Interesting Topics For Pre-Veterinary Club Meetings

[WolvesDragon55]

Hi! So I am in my second semester as President of a very small and very young pre-veterinary club. I am working on planning out the semester, and I have 3 trips and 6 speakers already in the works. Basically, every other week we will be either having a guest speaker or taking a trip.

Here's my problem: Last semester during meetings I highlighted various vet schools that were met by my school's requirements, went over the basic application process, different fields of veterinary medicine and research, where and how to find internships/shadowing, etc. Now I don't know what to talk about! I don't want to have everyone show up just to eat pizza and listen to me talk about who is coming to speak the next week for all of 5 minutes. So I want to know if you guys have any suggestions- what do you wish people had gone over, or things you wish your club had done more of? What things have your clubs talked about, or activities they have done which were useful/fun during meetings?

Any suggestions are appreciated Thanks guys!

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[jmo1012]

hi, i used to be president of Virginia Tech's PVC. we obviously had the advantage of being at a vet school (so it was easy to find good speakers), but we invited people from admissions, had mock interviews, had a vet student panel, and then invited various veterinary related professionals to talk about career options/their lives. small animal private practice, wildlife, farm, specialty med, acupuncture, equine, etc. http://www.prevet.org.vt.edu/

 

[flyhi]

Internationally AVMA accredited vet schools....all that they entail, difference in entrance requirements, curriculum (to include EMS), culture in teaching and living, what to expect in clinicals, difference in teaching/examining styles, grading, financial aid considerations, etc....the list goes on. I think these schools may fit some students very well, but there is no one in the US pushing them and I feel that if more students knew more about them and the process, you'd do some students a huge favor. I think they look at an application quite differently than most US schools (vet experience is minimal - 2 wks- for instance). They are designed to admit students with very different academic and experience levels from what is required here in the US. It's not for everyone, but giving pre-vets the knowledge will allow them to make a more informed decision.

 

[FutResearchVet]

I was a co-founder and treasurer for the pre-vet club at my school and in addition to going over pre-req courses for each vet school, we also went over different types of experiences... we had each person share what type of vet/animal experience they had and what type they wanted get... this was great for getting everyone to know each other as well as exchanging contacts for new experiences/networking. We also talked about the different careers/job you can get with a vet degree. To get the members of the club involved we also had them come up with activities or meeting topics that they were interested in.

 

[Velaineil]

Our pre-vet club has done a suture clinic (teamed up with local med school), volunteered at a horse rescue and a dog shelter, had animal trainers present, and one time somebody came in to teach us some basic animal first aid/rescue things (think red cross). We also have done a lot of free labor for the local humane society... I think two years ago we had a woman from OSU's admissions office come speak to us, too. I don't remember who it was, but it was a really nice presentation/info session. Our club is fairly close to Cbus though, I don't know if they do trips up to Cleveland...
Either way, good luck! You seem to have a ton of activities planned already!

 

[jmo1012]

Internationally AVMA accredited vet schools....all that they entail, difference in entrance requirements, curriculum (to include EMS), culture in teaching and living, what to expect in clinicals, difference in teaching/examining styles, grading, financial aid considerations, etc....the list goes on. I think these schools may fit some students very well, but there is no one in the US pushing them and I feel that if more students knew more about them and the process, you'd do some students a huge favor. I think they look at an application quite differently than most US schools (vet experience is minimal - 2 wks- for instance). They are designed to admit students with very different academic and experience levels from what is required here in the US. It's not for everyone, but giving pre-vets the knowledge will allow them to make a more informed decision.

oh good point! ross, sgu and aua (before it died) were thrilled to come and present to us (and they brought free things!!)

 

[WolvesDragon55]

Awesome! Thanks guys- you gave me a bunch of good ideas