High School Senior in Need of Advice From Veterinarians or Pre-Vets

[arm18]

Hi! I'm a rising senior (and new to this site so I apologize if I'm being annoying) and I would really love advice. I want to be a veterinarian, so I was planning on majoring in Animal Science (does it matter if I major in Zoology or Animal Science?) but my mom wants me to major in Biology to keep my options open. I was thinking of minoring in Spanish (would that make me a more interesting applicant to vet school?)
I know there are only a few vet schools in the country and I'm not sure which college I should go to for undergrad in order to get into vet school. Does it matter what school I go for undergrad or is it solely based on my GPA and volunteering? Would going to a school like Davis for undergrad increase my chances of getting into its graduate program? I live in California so I would love to stay here, or at least stay in the West Coast. What colleges would be best?
My GPA is fairly good (3.77 unweighted/4.45 weighted) and I got a 1550 on the 1600 scale. I am also taking 7 APs in my high school career and I got a 4, 5, and 5 on Biology, Calc BC, and Gov, respectively. However, I have 0 experience with animals (though I just applied to volunteer at a Wildlife Center) Would that affect my chances of getting into college as an Animal Science major?
Also, do you have any advice for me? Is there anything you wish you did when you were my age?
So sorry I had so many questions and thank you for your help!

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[johnsmith123]

Hi! I'm a rising senior (and new to this site so I apologize if I'm being annoying) and I would really love advice. I want to be a veterinarian, so I was planning on majoring in Animal Science (does it matter if I major in Zoology or Animal Science?) but my mom wants me to major in Biology to keep my options open. I was thinking of minoring in Spanish (would that make me a more interesting applicant to vet school?)
I know there are only a few vet schools in the country and I'm not sure which college I should go to for undergrad in order to get into vet school. Does it matter what school I go for undergrad or is it solely based on my GPA and volunteering? Would going to a school like Davis for undergrad increase my chances of getting into its graduate program? I live in California so I would love to stay here, or at least stay in the West Coast. What colleges would be best?
My GPA is fairly good (3.77 unweighted/4.45 weighted) and I got a 1550 on the 1600 scale. I am also taking 7 APs in my high school career and I got a 4, 5, and 5 on Biology, Calc BC, and Gov, respectively. However, I have 0 experience with animals (though I just applied to volunteer at a Wildlife Center) Would that affect my chances of getting into college as an Animal Science major?
Also, do you have any advice for me? Is there anything you wish you did when you were my age?
So sorry I had so many questions and thank you for your help!

You can major in whatever you want to major in and still get into vet school. Underwater basket weaving? Go for it. International relations? Sure. Zoology? Yep! You just have to look at the prerequisites for vet schools you'll apply to and make sure you get those done. Something like animal science or veterinary science will get all or most of those done without you taking any additional classes, which is why those are popular ones to major in. Go to whichever college will be cheapest for you. If you end up going out of state for vet school, you'll have a bare minimum of $150k in debt, but more than likely $200k+. Even in state vet school will cause a pretty overwhelming amount of debt, unless you or your family are able to pay for it with cash. Go look up how much interest a $150k grad school loan generates per year then compare that to the median starting salary of vets and you'll realize how absolutely crushing that is. This is why you don't want additional debt on top of that if possible, so spend literally all of your time applying to scholarships for undergrad. I don't care if 10,000 other people are applying to one, apply anyways. Your goal right now should be to get all or most of undergrad paid for in scholarships. You need a couple hundred hours of veterinary experience to even apply at most vet schools, so you should start that now. Go and ask veterinary offices if you can shadow a doctor there. Most are more than willing to let you do that. Make this a weekly thing that you stay consistent with as my biggest regret is not starting my vet experience until just before applying to vet school. Now I'm stuck with a lower than average amount of hours and have a smaller chance of getting accepted because of it. If you want a ton of vet experience fast, apply as a veterinary technician or veterinary assistant. Make sure to shadow different types of vets: large animal, companion animal, exotics, zoo, marine, whatever else you can think of. This will greatly improve your chances of getting into vet school.

As for minoring in Spanish, do it because it will make you better with the language. I did a Spanish minor and am so glad I did as I now have a tool that lots of Americans don't have. It will probably help marginally with getting accepted to vet school, so the value comes from being able to communicate with more people (in my opinion).

 

[battie]

I was planning on majoring in Animal Science (does it matter if I major in Zoology or Animal Science?) but my mom wants me to major in Biology to keep my options open.

You major does not matter. I was a bio major, one of my lab partners was an economics major. Pick something you would have some fun doing as well as something you can fall back on.

I was thinking of minoring in Spanish (would that make me a more interesting applicant to vet school?)

Minor in Spanish if you want the benefits of it. Not because it would look good.

