Nontrad student. Too late? How do I get the experience?

[meridethb]

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Hello! My name is Meredith, and I'm a 24 year old student just starting my journey through school to become a Veterinarian. I've read a few things through the forums, and I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times (probably), I just couldn't find anything close to my situation.

As I said before, I'm 24 and starting my first semester in college at a two year community college. I dropped out of high school when things with my family went downhill, and received my GED. I've lived on my own now for three years, held jobs in the serving industry, and then last month decided, I didn't want this anymore. I want to be a Veterinarian, I always have, but suffering from depression really held me back from doing anything, since I always expect I'll fail at anything I try. But I have finally done it, and now I'm taking (sadly) 7 credit hours for my first semester at school. I know this is really low, but since it's my first year back, I didn't want to jump into too much, as well as working full time.

I want to do this right, and do it as best as I can. Since I have no other ways of support, I do have to work full time, but I managed to land a job at a SA practice as a Veterinarian Assistant. At the moment, it is mostly kennel work, but I do a lot of setting up vaccines, running and reading fecal and urine tests, HW tests, sending and running blood work, restraining animals, and I get to hear the Veterinarians talk to clients about the animals a LOT. There is only 3 assistants for the 2 Veterinarian practice, so they have told me as soon as I master one thing, they'll allow me to move on to things such as drawing blood, nail clippings, and dental work. As far as I've read, I think I've landed a really valuable job and experience to help me through the first few years of school.

But, my question is, I know that a LOT of experience is required, and not just SA, but exotics, equine, large, etc. How do I go about getting this? I have applied to volunteer at Zoo Atlanta and the Atlanta Aquarium, but I doubt they'll let me do anything worthy of noting on my future application with no experience. I know it's horribly too early for any internship, so what is the best thing for me to do right now?

Also, lame question, but. Am I too old? I'm worried since I'm already 24, so I'll probably be 28-29 by the time I can even apply to Vet School, they might look down on me?Also, my dream school is The Ohio State University. Is it suggested I go there for my undergrad after I graduate my two year, or should I just go to a school that is close by and convenient?

Thanks for the advice, sorry it was so long, and sorry if I wasn't too clear!

 

[VetAshley2117]

1) I'm 30 and just started my first year of vet school so no you are not too old.
2). Most of my experience is SA with a bit of LA stuff.

Just know you have to work hard and try to get to the full time status but taking it slow your first semester should be ok. You need to do well with your overall GPA and your science GPA so just be prepared for those classes and don't psych yourself out with them. If this is what you want go for it but realize that you are going to have debt when graduating so be prepared for that. Also, I've been there working full time and going to school full time and it's not easy!

 

[meridethb]

Oh, thank you so much! That settled my nerves a LOT! I know it's going to be super hard, especially since I do work full-time. My schedule isn't very flexible, so I have to take a lot of online courses, which I'm not a fan of. I don't think it'll be impossible, but I'll probably, sadly, have to find a new job when I start taking my classes with labs, since I work 8am-6pm M, T, Th, Fr. 🙁

Do you know how I could go about getting research experience?

 

[VetAshley2117]

I didn't have any research experience so unfortunately no, but I would check with your undergrad. Then maybe you could find a paid research job. I was very fortunate with my employers in that they understood I was going to school and really worked with my schedule and accommodated me there so I would see if your employers would be willing to do something like that as well.

 

[LyraGardenia]

It is perfectly fine to have most of your experience in one category, but most schools prefer a variety. Research exotic/equine/LA vets in your area, and then call or visit one and ask to shadow for a day. If you enjoy the experience, ask if you can come back again, and hopefully you can turn it into a long-term shadowing opportunity and accumulate hours that way.

And as for your last question, no, going to the same school for undergrad and vet school isn't necessary. There are some negligible benefits such as becoming familiar with the city earlier and possibly having the opportunity to mingle with vet school faculty/do some shadowing in the teaching hospital, but vet schools don't weigh their own undergrad students any more favorably than students from other schools. It's recommended you apply to more than one vet school, unless there's absolutely no way you could afford out-of-state tuition, and you may end up falling in love with a school other than OSU even if you do go there for undergrad. Or you might get rejected from OSU and accepted somewhere else, who knows. One more consideration, if you're really set on OSU and you go there (or somewhere else in Ohio) for undergrad, you might be able to gain in-state status, as long as you completely relocate and aren't just there for school.

