Limited Vet and Animal Experience

[scb44f]

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As you might've guessed from the title of this thread, I have somewhat (ok, very) limited animal and vet experience. While it'd be great to bulk up both areas, my focal point right now is to gain at least 400 hours of vet experience before I apply during the next cycle.

I finally decided this past summer to go for veterinary medicine, at which point I lined up a volunteer/shadowing position at a mixed animal practice where I go to school. In the past 5 months, I have gained ~85 hours of experience.

I know this is hardly anything compared to what most of you gain in a given 5 month period, but next semester, things seem a bit brighter, with about 10 hours a week dedicated to volunteering/shadowing.

On top of this, one of my close family friends has recently taken the position as director of a new shelter in her town which, once up and running, will also serve as a spay/neuter clinic. She has already secured me as a volunteer there for part of next summer, which I'm excited about.

Now, my main worry is that with the limited experience I have, it will primarily be SA, with some LA thrown into the mix pretty randomly. I imagine that both of these factors will seriously hinder my application.

I have considered contacting Mizzou's veterinary hospital to look into shadowing one of their LA vets for a week or so (Mizzou is halfway between where I go to school and where I live, so it's an extremely central location). Does anyone have any experience/input with this type of inquiry?

 

[bruinvetman]

i was in a similar predicament my junior year of college (only had about 300-500 hrs SA). Because of this, I didn't apply that summer and am currently taking my year off between undergrad and vet school and continuing to gain experience. I was fine with just SA and wildlife (marine mammal care center) but I have a strong GPA. A year off was also a good idea for me to take a moment to breathe. But a few months in, I can't wait to jump back into school.

 

[bruinvetman]

sorry that doesn't help with the mizzou inquiry but you might take some comfort in knowing not every successful applicant has thousands of hours of experience in every field

 

[scb44f]

Thanks for the input though, Bruinvet. I know SDN is not necessarily a representative sample of everyone applying to vet school, which is why I still plan to apply during the next cycle. I think the experience is my only downfall right now, with a GPA of 3.72, a mediocre GRE, and lots of leadership and volunteering.

 

[Wolphcats]

sorry that doesn't help with the mizzou inquiry but you might take some comfort in knowing not every successful applicant has thousands of hours of experience in every field

It is true. And even those who do have thousands of hours are not successful in applying (like me for two years 😡).

 

[SocialStigma]

I'm in the same boat, pretty much all my experience is with SA, though I'm hoping to get some LA/exotics experience this summer.

It depends on the school though, I'm applying to OVC and they use a 40:40:20 (GPA, 8 prereqs, MCAT) to rank the top 200 applicants and so grades are very important in obtaining an interview. I'm just trying to rock school right now so that I can at least make it to the interview cycle and hopefully give myself a chance to make up for my lack of experience compared to other applicants.

 

[The Mad Penguin]

I was in a similar situation starting my junior year of undergrad...all I had was SA experience. So, I searched all over the place for more diverse experiences. I literally tried every avenue: I went on craigslist, google, etc. to look for part-time job openings in different areas (its how I got my job as an animal tech at the dana farber cancer institute!). I contacted vet schools to ask if I could do some work on their farm, and I got involved with marine animal research at my school (and found my passion!). So, my advice is to just do an exhaustive search of everything in your area...labs, zoos, farms, etc. You'll be surprised what turns up 😀.