Questions regarding prerequisites and vet school admissions

[chondro]

So im going back to school this fall to begin working on fulfilling the prerequisite requirements for admission to vet school. however I am still unsure of which schools I am going to apply to. I realize it is still early and I have about 2 or so years of work ahead of me before I will even be ready to apply, but my question is which schools from everyones experience are the best choices as far as the best chances of me being excepted..right now I really like the idea of studying abroad in Australia and so the three schools down there are on my radar.

what are my next steps, do I set up an appointment with my academic advisior at the community college I am attending to figure out a course plan to meet those schools requirments, and do i get in contact with the aussie schools to see if the college i am attending meets there criteria for admissions?

thanks,

Mike.

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[PetPony]

We can't really tell you where you have a good chance without you already having grades, experiences and/or GRE scores.

You should pick some schools that you like and then make sure to fulfill their requirements.

 

[abbercadaver]

http://www.aavmc.org/murdoch.aspx
http://www.aavmc.org/melbourne.aspx
http://www.aavmc.org/sydney.aspx

Those also have links to each school's website.

Here is a list of US (and other countries vet schools accredited) http://www.aavmc.org/College-Specif...ific-Requirements_College-Specifications.aspx


Like PP said, we cannot tell you where you are most likely to get in. Nor can we give you any real advice on where to apply. It is all up to you.

If you're looking at going abroad and are concerned about your GPA being a little on the low side, consider Ross or SGU. SGU (and maybe Ross, too) has a program where you are tentatively accepted into the DVM program, IF you successfully complete their 1-year Pre-Vet program. So you'd commit yourself to 5 years of schooling after your prereq's are completed.

A note on studying abroad: It is incredibly expensive to move, live, and pay tuition at these places. Melbourne for example (just with a quick google search) seems to be about $230,000 USD for the program. Add in cost of living, cost of moving, visiting home at ALL during your 4-5 year stay and you will have a very sizable fee to pay back.

Ross and SGU are comparable in fees and tuition.

It might behove you to check into US schools, too. Living abroad might not be as fun as you'd like to think. Western (California) looks at the entire applicant, not just numbers and is a favorite choice of those who are concerned with their GPA but not the cost (it's about on par with going abroad).

Your best bet on getting in is probably your In-State (IS) school.

You said going "back" to school. Have you previously attended college? How did you do in those courses? They are not erased from your transcripts, no matter how old they are, and will have a definite impact on your current GPA. Keep that in mind.

First step? No need to take any fancy steps. This is NOT too early for you to be considering admissions requirements, and is even a little late. You need to make sure you will have ALL prereq's finished by May of the year you plan to apply. So in two years in May of 2014, you will apply for the 2015 school year (Class of 2019). Get started with basic math and science courses required by almost every vet school. Biology (for science majors, no "Intro To...." courses...those won't count as your prerequisites), math (college algebra, trig, statistics), physics, chemistry (general, organic AND biochem). Some schools require Animal Nutrition or Calculus, or some other random pre-req. You need to narrow down your school choices, and fulfill the prereqs for the ones you know you would/could (financially, distance, whatever) attend.

 

[chondro]

thanks for the detailed reply, I live in PA and we have UPenn, which is extremely expensive. I was on there website last night looking over there prerequistes. I will call there admissions office and speak with someone tomorrow.

I attended and completed one semester of college back in the fall of 06 when I was twenty one and did very well with a 4.0 gpa, I took College Algebra, Biology, English 1 and Sociology.

Im transfering those credits to the community college Im going to attend in the fall here in West Chester PA.

From what I see the Aussie schools seem a little easier on the grounds that they dont require any GRE scores and though I havent personally taken this test yet I hear that it can be a pickle!

Anyway I have all day tomorrow to research accredited schools and will do so. trying to narrow it down to three or four however I have no idea what criteria to judge them off of !

 

[PetPony]

You should consider cost of tuition and living expenses, whether you like the area that the school is in, how far away you want to be from family and friends, etc. If you know what area you want to work in (small animal, large animal, exotics, public health, food animal, shelter medicine etc.), then you could look at the schools' programs and see which ones are strong in your area of interest.

 

[abbercadaver]

You should consider cost of tuition and living expenses, whether you like the area that the school is in, how far away you want to be from family and friends, etc. If you know what area you want to work in (small animal, large animal, exotics, public health, food animal, shelter medicine etc.), then you could look at the schools' programs and see which ones are strong in your area of interest.

👍👍Definitely all of this!