 

[LetItSnow]

Hello! My name is Meredith, and I'm a 24 year old student just starting my journey through school to become a Veterinarian. I've read a few things through the forums, and I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times (probably), I just couldn't find anything close to my situation.

Ok.

First, the experience question. If you keep on working in the job, and assuming it's full-time or close, you'll have 1500-2000 hours after a year. That's plenty of total hours right there. Then you just need some variety. But you don't need a crap-ton of hours of variety. I went riding with a dairy vet for two days.... hung out with an equine vet for a week or two.... I also volunteered every Friday night for 18 months at a wildlife rehab center... and I volunteered in canine rehab at the university for 2 years. Just some ideas. But the real point is: don't feel bad about short-term experiences.

Second, the age thing. You're 24. You're still a kid, basically. Does that answer the question?

Third, there isn't anything wrong with starting out with reduced credit hours. Or even, for that matter, continuing that way. There apparently are some schools that look poorly on that, because I see people post here regularly about how some school frowned on them taking a 'light load'. But I suspect that most schools don't give a rat's behind. I took pretty much no more than 2 classes for my entire undergrad and pre-vet stuff, and never heard one word about it. I have no idea of THE OSU cares - there are OSU peeps around here who probably could answer.

Is OSU your in-state? If not, you'll want to investigate how many OOS seats they have to decide if it's realistic to get in there without moving there to gain residency first.

 

[lailanni]

Hello! My name is Meredith, and I'm a 24 year old student just starting my journey through school to become a Veterinarian. I've read a few things through the forums, and I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times (probably), I just couldn't find anything close to my situation.

As I said before, I'm 24 and starting my first semester in college at a two year community college. I dropped out of high school when things with my family went downhill, and received my GED. I've lived on my own now for three years, held jobs in the serving industry, and then last month decided, I didn't want this anymore. I want to be a Veterinarian, I always have, but suffering from depression really held me back from doing anything, since I always expect I'll fail at anything I try. But I have finally done it, and now I'm taking (sadly) 7 credit hours for my first semester at school. I know this is really low, but since it's my first year back, I didn't want to jump into too much, as well as working full time.

I want to do this right, and do it as best as I can. Since I have no other ways of support, I do have to work full time, but I managed to land a job at a SA practice as a Veterinarian Assistant. At the moment, it is mostly kennel work, but I do a lot of setting up vaccines, running and reading fecal and urine tests, HW tests, sending and running blood work, restraining animals, and I get to hear the Veterinarians talk to clients about the animals a LOT. There is only 3 assistants for the 2 Veterinarian practice, so they have told me as soon as I master one thing, they'll allow me to move on to things such as drawing blood, nail clippings, and dental work. As far as I've read, I think I've landed a really valuable job and experience to help me through the first few years of school.

But, my question is, I know that a LOT of experience is required, and not just SA, but exotics, equine, large, etc. How do I go about getting this? I have applied to volunteer at Zoo Atlanta and the Atlanta Aquarium, but I doubt they'll let me do anything worthy of noting on my future application with no experience. I know it's horribly too early for any internship, so what is the best thing for me to do right now?

Also, lame question, but. Am I too old? I'm worried since I'm already 24, so I'll probably be 28-29 by the time I can even apply to Vet School, they might look down on me?Also, my dream school is The Ohio State University. Is it suggested I go there for my undergrad after I graduate my two year, or should I just go to a school that is close by and convenient?

Thanks for the advice, sorry it was so long, and sorry if I wasn't too clear!

You are definitely not too old! There are plenty of people who enter vet school in their 30's and 40's. You won't stand out, not even a little. And no one looks down on anyone for their age. I think the "old timers" would likely get more tired of the young folks for their silly little gossip dramas, but that's about it 😉

You don't need to have loads of experience in all fields. Mine was mostly SA, no LA, a few hundred with exotics/wildlife, maybe around 50hours with horses and a couple quarters of research. I think schools just want to see that you've had serious experience in at least one aspect and some exposure to the many fields available.

