Pre-vet Masters programs

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theSAvet

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Hi there,

I have officially withdrawn from a vet program at a Caribbean school but I am not done with following my dream of becoming a veterinarian. The island and the school were not a good fit for me grades or my mental and physical health, and so I had to leave.

I have applied to the MS program at TAMU and I am busy applying to LMU but was wondering if anyone knew of any other programs that were available because I’m not having any luck finding them. I already have most of my prereqs completed so I’d like to avoid doing the “non degree seekeing” thing.

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions
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K-state has a one year masters program in biomedical sciences, a masters in veterinary biomedical sciences and a masters of public health! I’m a second year there now and several of my classmates participated in these programs before matriculating and had great experiences!

Forgot to mention that some of these programs include classes you would take with current vet students so it can be a good preview to the vet school and see if its a good fit for you!
 
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theSAvetstudent said:
Hi there,

I have officially withdrawn from a vet program at a Caribbean school but I am not done with following my dream of becoming a veterinarian. The island and the school were not a good fit for me grades or my mental and physical health, and so I had to leave.

I have applied to the MS program at TAMU and I am busy applying to LMU but was wondering if anyone knew of any other programs that were available because I’m not having any luck finding them. I already have most of my prereqs completed so I’d like to avoid doing the “non degree seekeing” thing.

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions
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ISU has a one year masters program.
 
SkiOtter said:
I know @VeggieTrex did some sort of new certificate program through the University of Illinois. Not an actual masters program though afaik
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Just a few days late to the party. Illinois new Grad Certificate is interesting. It's a 4 course sequence that builds a lot of good foundational knowledge on Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, basic Pathology, and a few other areas. While it is not a masters program in itself, the courses do count for the MVS degree which I'm also doing.

I don't know how many people in my Certificate cohort were accepted into a DVM program, but I know at least one was.
 
Does anyone have any recommendations on an online veterinary masters program? I'm not sure if I will be getting any acceptances this cycle and would like to strengthen my application for next cycle. Thanks in advance!
 
kristianne1212 said:
Does anyone have any recommendations on an online veterinary masters program? I'm not sure if I will be getting any acceptances this cycle and would like to strengthen my application for next cycle. Thanks in advance!
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Do you have an idea of what your application weakness are? Do you know if a master's degree would be strongly considered by the schools you're applying to (some schools consider grad degrees much more than others)? What is your backup career? Those answers might help get you better recommendations.

VeggieTrex said:
While it is not a masters program in itself, the courses do count for the MVS degree which I'm also doing.
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Was UI's MVS worth anything beyond doing it for the sake of wanting to get into vet school? I've had a couple of undergrads ask me about it and after looking at the website, I don't understand the point of the program. It seemed really generic and sales-pitchy.
 
pp9 said:
Do you have an idea of what your application weakness are? Do you know if a master's degree would be strongly considered by the schools you're applying to (some schools consider grad degrees much more than others)? What is your backup career? Those answers might help get you better recommendations.
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I first started college in 2013 when I was unsure of what I wanted to do. I graduated in 2015 with an associates in applied sciences focusing on animal management. I then moved onto pursue a degree in veterinary technology. I worked as an LVT until 2023, then went back to school full time with the hope of finishing my bachelors in biology to apply to DVM programs. That being said, I have a crap ton of experience and my grades as a 30 year old woman are far better than they were as an unmedicated ADHD 17 year old lol. My overall GPA is holding me back due to my earlier grades with a current cumulative of 3.5. As a backup, I haven't thought too much about it as this has been a major shift for me, as is. I did consider PhD programs so I can teach, but I am so very passionate about vetmed and would love to be a doctor.
 
kristianne1212 said:
I first started college in 2013 when I was unsure of what I wanted to do. I graduated in 2015 with an associates in applied sciences focusing on animal management. I then moved onto pursue a degree in veterinary technology. I worked as an LVT until 2023, then went back to school full time with the hope of finishing my bachelors in biology to apply to DVM programs. That being said, I have a crap ton of experience and my grades as a 30 year old woman are far better than they were as an unmedicated ADHD 17 year old lol. My overall GPA is holding me back due to my earlier grades with a current cumulative of 3.5. As a backup, I haven't thought too much about it as this has been a major shift for me, as is. I did consider PhD programs so I can teach, but I am so very passionate about vetmed and would love to be a doctor.
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Gotcha. Just from this paragraph alone, I'm wondering if repeating courses and picking schools that delete old grades for non pre-reqs/use grade replacement for prereqs would be a better option for you. Might also be more cost-effective. Just my unsolicited two cents.

It's been discussed briefly on several different threads now, but many applicants are finding that a master's degree is not as beneficial in the admissions process as they had hoped. There is a misconception that a master's degree (or other grad degree) instantly makes you more competitive, and it's just not true. It can absolutely help, but only in specific circumstances and at certain schools that utilize those credits to the max.

I only bring up the backup career option because it would be unfortunate for you to pay, idk, $20-25k+ for a master's degree that doesn't actually do anything for you if vet school didn't work out. If you do pursue a master's degree, you will need to do quite a lot of legwork to determine which schools will consider it the most.
 
pp9 said:
Gotcha. Just from this paragraph alone, I'm wondering if repeating courses and picking schools that delete old grades for non pre-reqs/use grade replacement for prereqs would be a better option for you. Might also be more cost-effective. Just my unsolicited two cents.

It's been discussed briefly on several different threads now, but many applicants are finding that a master's degree is not as beneficial in the admissions process as they had hoped. There is a misconception that a master's degree (or other grad degree) instantly makes you more competitive, and it's just not true. It can absolutely help, but only in specific circumstances and at certain schools that utilize those credits to the max.

