NREMT-Paramedic to Veterinarian?

[ParamedicStudent]

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Hello, all

I've been reading SDN for years now, and have always had the questions posed in my head already asked by someone on the forums.
After searching the threads over for some time, I have come to the conclusion that my situation is somewhat unique. I've seen a lot of Medics go to PA/MD, but I haven't seen any want to be a vet.

I feel as though I have several things working both for, and against me. To be honest though, I'm completely confused. I contacted an advisor at my college, he was by no means helpful in my attempt to sift through the copious amount of information out there regarding "your shot" at making it in to vet school. I've even had a dental student give me advice on what to do to get into vet school, I don't know if it was helpful or not.

I focused on medic school when I first attended college. I worked 30-60hrs a week at my day job, attended class and worked 12-16hr clinicals on the weekends and at night. So most of my core-curriculum has not been completed.

My main questions are as follows.
1. Do my life experiences (grew up on a small farm, black belt, owned a small business, paramedic, etc etc) help offset the fact that I'm a non-traditional student and probably cannot take more than 12hrs a semester tops of undergrad?
2. Will my transcript be looked down on if I take classes through the junior college I work at? I live in a rural part of Texas and the closest university is over an hour away.
3. Are online classes a viable option?

In a perfect world I would attend a university full-time, but I must remain at the job I am currently working, as I feel it allows me the most flexible schedule for pursuing education. Roughly 40 of the prerequisite hours for Texas A&M vet-school are offered at the college I work, and are accepted by TAMU, to the best of my knowledge.


I'm going to do this, I'm going to be a vet. I just need to know if I'm wasting my time with advanced-level classes in a jr college setting.

Thank y'all very much for any help y'all are able to offer.

 

[WildZoo]

1. Do my life experiences (grew up on a small farm, black belt, owned a small business, paramedic, etc etc) help offset the fact that I'm a non-traditional student and probably cannot take more than 12hrs a semester tops of undergrad?

Possibly. Different schools are going to weigh the credit hours per semester differently. But there are quite a few non-trad students and I don't see 12 credits/sem hurting your chances as long as you do well in your classes.

2. Will my transcript be looked down on if I take classes through the junior college I work at? I live in a rural part of Texas and the closest university is over an hour away.

Nope. This is also school dependent, but plenty of people take classes at community colleges and such. Just check with the schools you want to apply to to make sure they accept the classes - some do require certain upper level classes be taken at a 4 year university. But it looks like you already checked with TAMU so you are probably fine there.

3. Are online classes a viable option?

Yes, but again it depends on the school and what they accept. Figure out which classes you would need to take online, and contact the vet school(s) you want to apply to.

Another consideration and something you didn't address is veterinary experience. You mentioned that you grew up on a farm, but how much experience do you have in the veterinary field? Diverse experiences are more important to some schools than others, but you do want to have several hundred hours of vet experiences of some kind, not just for your application but also to make sure that it is really what you want to do.

 

[jwolf22]

DO not take 300 or 400 level classes at a community college some schools like florida will not accept them. It is fine to take 100 and 200 level classes at community college. Hope that helps.

 

[ParamedicStudent]

Another consideration and something you didn't address is veterinary experience. You mentioned that you grew up on a farm, but how much experience do you have in the veterinary field?

Thank you for addressing my questions! In a professional setting, I have little, or no, experience. I have been around animals since I was 5. I was in 4H in high-school for showing livestock. I have read quite a bit of material on the life of a vet, and I truly believe being a large animal vet is something I would love. Blame it on the medic in me, but I want to make house calls for the rest of my life. I need to look into spending time at the animal hospitals in my area and contacting TAMU to make sure the classes I intend to take will be accepted without question of their merit.

DO not take 300 or 400 level classes at a community college some schools like florida will not accept them. It is fine to take 100 and 200 level classes at community college. Hope that helps.

Thank you for your reply. I will broaden my search of what certain vet schools do and do not accept. My top two choices would be TAMU and University of Wyoming.

 

[LetItSnow]

DO not take 300 or 400 level classes at a community college some schools like florida will not accept them. It is fine to take 100 and 200 level classes at community college. Hope that helps.

This is crappy advice. Some vet schools don't care and some apparently do.

So the correct advice is "do your research."

I did all my advanced science pre-reqs at a CC. I somehow got in. So clearly jwolf22 doesn't know what he/she is taking about. If you want to go to vet schools that accept the CC credits there's no reason to pay more to take them at a university.

Just have to make sure you plan well.

I worked with a tech in our hospital that was a former EMT. Dude had skills.

 

[epivetlove]

Howdy!

1VM here at Texas A&M! There are only 3 courses I can think of that are required to be taken at a 4-year university: statistics, biochemistry, and genetics. All others just need to be approved and this is most easily done by comparing Texas Common Course Numbers. I believe there is also a limit on the amount of prerequisites that can be taken online. Best to confirm with Yolanda. A&M also likes to see diversity in experience and you are awarded extra points for having experience (at least 100 hours) with multiple doctors.

If you have any other A&M-specific questions, I'd be happy to help!