Your zoo and aquarium volunteering would work fine for the exotic experience. I'm not sure volunteers get to do much hands-on at the zoo (regardless of how much experience you have) so just enjoy whatever experience comes your way. Don't feel obligated to keep doing it if you've gotten in your hours and don't think you're getting much out of it. One of my wildlife experiences was at a shelter where I mostly cleaned up bird poop and only occasionally a vet would show me something. I got in my hours there and quit since I had plenty else to do and I had mastered rinsing poop off rocks 😉

Since you have a few years left to apply, you have plenty of time to work on getting other experiences in. No need to rush and feel like you're trying to do everything at once.

Other opportunities can be:
- therapeutic horseback riding (great if you have no horse experience, they always pick gentle horses)
- calling a mobile vet and asking to tag along for the day (you may pick up some LA/equine if you're out in the country)
- lab animal medicine at universities with research programs
(just some ideas and by no means a must-do list)

But really, your job sounds pretty perfect for getting the experience hours in. Chat with them and see if you can somehow change your schedule to work with future semesters.

Also there's been good advice about which schools to pick. Ditto all of that 🙂

 

[dyachei]

First off, not too old.

Second of all - to get experience, you don't have to actually be doing anything. Shadowing is great experience. So if you need any hours in those areas, maybe even reach out to nearby exotic hospitals (there were some in the decatur area if I remember correctly from when I went to school in the Atlanta area) to see if you can get some time shadowing.

 

[Annamalita]

this is a very tinyyyy piece of advice, but as someone currently applying to vet school, its something I wish I had done.

Record down EVERYTHING you do in terms of experience. It'll make the application process so much easier. for my first two years of undergrad I didnt record down anything when I shadowed so I had to estimate a lot of the hours and dates and sometimes I couldn't even remember vet's names I had shadowed under (when its like a two day thing 2 years ago its hard to remember, especially in a clinic with many doctors). So keep a detailed log of veterinary exp, animal exp, research exp, work exp and community activities. Start time, end time, avg hours/week, total hours, Dr. name (if vet exp), contact # and finally it'd help if you write yourself a short 3 sentence description of what you did/saw/learned so you will have a record of what you did. This will help you immensely when you start your app! I SO wish I had done this, it took me forever to fill in everything

 

[Cyndia]

Annalita just gave you some GREAT advice - someone told me to do the same thing when I first started undergrad so I thankfully kept track of everything and it made filling out the application sooo much easier. They ask for all the information she mentioned (start time, end time, total hours, doctors/supervisors name, contact number, address, and a description of what you did), which is a lot to remember a few years down the road. I started off keeping a log in a notebook for my freshman year, then just transferred it all onto a google doc and kept filling it out on there for the last 5 years.

I also pretty much second what others have said - you are in no way too old. We have quite a few people in my class that are in their late 20s-early 30s that made similar switches to veterinary medicine later in life. And like LIS and a few others have said, while vet schools want variety in experience, you don't have to get a massive quantity in every area. For myself I spent one summer shadowing in a SA clinic, a summer interning at big cat rescue, and four saturdays riding along with a LA vet. I had very little interest in becoming a LA vet so I didn't pursue much with that, which was fine because I didn't indicate any interest in LA medicine and wasn't questioned about that lack of hours. I spent the bulk of my experience in research hours - two years of volunteering in undergrad, a year of masters research, and then I also was hired to work as a full time research assistant for a year. Just one year of working in research really, really racked up hours, so you'll be fine getting a ton of SA hours this year. Also, when you apply, if you do have an astronomically larger number of hours in one area, I would assume that is your interest area. If that's the case, you can stress that you can back up your interest area with a lot of hours - I personally said I was interested in SA or research in a few supplemental apps, and while I was able to easily back up my interest in research, I was questioned by two schools about my interest in SA medicine since they thought I had a relatively small amount of hours in it (~400). Some schools didn't mention it at all though.

 

[Squeaksmom]

I'm in Canada, so experience expectations and residency requirements are a bit different and I don't feel like I can accurately speak to those aspects of your questions. What I can speak to is the age factor. I'm in first year, and I'm 37. I think I'm the oldest in my class, but only by 1 year. I don't feel like I stand out, maybe looking young helps 😉 but I feel like I can hold my own in the classes and like my life experience will be a benefit. Go for it!

