Pre Vet Programs

[shred4life]

Hey everyone, I am finishing up my degree this year at community college and am applying out to four year schools this winter. I am hoping to get all my apps in towards the end of December.

I was wondering if anyone could make any suggestions as far as pre vet programs go at universities. I am looking to major in animal science with a concentration in pre vet. So far these are the schools I'm applying to:

1) Cornell : College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
2) University of Connecticut
3) Ohio State
4) Boston College
5) Virginia Tech
6) Purdue
7) UC Davis
8) Four free SUNY app's come with my degree so: SUNY Binghamton, SUNY ESF, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Geneseo

I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions of any other schools that have a great animal science/pre-vet program. Also, if anyone had any opinions on the schools listed above that would be great.

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[lalzi22]

I got to Binghamton now (senior year!). Bing has a fabulous bio department. There is so much research for you to get involved in, plenty of classes you can TA if that is something you are interested in, there are SO many different bio classes (Developmental biology, Cellular Neurobiology, Animal Physio, Tropical Marine Biology, Conservation Biology)- really, its a great department. We also have a very active Pre-Vet club that often trips to Cornell and Penn to tour the campuses, talk with administrators there etc... Our pre-heath advisors are very knowledgable about applying to vet school (but if you are on SDN DAMN, you dont need any other help), and they are very helpful. Ive had a great time at bing, TOTAL BLAST. It's a dumpy city, but its a college town, very cheap to live in, and I feel very prepared for vet school (if I get in, knock on wood).

I have done research for a year in behavioral evolution, TA'd for both intro to bio and orgo for 4 semesters each and from both of those I got killer recommendations, so it is a great place to get involved, and at bing if you seek it, it is very easy to get involved.

When I was at Tufts AVM summer program, they actually said they like a Biology major over a pre-vet major because it shows more diverse classes represented on your transcript. The only thing about bing- do not take calc here unless you hate yourself. Other than that, its great.

 

[cowgirla]

Hey everyone, I am finishing up my degree this year at community college and am applying out to four year schools this winter. I am hoping to get all my apps in towards the end of December.

I was wondering if anyone could make any suggestions as far as pre vet programs go at universities. I am looking to major in animal science with a concentration in pre vet. So far these are the schools I'm applying to:

1) Cornell : College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
2) University of Connecticut
3) Ohio State
4) Boston College
5) Virginia Tech
6) Purdue
7) UC Davis
8) Four free SUNY app's come with my degree so: SUNY Binghamton, SUNY ESF, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Geneseo

I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions of any other schools that have a great animal science/pre-vet program. Also, if anyone had any opinions on the schools listed above that would be great.

Boston College? Seriously?? I had no idea they had an An.Sci program.

Anyway, I got my BS at Univ. of New Hampshire. Really liked the program there. Got a lot of hands on experience, especially with horses and cattle. Wide variety of classes--everything from the general chems and bios to marine bio, equine lameness/training, dairy science, agriculture management, large animal handling, small animal diseases. Then the "lab based" stuff in the veterinary diagnostic lab--Microbio, histology, etc, all on real veterinary cases.

Had a lot of tough professors, learned a lot, forget some 😉 All around had a good time. NH's a nice place to live, hence why Im still here.
Tuition isn't too bad, lot of scholarships available, cost of living is relatively affordable compared to most of new england. You've got wide open spaces, ski slopes a half hour in one direction, Boston/Portland both less than an hour, no sales tax and all sorts of nice perks!

Ton of clinics in the area to work/shadow at, too.
Feel free to email with any questions or anything like that.


Also, for SUNY, what about Cobleskill?
I think Morrisville has a program too, but I'm not a big fan of them. They may have improved since I saw them six years ago though.

Bing's a good school, strong sciences, but wouldn't you have to go with a gen. Biology major?

 

[lalzi22]

Bing's a good school, strong sciences, but wouldn't you have to go with a gen. Biology major?

At bing you would have to be bio, but there are many different options. There is a BA in bio. This requires 12 fewer credits and is a general biology degree. You can also get a BS in biology, and this is split into 2 sections. You can get a BS in biology with a concentration in cell molecular biology OR a concentration in ecology, evolution and behavior. As pre-health, if you chose a BS, they suggest CMB since it requires cell bio, genetics, microbio (aka- pre-reqs for vet school). You can also be a biochem major which is a BS and you take bio and chem classes as well as the dreaded biochem's. The bios can include (but are not excluded to) genetics, microbio, cell bio (you get the idea).

We don't have animal science here as a major, but a lot of people are bio majors and it works out great for them.

 

[PigsRock]

Hi from Blacksburg! I'm an Animal and Poultry Science major here at Tech and I love it! APSC is one of the top 10 majors for incoming students, and many of those are pre-vet. Plenty of people are Bio majors, but I think animal science is more helpful. We get to take plenty of high level biology-type classes, but we also learn how to flip sheep.

