How Long Did You Work For Experience?

[OllieCat]

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First of all, first post!

I'm technically new to the whole pre-vet scene even though I've been curious about it since high school (I'm a second year in undergrad now).

I have a lot of animal experience but realize that experience under a veterinarian is extremely important. I shadowed a SA (learning the acronymns 😎 ) vet over the summer only for a very limited time. This was probably 20-30 hours overall. And I haven't done anything since then. Pretty much I'm worried about finding experience at school since I live in by a vet school and I'm thinking that I would only be able to shadow/work with a vet at home over the summer or breaks.

Basically I've been trying to plan out if I could still reasonably apply when I should as well as bring up my current grades. I was wondering about everyone's personal experience as to how long they worked with a vet to build a solid relationship for getting a LOR as well as enough hours.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys could give!

 

[NStarz]

First of all, first post!

I'm technically new to the whole pre-vet scene even though I've been curious about it since high school (I'm a second year in undergrad now).

I have a lot of animal experience but realize that experience under a veterinarian is extremely important. I shadowed a SA (learning the acronymns 😎 ) vet over the summer only for a very limited time. This was probably 20-30 hours overall. And I haven't done anything since then. Pretty much I'm worried about finding experience at school since I live in by a vet school and I'm thinking that I would only be able to shadow/work with a vet at home over the summer or breaks.

Basically I've been trying to plan out if I could still reasonably apply when I should as well as bring up my current grades. I was wondering about everyone's personal experience as to how long they worked with a vet to build a solid relationship for getting a LOR as well as enough hours.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys could give!

Both of my vet LORs came from people I've started working with in the past year (I decided pretty late to head in the vet med direction--junior year of college). I received a vet LOR from a veterinary behaviorist I shadow/assist and the medical director (DVM) at the shelter I volunteer at. Both I only started working with in January (so ten months by the time I applied in October). I think as long as the person knows you well enough to speak to your strengths and knows you on a personal basis, you should be fine 🙂 Good luck!

 

[scb44f]

I asked for a letter from one vet who I shadowed for about 80 to 90 hours (all in 2 weeks), and another who I shadowed for about 500 hours (over 2 years). It might seem strange to ask for a letter from the woman I spent such little time with, but I was with her all day every day and we got to know each other really well. That's just one of those things to use your best judgment on.

As for gathering hours, yes, it can be really hard. It might take some work to get in and shadow or work, but keep trying! Eventually, when you do find an opportunity, the hours will start accumulating. For me, it started off slowly, just a few hours each week. At my peak, I was spending 15-20 hours per week in vet clinics. Breaks are a great time to get hours in too, especially if you find someone willing to let you spend a lot of time in their clinic in those weeks you have off.

The successful applicants stats threads might be interesting to you if you haven't seen them before. Here's last year's thread if you want to take a look at the kinds of hours people had. Of course take them with a grain of salt, and do your best not to freak out over some of the numbers like I did 😉

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=776924&highlight=Stats

 

[skittles12]

I worked at a spay and neuter clinic for a summer (~3-4 months) at 40+ hours per week. Two of my LORs came from the vets there. My other one came from the head of the zoo herpetology department where I did an internship (12 hours per week) for a semester. Looking back, it doesn't sound like a lot of time, but when you work with the same person a lot, it's easier to develop a relationship with them.

 

[OllieCat]

Thanks guys your responses helped a lot 🙂 I guess I'll just keep my eye out and take advantage of any opportunities I get!

 

[SocialStigma]

I shadowed Mon-Sat at one clinic from 8am-2pm for 3 summers (as well as over Christmas and reading week). Managed to rack up 1086 h that way and then I was at another clinic for just 1 summer doing 9-2 about 2-3 days/week for another 160 h. I got LORs from each of those clinics, so one of them knew me for 3 years and one knew me for 3 months.

 

[DVMDream]

2 of my LOR's have known me for 6+ years, 2 of them for about a year and a half, and the academic LOR knew me for that semester that I was in class with her (I did keep in contact with her outside of class but I wouldn't say that she knew me really well.)

 

[kaydubs]

eLORS...... I was a strange one (my letters came from my bio adviser, my philosophy mentor, my former research adviser and the vet that I spent the most time with). I was very choosy with my vets [my area's vets have misdiagnosed many of my family's and friends' animals....thankfully several of them retired] and it worked out in my favor. My primary vet that I did most of my observing with occurred in 2008. I kept in touch with her the entire time applying to & being accepted at vet school. She shares my last name (irony) but no relation [she went to Ross and did her residence at Purdue]. After I sent my app materials, I did some shadowing with a bovine vet [3rd time applicant from Mass who went to UPenn]. He helped me to fall in love with dairy cows. He didn't write me a letter but he was as supportive as any other vet that I've been fortunate enough to come in contact with (there was this one time though at a low cost shelter clinic....].

