How long did it take for you to complete your prerequisites for vet school?

[FutureVet96]

I’m 21 and recently decided I want to pursue a career as a veterinarian. At this point, I can’t see myself doing anything else. However, I’m trying to complete my prerequisites for vet school in 2 years. I currently live at home, and at this point the only way I can move out is once I get into vet school. You can probably imagine my frustration, as I’m ready to live on my own. How long did it take for you to complete your prerequisites? How many credit hours did you have?

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[CAndM16]

I’m 21 and recently decided I want to pursue a career as a veterinarian. At this point, I can’t see myself doing anything else. However, I’m trying to complete my prerequisites for vet school in 2 years. I currently live at home, and at this point the only way I can move out is once I get into vet school. You can probably imagine my frustration, as I’m ready to live on my own. How long did it take for you to complete your prerequisites? How many credit hours did you have?

Hey! So, like you, I didn't take any prerequisites in college. It took me two solid years to take the prerequisites, but that being said, I went through a structured postbacc program that had us follow a specific curriculum, and looking back I could have done it quicker had I taken classes on my own. I took about 60 credits in my program. I also lived at home for the first year, and although not ideal, I live in a pricey city so it really wasn't much of an option for me either. It did help to come home after night class and have dinner made (thanks mom!) so I saved money on food and rent. I worked at a clinic while I took the classes, and those two years gave me enough time to gain competitive experience hours. I have a friend who didn't go through a program and just took classes at a local college and finished classes in a little over a year, but I personally think it's a lot to do it that way.

 

[CoffeeQuestionMark]

I'm 23 and still live at home til I go to vet school. I couldn't work during school enough to pay rent and now that I'm graduated they charge me too much rent to make it feasible to save to move out! Grr!

2 years seems about right to finish prereqs depending on where you go. You need generally a combo of bio/chem/ochem/biochem/physics/genetics/calculus/stats
Not all the schools will require the above. 4-6 quarters or 3-4 semesters is likely how much you need to put in

 

[RS1]

Roughly a year, because I took summer classes as well, but I was able to apply to vet school within that year. The limiting factors are: how many pre-requisites your top choice schools have (word to the wise, it's different for every school), and how many of those courses are required to be taken in order. For example, there was no way I could have completed them quicker than 5 semesters because there were 5 required chemistry courses that must be taken in a sequence (chem 1, chem 2, organic 1, organic 2, and biochem).

Utilizing summer semesters is key if you're trying to speed the process. My school offered several of the classes I needed in one-month intensive courses, so I could take 1 or 2 at a time, and several sets over the course of the summer. Be forewarned though -- speeding through some of those classes gets rough and can affect your GPA. Organic 2 in a month was a whirlwind that I wish I had avoided.

The other big factor is being able to get the classes you need, in the order you need, each semester. Being a post-bacc "transfer" helped greatly because our registration times were based on credits, and an entire bachelor's worth of credits made me register before anyone else. If I was a non-degree-seeking student without my previous credits transferring, I would have been last to register and unlikely to make the cutoff for some of the necessary pre-reqs.

 

[EB73674]

I think it'll all depend on what you're doing while you're taking them. I'm a year and half into a structured post-bacc program, and am working about 25-30 hrs a week part time at a clinic to gain experience and, y'know, make money. I decided late last semester to move back in with my parents, who live local, to save money and be able to reduce my work hours. If you are a strong science student and can seriously focus well, and if you don't need to work or don't need to work much for experience or money, you could finish more quickly. I'm looking at a total of 4 years spent on classes, but that's with my above posted situation, and only taking 2-3 classes at a time. I took classes last summer, am taking them this upcoming summer, and summer of 2019 I'll be doing research (not working or taking classes). I'm also considering switching out of my post-bacc program to save money by going to a local smaller state university. It's all about how you work, what you have going on in your life, and what classes you still need to take. I'm not an ideal candidate GPA-wise, and I have virtually NOTHING that will count towards pre-reqs (thanks liberal arts degree!). So...I'm starting over from the beginning!

 

[PippyPony]

Came here to say basically this^

It took me 3 years but I was also working at least 40 hours a week during those 3 years, so could only take a couple classes at a time.

 

[SocialStigma]

I finished mine in 2 years. Took 5 courses each semester (except one semester I took 6). Had summers off to work, didn't work during the school year.

 

[britzen]

As others have said, you should be able to do all of the math/science you need in 4 semesters of full time course loads.

Depending on what schools you intend to apply to, and whether you have ever taken any college courses, it might take you an additional 2 semesters or so to get all of your pre-reqs done because the number of English and Humanities/Social Science or other elective credits required can be wildly different depending on the schools you want to apply to, so you would need extra semesters to complete those too, if you don't have them already.

Let's say you started this summer, your course load could be something like the below, and you would be eligible to apply to some, if not all, vet programs in the 2019 application cycle.

Summer Session 2018:
Chemistry I + Lab
Chemistry II + Lab

Fall Semester 2018:
Organic Chem + Lab
Biology course + Lab
Math
English Composition

Spring Semester 2019:
Organic Chem II + Lab
Biochemistry
Biology course + Lab
Additional English / Math / Bio Class

Summer Session 2019:
Physics I + Lab
Physics II + Lab
*Apply to vet school

Additional semesters - Fall 2019 + Spring 2020:
Any other classes you might need to apply for admission. Some schools require specific additional classes, and some require up to 30 electives in addition to their basic pre-reqs. Some of the specific additional requirements for various programs are: Cell/Molecular Biology, Genetics, Physiology, Microbiology, Animal Nutrition, an additional Math course, an additional English/Speech/Communication course, or humanities/social science courses.

 

[LindsK]

Does anyone who has applied to vet school know whether it is better to take calculus-based physics with lab versus non-calculus based physics with lab? (assuming that is not explicitly stated in the school's requirements?). I want to go to UTCVM but I cannot find anything describing what their specifics are for each required course. Thank you!

 

[EngrSC]

Does anyone who has applied to vet school know whether it is better to take calculus-based physics with lab versus non-calculus based physics with lab? (assuming that is not explicitly stated in the school's requirements?). I want to go to UTCVM but I cannot find anything describing what their specifics are for each required course. Thank you!

So originally I took calculus-based physics as part of my engineering degree. It was “expired” according to most schools because I took it so long ago. I wanted to take the algebra/trig based physics to make my life easier so I emailed the schools I was applying to to verify that was cool. None had a problem with it. However, I did not apply to UTCVM so I would recommend emailing them. All schools I emailed got back to me very quickly so I can’t imagine you’d have an issue with UT

 

[LindsK]

So originally I took calculus-based physics as part of my engineering degree. It was “expired” according to most schools because I took it so long ago. I wanted to take the algebra/trig based physics to make my life easier so I emailed the schools I was applying to to verify that was cool. None had a problem with it. However, I did not apply to UTCVM so I would recommend emailing them. All schools I emailed got back to me very quickly so I can’t imagine you’d have an issue with UT

Thank you!

 

[Polocrosse2017]

It has taken me two years and one semester but I was also taking other classes. I could have done it in two years but felt that was pushing things a bit

I took Non-calculus physics with lab (two semesters). I think there are some schools that require the calculus based but non I am applying to.