In between vet med and human

[prevetabroad]

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Hi! I'm a sophomore in college and although I'm 70% sure I'm going to go the vet route there's some stuff that interest me about human med too so I'm keeping my options open. No matter which path I decide to take I will taking at least one or two years in between graduating college and starting vet or med school.

Anyway I am looking for advice in terms of extracurriculars since the prerequisites and grades needed are pretty similar. I know volunteering is important for med school and I do a lot of volunteering, but does it matter if the volunteering is human based? I currently do a lot of volunteer work with animals at shelters, with feral cats, and with a program at a wildlife hospital. I also volunteer tutoring elementary school kids for two to three hours a week. Would around 800 hours animal volunteering (this does not include clinical vet volunteering) and a little more than 300 tutoring be enough or should I start doing more human based volunteer work if I decide to go the human med route? If I decide to do human med I'd probably stop shadowing vets at clinics and instead volunteer at the free clinic in my free time (I also have two human doctors who've said I can shadow them sometime) but I really enjoy my animal volunteer activities (as well as tutoring the kids). Is non-human based volunteering looked upon as favorably as human based or if I decide to go the human med route should I cut down on animal volunteering and do more human based work like at a hospice or homeless shelter?

I know it might seem like I'm jumping the gun but I'll probably need to decide by the middle of next year and I definitely have enough animal experience for vet school (still need a lot more vet experience though) so if it's important to have human based activities for med school then I could start finding another volunteer activity I like that's based around humans like my tutoring.

Forgot to add: I'm also in a sorority so I have a lot of small little events that I've volunteered at that have to do with helping humans that probably will total up to 100 or so hours by the end of college.

 

[that redhead]

If you're leaning that far toward vet med over human med, you will need to start accumulating veterinary hours (under the supervision of a veterinarian). These are considered different than just animal experience hours (such as volunteering in certain environments) and vet hours are valued a lot more than "just" animal experience hours. As human med seems to not require nearly as many clinician-supervised hours (the numbers I typically see are ~100 whereas many veterinary applicants aim for at least 500 and many have well into thousands) it would be easier to start tracking down veterinary hours first and then getting human med hours at a later time in the event that you end up wanting to pursue that instead.

 

[ANATOMYgirl22]

I was also between veterinary and human medicine, but ended up choosing human medicine. I was told to include my animal-based volunteer activities, because they are looked upon favorable by many admissions committee members (human doctors can be animal lovers too 😉 ) However, if you do decide to switch to human medicine, just make sure you're able to discuss why you changed your mind. You will also need to make sure you have plenty of clinical experience.

I know it's a tough decision, so good luck!

 

[prevetabroad]

If you're leaning that far toward vet med over human med, you will need to start accumulating veterinary hours (under the supervision of a veterinarian). These are considered different than just animal experience hours (such as volunteering in certain environments) and vet hours are valued a lot more than "just" animal experience hours. As human med seems to not require nearly as many clinician-supervised hours (the numbers I typically see are ~100 whereas many veterinary applicants aim for at least 500 and many have well into thousands) it would be easier to start tracking down veterinary hours first and then getting human med hours at a later time in the event that you end up wanting to pursue that instead.

Yeah that's why I'm focusing most of my efforts on vet med rather than human right now since I need so many vet hours! I have around 200 vet hours right now from ongoing shadowing at a small animal clinic and from shadowing vets at the wildlife hospital and am hoping to get to at least 400 by the end of the year and a lot more in the summers. I was wondering if since animal experience isn't as neede for vet school admissions but I'm not sure if it counts for human med as volunteering if I should lay off animal based volunteering (not vet experience) as often and instead use some of that time I would be at the shelter doing somethung human based just in case or if it doesn't matter.

 

[prevetabroad]

I was also between veterinary and human medicine, but ended up choosing human medicine. I was told to include my animal-based volunteer activities, because they are looked upon favorable by many admissions committee members (human doctors can be animal lovers too 😉 ) However, if you do decide to switch to human medicine, just make sure you're able to discuss why you changed your mind. You will also need to make sure you have plenty of clinical experience.

I know it's a tough decision, so good luck!

Thank so much you this pretty much answers my whole question!

 

[that redhead]

Yeah that's why I'm focusing most of my efforts on vet med rather than human right now since I need so many vet hours! I have around 200 vet hours right now from ongoing shadowing at a small animal clinic and from shadowing vets at the wildlife hospital and am hoping to get to at least 400 by the end of the year and a lot more in the summers. I was wondering if since animal experience isn't as neede for vet school admissions but I'm not sure if it counts for human med as volunteering if I should lay off animal based volunteering (not vet experience) as often and instead use some of that time I would be at the shelter doing somethung human based just in case or if it doesn't matter.

Good to hear 🙂 My inclination is that volunteering of any sort is a good thing for a potential med school application - I hope they'd recognize it as well-roundedness. Good luck with your decision!