; that's my problem. The only thing I have zero experience with is large animals. I would say exotics are my strongest point, specifically reptiles. Can I add that I've trained my family's dogs as well? I've done so much pet sitting and walking, too.

I'm just not sure how the hole hours thing works. Do they request proof? I have some pictures of my animal's offspring but obviously not too much of the other stuff.
 
Breeding should go on your app IMO. But the rule of thumb for animal care is to be conservative. As far as pets go, the only thing on my app that I put was the time I spent caring for my dachshund after her back sx, and I was super careful about the number of hours.

(also, no one cares about your double post 😀)
 
Okie dokie! 😀 What's the most important thing? Actual hours under a veterinarian? I'm going to wait to harass them next summer when I'm done with my first year of school. Obviously a lot of people going to vet school owned animals so I'd understand why they wouldn't give a crap about how many I owned.
 
Boidae said:
Okie dokie! 😀 What's the most important thing? Actual hours under a veterinarian? I'm going to wait to harass them next summer when I'm done with my first year of school. Obviously a lot of people going to vet school owned animals so I'd understand why they wouldn't give a crap about how many I owned.
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Veterinary hours are most important. But animal hours are important too. I don't want to downplay those, just pet owning like you said. For example I volunteered at a zoo, and while those didn't count as vet, they were really cool animal hours. Leadership can be important too, and while some of mine came from vet experience, like training new techs, a lot came from things like TAing for me. And possibly research hours.
 
Abney said:
Veterinary hours are most important. But animal hours are important too. I don't want to downplay those, just pet owning like you said. For example I volunteered at a zoo, and while those didn't count as vet, they were really cool animal hours. Leadership can be important too, and while some of mine came from vet experience, like training new techs, a lot came from things like TAing for me. And possibly research hours.
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Now does a lot of those research hours come from actual work in college? That's what I was assuming but am I wrong?

I'm just going to relax and wait until I go to Mercy. There's a wolf sanctuary not far away as well as a raptor sanctuary. Long Island has a ton of different zoos and animal rehab places that I'm way too far from. I'm at an odd spot in NY that keeps me two or so hours from the nearest horse sanctuary and even further from everything else. It sucks but I'm not even in school yet so I'm not sweating it too much.
 
I see! I'll have to talk with mine when I finally get to school. 🙂

I started panicking today over my classes and worried I'd have to drop out of Mercy but I went home and literally wrote out my entire plan for undergrad. Well, the classes, at least. I've never felt more relieved than I do right now.

OUTLINE FOR SCHOOL
Fall 2013- Spanish, Speech, Algebra, Art, Freshman Seminar (12 credits)
Spring 2014- Bio 1, Chem 1, Spanish 2, VETC 101 (15 credits)
Fall 2014- Bio 2, Chem 2, Physics 1, Toxicology (16 credits)
Spring 2015- Organic Chem 1, Physics 2, Ethics, Anatomy (15 credits)
Fall 2015- Organic Chem 2, Microbiology, Junior seminar, Physiology (15 credits)
Spring 2016- Four VETC classes +externship left (16 credits, unsure of externship)
Fall 2016- Biochem, Genetics, Nutrition, Precalc (16 credits)
Should be done & have prereqs complete in three years! Leaves one more year to complete more stuff if Mercy will permit it and/or I’m rejected from vet school.
Spring 2017- Stats, Calculus, Pathophysiology, Immunology (16 credits)

What I have left besides science:
Junior seminar- 3 credits
Language- 3 credits
Ethics- 3 credits

Stuff I’ve already completed:
ENGL 101 & 102 – English comp
ENGL 202 – Business writing
HIST 105 & 106 – American history
PSYN 101 – Intro to psych
PSYN 225 – Abnormal psych
21 credits completed thusfar

I realize I may be missing things for certain schools but I'm really aiming for Cornell since it's IS and they encourage you to take a ton of extra science classes. Mercy forces me to take Spanish and dumb seminars, too. :| Any ideas on switching it up? Note that I can't change the Fall 2013 one. I NEED those classes unfortunately.
 
