Non-traditional applicant

[adsilaphant]

Hello. I will be applying to veterinary programs next year (2022). However, at 34 years old with no animal care experience, I was wondering which route would be suitable in obtaining animal care hours. Initially, vet-med was my plan when I started college but I changed to focus on human medicine. Now, “later in life,” I decided to re-consider vet-med.

*My grades surpass most program requirements and I have a bachelor’s degree in Public Health and a post-bacc in Biological Heath Sciences.

If anyone has any suggestions per animal care hours, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks so much!

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[Lupin21]

Hello. I will be applying to veterinary programs next year (2022). However, at 34 years old with no animal care experience, I was wondering which route would be suitable in obtaining animal care hours. Initially, vet-med was my plan when I started college but I changed to focus on human medicine. Now, “later in life,” I decided to re-consider vet-med.

*My grades surpass most program requirements and I have a bachelor’s degree in Public Health and a post-bacc in Biological Heath Sciences.

If anyone has any suggestions per animal care hours, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks so much!

Shadow to make sure you understand what a veterinarian actually does. Just send out your intent and resume to local clinics and see if anyone has a day available. Needs to be varied as you can as well between Small Animal GP/Specialty/Emergency/Large Animal etc.

 

[Mythical]

Hello. I will be applying to veterinary programs next year (2022). However, at 34 years old with no animal care experience, I was wondering which route would be suitable in obtaining animal care hours. Initially, vet-med was my plan when I started college but I changed to focus on human medicine. Now, “later in life,” I decided to re-consider vet-med.

*My grades surpass most program requirements and I have a bachelor’s degree in Public Health and a post-bacc in Biological Heath Sciences.

If anyone has any suggestions per animal care hours, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks so much!

So… you’ve decided to apply to vet school with no animal care experience. May I ask why you are interested in applying to vet school?

 

[adsilaphant]

Shadow to make sure you understand what a veterinarian actually does. Just send out your intent and resume to local clinics and see if anyone has a day available. Needs to be varied as you can as well between Small Animal GP/Specialty/Emergency/Large Animal etc.

This is a great idea. Thanks!

 

[adsilaphant]

So… you’ve decided to apply to vet school with no animal care experience. May I ask why you are interested in applying to vet school?

I lost the spark in college (2006) because at the time, it seemed like an impossible intent due to academic performance. Now, that I’m older, I decided to keep to a pursuit.
And... if you have any advice, I’d greatly appreciate it!

 

[Ariel-Li]

I can understand where @Mythical 's question arose. The required veterinary hours for vet school application is a way for prospective students to learn about the field, how working as a veterinarian is not only saving puppies and kittens, but sometimes also dealing with excruciatingly long hours short staffed and abusive clients and not able to provide gold-standard care to patients due to financial reasons and all those stuff. I don't see someone without such exposure a prepared candidate for vetmed, and I'm afraid the admission committees will as well. No judgment here, but maybe get some exposure in varies fields in vetmed with an open mind, then decide if you really want to pursuit this as a career. If you love working with animals, there are a lot of other careers that do not require a DVM degree.

Now onto the practical suggestions. I started out volunteering in a shelter, introduced myself to the shelter vet, started shadowing then assisting in spay/neuter surgeries and vaccine clinics. It was a few months before I could land a minimum-wage vet assistant job, during which I kept volunteering for the shelter to learn more techniques (the clinic I was employed at did not teach assistants any techniques, I learned basically everything from the shelter vet). Then I got a better paid non-certified tech job in GP, then ER. I chose this route because I needed to support myself while getting the hours. Now if you have more financial support, you can probably do shadowing instead of employment. SA clinics are so overwhelmed with caseload right now, I don't know if shadowing will be available, or how much you'd learn with the doctors this busy. I heard there are amazing wildlife rehab internships for applicants with minimum previous experience but most of them are not funded. I don't know anything about LA or equine, maybe someone else can offer suggestions in that regard.

 

[EngrSC]

I was a non-traditional applicant coming from a different field when I applied. I had been volunteering with a dog rescue (because I just loved dogs) and really enjoyed working with potential adopters. I fell into a board position managing the adoption process and a fellow volunteer asked me if I’d consider volunteering as a caseworker with an organization that works with owners of animals that need medical care they can’t afford. That’s where I was like hmm, I love working with people and also find the medicine part really interesting (we only provided financial assistance for non-routine things so lots of orthopedic surgeries, foreign bodies, endocrine diseases, really wild things like coonhound paralysis, etc.)

I ended up getting into the veterinary field through networking. One of the medical fosters with the rescue I was with was the practice manager of a really great SA general practice and they hired me on as a receptionist and assistant. They taught me A TON. The vets I worked with there encouraged me to go to vet school so I started taking my prereqs in night school.

I did some other odds and ends things to boost my application for vet school like volunteered at a wildlife center (learned real quick that wildlife isn’t my jam) and shadowed in an exotics hospital here and there as time allowed. I worked ER nights for a while, which was brutal with a daytime job but I became good friends with one of the vets there that I then followed to a non-profit low-cost clinic. I grew up around horses but hadn’t been working with them at the time, so I began volunteering with a therapeutic riding group for disabled children (talk about an amazing experience on so many levels). They connected me with their vet and their farrier, which ended up being some of the best experiences of my life (and now I’m an equine tracker in vet school).

