Peace Corps Before Vet School

[thelarson]

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Hey guys,

I'm thinking about joining the Peace Corps before vet school to work on animal husbandry (implementing animal care and health programs to increase animal production and help those in poverty in the process). I'm still trying to decide whether it's worth it to take off 2 or 3 years before vet school (when I KNOW I want to be a vet, and always have - mostly likely equine). But regardless, here are a couple of other concerns you guys might be able to help me with:

- The placements are for 27 months (3 months training in-country, 2 years of service). If I graduate in early May from undergrad, even if I leave immediately, I wouldn't get back to the U.S. until August, right when most vet schools start. This would probably mean that I would have to take a total of 3 years off between undergrad and vet school since I would have to go through the application process, and I'd like some time to adjust to life again in the U.S.

- Another option (maybe): push to graduate after fall semester of next year (2009) instead of spring 2010 (which I could do without too much trouble). If I enter the Peace Corps in January/February, then I would be home in April/May 2012, so that I would have a few months to get back on my feet in the U.S. before vet school. My biggest concern: interviews. How accommodating would vet schools be about the interview process and me being overseas? I could try to save up my vacation days (a total of 48 days over the 27 months of service) to take off a couple of weeks to come back for interviews, but do you think vet schools would allow me to request when I have my interview, so that it would be possible to do this? Or even a phone interview from overseas? I feel like I'd be more willing to take off 2 years before vet school than 3 years.

Also, if anyone knows of any vets who did the Peace Corps before vet school, I'd appreciate it if you could get us in touch. Thanks, guys!

 

[meadow36]

How old are you? If you are anything less than 25, I say go for it. There is PLENTY of time for vet school!! I personally think that the life experience will help you with your goals; not hinder them. In my humble opinion, I'm not sure the younger applicants have all had a chance to really experience life before they are thrown into such an intense program (no flaming me please! This is just my observation). What better way to gain life experience then through the Peace Corps?

 

[sambone]

I totally agree with the above post. My father and brother both had amazing experiences in Peace Corp (Togo, South Africa) and I always wanted to do it. Unfortunately, Im a nontrad at 27 yrs old and spent my post undergrad years taking prevet classes - couldn't really go off to Peace Corp.

You are still so young - even without accelerating your undergrad years, I think starting vet school after a ~3 years out of undergrad is completely reasonable. (IMHO it's great to wait - My understanding of vet med is SO different than it was when I was 22-25. I've had such awesome experiences since graduating and wouldn't trade them!)

If you truly want to experience Peace Corp, you might really regret not doing it now, when you don't have a career and family to worry about.

 

[pupsforseeing]

I totally agree with the people above. I say go for it! Once you start vet school, you are committed to a long road of school/internship/residency and then paying off all the debt you've accumulated, etc. This is the only time for a very long time you'll have the opportunity to do something like this.

I took a year off this year and am doing a similar thing in Mexico. Granted, I am only committed to one year, but it's still the same idea. I haven't regretted my decision for a moment and really think this experience will make me a better doctor in the long run.

 

[sumstorm]

I say if your interested, go for it, but a few points:

It may be difficult to complete vet apps where you are placed. It may also be impossible to arrange interviews.

You may not get the placement you desire (I have had 3 friends enter then be given alternative assignments that were different than they anticipated.) Your experience may not be under a vet or a PhD researcher, so it might only qualify as animal experience (and if you lack vet experience, that might be problematic.)

I did a TJ Watson Fellowship after undergrad, and I wouldn't trade that year of international experience for anything. It changed my perspective on life. It also altered my focus in veterinary medicine from 'help the non-human animals' to 'help the earth, including societies.' Fresh out of undergrad I would have applied to study either livestock, pet, or zoo med...now I am much more interested in public health, epidemiology, and cross-species contagion. I think I am a stronger applicant and offer a lot more to a school and to my fellow students than I would have 4 years ago.

I also think it helps prevent a problem that I see some vets going through who didn't take time off in between; uncertainty if this is the right career path. I know of two vets who are 5 & 6 years out of school wondering if this is what they really want to do for the rest of thier lives. I am 7 years out of school, and I am certain this is what I want because it is the central theme of my work experiences for the past 6 years; a DVM will just be a progression of my current pursuits.

