Gun shy about pre-vet courseload

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Hey folks,
I've worked at a small animal veterinary clinic for about three years now, and as time goes on I realize how passoinate I am about this field. I want to be a vet, I have the time to finish the pre-reqs, but sheeeeeiiiit, I'm feeling afraid of the course requirements.
I have a hard time with math and memorization, so I know that I need to really improve my skills in math. I generally understand concepts well, but I do have difficulty with memorization. So in a lot of ways I'm afraid to even try.
But my passion for this field is ever increasing. And I feel like I've seen the ugly side of veterinary medicine, as well; pain in the tooshie clients, incredibly sick animals, suffering and sadness and euthanasias and death. But I still feel so devoted to doing this.
Do you feel that dedication and interest can get you through the pre-reqs? How hard is it? I'm scared.

 

[SillyFilly]

If you want it and work hard, YOU CAN DO IT!

A lot of people drop their wishes when they realize how hard the classes are pre-vet, true. But these classes are nothing to compare with how hard the classes will be in vet school, I am sure.

BUT... you are going to spend 8 years in school for a lifetime of doing what you love. That's nothing! If you want it, you can totally do it!

 

[Emio]

take this with a grain of salt, as i love sciences, and am good with math and memorization.

however, a good friend of mine (who's mid 50s) was encouraged to go to vet school when she was younger. she refused to, primarily because of the math and sciences. long story short, she had other options and never did go, but she was encouraged to traipse through it. the vets told her that those classes were "just a ticket" to becoming a vet. you'll never have to do those calculations or memorize those things again... use a reference book, and keep cheat sheets if necessary for dosages. yeah, it sucks, but forking out 1000 bucks to fly to some other country sucks too... until you get there.

so, nose to the grindstone. get to it 🙂

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Learn to love em is all the advice I can give. Cause the coursework once you're actually in school involves the same subjects, only 100x tougher and more detailed, plus loads of others....You can do it, though! I can tell you're very dedicated, don't let the academics scare you - they are very difficult, but use that dedication to take em head on! The prereqs can scary at first, but hopefully you'll "get into them" - they are more interesting once you start thinking "Ok, so how can I apply this to the veterinary world?"

 

[lailanni]

Actually, you don't need that much math!

For many places, you don't need calculus - or if you do, only a little. Then you can also take the non-calculus based physics, which is just algebra.

It's actually lots more chemistry than math -- and the math based chemistry is only the general chemistry. Organic chemistry hardly has any math.

Biochem and biology has little to no math.

Then there's the GRE. Sorry, that has a whole math section : ) but it's only basic math, like geometry and algebra. No calculus there either.

The pre-reqs scared the crap outta me at first, but they go by quickly and it isn't as bad as it sounds. So jump right in!

 

[meadow36]

Here's my advice:

Take your courses at a smaller university with small class sizes. You need the individual attention. If you go to a large university with 300+ people per class, you are not going to be able to do it. Those schools are for people who are good at teaching themselves and don't need a lot of guidance.

I also suggest you take small course loads each semester; if you are full time stay around 12 credits, no more. If you are part time take no more than two classes a semester. Even if you have to go summers and spend extra years getting through it, it's better than overwhelming yourself.

Participate in study groups for each class, even if you have to set one up. Don't be shy. Your peers are your best tutors.

 

[rustysmom]

I am a non-traditional student who's worked in IT for 12 years and is being outsourced. I too was terrified of the pre-reqs - one of the main reasons I originally went into IT b/c I could avoid the science classes! 🙂

However, they're not as bad as I thought they would be. I started out at a community college mainly to save money and I found that the professors were very approachable and willing to help me understand what was going on. I would have to say that orgo was the hardest pre-req - I spent a lot of time studying for that class... probably at least 15 hours per week. Unfortunately, I had bad professors for the orgo classes (1 and 2) but I did end up joining study groups for both classes and that helped a lot.
Take advantage of tutoring sessions as well - these sessions helped me tremendously in physics. Take a lighter class load if you need to - I started out taking one class a semester and then went to two classes a semester.