Does it matter what school I go for undergrad or is it solely based on my GPA and volunteering?

Not at all. I went to a small state college with 2,000 students. Others go to big state universities. Honestly, go to the cheapest undergrad you're accepted to. I am so thankful I graduated without debt from my bachelor's. So. Grateful.

However, I have 0 experience with animals (though I just applied to volunteer at a Wildlife Center) Would that affect my chances of getting into college as an Animal Science major?

Start getting both some animal and veterinary experience. The wildlife center is a good place to start.

Also, do you have any advice for me? Is there anything you wish you did when you were my age?

The biggest advice I give to high schoolers is to keep them grades/test scores up to get the most scholarships possible. Then I suggest getting the vet/animal experience (prioritizing vet experience)

My GPA is fairly good (3.77 unweighted/4.45 weighted) and I got a 1550 on the 1600 scale. I am also taking 7 APs in my high school career and I got a 4, 5, and 5 on Biology, Calc BC, and Gov, respectively. H

This all will matter for your undergrad app and scholarships. Once you pick your undergrad, this info becomes irrelevant. You'd just need to maintain the mind set of keeping your grades up and working hard.

 

[LyraGardenia]

I agree with everything that's already been said, but just to clarify you don't need animal experience to be accepted to an animal science major. Definitely start getting vet and animal experience as soon as you can, though! Even if it's just shadowing a vet for a day to start out, it will give you a much better idea of what the profession is like.

 

[Polocrosse2017]

Everyone has told you great things and are a lot more experienced than I am. I am just a year above you. I start in Pre-vet, majoring in animal science in the fall. I thought about majoring in biology but decided animal science is where my passions are. You can get into animal science without any experience. It just matters if you have the credentials to get accepted at the college you want, just like any other major. However, the more animal experience you can get early the better. First, it can help you see if you REALLY want to be a vet. Shadowing a vet, working in a vet clinic, getting a vet assistant certification, all can help. I had lots of hours playing polo and polocrosse, and teaching horseback at camp as a counselor before my Sr. year (over 1000). Then my Sr. year in HS I got 300 hours interning (unpaid) at a vet clinic, then took my CVA exam and got certified. This summer I already have over 100 hours working for an equine vet (paid!). The money is better than minimum wage and a lot more fun. Look into doing things like this during your senior year. All of this opened some doors for me and let me see this is really what I want to do. Seeing the down sides of being a vet and understanding the debt is a BIG thing. My first day at the vet clinic they had me making paw prints of dogs that had been put to sleep for their owners. You have to be able to handle things like that. It isn't all playing with animals. Keep your grades up, go where you can afford and work hard and you should do fine.

 

[arm18]

You can major in whatever you want to major in and still get into vet school. Underwater basket weaving? Go for it. International relations? Sure. Zoology? Yep! You just have to look at the prerequisites for vet schools you'll apply to and make sure you get those done. Something like animal science or veterinary science will get all or most of those done without you taking any additional classes, which is why those are popular ones to major in. Go to whichever college will be cheapest for you. If you end up going out of state for vet school, you'll have a bare minimum of $150k in debt, but more than likely $200k+. Even in state vet school will cause a pretty overwhelming amount of debt, unless you or your family are able to pay for it with cash. Go look up how much interest a $150k grad school loan generates per year then compare that to the median starting salary of vets and you'll realize how absolutely crushing that is. This is why you don't want additional debt on top of that if possible, so spend literally all of your time applying to scholarships for undergrad. I don't care if 10,000 other people are applying to one, apply anyways. Your goal right now should be to get all or most of undergrad paid for in scholarships. You need a couple hundred hours of veterinary experience to even apply at most vet schools, so you should start that now. Go and ask veterinary offices if you can shadow a doctor there. Most are more than willing to let you do that. Make this a weekly thing that you stay consistent with as my biggest regret is not starting my vet experience until just before applying to vet school. Now I'm stuck with a lower than average amount of hours and have a smaller chance of getting accepted because of it. If you want a ton of vet experience fast, apply as a veterinary technician or veterinary assistant. Make sure to shadow different types of vets: large animal, companion animal, exotics, zoo, marine, whatever else you can think of. This will greatly improve your chances of getting into vet school.

As for minoring in Spanish, do it because it will make you better with the language. I did a Spanish minor and am so glad I did as I now have a tool that lots of Americans don't have. It will probably help marginally with getting accepted to vet school, so the value comes from being able to communicate with more people (in my opinion).