 

[KCgophervet]

Thank you for addressing my questions! In a professional setting, I have little, or no, experience. I have been around animals since I was 5. I was in 4H in high-school for showing livestock. I have read quite a bit of material on the life of a vet, and I truly believe being a large animal vet is something I would love. Blame it on the medic in me, but I want to make house calls for the rest of my life. I need to look into spending time at the animal hospitals in my area and contacting TAMU to make sure the classes I intend to take will be accepted without question of their merit.

Just checking to see what kind of materials you've been reading. Recent blogs and articles about actual life as a vet vs. James Herriot-esque novels and stories. There is unfortunately a bit of a difference between the two these days. While I'm not in any way trying to make you shy away from vet med, it's just important to have all the facts.

It's a very good idea to go out and start getting that firsthand vet experience in the field you're hoping to jump into, both to see how it compares to what you're imagining and of course to get those much needed hours for application. Good luck!

 

[ParamedicStudent]

If you have any other A&M-specific questions, I'd be happy to help!

Thank you!! I can almost guarantee that I'll be coming to you with several questions regarding application and whatnot.

Just checking to see what kind of materials you've been reading. Recent blogs and articles about actual life as a vet vs. James Herriot-esque novels and stories. There is unfortunately a bit of a difference between the two these days. While I'm not in any way trying to make you shy away from vet med, it's just important to have all the facts.

I definitely don't have a romanticized view of being a vet. I mostly read articles that pop up in my news feed, "a day in the life of a vet," kinda stuff. I will say though, my interest in vet med started when my mother brought home BBC's All Creatures Great and Small, and I have continued the tradition with the Incredible Dr. Pol on Nat Geo. That said, If you have any blogs or books you recommend, I would most definitely look into them.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. Y'all are very encouraging and helpful!

 

[WildZoo]

Thank you!! I can almost guarantee that I'll be coming to you with several questions regarding application and whatnot.



I definitely don't have a romanticized view of being a vet. I mostly read articles that pop up in my news feed, "a day in the life of a vet," kinda stuff. I will say though, my interest in vet med started when my mother brought home BBC's All Creatures Great and Small, and I have continued the tradition with the Incredible Dr. Pol on Nat Geo. That said, If you have any blogs or books you recommend, I would most definitely look into them.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. Y'all are very encouraging and helpful!

I wouldn't encourage most people to watch the Incredible Dr. Pol at baseline...for various reasons. And there isn't going to be any amount of reading you can do that will give you the same level of understanding of the field that actually going out and getting experience will. That said, I love Dr. Chris Bern's blog; Daily Vet, The Uncommon Veterinarian, and Pawcurious are also good. I would also encourage you to subscribe to the Animal Health SmartBrief and check out some more news oriented websites like VIN and dvm360.

 

[lailanni]

Thank you!! I can almost guarantee that I'll be coming to you with several questions regarding application and whatnot.



I definitely don't have a romanticized view of being a vet. I mostly read articles that pop up in my news feed, "a day in the life of a vet," kinda stuff. I will say though, my interest in vet med started when my mother brought home BBC's All Creatures Great and Small, and I have continued the tradition with the Incredible Dr. Pol on Nat Geo. That said, If you have any blogs or books you recommend, I would most definitely look into them.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. Y'all are very encouraging and helpful!

Thank you for addressing my questions! In a professional setting, I have little, or no, experience. I have been around animals since I was 5. I was in 4H in high-school for showing livestock. I have read quite a bit of material on the life of a vet, and I truly believe being a large animal vet is something I would love. Blame it on the medic in me, but I want to make house calls for the rest of my life. I need to look into spending time at the animal hospitals in my area and contacting TAMU to make sure the classes I intend to take will be accepted without question of their merit.

All Creatures Great and Small and Dr.Pol aren't very good representations of veterinary medicine. Books and blogs are nice (WildZoo recommended some good ones) but are no substitute for real life experience.

Before you wander too far down this path I strongly suggest putting in mass hours in veterinary settings. It's a lot more than what any form of media portrays. You'll also need several hundreds of hours of vet med experience to be a competitive applicant.

 

[ParamedicStudent]

All Creatures Great and Small and Dr.Pol aren't very good representations of veterinary medicine.

I wouldn't encourage most people to watch the Incredible Dr. Pol at baseline...for various reasons.

My apologies for having caused y'all to think that television is my baseline for pursuing an education in veterinary medicine, it was merely a side note. I'm sure vets and pre-vet students react to those shows much like a Paramedic/Firefighter reacts to shows like Rescue Me, Sirens and Chicago Fire, because those shows are all very poor representations of what we do.

That said, I love Dr. Chris Bern's blog; Daily Vet, The Uncommon Veterinarian, and Pawcurious are also good.

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately, my workplace is about to enter overdrive (80+hrs an average work week) so I will be unable to enter veterinary settings until May. I will, however, have some hurry-up-and-wait time on the job where I will be able to read, hence my asking for competent sources of material. This summer I fully intend to put in hours with my family's vet, as well as a few more practices in the area. I want to shadow vets, as I have shadowed and worked alongside many MD's, DO's and the like, to make sure this is what I desire.

 

[davisaj4]

You should definitely find which vet school you're most interested in (or just pick in-state by default) and talk to their recruiters directly. Follow their advice the most and keep in mind that other schools have different requirements. But don't try to satisfy every single school out there. You have the best chance at your in-state school, so contact them directly vs trusting people on here (as knowledgeable as they may be...).