Pre-Veterinary to Pre-Medical. Help please!

[wheatthinners]

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[TREDWISE]

The big question for you is going to be "so you backed out of vet school at the last second, what is to say that you won't back out of med school the same way?" and if you say "I was scared of all the debt" that probably won't go over well.

 

[Catalystik]

My gpa is 3.95 but I have not taken the MCAT.

I'm most worried about EC's because all i have done are related to vet medicine.

1. How many years do i have to take off?
2. What would my chances be of getting in after another year off?
3. Will adcom's be wary of the fact that i'm cramming all my medical EC's last minute?
4. Any advice that I can do ASAP now to improve my chances?

1) If you get started on clinical ECs soon, one more year might do the trick.
2) Odds graphs with cGPA and MCAT score are here: Success rate of those who applied with your cGPA and MCAT
3) Six months is "cramming". Having 1.5 years isn't uncommon.
4) Start now some nonmedical community service that helps those in need and continue weekly involvement. Start very soon soon working or volunteering in a clinical environment that allows you to interact with sick and injured people (and no, vet clinical doesn't help you). Plan some physician shadowing on a regular or irregular basis 6-12 months before applying. Consider some research time if you don't have it: a year is about average for applicants.

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All that said, you likely have some ECs already that will do double duty. What do you have in the research, teaching, leadership, community service, and employment arenas?

I agree with @TREDWISE that a graceful explanation for your transition in interests may be your greatest challenge.

You are not obliged to mention that you got into vet school.

I was originally prevet and changed to premed, BTW.

 

[IntriguedStudent]

I was in a similar situation, although not exactly the same. I was pre-vet all through undergrad but did not end up applying to vet school upon graduation. Personally, I have been working since graduation (Dec. 2013) and am planning to pursue public health (something I actually have an interest in) for the time being, with the intent to apply to med school in five or six years.

I would definitely take the time to consider whether becoming a physician is what you want. It seems to me that it was a sudden change of heart for you, with a large portion of the influence being monetary. I completely understand your hesitations about debt coming out of vet school, as it definitely had a bearing on my decision to change career paths. However, you will still be graduating med school with a very large amount of debt that you won't be able to truly start paying back for 3-8 years depending on your specialty of choice.

To answer your questions:
1. I don't think there is a good answer here. Have you taken all of the pre-reqs? Theoretically, you only need a year to get your ECs, MCAT, and application in order. How much time you actually want to take off is up to you. I would not worry too much about rushing to get in.
2. Your chances are going to depend on your application as a whole. Your GPA is excellent, so that won't be so much of an issue. You scored well on your GRE, so I assume you can do well on the MCAT (even though they are drastically different tests). However, I assume that you are a CA resident, which means the competition you face is much larger than most other states.
3. They won't worry about that as much as they will worry that you aren't committed to medicine. You made a very last minute switch, which will make adcoms consider whether or not you might do the same thing here. You are going to need to write a compelling reason for why you want to go into medicine that is NOT because you don't want the debt of vet school.
4. Get clinical experience and begin shadowing ASAP. From what I've read, a lack of clinical experience is one of the biggest application killers.

You are not obliged to mention that you got into vet school.

While he may not be obliged to mention it, adcoms are not going to be ignorant of the fact that vet school was his obvious path and they will very likely ask him if he applied. If they ask, I would definitely say that he is obliged to answer honestly.

 

[wheatthinners]

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[Doogie17]

I was pre-vet half way through freshman year, partly because I thought med school was far out of reach for me, for various reasons.
If you are concerned about money and debt, vets do not have the gov't setting reimbusement rates. I spent over $300 cash on my golden retriever last month for a five minute visit and watched a lady pay $900 cash for her cat.
If it was a MD office then insurance/medicaid/medicare would have told the doctor what he would be paid. Every vet I shadowed seemed to have a good lifestyle and none seemed to struggle.
Have you talked with vets who are 5 and 10 years out of school to ask about their money/debt realities?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I really have much more sympathy for animals than I do for humans. I could see myself being fairly happy working on people as a doctor, but at the moment I don't share the same kind of passion.

2) I have a few months worth of experience in doing research . . . . veterinary related too (e.g. phamacokinetics study on cats, cattle vaccine clinical trial).

3) Other stuff include spay/neuter clinic, wildlife rehabilitation, shadowing/intern with veterinarians, watching neonatal intensive care foals.

I feel as if I'm coming in with virtually nothing. Do you guys still think an extra year is enough? And yes, I have done the pre-reqs as prep for vet school.

1) Maybe, for that reason, you'll end up in pediatrics like I did, where you can continue to represent the interests of the voiceless and helpless.

2) Research need not be medically-, or even science-related to benefit a med school application. I think you're fine there, since it sounds like you have a school term's worth of involvement.

3) Wildlife support and ASPCA-related volunteerism are well received by med school adcomms. I'd get excited about the newborn foal watch, personally. I've seen some include shadowing of other medically-related careers, so even that experience need not go to waste, so long as it's overbalanced by human physician shadowing.