Wow thank you so so much! I wasn't really concerned with debt, but I should really really make it a priority to research and apply to scholarship programs. I tried shadowing a veterinarian at my dog's pet hospital, but the only available program was for graduate students studying to be vet techs. However, I will ask another pet hospital in the area. Additionally, I wasn't aware that you could apply as a veterinary technician/assistant without going to school for it. I really love Spanish and I was hoping to study abroad, but how much more difficult was it to minor in Spanish for you? Was the workload difficult to manage while meeting all the prerequisites for vet school? Again, thank you so much for your help!

 

[arm18]

You major does not matter. I was a bio major, one of my lab partners was an economics major. Pick something you would have some fun doing as well as something you can fall back on.



Minor in Spanish if you want the benefits of it. Not because it would look good.



Not at all. I went to a small state college with 2,000 students. Others go to big state universities. Honestly, go to the cheapest undergrad you're accepted to. I am so thankful I graduated without debt from my bachelor's. So. Grateful.



Start getting both some animal and veterinary experience. The wildlife center is a good place to start.



The biggest advice I give to high schoolers is to keep them grades/test scores up to get the most scholarships possible. Then I suggest getting the vet/animal experience (prioritizing vet experience)



This all will matter for your undergrad app and scholarships. Once you pick your undergrad, this info becomes irrelevant. You'd just need to maintain the mind set of keeping your grades up and working hard.

Thank you so much! I wanted to be fluent in Spanish and I would love to study abroad. I admit looking attractive to vet schools is a motive, but I do legitimately love the language. Also, that's good to know! I was told going to a big university like UCLA and getting a good GPA there would get me a greater chance of getting into vet school than going to a small school, but I guess that isn't true.

 

[arm18]

I agree with everything that's already been said, but just to clarify you don't need animal experience to be accepted to an animal science major. Definitely start getting vet and animal experience as soon as you can, though! Even if it's just shadowing a vet for a day to start out, it will give you a much better idea of what the profession is like.

That's great! Yeah I've read posts where people have thousands of hours of experience, so it would be helpful for start now. I was trying to shadow a my veterinarian the hospital told me it wouldn't be possible because of liability and it was only open to vet tech students already in grad school, so I'm asking other pet hospitals. Thanks for your help!

 

[arm18]

Everyone has told you great things and are a lot more experienced than I am. I am just a year above you. I start in Pre-vet, majoring in animal science in the fall. I thought about majoring in biology but decided animal science is where my passions are. You can get into animal science without any experience. It just matters if you have the credentials to get accepted at the college you want, just like any other major. However, the more animal experience you can get early the better. First, it can help you see if you REALLY want to be a vet. Shadowing a vet, working in a vet clinic, getting a vet assistant certification, all can help. I had lots of hours playing polo and polocrosse, and teaching horseback at camp as a counselor before my Sr. year (over 1000). Then my Sr. year in HS I got 300 hours interning (unpaid) at a vet clinic, then took my CVA exam and got certified. This summer I already have over 100 hours working for an equine vet (paid!). The money is better than minimum wage and a lot more fun. Look into doing things like this during your senior year. All of this opened some doors for me and let me see this is really what I want to do. Seeing the down sides of being a vet and understanding the debt is a BIG thing. My first day at the vet clinic they had me making paw prints of dogs that had been put to sleep for their owners. You have to be able to handle things like that. It isn't all playing with animals. Keep your grades up, go where you can afford and work hard and you should do fine.

That's amazing! I should really start getting experience with animals. I definitely see the benefits of getting experience to see if this is right for you, especially with stuff like putting down pets. Thank you so much!

 

[johnsmith123]

Wow thank you so so much! I wasn't really concerned with debt, but I should really really make it a priority to research and apply to scholarship programs. I tried shadowing a veterinarian at my dog's pet hospital, but the only available program was for graduate students studying to be vet techs. However, I will ask another pet hospital in the area. Additionally, I wasn't aware that you could apply as a veterinary technician/assistant without going to school for it. I really love Spanish and I was hoping to study abroad, but how much more difficult was it to minor in Spanish for you? Was the workload difficult to manage while meeting all the prerequisites for vet school? Again, thank you so much for your help!

The Spanish minor was very easy to manage for me. Granted, I had some transfer credits so I only had to take 1 class per semester for 4 semesters (then I took an extra class after that for the hell of it), so that experience may not be the same for people who don't have any credits going into university. Spanish classes at my university were really very low on my priority list and for the most part required little work to succeed. It's important to note though that you will not become fluent with a minor. I'd say my speaking ability is similar to a 1st or 2nd grader, but my listening/reading is probably closer to middle school level. Studying abroad is definitely the quickest way to become fluent, so that's good to look into if fluency is your goal. You might also want to look at a program called VIDA volunteer. They run neuter and spay clinics in Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Guatemala and by the end of the trip, they actually let you do probably 50% of the surgery. You also learn how to do general exams, shots, etc. and it is also an amazing way to practice your Spanish. You get to practice medical Spanish with the owners and if your trip includes homestays, you can talk to your homestay parents in Spanish as well.

