Just decided on Pre-Vet

[Clairea11]

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I recently decided that I want to become a veterinarian. I am in the second semester of my freshman year and have taken no science courses aside from Calculus A and B. Last semester I earned a 3.88 and so far it looks like I will end up somewhere around there this semester as well.

Right now I'm debating between majoring in Philosophy with a supplemental Pre-Professional major, or double majoring in Philosophy and Biology. Is there a particular advantage to either one of those options?

Also, my family will probably be moving in June, and I will be spending most of July and August volunteering abroad. I'm not sure if the veterinarian in my town will allow me to volunteer or shadow for the month I will be home. Would it be possible to gain enough experience hours during Sophmore and Junior year (and the rest of my summers until I apply)?

 

[variegata]

Whichever major(s) you choose, you'll end up taking a whole lot of classes. I think the easiest way would be to go with a science (bio) major alone, but since it sounds like you're pretty set on philosophy and since you don't have to be any certain major to apply, it's really up to you and how much work you're willing to do.

Do check with your vet, every little bit of experience helps, even if you're only going to be there for a month. And you will absolutely have time to get experience in your sophomore year and beyond. I only just started getting animal experience my 2nd year and actual veterinary experience midway through my junior year, and I got in this application cycle (my first try). Granted, I didn't apply until the fall after my senior year, so I had a little more time, but it's totally doable. Definitely make the most of volunteering abroad! That will make you a more interesting applicant, particularly if it ends up being an experience that shapes you enough to talk about in a personal statement!

 

[lalzi22]

I see you are listed as pre-med, so I don't know how much research you have done, but there are more pre-reqs for vet school than for med school. Vet schools generally require Gen Chem 1 and 2, O Chem 1 and 2, Physics 1 and 2, Intro Bio 1 and 2, Math (alegbra and trig, precalc or calc depending on the school) plus (and these vary by school) cell bio, micro bio, animal nutrition, anatomy and physiology (some require the class specifically tailored to animals and not humans), public speaking and biochem. I will go on the record as saying that yes, you can be any major you want however if you are a bio major or minor, you take these classes anyway, so you dont have to supplement you major with what ends up being like 4 semesters worth of classes. So it is way easier to be a biology/pre-med/biochem major. That doesn't mean you have to as long as you can get all the pre-reqs done for the schools you want to apply to. Just my 2 cents.

Now for abroad...GO!!!!! How cool?!?! You will def. have time to shadow. Again, unlike pre-meds who can get away with 100 hours, there is no minimum for most schools, but the average accepted student has between 1500 and 2000 hours (taken directly from different schools websites). You just have to make sure that your sophomore and junior summers you are really shadowing and not just going in once a week for an hour or two. You should be able to get the hours in, plus then you have a super cool summer trip to talk about during interviews.

 

[HopefulAg]

Is there a particular advantage to either one of those options?

Nope. You can do any major you'd like, as long as you have the prerequisites for the vet schools you'd like to apply for.

And yes you can get enough experience in sophomore and junior year to be competitive. Thousands of hours are pretty frequent, but not required. I can only speak for A&M, but past a certain point (~ 500 hours) they stop counting and just shove the rest into animal experience. I suppose the philosophy is that if you can spend ~ 21 days working with a vet and still want to apply, then you've probably a good idea what you're getting yourself into.

 

[Clairea11]

Haha I forgot to change my status to pre-vet.

I'm going to speak quickly with my advisor tomorrow and compare the requirements for the College of Science and the College of Arts and Letters. And also figure out how many courses I'd have to make up.

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[HopefulAg]

It's likely that switching (if that's what you're planning to do) won't be a problem at this stage in the game. You might have missed out on maybe one or two classes, but it's likely that they have a lot of the first year classes in common.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I recently decided that I want to become a veterinarian. I am in the second semester of my freshman year and have taken no science courses aside from Calculus A and B. Last semester I earned a 3.88 and so far it looks like I will end up somewhere around there this semester as well.

Right now I'm debating between majoring in Philosophy with a supplemental Pre-Professional major, or double majoring in Philosophy and Biology. Is there a particular advantage to either one of those options?

Also, my family will probably be moving in June, and I will be spending most of July and August volunteering abroad. I'm not sure if the veterinarian in my town will allow me to volunteer or shadow for the month I will be home. Would it be possible to gain enough experience hours during Sophmore and Junior year (and the rest of my summers until I apply)?

You don't actually even need to major in Biology or pre-professional anything - you could just do your philosophy major and minor in Bio as well, provided that you take the proper prereqs for the schools you want to apply to. It won't hurt you in any way to not have a "typical pre-professional major" like bio or chem. There doesn't really seem to be an advantage to either of the options you give except that majoring in Bio will streamline the process because your classes will count towards both your major and vet school prereqs.

You'll have plenty of time to pull together experience, and the abroad experience will look excellent on your app as well. All the schools I applied to wanted to know all about my abroad study, and it seemed to have an overall positive effect on my application.

