High human med experience and low animal med experience

[DogtorCera]

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Hello all! So I will be applying this cycle for c/o 2026. I graduated in '20 with all prereqs for both vet and med school- but I was focused on med school during undergrad, so all of my experience is human medicine until this past ~2 years where I have been a dog daycare attendant and now a vet assistant. I am wondering if I can use this angle to my advantage? I worked so much in human medicine that I am now absolutely certain vet med is for me. I wanted to be a vet when I was younger but didn't strongly pursue it due to my lack of knowledge of the field (scared of euths, mainly). Now that I am back into animal care, I am certain that vet med contains the science and medicine I want with my love for animals.
So, back to the main question- will my lack of experience in animal med hurt me extremely? Or will writing this angle make me understood?

 

[supershorty]

I would be very hesitant to write it that way. Writing it as "I have so much experience in human med that I know vet med is a better fit" reads to me as "I'm assuming that because vet med is different from human med, it's a better fit!" rather than expounding on your experiences in vet med and how you know that it's a better fit for you. Particularly if your vet med hours are low - it would worry me, if I were reviewing applications, that you might not know enough about what you were getting into. It's much more compelling, IMO, to talk about the differences between the two and why you know vet med is a better fit because of your experiences there, rather than to be like "I had so much human med experience and just recently started into vet med, I should go to vet school because I know human med isn't what I want."

I'm not sure if I'm getting across what I'm trying to say, but hopefully that makes sense?

 

[JustPaws]

Also what has changed that makes you ok with euths now? And just make sure you know that vet med is VERY human sided - owners - so your love of animals may not be enough if your dislike of humans is why you know human med isn't for you. Just food for thought, no response needed.

 

[DogtorCera]

I would be very hesitant to write it that way. Writing it as "I have so much experience in human med that I know vet med is a better fit" reads to me as "I'm assuming that because vet med is different from human med, it's a better fit!" rather than expounding on your experiences in vet med and how you know that it's a better fit for you. Particularly if your vet med hours are low - it would worry me, if I were reviewing applications, that you might not know enough about what you were getting into. It's much more compelling, IMO, to talk about the differences between the two and why you know vet med is a better fit because of your experiences there, rather than to be like "I had so much human med experience and just recently started into vet med, I should go to vet school because I know human med isn't what I want."

I'm not sure if I'm getting across what I'm trying to say, but hopefully that makes sense?

makes 100% sense, thank you 🙂
Edit: also, what do you consider "low"? I have experience with friends large animals, exotics, and dog daycare and currently vet assistant. ~500 hrs maybe? I was just thinking that is lower than most people and no official "shadowing"

 

[DogtorCera]

Also what has changed that makes you ok with euths now? And just make sure you know that vet med is VERY human sided - owners - so your love of animals may not be enough if your dislike of humans is why you know human med isn't for you. Just food for thought, no response needed.

Not so much that I wasn't ok with euths to I am ok now, but that euths would be too hard for me due to my love for animals if I went into vet med vs now I understand its a quality of life thing, and its hard for everyone involved if that makes sense. More of an emotional "it's ok now" vs a moral thing. Thank you for your feedback!

 

[Minnerbelle]

I would be very hesitant to write it that way. Writing it as "I have so much experience in human med that I know vet med is a better fit" reads to me as "I'm assuming that because vet med is different from human med, it's a better fit!" rather than expounding on your experiences in vet med and how you know that it's a better fit for you. Particularly if your vet med hours are low - it would worry me, if I were reviewing applications, that you might not know enough about what you were getting into. It's much more compelling, IMO, to talk about the differences between the two and why you know vet med is a better fit because of your experiences there, rather than to be like "I had so much human med experience and just recently started into vet med, I should go to vet school because I know human med isn't what I want."

I'm not sure if I'm getting across what I'm trying to say, but hopefully that makes sense?

Agreed. My thought when reading the OP was, “spend enough time in vet med and I bet you won’t want to pursue it anymore either.”

 

[DogtorCera]

Agreed. My thought when reading the OP was, “spend enough time in vet med and I bet you won’t want to pursue it anymore either.”