The only thing I'd say is probably a little less important is the area you want to work in after graduation. First of all, your interests may change (for whatever reason), and if you chose a more expensive school due to it's great exotics program, but decide that you'd like to do food animal medicine instead...that's wasted money. 🙁

The one thing I'd add that I wish I had considered: OOS acceptance rate and statistics of those OOS who are accepted.

I applied to LSU, Ok State, TAMU, and Georgia. All of these were based on distance, tuition, cost of living, and the surrounding areas. But what I neglected to take into account was that like 2 people are accepted OOS from Georgia...and my GPA is not very competitive (3.5 cum), so if I had known that....of course I'd have saved my money and not bothered applying there. And as far as TAMU goes, I didn't pay much attention to the OOS stats there, either. I mostly applied because it's fairly close to my hometown. Again, with their application system being separate from VMCAS (they have TMDSAS or something), I had a buttload of fees just for applying there. :

IS/OOS tuition: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...XddHJmTmtManA0b0FGNXdWY1k2WGVTNnc&output=html

Cost of attendance:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...XddDUxY0wtVFlQaTktNVk5X3lYajhKNWc&output=html

^^very helpful documents. 🙂

 

[squirrelsrule]

I'd definitely get everything for your IS school (Penn) because that will be your cheapest option. Then look into OOS tuition and acceptance rates, as well as pre-reqs. Some good choices to consider are Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, and there are some southern ones too, but my goal was to stay as close to home as possible, so I didn't really look into much else (I'm from Ohio). Ohio and Missouri allow you to be considered in-state after the first year and Wisconsin has really cheap OOS tuition. Oh, North Carolina has good tuition or you can get in-state tuition as well, can't remember which, but I considered applying there then didn't because of pre-reqs. (I think the pre-reqs. are similar to Penn, though, so might be a good choice for you). Some schools, like Tufts, Cornell, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, and Tennessee do not allow you to get in-state status after a year and their tuition for OOS is quite high. So, take that into consideration before applying to those. They'd still be less expensive than going abroad, but more expensive than Penn, Ohio, Missouri, and Wisconsin would be.

For now, I'd get the list your interested in applying to together and work on meeting their requirements and getting as much vet experience as you can.

 

[Escalla]

One thing to note about Melbourne (not positive about Syd and Murdoch) is that unless you enter into their pre-vet program, you are required to have a bachelor's degree in a biology-related field.

I would take a look at each school and first cross off any that accept few OOS students. That is an easy place to start. From there, look at the prereqs, cost of attendance, location, program, etc. and find the ones that you would really like to spend the money to attend. 🙂

 

[orca2011]

I'd definitely get everything for your IS school (Penn) because that will be your cheapest option. Then look into OOS tuition and acceptance rates, as well as pre-reqs. Some good choices to consider are Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, and there are some southern ones too, but my goal was to stay as close to home as possible, so I didn't really look into much else (I'm from Ohio). Ohio and Missouri allow you to be considered in-state after the first year and Wisconsin has really cheap OOS tuition. Oh, North Carolina has good tuition or you can get in-state tuition as well, can't remember which, but I considered applying there then didn't because of pre-reqs. (I think the pre-reqs. are similar to Penn, though, so might be a good choice for you). Some schools, like Tufts, Cornell, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, and Tennessee do not allow you to get in-state status after a year and their tuition for OOS is quite high. So, take that into consideration before applying to those. They'd still be less expensive than going abroad, but more expensive than Penn, Ohio, Missouri, and Wisconsin would be.

For now, I'd get the list your interested in applying to together and work on meeting their requirements and getting as much vet experience as you can.

Honestly. Penn is not a PA resident's cheapest option. Based on the total cost of attendance charts provided in the "Estimated Costs of Schools" pretty much every OOS school I applied to and was accepted at was cheaper due to the cheaper cost of living associated with the schools. Of course this is all using someone else's calculations and not my own. I ended up choosing it anyway since I'm hoping being close to family will allow me to cut corners in some areas or at least allow me to be close to everyone should something happen. And you can definitely find cheap housing in University City that falls near what other people pay in other states, so I suppose it is possible to keep cost of living lower if you go that route, which is something I'm trying to do.

And it supposedly is possible to gain IS at Illinois, I just don't know how.

 

[zanydogz]

If you're worried about OOS tuition and the higher costs, consider applying to schools in states that allow you to gain residency in one year. I'm not sure which ones those are, but its still something to look into.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Here's my suggestions:



Don't limit your options too quickly. Look into what every single school requires and cut out those that you find too restrictive and those that you have little chance of getting accepted to.



