How To Count This Internship?

[bee83]

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So, a quick question here. I'm currently doing an internship at a zoo vet hospital, which I will definitely be counting as vet experience. However, the internship, which is specifically for pre-vet students, involves several weeks working in the nutrition department which is nearby but not part of the hospital. There is a PhD nutritionist working at the nutrition department, but no vet.
So how do I count those other hours working in nutrition?
I was originally going to lump the while internship together into vet experience, but then I realized that the nutrition part is different. It's not even animal experience. Do I count it as work experience only?
Argh.

 

[StartingoverVet]

So, a quick question here. I'm currently doing an internship at a zoo vet hospital, which I will definitely be counting as vet experience. However, the internship, which is specifically for pre-vet students, involves several weeks working in the nutrition department which is nearby but not part of the hospital. There is a PhD nutritionist working at the nutrition department, but no vet.
So how do I count those other hours working in nutrition?
I was originally going to lump the while internship together into vet experience, but then I realized that the nutrition part is different. It's not even animal experience. Do I count it as work experience only?
Argh.

You are probably going to get a ton of different answers.

I personally feel you are over-thinking. Adcoms aren't going audit every part of your experience to that level of detail. And if you make a reasonable attempt to put it somewhere appropriate that is all that really matters.

Put it where you feel comfortable. That is the most important thing.

Me, I would put it in vet experience since it is a part of your overall internship at a zoo vet hospital.

I repeat again though, put it where you feel most comfortable, and that is the best answer.

 

[twelvetigers]

Agreed to put it in vet, but also agreed that most schools will evaluate your experience for themselves and will kinda put it where they think it should go, anyway.

If you can explain the internship and the nutrition part in the amount of space they give you, I would probably leave it all together as one unified experience.

 

[scb44f]

You are probably going to get a ton of different answers.

I personally feel you are over-thinking. Adcoms aren't going audit every part of your experience to that level of detail. And if you make a reasonable attempt to put it somewhere appropriate that is all that really matters.

Put it where you feel comfortable. That is the most important thing.

Me, I would put it in vet experience since it is a part of your overall internship at a zoo vet hospital.

I repeat again though, put it where you feel most comfortable, and that is the best answer.

I agree. I know there is a lot of concern about how to designate things, but I tend to think that as long as you put it somewhere on your application and describe what you did/saw, the adcoms will be able to understand what it was all about. If they don't agree with where you put it, they'll move it and it's no big deal.

 

[LetItSnow]

Put it where you feel comfortable. That is the most important thing.

👍

As long as you are doing your best to fit it into the most reasonable box, I can't imagine an ad-com giving you any grief. They may reclassify it on their own if they disagree, but that's the worst that would happen so long as you had a reasonably defensible choice.

From what you described, I'd put it in the vet experience category because it's part of your overall vet internship.

 

[bee83]

Thanks everyone. I do tend to over think things on a regular basis 🙂

 

[thedogisgreen]

it technically can go in the vet experience section since there is the phd there. and i agree with others, as long as you explain the situation in the box, you'll be fine!

 

[RemyHou]

Can you tell me how your internship at the zoo is going? I was planning to apply for an internship at the Houston Zoo during the fall, and I was wondering if you can give me any pointers?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ricegrad]

Can you tell me how your internship at the zoo is going? I was planning to apply for an internship at the Houston Zoo during the fall, and I was wondering if you can give me any pointers?

Thanks in advance!

Oh, I did an internship with hoofstock last semester at the Houston zoo, and I loved it! It was a lot of hard work, but the people and the animals were amazing. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend trying to get in with the carnivore section. The animals are fantastic, they do really cool training/enrichment, and the keepers are SO knowledgeable. PM if you have any specific questions.

 

[deleted387118]

I'd make sure you have plenty of other experience under the "vet" category if you are going to include it though. I know most people go in with more than enough, but you don't want to cut it close if the category it goes in is iffy.

 

[bee83]

Can you tell me how your internship at the zoo is going? I was planning to apply for an internship at the Houston Zoo during the fall, and I was wondering if you can give me any pointers?

I don't know how things at the Houston Zoo are done, but I think any zoo internship would be a good experience for someone who is seriously thinking about going into zoo medicine. As for my internship, I actually don't particularly care for it. Even though I'm at the hospital all day, most of the cool vet work is done when the vets go out to the animal exhibits, and the interns aren't allowed to ride along (I don't know why, since it seems to me like it would be a simple thing and would be extremely interesting and educational to pre-vets). I have gotten to see many really interesting procedures done at the hospital, but there are some very, very slow days that make me want to pull my hair out. Oh well.