Pre-Vet Course or Bachelor of Science?

[168135]

I'm new to the forum *waves* and I just started university.

Three students from my high school are doing a Pre-Vet program. I didn't like the university that offered it, so I decided to get my pre-requisits at another university. I think I'm going to major in Biology and minor in Chemistry, but only time will tell.

When I started asking whether or not it was beneficial to do a pre-vet program, everyone wanted me to do it, because, in this case, I would get "hands on experience with large animals" and that the nearest vet school (UPEI) accepts more people from this program than from the province. Once I decided the latter, a lot of people said that I was probably better of.

I was on a Livejournal community when the question came up... I read the responses and everyone said that you are better off getting your bachelor of science. Someone said that they had majored in Biology, minored in theatre and still got accepted into vet school.

Anyway... what I'm basically wondering is... how many of you are doing the pre-vet program and how many of you are not? Why?

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[david594]

"Bachelor's of science" is a type of degree. The other school probabily offers a bachelors of science in Pre-vet or animal science. The biology or chemistry degree you would do would also be a bachelors of science.

If you were to get a degree in say asian langauges that would be a bacheors of art degree.

An animal science of pre-vet program its an easy way to get some experience with large animals.

 

[bakaduin]

Like the above said these people are probably getting a Bachelor of Animal Science which is a Science degree. Id say maybe 40%-50% of applicant are Animal Science. Another 30% Biology. Then the rest is a mix of everything from Business to Zoology.

 

[168135]

Pre-Vet = Bachelor of Animal Science
Bachelor of Science = Everything else

That's what I ment.

So who is getting their Bachelor of Animal Science and who is majoring in something else is what I wanted to know.

 

[kate_g]

So who is getting their Bachelor of Animal Science and who is majoring in something else is what I wanted to know.

Please note that almost everyone on this forum is from the US, and there are some aspects of vet school in Canada that are way different. This may be one of them, or it may not. I dunno.

My vague guess is that Animal Science majors make up less than half the applicant pool across the US. Not a whole lot less than half, but not a majority anyway.

You said "major in Biology and minor in Theater and "still" get into vet school" as if you think that's really unlikely. Fact is, there are a lot of people currently in vet school who majored in Biology (or Chemistry or Biochem or suchlike) and minored in something artsy. In fact, showing that you're "well rounded" is important to US vet schools. The education they provide is *very* focused, so if you haven't had a good English Lit course by the time you graduate college, you'll be living without one. So they want to know you've had exposure to non-science stuff too.

In fact, as long as you do all the prerequisite classes, you could major in Theater (with or without a minor in Biology) and "still" get into vet school. There are a *lot* - 1/3 of the class maybe? - of people in my current freshman class (UC Davis) who majored in something totally un-science in college - Architecture, Anthropology, English. Now, most of those people started out thinking they wanted to do something else, then decided after getting their bachelor's that they wanted to go to vet school, so went back to college to take prerequisite classes as a continuing ed student. In the US this is quite common and might actually be preferred - these students have "lived" a little, and are generally more mature - to coming to vet school straight out of undergrad. I have a vague memory that the opposite is true in Canada, and there are hardly any "older" students. Could be wrong on that one, though.

Now, you mentioned a particular school. The different schools in the US are very different in terms of their exact preferences. At some, an Animal Science degree would serve you better (e.g. schools with strong large animal focus); at others, a bachelor's in Bio or Chem or whatever might be more useful (e.g. schools with strong research focus). So if you're mainly considering PEI, then what you really should do is call up the folks at their admissions office and ask *them* what's likely to work better for you, or ask for stats on their current class as to how many people had what major. Might also call any other schools you'd consider applying to, just to see if PEI is way different from the rest of them or anything.

Good luck!

 

[Angelo84]

As far as what to major in it really doesn't matter as long as you get the pre-req's done for the schools you are applying to. We have a student in our class that was an art major and just graduated this may. Just be warned if you major in something else you will have to take a lot of extra classes (ie outside your major not really help you graduate) versus if you choose a major that includes a lot of the vet school pre-req's you will be completing both classes for your major and vet school at the same time. All that aside I would pick a major based on what interests you.

 

[168135]

Fact is, there are a lot of people currently in vet school who majored in Biology (or Chemistry or Biochem or suchlike) and minored in something artsy. In fact, showing that you're "well rounded" is important to US vet schools.

That scares me a little bit... I'm good at english for example... but I don't like it enough to minor in it...

I'm a little bit scared... I am pretty well rounded (I was yearbook editor, I'm into animal rights, I bowl and like the outdoors) but I really don't want to go out of my comfort zone and minor in something that I don't like and that may not help me get the career that I want.