You should plan to take:
1 year of Bio
1 year of Gen Chem
1 year of OChem
1 year of Physics
1 term of Biochem

Those are the basic prereqs to almost every vet school. Some require further classes (micro bio and animal nutrition are common), but those above should get you started to applying to almost anywhere.

From what I see the Aussie schools seem a little easier on the grounds that they dont require any GRE scores and though I havent personally taken this test yet I hear that it can be a pickle!

The GRE is no big deal. Please do not exclude every school in North America just because they require a test you don't want to do. You will only be hurting yourself if you make such exclusions.

do I set up an appointment with my academic advisior at the community college I am attending to figure out a course plan to meet those schools requirments

This is just my experience... but most advisers (especially at community colleges) know absolutely nothing about vet school requirements. You can try it, but don't expect to have all your questions answered.



Good Luck! 👍

 

[Emiloo4]

The GRE is no big deal. Please do not exclude every school in North America just because they require a test you don't want to do. You will only be hurting yourself if you make such exclusions.

👍👍 This! And not to be harsh, but if taking the GRE is deterring you from 28 veterinary schools, vet school may not be the place for you. Yes, the GRE is a different type of test and some people struggle with it, but at least they try. Not applying to any US schools because of one 4 hour test is pretty silly and personally I think it shows you don't want it bad enough. If the GRE scares you away, I'd hate to see you after a semester of vet school .

This is just my experience... but most advisers (especially at community colleges) know absolutely nothing about vet school requirements. You can try it, but don't expect to have all your questions answered.

👍👍👍👍 to this! Your best bet is to start taking the basic pre-reqs and speaking with each school (or look on their websites) for their pre-requisites.

 

[adams30]

I'm not a big fan of standardized tests like the GRE either, but I find that preparing for them helps out a lot. There are many books/flashcards available to help you study and raise your score for the GRE. Taking some practice tests really helps too.

 

[happymochii]

Hi there everybody, I'm new to this forum and I'm excited to be here!

I'm applying to vet school this cycle, and I had a couple of questions regarding all the coursework we have to put down. I still have to take animal nutrition and I plan on taking the online course from Purdue, so in regards to the app, do I still list animal nutrition as a course even though I haven't completed it yet? This question regards all the other coursework that I haven't completed yet for my 4th year in undergrad as well. In addition, I have some jobs lined up for me but not until winter or spring quarter.

Basically to sum it up, can I add the activities/classes/jobs that I will be doing in the future on my app?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[equineconstant]

For courses, definitely put future courses. It says in the instructions to include planned courses. You just have to put the school in for "institutions attended" first.

 

[happymochii]

Thanks for the input! Any idea if we can do the same about future volunteer hours/activities/jobs?

 

[Trilt]

Thanks for the input! Any idea if we can do the same about future volunteer hours/activities/jobs?

No - you can't put hours or activities that you haven't actually done yet. A good chunk of schools will let you update your application (and you can talk about new activities at interviews,) though.

 

[happymochii]

Thanks for the quick replies everybody! 🙂

 

[abbercadaver]

Thanks for the input! Any idea if we can do the same about future volunteer hours/activities/jobs?

No - you can't put hours or activities that you haven't actually done yet. A good chunk of schools will let you update your application (and you can talk about new activities at interviews,) though.

I'll add to this, though, you can put your hours THROUGH September. Since the app isn't due until the beginning of October, you can include all hours attained before then.

One more reason not to submit your app until closer to the deadline! 🙂 No benefit to early submission.

 

[SnowyRox]

Honestly. Penn is not a PA resident's cheapest option. Based on the total cost of attendance charts provided in the "Estimated Costs of Schools" pretty much every OOS school I applied to and was accepted at was cheaper due to the cheaper cost of living associated with the schools. Of course this is all using someone else's calculations and not my own. I ended up choosing it anyway since I'm hoping being close to family will allow me to cut corners in some areas or at least allow me to be close to everyone should something happen. And you can definitely find cheap housing in University City that falls near what other people pay in other states, so I suppose it is possible to keep cost of living lower if you go that route, which is something I'm trying to do.

And it supposedly is possible to gain IS at Illinois, I just don't know how.

I hate how true this paragraph is.

But the estimated cost of living is WAY high if you live like a college student (aka share houses, live cheaply, etc.).

 

[chondro]

dont want it bad enough? i resent that because you dont know me or my situation..thats an ignorant comment. I simply mentioned that the GRE wasnt one of the requirements for acceptance at the Aussie school..

 

[abbercadaver]

dont want it bad enough? i resent that because you dont know me or my situation..thats an ignorant comment. I simply mentioned that the GRE wasnt one of the requirements for acceptance at the Aussie school..

There's no need to get defensive.