 

[yaoigirl]

I will say I was in the same situation last year. I was pre med until my junior year of undergrad and then I switched to pre-vet thinking I could handle the large debt to income ratio. I applied to vet school but after realizing that financially being a vet was not something I could handle I turned down my interviews and ironically got accepted into one of the schools that didn't require an interview. I started back shadowing physicians last year and have been accepted to medical school which I refuse to back out of.

Now I have always been interested in medicine but I would have preferred working with animals since I do have more of a passion/ care for animals. I would recommend taking 1-2 years off to gain good clinical and non-clinical experience if you are truly interested in switching career paths. During that time try to find a reason/area that you could become passionate about like working with the underserved or a specialty that you find interesting. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me since I don't check the forums that frequently.

 

[wheatthinners]

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[Catalystik]

Thanks again Catalystik, I'll try to get started with some clinical and non-clinical volunteering at this point.

My biggest fear is that I'll abandon this and end up not getting accepted, leaving me with nothing haha.

This is an important consideration, thus, having a backup plan is ALWAYS in order. Only about 40ish % of MD applicants are accepted and even the highest stat applicants are not immune. So, including some DO schools on the first round gives you higher odds, as does having a solid application with all the usual and customary ECs, along with some attention-getters (hint: foal watch, especially if you have a chance to observe in a neonatal human nursery as well).

 

[wheatthinners]

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[Catalystik]

1.Could I ask what your backup plan personally would have been if you had not managed to get in?

2, I heard from a friend that if you don't get in the first time, adcoms look for significant improvement since the last application, so it's best to only apply only once you are sure you have a good chance. Otherwise, you would be making your subsequent applications unnecessarily difficult. Should I wait 2 years to secure that?

3. I had looked into more recent financial reports regarding certain specializations within veterinary medicine that would be able to make a decent living after a certain amount of time even after the debt load such as surgery or ophthalmology. I would be satisfied with their eventual paycheck given the average amount they make.
Had you looked into these or have any knowledge regarding difficulty to get in and whether it's worth the risk of going into vet school to only aim for these top tier residency programs? Especially since I have been denied at all of the top 3 veterinary schools.

1) At that time, I would have taken the extra coursework necessary to become certified as a teacher in my state, with the goal being to become a HS Biology teacher.

2) If you get things moving fast, I think you might reasonably be prepared to apply in June 2016 when that season's application cycle opens. If life gets in the way and it takes you longer than expected to develop a good application, the following year is fine, too. This coming June would be premature. Don't even think about applying late in a cycle (becoming Complete after Sept 1) due to the steep falloff in chances that come with a late application, unless you want to target a state school known to have delayed timing for starting interviews (and few do).

3) No, but you might find information about this in SDN's Prevet and Vet Forums, or could post there to ask your question. Did you happen to look into theriogenology? I'd be curious to know if that has a decent average income, as I might have been drawn to that subspecialty, but figured strength requirements would count out an average size female.

 

[DVMDream]

1)

3) No, but you might find information about this in SDN's Prevet and Vet Forums, or could post there to ask your question. Did you happen to look into theriogenology? I'd be curious to know if that has a decent average income, as I might have been drawn to that subspecialty, but figured strength requirements would count out an average size female.

I know this is an old thread, but I am being a procrastinator with studying radiology and browsing SDN and saw this. I am a 5'3" female and while I definitely have to be up to my shoulder to palpate a cow, it isn't impossible.. Most of large animal work is not about strength, but about attitude. The difference between a 120 pound female and a 220 pound male means nothing when you are dealing with a 750-1200 pound animal.... doesn't matter how big or strong you are, these animals are stronger than everyone... basically, you have to make the animals believe you are strong and intimidating even though they can all easily trample and kill you if they wanted... strength means nothing, it is all about attitude.

 

[Catalystik]

I am a 5'3" female and while I definitely have to be up to my shoulder to palpate a cow, it isn't impossible.. Most of large animal work is not about strength, but about attitude. The difference between a 120 pound female and a 220 pound male means nothing when you are dealing with a 750-1200 pound animal.... doesn't matter how big or strong you are, these animals are stronger than everyone... basically, you have to make the animals believe you are strong and intimidating even though they can all easily trample and kill you if they wanted... strength means nothing, it is all about attitude.

I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts. I expect it's difficult to put into words how one communicates an "I am the alpha animal" species-specific attitude. Do instructors demonstrate this, or do you pick it up on your own as you gain confidence?

 

[DVMDream]

I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts. I expect it's difficult to put into words how one communicates an "I am the alpha animal" species-specific attitude. Do instructors demonstrate this, or do you pick it up on your own as you gain confidence?

Instructors do demonstrate this and you pick it up as you gain confidence. You kind of have two choices... be intimidating or get out of the way. There are also a lot of tools to help you as well.... crushes so that the cows are confined, using fences as barriers, using various ways to lift feet, etc. Also, drugs are good friends..

 

[DVMDream]

I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts. I expect it's difficult to put into words how one communicates an "I am the alpha animal" species-specific attitude. Do instructors demonstrate this, or do you pick it up on your own as you gain confidence?

You just have to remember cattle are prey animals... their instinct is to run, so if you make a lot of noise and wave out your arms they are generally going to want to go away.. also there is strength in numbers if you are rounding up a herd of cattle.