Obtaining the upper-division prereqs after I graduated undergrad.

[China515]

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Hi Everyone!

I am new to both the pre-veterinary route, as well as this forum. After graduating from University of California Santa Barbara in with a BA in Communication and working full-time in marketing, I have decided to return to school to gain my pre-veterinary prerequisites and start the process of gaining the necessary veterinary related hours, etc.

As a communication major, I did not complete any of the necessary sciences needed to go to vet school. Through my local community college, I can fulfill the chemistry, biology, o-chem, calculus and physics requirements; however, in order for me to complete the upper division requirements, I would need to go to a four year university.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation as me? How did you complete the upper-division science prereqs, and were you able to do it?

 

[hai1983]

Hi Everyone!

I am new to both the pre-veterinary route, as well as this forum. After graduating from University of California Santa Barbara in with a BA in Communication and working full-time in marketing, I have decided to return to school to gain my pre-veterinary prerequisites and start the process of gaining the necessary veterinary related hours, etc.

As a communication major, I did not complete any of the necessary sciences needed to go to vet school. Through my local community college, I can fulfill the chemistry, biology, o-chem, calculus and physics requirements; however, in order for me to complete the upper division requirements, I would need to go to a four year university.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation as me? How did you complete the upper-division science prereqs, and were you able to do it?

Yep. There's a good university five minutes down the road from my office, and they allow part time, non-degree students to take classes. Some are offered in the evening, for some I went to class during my lunch break. I'm lucky to have an understanding, flexible boss, but it hasn't been a huge struggle.

There are people on here who were able to find CC classes that met the requirements. Maybe check the next county over to see if that CC has upper level classes?

There are also some online classes that might work for you.

Good luck!

 

[Abnerrs]

Be careful though. Some vet schools require that you take your sciences, especially upper division, at a 4 year school. Make sure you check into that first.

 

[ANY2003]

I was in the exact same situation as you, only I graduated from UC San Diego. You are going to have a tough road ahead of you with the UC system. Basically, most UC's do not readmit students after graduation, even if you are seeking a second degree. UCSD would NOT readmit me to complete my prerequisites, despite graduating with good grades and in good standing. I had take all my chemistry and physics through community college. In terms of the upper division courses, I did take them at UCSD, but I had to enroll through the extension office through something called "concurrent enrollment." Concurrent enrollment allows you to enroll in undergraduate courses, but technically you are not considered a UC student. The only problem with this system is that you register AFTER actual UC students. That means that if some courses are full (as upper division bio courses often are), you will never get in the class.
I had a hell of a time getting a lab in microbiology. This lab was not offered at any community colleges and is required by many vet schools (although not UC Davis). Basically, this lab is full with a waitlist EVERY quarter so I could not get in through concurrent enrollment. If this happens to you with any of the classes you are trying to take, you can petition to be re-admitted to the university as an actual UC student through what's called "limited status." A VERY limited number of students are approved for limited status each quarter. Basically, I had to show the university what courses I needed, that they aren't offered at community college, and that since they are full every quarter I could not obtain them through concurrent enrollment. After proving these three things, I was re-admitted as a limited status student to take the lab in microbiology.
If you have any more questions, you can PM me. It was VERY difficult to figure these things out, as UCSD does not like to make this information easily accessible.
EDIT: I think "concurrent enrollment" is called "Open University" at UCSB. It looks like concurrent enrollment at UCSB is something different.

 

[kakurubird]

Don't know if there are any similar programs in your area, but the state university near me where I'm taking biochem and physics offers a program specifically designed for students who already have a degree to take science courses required for medical professional schools (there are pre-med, pre-vet, pre-dental students and a few others with less common goals). The courses are reserved for students in the program, rarely fill up, are often smaller than the classes offered to undergrads, and are only offered in the evenings.
Look around to see what's in your area.