 

[sumstorm]

Oh, and if there are specific schools you are interested in, check out the requirements before you decide; some require classes like organic chem to be within 5 years of matriculation, which might hurt you if you aren't accepted on your first round of applications. Some require interviews. Also, being abroad can change your residency status in some states. I had to eliminate some schools from my initial list because of those details. Also, in 3 years, the required courses might change, and you may return or start to apply only to discover that you have to have animal nutrition and business management (or some other set of courses) that could affect the application process.

I am NOT discouraging you; just want to give you as much information to make the decision with as possible.

 

[pixel]

another thing to keep in mind is that the peace corps application process can be a very long one. friends of mine had waited up to 9 months after applying before being contacted about a country. they were not specific about region/job at all. you may want to have a back up plan as to something beneficial to do in case you are waiting to be assigned that is flexible and doesn't require a time commitment to complete. something you can leave right away if necessary.

if you have a specific geographical region or job assignment (i.e. animal husbandry) in mind, it can take even longer. a professor of mine had applied when he was my age and he said that he was contacted about positions in africa three times, but he didn't want to go to africa so he never went.

that said, follow your heart, and if you think this is right for you i doubt you will ever regret doing it. it can be extremely challenging mentally/emotionally and if you go into it with the right attitude, it will be an amazing experience. the idea is that the first year of your assignment you are learning to live in a different culture, learn the language and build rapport with the people you are living with. the second is you work to build a project that will benefit your community. so you may not be saving the world right away once you get there.

if you know it's really what you want to do, you have to go for it.

 

[fargeese]

Do the Peace Corps, vet school will be waiting when you get back. It truly changed my whole perspective on the world and my place in it. Also, it shows you have experienced something besides school, which I wish some of my classmates had. They are very nice, but they are a little naive about the world sometimes.
Also, if you have some skills to offer, you won't have to wait long to get in. I had worked on a farm one summer and was a bio major and got in in 3 weeks. One of my fellow volunteers was a liberal arts major and waited a year and a half. Don't discount going to Africa either because it is scary to americans, people there were so nice, and I had the true PC experience, mud hut and all. I would avoid Eastern Europe, but that is hearsay.

 

[vesselj]

I'm actually considering the same thing before I go off to veterinary school. Currently I'm a second year and will be transferring out to a university soon, so when I graduate with a BS/BA I'll be 23. I'd like to do something with the Peace Corps after I graduate to get some world experience but my dad also mentioned the AmeriCorps and I've looked into them too, and as I understand their stints last a year instead of two. Do you guys think a year with AmeriCorps and two with the Peace Corps may be pushing it? This is just an idea still. There's just so much I'd like to do before I settle down and start vet school and all that.

 

[CurrySpice]

I wonder if you applied senior year in college if the vet school would be likely to allow a deferment for the Peace Corps. It's a worthy cause for sure, but I'm not sure if they'd give you such a long deferment? I've definitely look into it. Not a huge fan of years and years of schooling, but they're neccessary to such a profession.

 

[sumstorm]

Everyone I know who is doing Americorp is doing it while in school. Each project is different, so my impression is that the quality of the experience with Americorp is very dependent on the project. One of my close friends is with Americorp, and he despises it. Thier project is youth education through a boys/girls club, and that part he is fine with, but the management of his project like to call random 'emergency' meetings, often when he is working his other job, and they keep changing the hour requirements on him (including telling him he needed to work 40 hours over the summer during the day, which is when he works in contruction to pay tuition.)

so, from what I hear, that has more to do with the program, and is typically done during undergrad.

 

[rachroo]

I wonder if you applied senior year in college if the vet school would be likely to allow a deferment for the Peace Corps.

That would be up to the individual vet school's policy on deferment. I know that some schools do allow this (sometimes it's dependent on certain circumstances) while others do not at all.