 

[arm18]

The Spanish minor was very easy to manage for me. Granted, I had some transfer credits so I only had to take 1 class per semester for 4 semesters (then I took an extra class after that for the hell of it), so that experience may not be the same for people who don't have any credits going into university. Spanish classes at my university were really very low on my priority list and for the most part required little work to succeed. It's important to note though that you will not become fluent with a minor. I'd say my speaking ability is similar to a 1st or 2nd grader, but my listening/reading is probably closer to middle school level. Studying abroad is definitely the quickest way to become fluent, so that's good to look into if fluency is your goal. You might also want to look at a program called VIDA volunteer. They run neuter and spay clinics in Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Guatemala and by the end of the trip, they actually let you do probably 50% of the surgery. You also learn how to do general exams, shots, etc. and it is also an amazing way to practice your Spanish. You get to practice medical Spanish with the owners and if your trip includes homestays, you can talk to your homestay parents in Spanish as well.

That's fantastic! I am not the best at Spanish either but I'm hoping to fix that this summer before taking AP Spanish Lang. Thank you SO much for suggesting that program! I looked into it and it's offered to pre-veterinary students as well! That would be perfect for me, so we will definitely be looking into it when I'm an undergrad student.

 

[arm18]

As the others have already stated, your major really does not matter for vet school. Yes, most people do something along the lines of animal science, zoology, biology, or chemistry since the pre-req courses that vet schools will be looking for you to take generally overlap well with the requirements for those majors. That said, you could major in fashion or English or history and still potentially make it into vet school. Choose something in a field that you enjoy studying and wouldn't mind working in should you decide to no longer pursue vet school or should it otherwise not work out (a possibility that no one likes to think about, but it's important to acknowledge that things do sometimes happen).

I was a biology major with minors in Spanish and Japanese. I entered undergrad initially as a Spanish major and Japanese minor as I was wanting to work in professional translation. Even after the switch to the biology/pre-vet path, I've kept up with both as I am an absolute language nut. I've studied Spanish for about 8 years and Japanese for about 3 years. I also dabbled a bit in Mandarin Chinese and considered taking classes in that language as well, but never got into it. Don't underestimate the power of learning a new language (or languages)---especially Spanish. I've acted as a translator between vets and some Hispanic clients at a couple of the vet clinics I've worked at, I've visited a few majority Spanish speaking countries, and have done some freelance text translation. Multilingualism is a skill that is very highly in demand right now, especially for languages such as Spanish and Mandarin Chinese with extremely high populations of L1 speakers. If you are at all interested in studying the language, I absolutely encourage you to do it.


It sounds like you have pretty good grades (certainly much better than what I had leaving high school), so I'm pretty confident that you will receive some substantial scholarships. I would definitely recommend attending the cheapest undergrad you can unless the majority of it is going to be paid for, be it by financial awards/scholarships or family. If I could do one thing about my pre-vet undergrad experience over again, this would be it; I received very little in terms of scholarships and wound up footing about $45k of undergrad debt when all was said and done. The sad part? Without need-based grants such as Pell, I would have owed about double that number. Vet school debt is terrible enough to deal with. Don't make it any worse than you have to by adding substantial undergrad debt on top. You'll thank yourself later.


Nope! You will definitely need at least several hundred hours worth of veterinary and animal experience under your belt when you ultimately decide to apply to vet school, but you don't need it right now in the context of being accepted to an undergrad program.

Wow! Three languages! Yeah I definitely see the advantage in being fluent in a language like Spanish, especially in the medical field. Majors are where I have an issue. Though I have my heart set on being a veterinarian right now, I really don't have any experience. You're right; no one likes to think about it not working out but that may happen, or I may change my mind. (I always thought I could just change my major if I change my mind, but that might now be so easy). I might think about majoring in Biology and minoring in Spanish instead. A lot of people are telling me to pick the cheapest undergrad/wherever I get the most scholarship money. To a vet school, would getting good grades in a smaller, cheaper school be the same as getting good grades in a larger but well-known and more expensive university? Thank you so much for your help I really appreciate it!

 

[battie]

To a vet school, would getting good grades in a smaller, cheaper school be the same as getting good grades in a larger but well-known and more expensive university?

For the most part, they don't care about the school. Some schools may have a very small aspect of determining the rigor of your program. But for the average or stellar applicant, it won't be enough to matter.

 

[arm18]

For the most part, they don't care about the school. Some schools may have a very small aspect of determining the rigor of your program. But for the average or stellar applicant, it won't be enough to matter.

Got it! Thank you!