Q: What are some good ideas to add a diverse experience to my resume?
Having a few hours of experience with multiple species carries more weight than a billion hours working with one species. You absolutely need to work/volunteer at a veterinary clinic. Non negotiable.
Then try and move on to "neato" stuff -- contact any farms/ranches/stables in the area. They will put you to work, hehe. Then go swim with the dolphins in Cozumel, or volunteer with any breeder lending an extra pair of hands during birthing times, or work in pest control, or foster kittens, or pester a professor to let you help with his research, or volunteer to walk dogs down at the local shelter, or work for a veterinary medical supply company, or get your masters in agriculture and do your thesis on bat populations, or masters in nutrition, etc.
Also, and I hate to say it, but your potential interviewers are people too, and are easily impressed by flashy and chic experiences - point in case, I had 40,000 hours working with horses cats dogs and cattle (started prepping for vet school when I was 10)...In that time I volunteered at the Humane society in Texas for 2 days during Hurricane Katrina, when we had animals pouring in from New Orleans. They focused their attention on that, in a People magazine readers enthusiastic kind of way. So, during the next national crisis - get involved any way you can. Or try and save a bald eagle or two.
Also think about non animal volunteer stuff, because you will need to show you're compassionate with owners too (not to mention actually developing compassion! hehe). Retirement homes, daycare centers, search and rescue, reading to the blind, mentoring teenagers, tutoring algebra to a kid with a learning disability, habitat for humanity, etc.
Q: What can I do starting with my first year that will help me prepare for Vet school?
Marry rich ;P Nah, get the grades. I'm talking all A's here. You want to try for >3.5 GPA. If your focus is to get into vet school rather than what degree you're getting, choose a major that fulfills most of the required classes. Biomedical engineering seems to do this well, but really, any science major.
Q: How do I prepare for Vet school while doing my undergrad?
Build your resume by getting the grades & acquire veterinary/animal experience. This is not simply just to get in, but it does truly prepare you for veterinary school, because its good practice. All veterinary school consists of is: schoolwork + working with animals in a clinical setting.
Q: I know one of the questions that is asked by Veterinary Schools is "Why do you want to be a Vet?" How do you answer that question without simply saying "Because I love animals!"?
Its horrible that people are coached to avoid this response as an answer, I mean, you think they want folks who are just tepid towards animals to do this job?? However, the reason is because: Its way too simplistic, and reveals a lack of matured consideration of what it means to be a veterinarian. And rosemma is exactly right: You have to ask yourself, if its because of the medicine aspect, why not do an MD or something. Because of animals? Why not teach riding lessons then.
I honestly think not being able to answer this question for yourself is a good sign because it means you're at a good starting place for true consideration.
You have to get to a place with yourself where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what you want to do. You have to rule out all other choices. How does one do this? By getting varied experience. You may discover after working at a dairy farm/breeder/swimming with dolphins that one of those things is exactly what you want to do in life! And make sure to shadow some human doctors as well, and see how it speaks to you.
Basically, and I sincerely don't mean to sound bleak here, you become a vet because you exhaust all other options for yourself. 🙂
If there is any other career you can see yourself fulfilled in, I think you should explore it and heavily consider it.
But I think for most of us, we're basically screwed - If we could have been anything else, we truly would've, but we cannot accept any other mission in life other than fixin critters.
By the time you are ready to actually apply, you should have enough experience and wisdom under your belt to feel completely comfortable with this question. And then you will have to transfer those thoughts to paper, which will summon the same frustration as trying to explain the concept of God to a 4 year old with water on the brain.