Anyway, in my interview, I was asked why all of my animal & vet experience was unpaid. I told them I always worked alternate jobs but could never find a paying one in the field. I'm not sure how they took that response....

Best of luck on your journey!

 

[Fireflysushi]

Pretty much I'm worried about finding experience at school since I live in by a vet school and I'm thinking that I would only be able to shadow/work with a vet at home over the summer or breaks.

I did undergrad in a vet school town too. I had to call probably 15 clinics before I found one willing to allow volunteers, let alone hire uncertified techs. I was like you and had a LOT of animal experience hours but not a whole lot of vet hours. I got a couple hundred from scattered SA clinics and then during my Junior year I realized that I needed about 600 more to even be concidered for admitance, so I finally found that clinic that accepted volunteers and called then over and over until they responded to me and let me come in. I then worked there for about 15 hrs a week along with my other two paying jobs, but this certainly took a toll on my Gpa!

My advice to you is to be persistant, ambitious , and cautious. Schools like to know that you can multi-task, but they also like to know that you can multi-task and still get descent grades. Learn your limits as far as how much time you can commit. And find those experiences- they are out there you just have to find them.😀 Good luck

 

[variegata]

My vet experience came from about 2 1/2 years of weekly volunteering in the med room at an animal shelter, single digit hours from pre-vet club activities, then the bulk of my hours were from a SA clinic where I first shadowed weekly for around 9 months, then was hired as an assistant and worked for a year. I managed to squeeze in the bulk of my experience during the second half of my junior year and senior year. I submitted my application during my one super-senior quarter, with around 3 years of working/planning to apply. Short course compared to a lot of other people on here, but I did manage to get in on my first try.

 

[Megascops Asio]

Pretty much I'm worried about finding experience at school since I live in by a vet school

I was/am in that same position. Being located close to a vet school has provided 2 big challenges for me.

1) There are a ton of other people around here interested in vet med who are also looking for vet experience. Simply put, it took me longer than I would have liked to find a vet who was a) willing to take on a volunteer, and b) wasn't already "at capacity" with other volunteers. And of course I've found it next to impossible to find any volunteer work at the vet school itself.
2) There are very few clinics around that aren't simply SA clinics. If anyone has an exotic, large animal, etc etc...they typically go to the vet school. So, the local clinics that aren't SA are either not in need of volunteers (because everyone is trying to work with them already) or is located far enough away that it isn't realistic on my schedule or my gas budget to volunteer with them.​

What I did was to begin volunteering at one of the local wildlife centers. They always seem to be in need of anyone who will volunteer whatever time they can. While it will be considered animal experience instead of vet experience, I believe having this on my resume when I was searching for an actual vet to work with really helped. It showed that I was serious enough about what I want to do, and it built a better animal related background (so I wasn't just some random guy saying "I like animals and want to be a vet, trust me!"). Also, when I was searching for a vet to work with, I literally got in touch with every local hospital I could find. I think I only heard back from two of them, but I've been with one of those two ever since. I volunteered for almost a year between my other jobs and classes before they hired me. I've been lucky enough since then to also be hired at another clinic as well (that thankfully isn't SA).

I would say to anyone starting to look for experience to take advantage of whatever kind of opportunity you can get, whether its strictly vet experience or not. Having any kind of animal experience under your belt will make you more appealing to a vet.

 

[Megascops Asio]

My advice to you is to be persistant, ambitious , and cautious. Schools like to know that you can multi-task, but they also like to know that you can multi-task and still get descent grades. Learn your limits as far as how much time you can commit. And find those experiences- they are out there you just have to find them.😀 Good luck

Agreed. Don't overdo it to the point where your GPA (or your sanity) start to decline. I just spent the last 4+ months working 7 days a week between three different jobs - all on top of my class schedule. It got a bit crazy at times. While I was able to maintain my GPA, after the insanity of finals I decided I had to cut back (especially since I have to take more classes next semester than I did this semester).

Of course, now that I've cut back to just two jobs (still working 7 days a week) and now that classes are on winter break....I have no idea what to do with my free time!!!! 🤣

 

[jemappellejane]

Both of my vet LORs I've worked with for 5+ years. I got a job in a clinic while I was in college because I lived on my own and needed to work. I understand this isn't the same for many college students, but if you can work, I'd do it. The $ is nice too 😉