I'm sure a few SDN'ers might know some school's policies...anyone? But, that's a big decision to make, I'd hate for you to apply, get in, and then plan on waiting to attend another year only to find out your chosen vet school doensn't do that. I'd advise you to look into each school's policy before planning on having that option.

 

[pupsforseeing]

Penn allows deferment (at least for a year, I don't know about longer than that) for service/missions type work. UC Davis only allows people to defer for medical reasons. Those are the only two schools I investigated in that regard.

 

[sumstorm]

At NCSU's Q&A session, they said they would defer for 'good reasons' such as special research internships, medical reasons, etc. They said delays such as waiting for an SO to graduate, working to generate income and savings, and such would not be acceptable, and that the deferrment was for one year only.

 

[pixel]

as another thought, you could always join peace corps after vet school. much much after vet school, when you are in your 50s, 60s, or 80s even.

then you could contribute a lifetime of experience to your culture/project. and if this matters to you, you may be happily married at the time so you can go with your husband/wife.

i know you can defer undergraduate loans to join peace corps after college, but i don't think you can do that with the big loans most people have to take out for vet school. does anyone know anything about this?

 

[fargeese]

We did have older volunteers, and all of them opted out early. I am not saying that you can't do it as an older person, but it gets a lot harder to leave for 2+ years when you have a job, mortgage, etc. Plus, my tolerance for things was higher when I was young(er) and used to living in poverty, ha! I think alot of the older volunteers were lonely too, as you depend on the other PCVs as a support network, and 22 year olds were not necessarily going to really understand a 50 year old.

You can defer your loans from undergrad, guaranteed, but I don't know about graduate loans. I would not even bother to apply to vet school before going to the PC, it would be a waste of money if they did not offer deferrals, and your application post PC would be stronger anyway, since you will now have real world experience to offer on your application. Vet schools will still be around when you get back, I promise 🙂 And grades from less than 3 years back are good at all the schools, you don't run into things getting too old until 5-6-7 years out from undergrad.

 

[sumstorm]

Actually, be careful about grades being valid. Some schools require that your core courses be within 6 years. That means if you take chem/bio/calc in the first semester of freshman year, you would have a 3.5 years past since you took the course if you enter vet school immediatly after a 4 year bachelor's program. If you then take 2 years off, and don't get in on the first application cycle, you are now past the 6 year mark. I only caution this because I am in the same situation.

There were several schools I didn't apply to because of limits on time since completing some courses, for example from LSU's website:

At least one course in organic chemistry, biology, and physics MUST be completed within the last six years, and it is strongly advised that ALL required science courses be completed within six calendar years immediately prior to application. (For possible fall '09 matriculation, all science courses should be completed no further back than the fall '02 semester.)

 

[fargeese]

Perhaps you should take a look at the particular school you are interested in before worrying too much on the years thing. I found a number of schools to apply to with coursework that was 12 years old. Some schools too will waive the years requirement if you explain the situation, Michigan State springs to mind, feel feel to correct me on this however.

 

[polonpups]

Hi, I know this thread is really old, but was curious to see how it all turned out. I have both interviews with the Peace Corp Cameroon and VMRCVM coming up, and am in a similar predicament of trying to see if I can defer vet school/deciding which to choose if I can't. Any tips you learned would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Awapi]

Hi, I know this thread is really old, but was curious to see how it all turned out. I have both interviews with the Peace Corp Cameroon and VMRCVM coming up, and am in a similar predicament of trying to see if I can defer vet school/deciding which to choose if I can't. Any tips you learned would be greatly appreciated.

I am in the application process for vet school, but served in the Peace Corps already.

Peace Corps was hands down one of the best decisions I have ever made. Prior to being in the Peace Corps, I was an environmental specialist - while I was in PC, most of my projects ended up focusing on health even though I was supposed to be an Environmental Resource Management volunteer. This threw me into the world of public health which I had never heard of. I loved it so much that I applied to Master of Public Health programs toward the end of my service.