This is totally fair, thank you for your comment! 🙂

 

[JaynaAli]

makes 100% sense, thank you 🙂
Edit: also, what do you consider "low"? I have experience with friends large animals, exotics, and dog daycare and currently vet assistant. ~500 hrs maybe? I was just thinking that is lower than most people and no official "shadowing"

Friends with large animals and doggie daycare don’t count as vet experience. So if you’re including those in your 500 hours, then yes I would be worried about your experience hours. I’m sure people have gotten in with less, but a couple hundred hours at one practice is not going to stand out among other applicants who have literally thousands of hours in various aspects of vet med. Your friends animals and dog daycare would count as animal experience which is a category, but it isn’t as important as experiences overseen by a vet. It can be paid positions like an assistant or shadowing, doesn’t matter and there’s pros and cons to both. But Vet experience is the most important and if you have <500 hours i might recommend considering waiting a year to get more experience and make sure vet Med is the right choice or at least go in with low expectations and be pleasantly surprised if you are accepted. But I agree with the others that you should frame is more as “this is what my experiences showed and why these experiences showed me vet Med is right” and not as “look how much human Med experience I have, that shows me I want to be a vet”.

 

[SardonicWit]

Okay.... I actually think this could be a big advantage, just not the way you framed it. I'm a nontraditional student who had very little vet med experience, especially given my age (and it was almost exclusively equine shadowing). I was very concerned that I would have a hard time getting in to vet school. I was advised to play up some of the things I had that were maybe a little more uncommon - an extensive employment and business owning experience that required me to work very closely with a broad range of people. Since I had an extraordinary amount of animal (non vet) experience and had demonstrated a strong interest in medicine in other ways, my advisor thought I could get by with low vet experience and that playing up "people skills" would help me stand out. This is a much more people-oriented field than people tend to think, and it's often where pre-vet and vet students are weak. It apparently worked for me; it might work for you, too.

So.... How about looking at it a little differently? Your undergrad experiences taught you that you're really passionate about medicine, perhaps, and gave you a lot of opportunity to build skills for working with people in difficult situations. I wouldn't go in with the attitude that you don't like human medicine so vet med looks better (for all the reasons the previous responses have provided). I would focus on the love of medicine (because really, if you don't love medicine itself, you aren't going to like vet school anyway) and what opportunities you've discovered on the veterinary side that you're even more passionate about than what you could do in human medicine. Do some soul-searching on what you love about vet med and what your goals are, and I bet you can find a lot of ways that human medical experience has helped you towards that goal. You just need to have some very positive, clear ideas so that your application doesn't look like vet school is plan B, but rather like a natural progression of your life experiences. I'm living proof that you don't have to be born wanting to be a vet in order to go to vet school - my life took a lot of twists and turns to get here. But figure out why it's right for you and sell that, rather than acting as though it's a default because something else was wrong.

 

[DogtorCera]

Okay.... I actually think this could be a big advantage, just not the way you framed it. I'm a nontraditional student who had very little vet med experience, especially given my age (and it was almost exclusively equine shadowing). I was very concerned that I would have a hard time getting in to vet school. I was advised to play up some of the things I had that were maybe a little more uncommon - an extensive employment and business owning experience that required me to work very closely with a broad range of people. Since I had an extraordinary amount of animal (non vet) experience and had demonstrated a strong interest in medicine in other ways, my advisor thought I could get by with low vet experience and that playing up "people skills" would help me stand out. This is a much more people-oriented field than people tend to think, and it's often where pre-vet and vet students are weak. It apparently worked for me; it might work for you, too.

So.... How about looking at it a little differently? Your undergrad experiences taught you that you're really passionate about medicine, perhaps, and gave you a lot of opportunity to build skills for working with people in difficult situations. I wouldn't go in with the attitude that you don't like human medicine so vet med looks better (for all the reasons the previous responses have provided). I would focus on the love of medicine (because really, if you don't love medicine itself, you aren't going to like vet school anyway) and what opportunities you've discovered on the veterinary side that you're even more passionate about than what you could do in human medicine. Do some soul-searching on what you love about vet med and what your goals are, and I bet you can find a lot of ways that human medical experience has helped you towards that goal. You just need to have some very positive, clear ideas so that your application doesn't look like vet school is plan B, but rather like a natural progression of your life experiences. I'm living proof that you don't have to be born wanting to be a vet in order to go to vet school - my life took a lot of twists and turns to get here. But figure out why it's right for you and sell that, rather than acting as though it's a default because something else was wrong.