You can do it! 🙂

 

[lailanni]

Here's my advice:

Take your courses at a smaller university with small class sizes. You need the individual attention. If you go to a large university with 300+ people per class, you are not going to be able to do it. Those schools are for people who are good at teaching themselves and don't need a lot of guidance.

I completely agree -- I go to a large university. There are regularly 500-600 people in my chem classes. Around 300 - 400 in biology. Around 200 in physics. You can get little to zero personal help.

I wish I had done my lower level classes at a different college, would have been much easier and less stressful.

 

[brightness]

Thanks for the support. I go to a medium sized university, with chemistry classes that are about 150 people. The good news is that my roomate is a chemistry major and a math minor, so I can use and abuse her intelligence as much as possible. Lol.
I really want to do this! I think I'm gonna get psyched up and do it.

🙂

 

[Duke07]

Good luck! I know how you feel- I wanted to be a vet for a long time, but then I took high school chemistry. I didn't understand it, so I assumed I wouldn't understand college chemistry. I avoided math and science in college and majored in English and psychology. Not knowing what I wanted to do after I graduated, I decided it would be a disservice to not even try my dream job!

I'm taking the pre-reqs now, and I admit it's been intimidating. My UG college was fairly small, and I'm taking the pre-reqs at a large state school. My chem class has 350 students in it, but the other classes are smaller.

I agree with other recommendations to start out slowly. I'm working part-time as a vet tech and taking two classes in person and one online each semester, and that's almost too much. I'm doing fairly well, though, and I've actually enjoyed most of my classes. For me, getting my feet wet, realizing it's doable and keeping the long-term goal in mind has probably been the most helpful.

 

[CookieBear]

If you know this is what you want, go out and do it.

I chickened out in college and got a BA in English, even though I was working in a vet clinic. I thought I'd be happy doing the managerial part of vet med.

That was in '94. It took me a long time (2002) until I finally went back, and didn't drop classes two weeks into a term. I took one pre-req at a time and worked full time (still managing the vet hospital) and was accepted last year, on my second application cycle (but first time trying at K-State).

It sure isn't easy, and for someone like me, who was always better in liberal arts than sciences, it's always an uphill battle. But throughout the torture (organic chem anyone?) and everything else, knowing that I was on the path to getting here - that almost always felt right.

You've seen the ugliness, and that's usually the big turn off for most. Get a tutor if you have to. It's better than paying $$$ to repeat a course.

"If it were easy, everyone would do it" as my medical director used to say.

 

[DaNNo]

It sure isn't easy, and for someone like me, who was always better in liberal arts than sciences, it's always an uphill battle. But throughout the torture (organic chem anyone?)

Really? I thought organic chem was far easier (and much more interesting) than gen. chem.

 

[thesonofdarwin]

Thanks for the support. I go to a medium sized university, with chemistry classes that are about 150 people.

That's medium sized? Hell I must have went to a blastocyst sized undergrad. Gen sciences had max 40 students, any anything higher had a size restriction of 25 students. Biochem was usually maxed because the chem students had to take it and most bio students did as well, but there were.. 6(?) people in my organmetallic class, around 10 in analytical. I know people like the well known state schools where you never get to know your professors, but I can tell you how many kids each of my profs had, where they lived, what they did in undergrad and how they came to be professors, what movie they watched last friday, what book they were reading, etc., etc. And they could do the same for their students. I may have sold my my left arm and one of the berry twins to afford such a private school, but what an amazing education.

As for math, at least the bare essentials of what you need to get in - you don't need to know much. If you took calculus in high school that's the basics of what you need for calc-based physics (or take algebra based IF your undergrad will accept it - mine wouldn't). Just very basic knowledge of limits. Algebra is all you need to know for the rest, the hardest maybe being manipulation of cos/sin/tan. Some vet schools require stats as well, but the basic intro works and is essentially an hour for you to push numbers into your calculator and have it do the work.