I only bring up the backup career option because it would be unfortunate for you to pay, idk, $20-25k+ for a master's degree that doesn't actually do anything for you if vet school didn't work out. If you do pursue a master's degree, you will need to do quite a lot of legwork to determine which schools will consider it the most.
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Thank you so much for this advice. I may shoot you a private message to discuss this further in the near future.
 
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If you are interested in public health/zoonotic disease I highly recommend Ohio State’s master’s in veterinary public health. I’m in my second semester and adore this program. It has reinforced my love of vet med and introduced me to a possible career as a public health veterinarian. Additionally, this program boasts impressive statistics for getting students into vet school after successful completion:
 

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I am in the Master of Veterinary Science program at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and am really enjoying it! It is a year long program that is offered both on campus and online and you have to complete 32 credit hours which is very do-able with a part or full time job. The classes range from Intro to Veterinary Science to Livestock Biosecurity to Biostatistics which allows you to have a wide range of electives for the program. The classes also allow you to have an overview of the first couple years of vet school so that you can see what those classes might look like. The program also allows you yo raise your post-graduate GPA which is an extra added bonus!
 
Hey! I enrolled in the one-year master's at K-state but transferred to the veterinary biomedical science MS to do research and defend a thesis. If anyone is debating which kind of MS program to look into, I'm happy to share my experiences in both!
 
To anyone who wants graduate credits but is unsure about a masters: I HIGHLY recommend the CVS program with the university of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I did their accelerated program this past summer- got a 4.0 and got into my IS as a low gpa applicant (which is crazy, my IS is known to be a high gpa school). I think that program showed my readiness for the vet school curriculum. There is also a year certificate program were you dont meet with your classmates. Also, If you wanted to do their masters afterwards you can use your certificate credits towards it.

In addition to how it looked on applications- I highly enjoyed the program itself! For the summer we met online 3 times a week- were put in groups and worked together to get through clinical cases based on we had learned at home (through lectures on canvas). We also presented Learning questions from our past class at the beginning of our classes (so if we had questions on the cases on monday, we wrote them down in a sheet- then each of us took responsibility of 2 questions, and presented a PP slide for each on wednesday).

I got close with the people in my group and we still talk, I got a group LOR from the professors leading the program (One just got named department chair for Clemson vet school). And it was overall a great experience in itself.

I know that was long but Im so thankful for that program!
 
210vainilla said:
To anyone who wants graduate credits but is unsure about a masters: I HIGHLY recommend the CVS program with the university of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I did their accelerated program this past summer- got a 4.0 and got into my IS as a low gpa applicant (which is crazy, my IS is known to be a high gpa school). I think that program showed my readiness for the vet school curriculum. There is also a year certificate program were you dont meet with your classmates. Also, If you wanted to do their masters afterwards you can use your certificate credits towards it.

In addition to how it looked on applications- I highly enjoyed the program itself! For the summer we met online 3 times a week- were put in groups and worked together to get through clinical cases based on we had learned at home (through lectures on canvas). We also presented Learning questions from our past class at the beginning of our classes (so if we had questions on the cases on monday, we wrote them down in a sheet- then each of us took responsibility of 2 questions, and presented a PP slide for each on wednesday).

I got close with the people in my group and we still talk, I got a group LOR from the professors leading the program (One just got named department chair for Clemson vet school). And it was overall a great experience in itself.

I know that was long but Im so thankful for that program!
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how did this impact your gpa? did it change cumulative GPA, science GPA, last 45 or none of these? like did schools take the grades you got from it into consideration or just the fact that you did it looked good to them?
 
shelbyjjh said:
how did this impact your gpa? did it change cumulative GPA, science GPA, last 45 or none of these? like did schools take the grades you got from it into consideration or just the fact that you did it looked good to them?
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It added on to those gpas but also calculated a graduate gpa and I had a 4.0 since those are the only grad classes ive taken. For schools that require higher electives for pre reqs I was able to select those classes to fill those spots. I also mentioned how it was accelerated in my application and if I couldget a 4.0 in an intense curriculum I could handle vet school
 
shelbyjjh said:
how did this impact your gpa? did it change cumulative GPA, science GPA, last 45 or none of these? like did schools take the grades you got from it into consideration or just the fact that you did it looked good to them?
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So to answer, I think it most schools did take it into consideration, and my grades looked good. I also received a letter of rec from the program which further endorsed that
 
shelbyjjh said:
how did this impact your gpa? did it change cumulative GPA, science GPA, last 45 or none of these? like did schools take the grades you got from it into consideration or just the fact that you did it looked good to them?
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My MS at KSU increased my overall GPA by .7, my science GPA by .13, and my last 45 cr. GPA by .73 as I earned a 4.0 in the degree! I had a downward trend in undergrad grades once COVID hit, so this MS really helped me prove that I'm capable of handling vet school. Most schools liked the fact I was applying with a MS except for U of AZ- they told me they would not consider any grades or courses from my MS experience (no idea why, seems silly to me).
 
Hello! We are excited to invite you to a student-led information session about the Master in Veterinary Science (MVS) Degree program offered by the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

The info session will take place on April 16th at 4:00 PM CST. You can register for the session using the following link: Grad Programs at IL Vet Med | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

This program is available as a one-year, full-time in-person option, or you can choose to pursue it part-time online.

For more information about the program, please visit vetmed.illinois.edu/mvs.

Remember, the application deadline is May 1st! We wish you the best of luck and hope you will consider applying to join us in the Fall of 2025! Thank you!
 
Has anyone had any good experiences with the LMU CVM MVBMS Program? Looking at ways to increase my chances and boost my gpa while staying low on cost
 
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