It's never too late to switch - I switched Junior year and it only delayed me by a year, so you're still ahead of the game 😀

 

[BomberCanoe]

Like the others have said, there's no major that will get you into vet school. To reiterate the point, the only advantage is that bio will streamline the process, and some of those upper level bio classes (which you may not get to if you are dual majoring or majoring in philosophy) are really good. I'd recommend looking into majoring in bio, with a minor in philosophy. That way, you can get into those bio classes easily (I know when registering for classes, there are restrictions on who gets which seats here), but you can also keep your interest in philosophy. If you wanna switch it (major phil, minor bio), that works just as well, so long as you have it mapped out, and don't find yourself in a rush to get all the pre-reqs.

Definitely do the abroad experience. While a huge part of vet school is the scholastic aspect (I believe with most schools, the first "cut off" is grade based), experience is just as important. I personally started accumulating no experience until I got a job at a local clinic Thanksgiving of my sophomore year. The only help I can offer is : Diversity. It hurt me that most of my hours were tied up in one single small animal clinic, with only a handful of other experience. Since you're already getting a start on this, it sounds like you're on the right track.

Hopefully, everyone else here, and myself, have helped you out some. Good luck with figuring out how you want to do your undergrad, and definitely keep this forum bookmarked: between all of the members, someone will probably have experienced anything you go through, and will be able to help you along the way.

 

[HopefulAg]

To reiterate the point, the only advantage is that bio will streamline the process,

The argument could be made that a non-bio major helps you as well. They get hundreds/thousands of bio-related majors, but a non-bio major makes you interesting and sets you apart from the other applicants. But you'll have to be prepared to answer questions about how your non-bio major will aids you in vet school, or why you switched.

 

[gilch]

Welcome to the fun of pre vet and the pre vet forum!

I think that your app might be a bit more memorable as a philosophy major...but there is a reason there are so many bio or ansci majors among the vet classes--little to no extra work for pre reqs and upper level sciences.

Unless your app is fabulous otherwise, very few applicants get accepted w/ just the pre reqs. Most schools look favorably on upper level sciences like immunology, parasitology, cell biology, animal physiology and anatomy, reproductive physiology, mammology, drug chemistry, biostatistics, ect. even if they are not required (though some, as lalzi pointed out, might be at certain schools). The easiest way to graduate/apply in 4 years of college is to have some of these in your curriculum. You certainly don't need all of these but a few would help.

Another great way to make your app different is unique experiences like volunteering abroad, even if it is not animal related. You can certainly get shadowing done during the school or summer. Va-Md is another school that puts a cap on vet experience hours at 500, which is really doable in your time frame.

 

[Tiktaalik]

If you make a particular point of focusing on ethics within your Philosophy major, they will throw 20 science majors under the bus to drag you screaming through the door, all grades and experience equal.

I exaggerate, but seriously, they go for that stuff.

 

[Clairea11]

It would be possible for me to double major in Bio and Philosophy I think...I'm going to meet with someone in the biology department later this week to discuss whether or not I should switch. I guess my main problem with switching is that my friend told me this morning that Bio is the hardest major at our school and now I'm scared I'll fail out haha.

 

[jenniferblue]

I second the advice to major in Philosphy if it is what you love. You will stand out as an applicant. If your grades are good (which they seem to be) and they remain consistent in the science prereqs you take, then you will have proven that you can handle the course load in vet school.
I work on the academic side of a medical school and I can attest that bio-ethics is a hot topic for med schools, and given the number of ethical questions I was asked during interviews, vet schools are also interested.
As for volunteering abroad - I am so jealous! There are some amazing opportunities to work with animals. I have always dreamed of working with lions in South Africa. I met people volunteering with monkeys, and/or turtles in Costa Rica. There is also a large cat reserve in Costa Rica where you can volunteer. (I can't remember it off the top of my head, but you can pm me if you are interested.)
My last piece of advice is to find a vet to volunteer with early on and establish a history with one establishment, whether it is a clinic, a shelter, or whatever. (You can start off a couple of hours and week, and ramp up when you have free time.) You will need a veterinarian to write you a letter of recommendation, and the better they know you, the stronger the letter will be.
Good luck!!

 

[Electrophile]

It would be possible for me to double major in Bio and Philosophy I think...I'm going to meet with someone in the biology department later this week to discuss whether or not I should switch. I guess my main problem with switching is that my friend told me this morning that Bio is the hardest major at our school and now I'm scared I'll fail out haha.

I double majored in biology and religious studies and minored in history and finished in 4 years. I had to take physics during the summer to fit it all in, but it was totally doable. 🙂

 

[Clairea11]

Just to clarify, the volunteering I will be doing this summer is not animal-related. I'm working at a summer camp for orphans in Eastern Europe.

Thank you for the advice! I'll be sure to ask the biology professor about double majoring and how to fit in the courses.

 

[ColoradoDVM]

Just to clarify, the volunteering I will be doing this summer is not animal-related. I'm working at a summer camp for orphans in Eastern Europe.

Thank you for the advice! I'll be sure to ask the biology professor about double majoring and how to fit in the courses.

That would be good to put on your app/ you want to stand out!