 

[wivet2011]

That's medium sized? Hell I must have went to a blastocyst sized undergrad. Gen sciences had max 40 students, any anything higher had a size restriction of 25 students. Biochem was usually maxed because the chem students had to take it and most bio students did as well, but there were.. 6(?) people in my organmetallic class, around 10 in analytical. I know people like the well known state schools where you never get to know your professors, but I can tell you how many kids each of my profs had, where they lived, what they did in undergrad and how they came to be professors, what movie they watched last friday, what book they were reading, etc., etc. And they could do the same for their students. I may have sold my my left arm and one of the berry twins to afford such a private school, but what an amazing education.

I went to a state school and sure the intro classes were a little larger (100 or so...glad I got to skip a few of those courses), but once you got into upper level classes, 15 was about average. My Endocrinology class, it was me and one other undergrad and maybe 4-5 grad students.

 

[david594]

I am at a state university now and there are currently 260 ish people in my orgo 1 class.

It should be interesting. Supposedly it has one of the highest failure rates in the university.

 

[VAgirl]

I went to a mid-sized private university and had 300+ people in my intro level sci courses. It just varies. Probably we had so many pre-med/pre-health students because the school has an excellent medical school.

 

[tastrophe]

If you even suspect this is what you want to do, start taking the prereqs! You'll figure out for yourself as you go whether this is really what you want to do.

As far as classes go - I had **1600** students in my bio 101-102 lectures (split into 3 separate lectures; the room only had 600 seats!), and >1000 in chem 101. It was absolutely awful, I dropped chem and barely scraped by in bio. When I retook chem, I had 100-150 in the class and it was MUCH better, so if you have the opportunity to take prereqs with smaller class sizes, do it! Even if not at your primary school, or maybe you're at a huge university with a smaller sattelite campus where you can take the classes, it'll be worth the extra $ or commute time!

 

[wi girl]

I'm curious as to where tastrophe went ... I had 800 in orgo (split as the lecture hall held only 400) 400 in biochem and 250 (the cap b/c of lab) in genetics. However, I only have 15 in my stem cell class and my molecular evolution class. So it all depends. That being said, if you take the time to go to office hours and ta help sessions, it makes things smaller. Like everyone always says, you get out of it what you put in.

 

[CookieBear]

Really? I thought organic chem was far easier (and much more interesting) than gen. chem.

I guess I can clarify: I had a love/hate relationship with organic. I did very well in it, better than I did in gen.chem and physics, but man, did I pour every ounce of my soul into learning it. By the end, I'm not sure there wasn't anything that I couldn't make from Benzene.

 

[bovine]

By the end, I'm not sure there wasn't anything that I couldn't make from Benzene.

+1👍

 

[DaNNo]

By the end, I'm not sure there wasn't anything that I couldn't make from Benzene.

Precisely why I loved it (sad, but true)! The tests were as fun as logic problems and puzzles to me! Make this from this and so on... great fun.
(Though I didn't do as well on the tests as I would have liked... but lab boosted my grade to the B+/A- range)

 

[tastrophe]

I'm curious as to where tastrophe went ... I had 800 in orgo (split as the lecture hall held only 400) 400 in biochem and 250 (the cap b/c of lab) in genetics. However, I only have 15 in my stem cell class and my molecular evolution class. So it all depends. That being said, if you take the time to go to office hours and ta help sessions, it makes things smaller. Like everyone always says, you get out of it what you put in.

Rutgers main campus (New Brunswick NJ). There are a lot of colleges (10 maybe?) within the university just on that campus, and so many students need to take those base courses 🙁

The way it worked, you could register for one of something like 300 different "sections" of the course - but everyone was in the same lecture, the only difference was the lab portion, which held somewhere between 30-50 students at a time. Multiple labs ran at the same time in different locations, and the lectures were held in at least 2 different locations.

Those mass courses were awful! It was only those and Microbio that had ridiculously large class sizes though (meaning >500), after that I think the biggest was in the 200 range, with a lot of the major-specific courses only having 30-40.