 

[quantized]

I got mine done through the UC with the post-bacc program, which was a pretty sweet gig and affordable at the time. I know they put the program on hold in 09 or so at SJSU, but I thought it still existed at some other institutions and that they had talked about bringing it back at SJSU?

Open University blows. You have lower priority on OU than undergrads who have failed the course multiple times, so there is no way to get into those required classes for the bio and chem majors. I would have been up a creek without the post-bacc program. I also only did the bare minimum of courses to get into Davis, and just applied OOS to places with similar requirements.

A quick google search is showing that UCSB seems to be referring post-baccs to USC, which probably isn't cheap, but better than floundering around in Open University for the next 20 years. There is also the UC Post-Bacc Consortium. I don't know if they'd accept a pre-vet though and you'd have to be from a disadvantaged background. There are some others if you search around.

 

[ANY2003]

Open University blows. You have lower priority on OU than undergrads who have failed the course multiple times, so there is no way to get into those required classes for the bio and chem majors. I would have been up a creek without the post-bacc program. I also only did the bare minimum of courses to get into Davis, and just applied OOS to places with similar requirements.

I managed to get all my courses done through concurrent enrollment/open university with no problem EXCEPT the lab in microbiology (which, like I said, isn't required for UC Davis but is required for a lot of other schools). I'm not sure what it's like @ UCSB. Basically for UC Davis, you only need genetics, metabolic biochemistry, and mammalian physiology for upper division courses. I was able to enroll in all those courses pretty easily as an extension student, but like I said it may differ from college to college and some classes, like upper division labs, are impossible to get into through open university. I'm not sure how it is at UCSB, but at UCSD these classes often have 300+ seats, so even if the class is full, enough people often end up dropping that it's easy to get in. The bad part is that each class cost $850 for me to attend as an extension student. One thing that I did to get an idea of whether or not it would be possible for me to get the classes I needed through open enrollment was to look up the class schedule for past quarters to see if the classes typically filled up. This will give you an idea as to whether it will be possible for you to obtain the classes you need through open enrollment.

I'd do what other people recommend - see what is offered in your area. Take all the classes you can at community college, see if any universities in the area will take you to finish your pre-reqs, look into post-bacc programs, and look into open university. In California, it's really hard for people who have already graduated to get these classes. In my area, there were NO post-bacc programs and no universities (I contacted 4) would admit me for a second baccalaureate. My only option was a combination of community college, open enrollment through UCSD, and petitioning for limited status. This was a logistical nightmare, as I was enrolled as a full time student in both semester and quarter programs AND working full time at 2 jobs. I'd recommend contacting the admissions office at UCSB (or whatever state school is in your area now) to see what your options are, because enrollment differs from campus to campus.

 

[LetItSnow]

Be careful though. Some vet schools require that you take your sciences, especially upper division, at a 4 year school. Make sure you check into that first.

Really? Which ones?

 

[LetItSnow]

Has anyone here been in a similar situation as me? How did you complete the upper-division science prereqs, and were you able to do it?

I was in that boat. I did my lower-level science prereqs at a CC that had a 4-year degree program in cooperation with a state university. You could hunt around for something like that. Alternatively, state schools should have the courses you need.

 

[Trying2GetIn]

I did all of my prereqs, besides gen chem and physics, through UC Open Enrollment. It can be frustrating at times but you can always mix in CC or Extensions courses if you aren't able to get all of them via Open Enrollment.

 

[twelvetigers]

Really? Which ones?

OKState wants you to take organic and biochem at a 4 year, at least.

 

[quantized]

I'm impressed you guys could get in through OU. I wasted a whole year trying to do OU before someone clued me in on the post-bacc thing.

 

[LetItSnow]

OKState wants you to take organic and biochem at a 4 year, at least.

Wants you to, or requires you to? If the latter ... ok, that's 1 school.

Up here the requirement is that your orgo has to have had a lab. I saved however much one semester of orgo costs by doing it at the CC, because there the lab was first semester, whereas at the U you couldn't take the lab until second semester.