Pretty much anywhere you go for undergrad is going to require you to take certain classes such as languages, social science, art, etc. Biology and its related majors fall under the liberal arts umbrella and it's generally accepted that you take a little bit of everything as part of your degree. I took Spanish, philosophy, writing classes, art classes, history/culture classes, anthropology, and world religions classes as part of my environmental studies major, and they all made me a better person and helped me learn to think.

Basically, it's not Mercy - it's going to be like that at any undergrad. Relax, enjoy the ride - learn new things about yourself and about all the cool things there are to know in the world besides vet medicine. And around here, a vet that knows Spanish is like the holy grail!
 
Boidae said:
Spring 2017- Stats, Calculus, Pathophysiology, Immunology (16 credits)
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Is there any way to take stats earlier and shift an unnecessary class back?

It's not even remotely necessary, so don't get uptight over my advice, but I think stats is one of the few pre-vet-school classes that's actually pretty useful to bring with you to vet school and into your career. It makes trudging through journal articles so much easier. I've really been grateful for my undergrad stats course.
 
LetItSnow said:
Is there any way to take stats earlier and shift an unnecessary class back?

It's not even remotely necessary, so don't get uptight over my advice, but I think stats is one of the few pre-vet-school classes that's actually pretty useful to bring with you to vet school and into your career. It makes trudging through journal articles so much easier. I've really been grateful for my undergrad stats course.
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👍

Second this.

It really helped with classes I took later in undergrad too. Not just for classes where I had to read journal publications and for research, but also for classes where stat is just inherently part of the material, like epidemiology.
 
LetItSnow said:
Is there any way to take stats earlier and shift an unnecessary class back?

It's not even remotely necessary, so don't get uptight over my advice, but I think stats is one of the few pre-vet-school classes that's actually pretty useful to bring with you to vet school and into your career. It makes trudging through journal articles so much easier. I've really been grateful for my undergrad stats course.
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👍 And it will really come in handy during Biochem and a few other courses.
 
LetItSnow said:
Is there any way to take stats earlier and shift an unnecessary class back?

It's not even remotely necessary, so don't get uptight over my advice, but I think stats is one of the few pre-vet-school classes that's actually pretty useful to bring with you to vet school and into your career. It makes trudging through journal articles so much easier. I've really been grateful for my undergrad stats course.
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And you might enjoy baseball more 😎
 
felinelvr44 said:
And you might enjoy baseball more 😎
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this is going to sound a little dorky, but one of the more upsetting scheduling things that happened to me senior year of high school was when I couldn't take a one-semester sports stats elective because of a whole host of scheduling things that boiled down to it was either that or the english credit I needed to graduate.


anyway, yes, stats is awesome and is something you should really understand for any science later on but also to just understand life/the news/etc.
 
I could probably take stats earlier. 🙂 This is just a rough idea so I stop freaking out. Should I switch it with precalc and just forget calculus altogether? Everything else is kind of tough to move around. The last classes I have listed are all my tech classes that I'm obligated to take.

Thanks for all this AWESOME advice. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
 
Abney said:
How I got into vet school at all is a mystery... I'm so not organized... Your planning is stressing me out!


(I kid!)
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LOL, I'm driving my parents insane. I keep talking about it and tallying up costs and looking for places to volunteer near school. It's a mixture of excitement and outright fear. 😛
 
Boidae said:
LOL, I'm driving my parents insane. I keep talking about it and tallying up costs and looking for places to volunteer near school. It's a mixture of excitement and outright fear. 😛
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When I started at Mercy I wrote my course plan/timetable on a piece of paper and stuck it in my binder. I found it last month and I laughed cause I stuck to it without even really thinking about it. That said, make some plans and work hard, but enjoy the ride! You're young and have a lot to experience. Who knows? You may take some awesome class in something and decide not to apply to vet school a year or two from now. So just have fun, k? Be present and focus on what's in front of you 😉
 
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