 

[meridethb]

It's recommended you apply to more than one vet school, unless there's absolutely no way you could afford out-of-state tuition, and you may end up falling in love with a school other than OSU even if you do go there for undergrad. Or you might get rejected from OSU and accepted somewhere else, who knows. One more consideration, if you're really set on OSU and you go there (or somewhere else in Ohio) for undergrad, you might be able to gain in-state status, as long as you completely relocate and aren't just there for school.

I currently live in Georgia, and so I would apply to UGA and OSU. OSU is my absolute #1 decision, and if I have to reapply multiple times, I will, but I know UGA has an amazing program, as well, so I would fall back on that, if I had to. I think out of state tuition might be too expensive, so my goal was to get my undergrad in Georgia, move to Ohio and work for a year at a Vet Clinic, while shadowing other Vets, and getting to know the city, then just apply apply apply, with my resident status. Just didn't know if I should make the move earlier, or if waiting till I finished my undergrad would be alright.

 

[meridethb]

Ok.

First, the experience question. If you keep on working in the job, and assuming it's full-time or close, you'll have 1500-2000 hours after a year. That's plenty of total hours right there. Then you just need some variety. But you don't need a crap-ton of hours of variety. I went riding with a dairy vet for two days.... hung out with an equine vet for a week or two.... I also volunteered every Friday night for 18 months at a wildlife rehab center... and I volunteered in canine rehab at the university for 2 years. Just some ideas. But the real point is: don't feel bad about short-term experiences.

Second, the age thing. You're 24. You're still a kid, basically. Does that answer the question?

Is OSU your in-state? If not, you'll want to investigate how many OOS seats they have to decide if it's realistic to get in there without moving there to gain residency first.

1. Yea, I currently work between 32-36 hours a week there, and I plan on working there up until they just can't work with my schedule and HAVE to let me go. They give me SO many great opportunities, and both of the practicing Doctors there are SUPER helpful and love to explain things.

How did you go about grabbing these other opportunities? I want to try everything once. I think I want to specialize in SA, but I really want to expose myself to every situation I can, maybe I'd enjoy it more! Did you just call these places and ask to shadow at first?

2. Ok, I'm young, gotcha, haha! Thanks! Was just intimidating seeing tons of people apply for Vet school at 21, and I'm starting my first semester at a community college at 24.

3. No, OSU (Thanks for THE), is not my in-state. My in-state is UGA, which I know has an amazing program, as well. But my heart and soul is set on OSU, so I planned to move there before applying, work at Vet offices, gain as much experience as I could for a year, then apply. I waited till I was 24, I can wait another year for in-state as well as another year of experience.

 

[meridethb]

You don't need to have loads of experience in all fields. Mine was mostly SA, no LA, a few hundred with exotics/wildlife, maybe around 50hours with horses and a couple quarters of research. I think schools just want to see that you've had serious experience in at least one aspect and some exposure to the many fields available.

Your zoo and aquarium volunteering would work fine for the exotic experience. I'm not sure volunteers get to do much hands-on at the zoo (regardless of how much experience you have) so just enjoy whatever experience comes your way..

Other opportunities can be:
- therapeutic horseback riding (great if you have no horse experience, they always pick gentle horses)
- calling a mobile vet and asking to tag along for the day (you may pick up some LA/equine if you're out in the country)
- lab animal medicine at universities with research programs
(just some ideas and by no means a must-do list)

But really, your job sounds pretty perfect for getting the experience hours in. Chat with them and see if you can somehow change your schedule to work with future semesters.

Also there's been good advice about which schools to pick. Ditto all of that 🙂

That is comforting! Yea, I think I got really lucky with this job opportunity, since I had ZERO experience beyond owning my own animals, which is nothing. They have been amazing, and teach me a lot more than I thought they would. I plan on working here (32-36 hours a week) until they can just no longer work with my schedule, which hopefully won't be for awhile! 🙁 )

I REALLY want to expose myself to everything I can, since I'm so new to all of this, I want to make sure that SA is where I want to specialize, so I'm trying to find the best way to go about that. I know I'll call around to some LA/exotic clinics for a follow, but, will they frown on me that I'm only in my first year of school? Should I not try till I have more experience?