Thank you so much, this was very helpful and exactly how i got into this vet assistant position in the first place. I have worked customer service and human med for YEARS and completely agree vet med is largely people oriented. I appreciate your feedback

 

[EquusObsessed]

Someone said other applicants have thousands of clinical hours... I don’t know anyone who did. I had about 250 hours shadowing a small animal clinic for two summers (the same clinic) and about 100 hours shadowing an equine vet (one clinic) the following summer. I come from a state where the laws about liability and certifications are very strict- because I didn’t have a tech or vet license I couldn’t do any hands on work. I wasn’t even allowed to hold or restrain animals. I had no research experience or fancy scholarship awards.

I applied out of state to 7 schools and was accepted to 3. Contrary to what SDN says, your numbers on paper do not make your application. Make sure you have the minimum hours the school requires (yes, clinical hours in a vet practice are separate from pet sitting/caring for farm animals), make sure you have all the pre-requisite courses, have a good GPA, and write excellent resumes and personal statements. I also interview very well, so that was my biggest benefit- I was accepted at every school I interviewed at.

that being said: your previous experience in human med will be a HUGE benefit. I would talk about it in your personal statement. A huge part of veterinary medicine is talking to and communicating with owners. You have to convey medical info to them and empathize. I would absolutely talk about wanting to help educate owners, valuing the human/animal bond, how your medical training gives you a better understanding of how to communicate medical information to clients, and that sort of thing. I have several previous human nurses in my vet school class right now.

You don’t need to be someone who’s worked in a vet clinic since you were 5 years old to get into vet school, what you need is something “different” that makes you an interesting applicant. For me it was wanting to specialize in equine. For you, it’s extensive experience working with people in a medical setting and how that will translate to client education and communication.

Best of luck!

 

[EquusObsessed]

Okay.... I actually think this could be a big advantage, just not the way you framed it. I'm a nontraditional student who had very little vet med experience, especially given my age (and it was almost exclusively equine shadowing). I was very concerned that I would have a hard time getting in to vet school. I was advised to play up some of the things I had that were maybe a little more uncommon - an extensive employment and business owning experience that required me to work very closely with a broad range of people. Since I had an extraordinary amount of animal (non vet) experience and had demonstrated a strong interest in medicine in other ways, my advisor thought I could get by with low vet experience and that playing up "people skills" would help me stand out. This is a much more people-oriented field than people tend to think, and it's often where pre-vet and vet students are weak. It apparently worked for me; it might work for you, too.

So.... How about looking at it a little differently? Your undergrad experiences taught you that you're really passionate about medicine, perhaps, and gave you a lot of opportunity to build skills for working with people in difficult situations. I wouldn't go in with the attitude that you don't like human medicine so vet med looks better (for all the reasons the previous responses have provided). I would focus on the love of medicine (because really, if you don't love medicine itself, you aren't going to like vet school anyway) and what opportunities you've discovered on the veterinary side that you're even more passionate about than what you could do in human medicine. Do some soul-searching on what you love about vet med and what your goals are, and I bet you can find a lot of ways that human medical experience has helped you towards that goal. You just need to have some very positive, clear ideas so that your application doesn't look like vet school is plan B, but rather like a natural progression of your life experiences. I'm living proof that you don't have to be born wanting to be a vet in order to go to vet school - my life took a lot of twists and turns to get here. But figure out why it's right for you and sell that, rather than acting as though it's a default because something else was wrong.

Yes, all of this. “People skills” and “client communication” are being REALLY pushed in vet med. Schools will love this

 

[DogtorCera]

Yes, all of this. “People skills” and “client communication” are being REALLY pushed in vet med. Schools will love this

Thank you so so much for your input. reworking my PS currently to work on emphasizing human interaction.