I need help deciding the next step

[Almo432]

Current Vets,

I could use your experience and knowledge in deciding my next course of action. I went to college and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Psychology. Immediately after, I decided to join the Air Force. Currently I'm stationed in Las Vegas which doesn't have a University that offers the DVM program. So I'm basically stuck for the next three years unable to begin the application process to vet school.

My question is, then, what would you recommend doing in the meantime that could strengthen my application and/or give me greater chances of succeeding in the DVM program?

I have already written to several animal hospitals in an attempt to volunteer and gain veterinary experience as well as a zoo to work with the animals on my off days. My bachelors degree, obviously, wasn't very heavily chemistry or biology based. Would you recommend taking any higher education in those or any other subjects?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me out. I would be thankful for any and all advice!

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[WhtsThFrequency]

Current Vets,

I could use your experience and knowledge in deciding my next course of action. I went to college and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Psychology. Immediately after, I decided to join the Air Force. Currently I'm stationed in Las Vegas which doesn't have a University that offers the DVM program. So I'm basically stuck for the next three years unable to begin the application process to vet school.

My question is, then, what would you recommend doing in the meantime that could strengthen my application and/or give me greater chances of succeeding in the DVM program?

I have already written to several animal hospitals in an attempt to volunteer and gain veterinary experience as well as a zoo to work with the animals on my off days. My bachelors degree, obviously, wasn't very heavily chemistry or biology based. Would you recommend taking any higher education in those or any other subjects?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me out. I would be thankful for any and all advice!

This is step 1 right here. Have you completed all the prerequisite courses that vet schools require? Most schools have a list of all the science/math courses that are required before application can begin.

 

[dyachei]

Look into the vet schools you might want to apply to and write out the pre-reqs they require. Go from there.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

If you have all the appropriate per-requisite courses that are needed, then just focus on building experience hours; if you need to fulfill the pre-reqs of any of the vet school you want to attend, you can take them now (i.e. they don't need to be taken at the same school as the vet program).

 

[Almo432]

Thank you all! I will start looking into the pre-reqs of the schools I'm interested in. The problem is, being in the military, who knows where they'll send me next and which schools I 'll be around to apply for. On that note, do you think the DVM program is one that can be completed while working full time?

 

[dyachei]

Most have very similar pre-reqs. So there should be a lot of overlap if you want to do some research.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Thank you all! I will start looking into the pre-reqs of the schools I'm interested in. The problem is, being in the military, who knows where they'll send me next and which schools I 'll be around to apply for. On that note, do you think the DVM program is one that can be completed while working full time?

Unfortunately, no way. You're at school 8-5 generally, not counting studying. And fourth year rotations have the additional work of being on call, doing off the clock treatments, etc. A part time job perhaps, but a full time one would likely be impossible.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

On that note, do you think the DVM program is one that can be completed while working full time?

Absolutely no way; the hours involved just won't work. Possibly part time, more likely very part time (4-6 hours a week), at least in the later years.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Getting exposure to vet med is also critical here. You can't know that you truly want to go into a field unless you try it out and learn the realities of it. I would do that ASAP as well - no use paying to take all these prereqs if you find out you actually don't like the field. Follow up aggressively with the places you inquired at.