And what is the best way to get into research? The closest school to me with a Vet program is UGA, which is a LITTLE bit of a drive.

Thanks for all the advice, from EVERYONE 🙂

 

[meridethb]

First off, not too old.

Second of all - to get experience, you don't have to actually be doing anything. Shadowing is great experience. So if you need any hours in those areas, maybe even reach out to nearby exotic hospitals (there were some in the decatur area if I remember correctly from when I went to school in the Atlanta area) to see if you can get some time shadowing.

Will they frown on me that I'm only in my first year of school? Should I wait till I have more time under my belt?

And thank you, I'll definitely check out Decatur. Used to work up there.

 

[meridethb]

this is a very tinyyyy piece of advice, but as someone currently applying to vet school, its something I wish I had done.

Record down EVERYTHING you do in terms of experience. It'll make the application process so much easier. for my first two years of undergrad I didnt record down anything when I shadowed so I had to estimate a lot of the hours and dates and sometimes I couldn't even remember vet's names I had shadowed under (when its like a two day thing 2 years ago its hard to remember, especially in a clinic with many doctors). So keep a detailed log of veterinary exp, animal exp, research exp, work exp and community activities. Start time, end time, avg hours/week, total hours, Dr. name (if vet exp), contact # and finally it'd help if you write yourself a short 3 sentence description of what you did/saw/learned so you will have a record of what you did. This will help you immensely when you start your app! I SO wish I had done this, it took me forever to fill in everything

Yes mam! Didn't even think of that, great advice. I'll make a chart when I get home and keep it updated. Is it worth noting that I work at Pet-Co for like 2 months? Also, what all should I put on there? EVERYTHING? Even if it was just a day or two of following?

 

[dyachei]

Will they frown on me that I'm only in my first year of school? Should I wait till I have more time under my belt?

And thank you, I'll definitely check out Decatur. Used to work up there.

Places shouldn't frown on you for being a freshman trying to get shadowing experience. the pre-vet club I used to be a part of went to this one hospital for a day.

Look, as hard as it is, you'll never get experience if you don't ask.

 

[that redhead]

I'll go ahead and say this, even though you're primarily asking about experience: make sure you keep up with your grades. I understand that you have to work to support yourself, but grades are extremely important for your application. Don't let your grades take the hit in favor of more experience.

 

[Annamalita]

Yes mam! Didn't even think of that, great advice. I'll make a chart when I get home and keep it updated. Is it worth noting that I work at Pet-Co for like 2 months? Also, what all should I put on there? EVERYTHING? Even if it was just a day or two of following?

Yeah write down everything and anything, especially if it was a one/two day thing. The hours will all contribute to your total and its usually the smaller experiences that are hard to remember years down the road. So its best to write them down as soon as you complete them. Even just shadowing a day at a clinic to watch a surgery! Record it down. Even if it isn't animal related. Like, if you volunteered at a senior home or something for example you can even list that as hours on your community experience section of your application. They want to know everything you dedicated your time to. Also, the petco job you should log down too bc they want you to list all of your employment experience, or if it was heavily animal husbandry you can list it as animal experience (but you can worry about the specific categories they fit into later on, when you apply).

 

[LetItSnow]

How did you go about grabbing these other opportunities? I want to try everything once. I think I want to specialize in SA, but I really want to expose myself to every situation I can, maybe I'd enjoy it more! Did you just call these places and ask to shadow at first?

Well. For the volunteer wildlife rehab and the canine rehab stuff, you just have to go digging for volunteer opportunities. For the dairy vet, I had a friend who rode with him a lot and I just plain asked if I could come. For the equine vet, I just called and asked. Most of the time, as long as you're reasonable, professional, and mature, you'll get good results just by asking. 🙂

2. Ok, I'm young, gotcha, haha! Thanks! Was just intimidating seeing tons of people apply for Vet school at 21, and I'm starting my first semester at a community college at 24.

I wouldn't let it bother you.

3. No, OSU (Thanks for THE), is not my in-state.

That was just a cheap shot at OSU, not you, for their eye-rolling snootiness with the whole 'The' thing. 🙂 All good-natured teasing.