I did my MPH and worked internationally for some lengthy stints and quickly found my way to Zoonoses (which I also worked on in Peace Corps). I am SUPER passionate about it and a DVM is an integral part to continuing the work I am already ingrained in - I am 100% sure of what I want to do with my DVM and could map out an epic 5-10 year plan for anyone who wanted it from me, haha. If it weren't for Peace Corps, I never would have found this career that love so much and am so dedicated to - even after several years in this field, I still look forward to Mondays (no exaggeration). I know that Peace Corps gave me an edge when I applied to MPH programs and also in my later job searches. It has also made me a better person - I'm more patient, a better supporter of others, a better leader, a stronger decision maker, and an overall more confident, mature, and kind person than I was before I left. I think all of those things will also make me a better veterinarian (if I'm fortunate enough to get in). I don't believe that people have to do Peace Corps to find their passion or improve themselves, but for me (and many others) it was a great experience that resulted in both.

Point being, if you think Peace Corps is a good fit for you then I would say that you should definitely do it if at all possible - especially if any part of you thinks you'd regret not doing it. You may find your passion is something other than veterinary medicine or it may solidify your desire to be a vet - either way though, you'll have some amazing experiences to look back on and draw from in your future career. Many people from my cohort ended up applying to new grad school programs or medical school based on their experiences. I actually had 3 people in my grad school program between my year and the years above/below me from PC Cameroon 🙂. It looks like Cameroon's job sectors are predominately health and environment, both of which I think would be great experiences (I was the equivalent of what Cameroon has as an Ag Extension Worker in my country, but ended up doing mostly health as I mentioned before).

As an aside, applying to school from Peace Corps was difficult as others have mentioned, but it was doable and worth it. I had to hand-write everything and then carry it with me to the capital where I could get electricity to type it up. It took me 3 trips before the internet was consistent enough for me to submit my applications. On the plus side, I ended up adding some of that experience to my supplemental applications when I was applying to MPH programs. I definitely think it was something "new" for the admissions committee to read, haha. Just don't let yourself get in a situation where you have to take the GRE in-country, that was not a cute experience.

 

[Staffie]

Hi, I know this thread is really old, but was curious to see how it all turned out. I have both interviews with the Peace Corp Cameroon and VMRCVM coming up, and am in a similar predicament of trying to see if I can defer vet school/deciding which to choose if I can't. Any tips you learned would be greatly appreciated.

I did Peace Corps right after undergrad and worked in the Health Education sector. It was an amazing experience and I'm so glad I did it, but it was hard. It can be incredibly frustrating trying to get projects going when everything moves so slow and you're trying to work using a foreign language that you only just learned when you arrived in the country. But when you push through and find new ways to work, it really is an incredibly rewarding experience that teaches you so much about the world and about yourself.

As for applying to vet school now and then deferring for Peace Corps, it might be possible. You need to work that out with the school. One person who was in the group ahead of me in my country had applied to law school before doing Peace Corps. He asked Yale Law if they'd consider his application and let him defer if he was accepted, and they did. He got in and went to law school about a month or two after finishing his service. He was a fantastic candidate, so it really wasn't a surprise that they wanted him bad enough to hold a spot for him. He's one of the smartest and kindest people I've ever met. He even learned the local dialect of the region he lived in so well that locals would say if they closed their eyes and heard him speak they'd think he was a local.

There was at least one fellow PCV in my group who applied to med school during her last year of service. You can definitely save vacation days to use for interviews or taking the GRE, but of course the travel will get expensive. You can always take the GRE abroad, even if it's a different country from your host country.

Also, keep in mind that there is a lot of variation in the environment you end up serving in. The previous poster mentioned having to go to the capital to get electricity to type something up. That definitely wasn't an issue in my country. I was even able to get DSL internet installed in my flat for my second year of service. We had electricity most of the time (occasional outages), running water (but only during set hours of the day), cell phones etc. So don't expect that you'll end up in a mud hut where you have to carry your water in every day. It really depends on where you end up.

I didn't actually apply to vet school until about 4 - 5 years after finishing Peace Corps. I didn't know what direction I wanted to take. I very nearly ended up doing a PhD after working in research labs for a few years, but ultimately decided against it and pursued vet med instead.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. Good luck!