Large Animal Vet Schools- Instate or Out of State?

[Everlong707]

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I'm currently a senior in high school and have been trying to research different vet schools for my future graduate education. I'm interested in large/food animals and would like to go to a school that has a strong focus on this. I live in Missouri, so Mizzou and Illinois would be my top two choices because of location, but I haven't been able to visit them yet and am unsure of what their courses tend to focus on.

Do these schools offer many large animal courses? If not, what would be the best out of state schools for me to choose from?

If Mizzou does offer many of those courses, would it be wise to also study pre-vet there? Or is it not worth it (in terms of cost and acceptance rate for their graduate program)?

Sorry for the multiple questions. I'd just like to have a good idea of where I want to apply to so that I can take the right courses during my pre-vet years. If anyone here could answer even one of my questions, I would be very grateful.

 

[Ashgirl]

I'm currently a senior in high school and have been trying to research different vet schools for my future graduate education. I'm interested in large/food animals and would like to go to a school that has a strong focus on this. I live in Missouri, so Mizzou and Illinois would be my top two choices because of location, but I haven't been able to visit them yet and am unsure of what their courses tend to focus on.

Do these schools offer many large animal courses? If not, what would be the best out of state schools for me to choose from?

If Mizzou does offer many of those courses, would it be wise to also study pre-vet there? Or is it not worth it (in terms of cost and acceptance rate for their graduate program)?

Sorry for the multiple questions. I'd just like to have a good idea of where I want to apply to so that I can take the right courses during my pre-vet years. If anyone here could answer even one of my questions, I would be very grateful.

Just about any vet school will give you the experience you need to become a competent vet. Honestly. I would personally put cost over food animal experience, since there is a gigantic difference between 160,000 and 250,000, especially when there is interest involved, and can affect your life beyond school.

However, I will say that Mizzou has a pretty decent farm animal program (you get 6 weeks divided into medicine, surgery, ambulatory), PLUS you have a therio rotation, PLUS you can have several weeks of electives in Farm animal PLUS you can dedicate your free blocks (we get 16 weeks!) into farm animal externships, which honestly you would be hard pressed to find so much time anywhere else, since we have a bit more time in clinics than just about every school.

As for pre-vet, it depends on you, and what you are looking for. Once again, I think cost should be a factor, along with how you like it there (curriculum, fit, etc.). I personally went to an OOS school for undergrad and had no qualms getting accepted at Mizzou, so it's not like they look down on you if you choose to go to another school.

 

[Everlong707]

Just about any vet school will give you the experience you need to become a competent vet. Honestly. I would personally put cost over food animal experience, since there is a gigantic difference between 160,000 and 250,000, especially when there is interest involved, and can affect your life beyond school.

However, I will say that Mizzou has a pretty decent farm animal program (you get 6 weeks divided into medicine, surgery, ambulatory), PLUS you have a therio rotation, PLUS you can have several weeks of electives in Farm animal PLUS you can dedicate your free blocks (we get 16 weeks!) into farm animal externships, which honestly you would be hard pressed to find so much time anywhere else, since we have a bit more time in clinics than just about every school.

As for pre-vet, it depends on you, and what you are looking for. Once again, I think cost should be a factor, along with how you like it there (curriculum, fit, etc.). I personally went to an OOS school for undergrad and had no qualms getting accepted at Mizzou, so it's not like they look down on you if you choose to go to another school.

I agree, tuition costs are going to be a huge factor in my decision since eight years of college isn't cheap. Now I just have to figure out some of the out of state schools' tuitions to decide on back up grad schools! I'm glad to see that I should be able to get some experience with farm animals at Mizzou, and I suppose there are always options outside of school for shadowing or work. As for pre-vet, I guess I shouldn't be worrying too greatly about where exactly I go as long as I take all the needed courses. Thank you for your help! 🙂

 

[Ashgirl]

I agree, tuition costs are going to be a huge factor in my decision since eight years of college isn't cheap. Now I just have to figure out some of the out of state schools' tuitions to decide on back up grad schools! I'm glad to see that I should be able to get some experience with farm animals at Mizzou, and I suppose there are always options outside of school for shadowing or work. As for pre-vet, I guess I shouldn't be worrying too greatly about where exactly I go as long as I take all the needed courses. Thank you for your help! 🙂

Tuition is a great place to start, though I will warn you that some vet schools may not be a clear choice until you are about to apply (If you have a poor GPA you'll want to apply smartly to schools that don't have a big emphasis on GPA or put emphasis on last 45 GPA, etc).