 

[LyraGardenia]

I currently live in Georgia, and so I would apply to UGA and OSU. OSU is my absolute #1 decision, and if I have to reapply multiple times, I will, but I know UGA has an amazing program, as well, so I would fall back on that, if I had to. I think out of state tuition might be too expensive, so my goal was to get my undergrad in Georgia, move to Ohio and work for a year at a Vet Clinic, while shadowing other Vets, and getting to know the city, then just apply apply apply, with my resident status. Just didn't know if I should make the move earlier, or if waiting till I finished my undergrad would be alright.

Keep in mind UGA takes very few OOS students, so if/when you move to Ohio to gain residency, UGA may no longer be a good fallback option. When you make the move is entirely up to you, other than making sure it's early enough to meet their residency guidelines.

 

[LyraGardenia]

That is comforting! Yea, I think I got really lucky with this job opportunity, since I had ZERO experience beyond owning my own animals, which is nothing. They have been amazing, and teach me a lot more than I thought they would. I plan on working here (32-36 hours a week) until they can just no longer work with my schedule, which hopefully won't be for awhile! 🙁 )

I REALLY want to expose myself to everything I can, since I'm so new to all of this, I want to make sure that SA is where I want to specialize, so I'm trying to find the best way to go about that. I know I'll call around to some LA/exotic clinics for a follow, but, will they frown on me that I'm only in my first year of school? Should I not try till I have more experience?

And what is the best way to get into research? The closest school to me with a Vet program is UGA, which is a LITTLE bit of a drive.

Thanks for all the advice, from EVERYONE 🙂

I forgot to add, you certainly don't have to go to a school with a vet school in order to do research. To my knowledge, most universities offer undergraduate research to some degree. It doesn't have to be related to vet med or even involve animals in order to be a good experience and look good on applications.

I don't have research experience, but the way it worked at my undergrad was the professors had descriptions of their research on the department website, and if something on there looked interesting, you would contact the professor expressing your interest and he/she would decide if there was space for you and if you would be a good fit.

Lastly, while research experience is a benefit in many ways, it's not absolutely necessary for getting into vet school. If wherever you go for undergrad, you can't find a professor working on a project that interests you, in my opinion it's better to let someone who will truly be passionate about the project have the spot in that lab.

 

[Gwenevre]

I forgot to add, you certainly don't have to go to a school with a vet school in order to do research. To my knowledge, most universities offer undergraduate research to some degree. It doesn't have to be related to vet med or even involve animals in order to be a good experience and look good on applications.

I don't have research experience, but the way it worked at my undergrad was the professors had descriptions of their research on the department website, and if something on there looked interesting, you would contact the professor expressing your interest and he/she would decide if there was space for you and if you would be a good fit.

Lastly, while research experience is a benefit in many ways, it's not absolutely necessary for getting into vet school. If wherever you go for undergrad, you can't find a professor working on a project that interests you, in my opinion it's better to let someone who will truly be passionate about the project have the spot in that lab.

This is something I'll chime in on. I'm not a big research person, but for my application I tried and tried to find a position within the vet school, because I thought it would be more relevant. I ended up in a position with a sub-USDA professor-driven program with poultry behavior, and I had a great experience. Look at the biology or agriculture/animal science departments to find some opportunities as well. Some schools have summer-specific programs. I'll use Purdue as an example, we have the SURF program, you work on a project and get a stipend for the summer, as well as housing assistance, if you're worried about getting paid while gaining experience.

 

[crazycatlady]

..

 

[bakedjps]

Do you know how I could go about getting research experience?

I'm not too sure what research opportunities are available at a community college, but if you were ever planning on going to a university you'll have a much better chance of getting experience. Regardless, the best way to start is to reach out to faculty/professors who conduct research that interests you. The topic of the research does not matter too much but I believe a lot of schools especially value animal, veterinary, or biomedical research (don't quote me on this haha).

However, since research takes a good amount of time and effort invested in it, if you're working full-time and taking classes, I think it's more important for you to focus on doing well in classes and getting clinical experience rather than trying to do a little of everything and being overwhelmed. That being said, if you still want to get involved in research, feel free to PM me! I've worked in several labs over the years and I can try to help with any additional questions or general tips that might be useful! Good luck with everything!

 

[bakedjps]

whoops I read a few posts above and saw people have already talked about research. Sorry for the redundancy! 😛