Emi was just stating that many people have to overcome many things in order to get into vet school. And basing the schools you apply to solely on the fact that they don't require the GRE is a little bit of a cop-out. She was just telling you to broaden your horizons. Take the GRE and open up 28 new doors of potential. And vet school itself is hard. VERY hard. Harder than any GRE or other standardized test, I'd wager.

You're right, we have no idea of your situation. But you probably don't know much about Emi and what SHE has gone through to get to this point in the journey. She's been through the application process, she's taken the GRE, she probably thought "Man, my GRE scores are just NOT good enough" and thought about applying somewhere outside the US. We have all been there. It's good to listen to people who have already been through what you're going through. Turns out they know what's up.

 

[chondro]

I didnt know that Murdoch didnt require a GRE score, but that was an added bonus, thats why I mentioned it. I never stated that I wasn t going to apply to schools in NA I said that I wanted to study abroad but never gave a reason..the reason is I've wanted to move out to Australia since I was little and getting into a vet school down there would be the perfect opportunity to live my dream 🙂

 

[Emiloo4]

There's no need to get defensive.

Emi was just stating that many people have to overcome many things in order to get into vet school. And basing the schools you apply to solely on the fact that they don't require the GRE is a little bit of a cop-out. She was just telling you to broaden your horizons. Take the GRE and open up 28 new doors of potential. And vet school itself is hard. VERY hard. Harder than any GRE or other standardized test, I'd wager.

You're right, we have no idea of your situation. But you probably don't know much about Emi and what SHE has gone through to get to this point in the journey. She's been through the application process, she's taken the GRE, she probably thought "Man, my GRE scores are just NOT good enough" and thought about applying somewhere outside the US. We have all been there. It's good to listen to people who have already been through what you're going through. Turns out they know what's up.

Thanks Abber, you nailed it! I wasn't trying to discourage you, just wanted to make sure that you weren't expecting the GRE to be the hardest part of the process of becoming a veterinarian. And yes, going to Australia would be insanely amazing, just make sure you are prepared for the steep cost of tuition and living expenses. I don't want you to limit yourself by not taking the GRE, that's all. When I started the process, I thought, "I'll go wherever accepts me and pay whatever it takes to become a vet" and then once I had 6 different school tuitions staring down my throat, I chose the cheapest! It gets much scarier when you actually have to fork over the dough .

I didnt know that Murdoch didnt require a GRE score, but that was an added bonus, thats why I mentioned it. I never stated that I wasn t going to apply to schools in NA I said that I wanted to study abroad but never gave a reason..the reason is I've wanted to move out to Australia since I was little and getting into a vet school down there would be the perfect opportunity to live my dream 🙂

👍 If it is worth it to you, then do it!

 

[grrrr121]

From what I see the Aussie schools seem a little easier on the grounds that they dont require any GRE scores and though I havent personally taken this test yet I hear that it can be a pickle!

The University of Sydney requires either the GRE or ISAT (International Student Admission Test)

 

[2CatMatt]

For courses, definitely put future courses. It says in the instructions to include planned courses. You just have to put the school in for "institutions attended" first.

What about schools we're applying to that have a prereq that the others don't? One example is, of the schools I'm applying to, Michigan State requires an additional two prerequisites (Cell Bio and Nutrition) that the others don't. I would only want to take those two courses in the spring if I got into MSU (I'll have all the other prereqs complete by then).

So I'm having trouble deciding whether to list those two classes as "planned future courses." If I don't list them, then I'm guessing MSU wouldn't even consider my application? Or if I list them but end up getting into another school, would they expect me to finish those courses - or make my acceptance dependent on finishing all planned courses listed on my app? Basically, I guess the question is, does it look bad to list planned future classes that you don't end up taking?

 

[StartingoverVet]

What about schools we're applying to that have a prereq that the others don't? One example is, of the schools I'm applying to, Michigan State requires an additional two prerequisites (Cell Bio and Nutrition) that the others don't. I would only want to take those two courses in the spring if I got into MSU (I'll have all the other prereqs complete by then).

So I'm having trouble deciding whether to list those two classes as "planned future courses." If I don't list them, then I'm guessing MSU wouldn't even consider my application? Or if I list them but end up getting into another school, would they expect me to finish those courses - or make my acceptance dependent on finishing all planned courses listed on my app? Basically, I guess the question is, does it look bad to list planned future classes that you don't end up taking?

It is not a contract. They just want to see what is going on with your schedule.
If you get in, they don't care as long as you don't fail whatever you are taking, and meet any requirements.

Don't overthink or overstress. List the classes needed for those schools.