I strongly believe that vet school is what you make of it, so if you come into Mizzou (or really any vet school) wanting a bunch of farm animal experience you can definitely get it if you look around! (There's shadowing and club experience that you can get during your pre-clinicals years, plus summer externships, etc).

And I agree- don't wouldn't worry about what school you go to as long as you get the pre-reqs in you'll be good to go! The only thing that Mizzou looks at is rigor- so how many credits you take a semester, and even that is only 6% of your application. And as far as I know they only "look-down" upon a bunch of online classes, not where you do it at!

 

[Everlong707]

I strongly believe that vet school is what you make of it, so if you come into Mizzou (or really any vet school) wanting a bunch of farm animal experience you can definitely get it if you look around! (There's shadowing and club experience that you can get during your pre-clinicals years, plus summer externships, etc).

If I were to do shadowing, clubs, or externships through a pre-vet school, do you know if those hours could count towards the ones needed for applying to grad school (the animal experience hours)? Or is that something that I would have to set up on my own outside of school? I'd like to start volunteering at an animal shelter near me as well, but I'm not too sure how this all works or if I can even start racking up hours before I've entered the program. Thanks again!

 

[Ashgirl]

If I were to do shadowing, clubs, or externships through a pre-vet school, do you know if those hours could count towards the ones needed for applying to grad school (the animal experience hours)? Or is that something that I would have to set up on my own outside of school? I'd like to start volunteering at an animal shelter near me as well, but I'm not too sure how this all works or if I can even start racking up hours before I've entered the program. Thanks again!

Oops, when I said preclinical I meant in vet school, not pre-vet (though you can certainly shadow and get experience in pre-vet). Any shadowing/working through a vet is considered vet experience, and any contact through animals (4-H, shelter volunteering, etc), is considered animal experience. Both of these are highly recommended (even required) to get into vet school. Just about all of these are acquired outside of school as well, and can go back as far as you want (high school hours count as well).

 

[scb44f]

Since you are from Missouri, it would be worth looking into the Ag or Prevet scholars undergrad programs at Mizzou.

 

[shortnsweet]

Since you are from Missouri, it would be worth looking into the Ag or Prevet scholars undergrad programs at Mizzou.

I was going to say, isn't there an accelerated program for Mizzou? I thought you could start your DVM before getting a BS. I can think of one clinician who did that.

 

[Ashgirl]

I was going to say, isn't there an accelerated program for Mizzou? I thought you could start your DVM before getting a BS. I can think of one clinician who did that.

Yeah I believe the Pre-vet scholars gives you a spot and allows you to get in after the pre-reqs (normally after 3 years of undergrad, I know one person that got in after two years). Mizzou also seems to be friendly of Juniors applying regardless of whether they are in the Scholars program or not. There are around 9 in my class (including myself) without a BS I think? Somewhere around there.

 

[Everlong707]

Since you are from Missouri, it would be worth looking into the Ag or Prevet scholars undergrad programs at Mizzou.

I wasn't aware that there were programs like this available at Mizzou. Thanks for letting me know; I'll definitely have to look into applying for them! Is there any major differences between the two that I should know of?

Yeah I believe the Pre-vet scholars gives you a spot and allows you to get in after the pre-reqs (normally after 3 years of undergrad, I know one person that got in after two years). Mizzou also seems to be friendly of Juniors applying regardless of whether they are in the Scholars program or not. There are around 9 in my class (including myself) without a BS I think? Somewhere around there.

Do you know if people are able to choose if they want to end their pre-vet studies early after getting the required courses, or is it automatic in this program? I think I'd like to go all four years to get a BS, unless it's possible to get it earlier than that.

 

[scb44f]

I wasn't aware that there were programs like this available at Mizzou. Thanks for letting me know; I'll definitely have to look into applying for them! Is there any major differences between the two that I should know of?



Do you know if people are able to choose if they want to end their pre-vet studies early after getting the required courses, or is it automatic in this program? I think I'd like to go all four years to get a BS, unless it's possible to get it earlier than that.

I believe ag scholars are registered as animal science majors, whereas prevet scholars can technically major in whatever they want. They used to distinguish them by ACT score. You can get in touch with Kathy Seay or look it up on the Mizzou CVM website for more specific info.

You still have to apply for vet school as a prevet or ag scholar, but the advantage is that if you've done the necessary parts of the program, you get in no problem.