Anyway… I don’t know if 1 year is enough time to really get quality varied experiences unless you’ve got a lot of time to dedicate to them and already have them lined up. I’m also not sure if that’s enough time to get to know a vet well enough to get a strong letter of recommendation. I feel like part of getting experiences is networking but it’s also a lot about putting yourself out there and being willing to learn and do dirty work. I had plenty of places tell me they didn’t take volunteers/shadows (probably more noes than yeses), but when you get a yes you need to show up and help out where you can. I would always make friends with staff and help out where I could (I once cleaned maggots out of a carrier and they were ridiculously grateful, LOL). Maybe you’ll get lucky and a school will accept you with less than average experience if you have a unique story and stellar grades. But applying is expensive as hell, so I personally chose to wait until I knew I could present my best application. If you’re super determined to apply next year, you could apply to maybe 1 or 2 of your top choice schools and get feedback from them if you’re not accepted

But yeah, second what @Ariel-Li said above, vet med is typically very different than what people think it is.

 

[adsilaphant]

I can understand where @Mythical 's question arose. The required veterinary hours for vet school application is a way for prospective students to learn about the field, how working as a veterinarian is not only saving puppies and kittens, but sometimes also dealing with excruciatingly long hours short staffed and abusive clients and not able to provide gold-standard care to patients due to financial reasons and all those stuff. I don't see someone without such exposure a prepared candidate for vetmed, and I'm afraid the admission committees will as well. No judgment here, but maybe get some exposure in varies fields in vetmed with an open mind, then decide if you really want to pursuit this as a career. If you love working with animals, there are a lot of other careers that do not require a DVM degree.

Now onto the practical suggestions. I started out volunteering in a shelter, introduced myself to the shelter vet, started shadowing then assisting in spay/neuter surgeries and vaccine clinics. It was a few months before I could land a minimum-wage vet assistant job, during which I kept volunteering for the shelter to learn more techniques (the clinic I was employed at did not teach assistants any techniques, I learned basically everything from the shelter vet). Then I got a better paid non-certified tech job in GP, then ER. I chose this route because I needed to support myself while getting the hours. Now if you have more financial support, you can probably do shadowing instead of employment. SA clinics are so overwhelmed with caseload right now, I don't know if shadowing will be available, or how much you'd learn with the doctors this busy. I heard there are amazing wildlife rehab internships for applicants with minimum previous experience but most of them are not funded. I don't know anything about LA or equine, maybe someone else can offer suggestions in that regard.

Thank you soooo much for this information. I would love to shadow and intern. I know I’m a little late in the game but I’m willing to sacrifice.

 

[adsilaphant]

I was a non-traditional applicant coming from a different field when I applied. I had been volunteering with a dog rescue (because I just loved dogs) and really enjoyed working with potential adopters. I fell into a board position managing the adoption process and a fellow volunteer asked me if I’d consider volunteering as a caseworker with an organization that works with owners of animals that need medical care they can’t afford. That’s where I was like hmm, I love working with people and also find the medicine part really interesting (we only provided financial assistance for non-routine things so lots of orthopedic surgeries, foreign bodies, endocrine diseases, really wild things like coonhound paralysis, etc.)

I ended up getting into the veterinary field through networking. One of the medical fosters with the rescue I was with was the practice manager of a really great SA general practice and they hired me on as a receptionist and assistant. They taught me A TON. The vets I worked with there encouraged me to go to vet school so I started taking my prereqs in night school.

I did some other odds and ends things to boost my application for vet school like volunteered at a wildlife center (learned real quick that wildlife isn’t my jam) and shadowed in an exotics hospital here and there as time allowed. I worked ER nights for a while, which was brutal with a daytime job but I became good friends with one of the vets there that I then followed to a non-profit low-cost clinic. I grew up around horses but hadn’t been working with them at the time, so I began volunteering with a therapeutic riding group for disabled children (talk about an amazing experience on so many levels). They connected me with their vet and their farrier, which ended up being some of the best experiences of my life (and now I’m an equine tracker in vet school).

Anyway… I don’t know if 1 year is enough time to really get quality varied experiences unless you’ve got a lot of time to dedicate to them and already have them lined up. I’m also not sure if that’s enough time to get to know a vet well enough to get a strong letter of recommendation. I feel like part of getting experiences is networking but it’s also a lot about putting yourself out there and being willing to learn and do dirty work. I had plenty of places tell me they didn’t take volunteers/shadows (probably more noes than yeses), but when you get a yes you need to show up and help out where you can. I would always make friends with staff and help out where I could (I once cleaned maggots out of a carrier and they were ridiculously grateful, LOL). Maybe you’ll get lucky and a school will accept you with less than average experience if you have a unique story and stellar grades. But applying is expensive as hell, so I personally chose to wait until I knew I could present my best application. If you’re super determined to apply next year, you could apply to maybe 1 or 2 of your top choice schools and get feedback from them if you’re not accepted

But yeah, second what @Ariel-Li said above, vet med is typically very different than what people think it is.

Phew!! This was a lot of information to absorb but very helpful, indeed. As I told @Ariel-Li, I am willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary. My local shelter is accepting volunteers, so maybe this will be an OK start. 🤷🏽‍♀️

And, I will apply out next cycle to see what they say.

thanks so much!!