Is NIH-Postbac helpful for vet school?

[ny.luong249]

Has anyone joined a post-bac program before vet school?
I'm graduating this year and plan to apply for the Fall 2023 cycle, so I will have a gap year. I just got accepted to the post-bac NIH IRTA program to do research at NIH for 1 year. However, the lab that hires me focuses on clinical trials and bioinformatics of albinism and other genetic diseases, which are not related to animal experience. I know NIH post-bac is a prestigious program and helpful if you're a pre-med student. However, I'm not sure about pre-vet. Plus, it is not affordable to live in Bethesda. I haven't signed any paperwork yet, so hopefully, I can still back out. Should I take this opportunity, or should I work at the animal hospital to gain more experience during my gap year?
Thank you for your input.

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[deleted989551]

I'm going to attempt to provide some helpful information. I applied in this past cycle for c/o 2026 to 11 schools -- 2 denied, 1 waitlist, 7 acceptances, 1 waiting to hear (I'm looking at you, NC State ). I am an older nontrad student with a PhD in Biostatistics (funded by an NIH fellowship) and postdoc at the UMN psych department doing statistical genetics/clinical trials/bioinformatics research. Between grad school and that position, I had ~8,000 research hrs. Most of that was not vet med related (only ~5% was in mice).

I think what earned me my acceptances was that my unique past made me stand out, especially my research. If you have "sufficient" (?) vet experience, I would suggest attempting to do the research program. I think that would look amazing on your app and would certainly make you unique. It would also give you some interesting stories for all the "What makes you unique?" essays. Most importantly, it has the potential of giving you some publications. Have you thought about DVM/PhD?

I imagine that is an 8-5 pm position M-F. Maybe you could do some volunteering on the weekends.

Hopefully some of that was helpful. I have not yet started vet school so I would defer to current vet students/practicing vets for more knowledgeable advice and wisdom.

Good luck in the emotionally exhausting process of applying to vet school lol (start in January!!)

 

[deleted989551]

Just one more thing (then I'll be quiet) -- do you want to do the program? Does it sound interesting to you? Which would you rather do?

I honestly think those are the most important considerations at the end of the day Spending 1 yr away from family while you are miserable is not worth it.

 

[SkiOtter]

One of my classmates did some year-long NIH program, potentially that same one. She’s interested in lab animal medicine and research, so I feel like it was helpful for her. If you are interested in the program and can afford it, go for it.

Would you have the opportunity to get a published paper with this program? If so and you’re hoping to specialize that would definitely be very beneficial.

 

[that redhead]

Why did you apply for the program in the first place?

A lot depends on what you want to do. I think it would definitely look good on a vet school application, but not if you aren’t able to talk about the experience in a positive light. If you have no interest in research or even just specializing as a vet, I don’t know that this would be overly beneficial. Most people commute a ways in to NIH, either down 270 (traffic is supremely awful) or by metro, which increases commute time. COL in the entire area is pretty high in general.

 

[britzen]

We've had several students in recent years that worked for NIH before vet school. You may be able to do some networking and maybe get some training with the lab animal vets up there for experience. I think it will make you stand out more than spending a year in a small animal clinic would, and you can always find ways to get more experience hours if you feel like you need them (shadowing/volunteering on weekends for example).

Also, if you're not already a VA or MD resident and you are interested in applying to VA-MD for vet school, you may be able to swing applying as an in-state resident.