pre-reqs?

[gizbit]

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So I'll be graduating with double non-science degrees (Government and Communications) in a tier-one school (University of Texas at Austin), and we have been known to excel in the sciences. By Spring 2010, I'll probably be graduating with a 2.9 GPA (super horrible! i know!!! 🙁🙁), but my "last 45" or so hours have been around 3.3. This is to include the fact that I haven't taken any of the required pre-reqs, so I still have a chance of boosting it up. My dilemma is whether I should take them here and risk getting mediocre grades (they just implemented a +/- system to the undergrad curriculum this year) or go to University of Houston, which I don't think is a tier-one school.....but have heard it's "trying to go in that direction"...

What do you all suggest I do? I'm trying to weigh in the pros and cons before I do anything that would put me at a disadvantage. My family won't be supporting my finances in school and have urged me to take on a job, so I'll be taking on work, school, volunteering and hopefully, shadowing (yes..sometimes I feel I put too much on my plate....) all at the same time. I think the pre-reqs will take me about a year and a half or so to finish, so I still have some time in-between to study for the GRE (currently have started on the vocabulary -- I'm opting for the memorization part).

I've read somewhere on this forum that some schools actually consider your school ranking, but is this for the science prereqs or just the overall degree?

i really appreciate ya'lls reply.

 

[dgm]

I think the quality of your school is especially important for the pre-reqs! It'd be kinda silly for a vet schol to say "As long as you did non-science stuff at a really stellar school, go ahead and take those classes that we actually think are important to prepare you for vet school at a not-so-great school." But I know nothing about the quality of University of Houston, so I really can't comment on that. Maybe call up the vet schools you're interested in applying to and ask them what they think?

 

[quakk]

i did some of my pre-reqs at ut-austin. try the extension. classes are cheaper, class sizes are smaller, and it still looks like you took the classes at ut. i really enjoyed my extension classes; the classes i actually took as an enrolled ut student seemed more concerned with weeding students out than teaching students science.

in fact, i was on their site last night - you can do inorganic and organic chem and biology, at a minimum; biochem, too, maybe statistics. you'll still have to take the labs, but you can do those either at ut, or at acc. i took the bio lab at st. edward's nearby.

people have gotten into vet school with varying backgrounds. i think you need to do what's going to give you the best chance to succeed. wherever you take your pre-reqs, you'll want to nail them. put in the time to learn the material. the study habits you learn and the knowledge you acquire will only benefit you when you do gain admittance to vet school.

for what it's worth, i called texas a&m and asked them about taking pre-reqs at ut. they 'preferred' i take them at texas a&m, but that ut would be fine. i think there's some value in that, though - the vet pre-reqs at a vet school will likely be more geared toward vet school. and you may have opportunities to get involved with the vet school and meet the administration before you apply.

 

[sumstorm]

I don't have a good answer for you, but I feel absolutly certain that my undergrad played a significant role in my acceptance. I believer our reputation for 100% med school admissions combined with 98% grad/professional school attendance with 'relativly' low GPA's spoke for the education I received. I entered vet school with a 3.4 overall, 3.4 science, and a 3.5 last 45.

 

[primatevetjess]

There are definitely schools that care where you did your undergrad. UPenn comes to mind. But please do not count yourself out if you can't do your pre-reqs at a top tier school. I did most of my pre-reqs at a community college. Which, by the way, does not by default mean that they were easier or that I got a crap education. As for what vet schools think, I got accepted to three, waitlisted at one, and declined one interview. Do them where it is best for you.

I assume that Texas A&M is your first choice, and I personally do not know if they care about that kind of thing since I didn't apply there. You can always call the admissions office and ask what they think.

 

[Pomona2006]

Although the undergrad university that I got a degree from was ranked in the top 5 liberal arts schools in the US, I did all of my science pre-reqs at other schools - mostly at a Community College. The only ones I didn't do at a CC were upper division courses and I accumulated a total of 7 transcripts because of this. Although I went to a CC, I got As in everything to prove that I knew the material I was being tested in.

Keep in mind I didn't take ANY upper division pre-reqs for Davis until AFTER they accepted me! They were judging my competency in science on community college courses alone!

Given my experience, I think that the admissions process is a lot less superficial than some people make it out to be. Your application is being judged on a number of qualities. Sure, grades matter (but many of us have proven that bad grades do not mean that vet med is out of the question), but what school you went to isn't the make-or-break factor here. Just do well no matter where you go!

 

[gizbit]

Thanks for the answers guys! It's really helping me out. I'm also considering doing classes out-of-state, but do any of you know the possibility of getting in with such low grades? I know non-state applicants are extremely competitive and range from 3.7-3.9 overall GPA