Outside of class, there are great programs within the department for students to volunteer at one of the animal centers near campus or in a research lab. We also have equestrian, poultry, block & bridle, and pre-vet clubs that have been around forever, plus swine, animal nutrition, and search and rescue clubs that formed within the past year or two.

The pre-vet club has been great because we meet at the vet school with different doctors as guest speakers. Plus, we hear from the admissions people a couple of times a semester. It was kind of weird because we had a doctor talk to us about equine x-rays last week, then at the end he mentioned he was reading our animal experience for our applications! It's scary to know how close we are getting to interview time!

Sorry for the long post, I really do love it here! Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[twilson]

West Virginia University has one.
Those who are in it get instate application preferences to a few surrounding vet schools, since we don't have one. I can't remember off the top of my head, its been a while since I was in the major.

 

[Bearby]

Hey everyone, I am finishing up my degree this year at community college and am applying out to four year schools this winter. I am hoping to get all my apps in towards the end of December.

I was wondering if anyone could make any suggestions as far as pre vet programs go at universities. I am looking to major in animal science with a concentration in pre vet. So far these are the schools I'm applying to:

1) Cornell : College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
2) University of Connecticut
3) Ohio State
4) Boston College
5) Virginia Tech
6) Purdue
7) UC Davis
8) Four free SUNY app's come with my degree so: SUNY Binghamton, SUNY ESF, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Geneseo

I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions of any other schools that have a great animal science/pre-vet program. Also, if anyone had any opinions on the schools listed above that would be great.

I don't know anything about the programs at those schools but I spent my first two years of undergrad at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and they have an outstanding Animal Science program. The teachers are great, really want you to succeed, the pre-vet club does a lot of great stuff including a livestock show every spring that is completely organized and competed in by the students. Not only that, but they are the first college to have a camelid studies program, so dealing with alpacas and llamas. I know that the experience I got with alpacas is something that not many people can say they received. Unfortunately I had to leave after two years because the cost was so high and I couldn't find a job that could work around my school schedule. I wish I could go back.

 

[ckgilabert]

My friend who is a 2nd year at CSU Vet school said that Cal poly pomona totally prepared her. I LOVED cal poly and I believe my friend when she says that it prepared her. We have some pretty hard core professors in the animal veterinary sciences program. and you take all the classes that are required by almost all of the vet schools. I think michigan wanted one more class, WHICH i could have taken and replaced another class, but i just took it as an additional class.

anyway, it wasnt on your list, but it's something to consider. : )

 

[badcats]

If you look at either Cal Poly, just be warned that state budget issues are hitting the Cal State system really hard right now and they have decreased class offerings and enrollment on all campuses.

 

[gilch]

Hmm...I wonder if I've met you, PigsRock, I am an ASPC major at Virginia Tech too--a senior--and a member of the Prevet club. Small world 🙂.

I'd like to second what PigsRock said--Virginia Tech is great for Animal Science. You can get so much animal experience from labs, the professors are really nice and they know so much about getting into vet school! The vet school is just 3 minutes from the main ASPC building and there are some job/volunteer opportunities for undergrad students. Also the department has a volunteer experience program where students can work 3-6 hours a week on some farms--it's really great if you are lacking some species specific handling skills, general animal hours, ect. There are so many oppertunities for research, whether for undergrad credit or not, in the ASPC department, but Tech other areas as well--I've done some work in a research lab in the Bio department and am currently doing undergrad research for credit in the College of Engineering. It is a diverse school!

The prevet club,as PigsRock said, meets at the vet school and gets most of our speakers there. Dr. Jackie Pelzer, the director of admissions, spent an hour with us earlier in the semester answering questions about VMCAS and the VMRCVM supplimental application. The speakers are so helpful!

In addition, I transfered from a community college after an AA degree as well. I am in the last class of an old cirriculum--the new one is more friendly to transfers, I think. If you do go, I'd advise you to take Animal Anatomy and Physiology the first semester. I had to take it the second and will pay for it next semester. The ASPC professors are great getting to know students --which is a change from most of the Bio professors. For the most part, I felt welcomed as a transfer. In any case, I wish you luck with your applications.

 

[catlover]

I don't know anything about those schools - my only suggestion would be to go somewhere where you're not going to rack up a lot of debt. Vet school is not cheap, even in state, and it keeps getting more expensive every year... So, you don't want to blow all your money on undergrad.

 

[PigsRock]

Hmm...I wonder if I've met you, PigsRock, I am an ASPC major at Virginia Tech too--a senior--and a member of the Prevet club. Small world 🙂.

Hi gilch! (you bolded my name, I thought I'd return the favor!) I'm a junior but I applied to VMRCVM this year to see if I can get in early. I think the Pre-Vet club is fun, but it's a little too big. You should come by Swine Club sometime. We have lots of fun and we're small enough where everybody knows everybody.

Go Hokies!

 

[gilch]

Maybe I will, Pigsrock. I certainly hang around the swine center enough! Yeah, the prevet club is too big, but I can't go to almost half of the meetings because of review sessions, ect.