Random Questions

[NStarz]

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Hey everyone, I have a few nuts-and-bolts questions for you, if you don't mind!

1) Would work under a licensed veterinary technician be considered "veterinary" experience? The shelter where I volunteer has a consulting veterinarian but the day-to-day operations are handled by a lovely group of CVTs. I do have other veterinary experience that I would be able to get a LOR from, so that isn't an issue.

2) I just recently decided to apply to vet school! (AHH!) Because of that, I did not take the second part of orgo lab (ie orgo II lab). I did take both sections of lecture and did take the first part of lab. If I fulfill the requirements in terms of credits, would this be sufficient? Unfortunately, I have no room for the lab in the spring and I am applying next cycle. I have a feeling I may need to call the schools I am applying to to find this out.

3) Does research under ANY type of Ph.D. count as veterinary experience? The Ph.D. I am doing research with is not in a biomedical field, though the research I am doing (effect of contaminants on animal behavior) may be loosely considered veterinary-related.

Thank you so much! Everyone on this forum is so helpful!

~NStarz

 

[ckgilabert]

someone might give you different answers:

1-i'm on the fence about. i worked mainly with the vet techs, but the vet was always there. hopefully someone will give you an answer, sorry.

2-you have to look up vmcas and look at the specific school requirements. then that will tell you if you need the second orgo lab. in my case, i took all 3 quarters of it....and i did the whole year of biochem when i didnt need to.
http://www.aavmc.org/vmcas/college_requirement.htm

3- i would say no. unless he has a DVM behind his name too. PhD doesn't mean vet.

GOOD LUCK

and definitely talk to your advisors!! and keep asking questions....you might get different answers, but it might help you find out what other things you need 🙂

 

[luvgoldens482]

3- i would say no. unless he has a DVM behind his name too. PhD doesn't mean vet.

Not necessarily. Some schools specifically say to list research experience as veterinary experience. Check with the admissions office at each school to which you wish to apply.

 

[BlacKAT33]

I applied this year and i put all of my PhD experience under work experience. BUT, when reading the forums after I applied everyone said that PhD counts as vet experience! Blah, i wish i knew before lol So PhD can be written down as vet experience. With the vet tech position, assuming that every vet tech works with a veterinarian then yes, that is vet experience too. You dont have to be butt buddies with the vet to make it count as vet experience. Just that your supervisor was a vet and you watched/assisted surgeries for them, helped them give vaccines, etc etc if a vet works there then it is vet experience. Even if you get trained on some things from other vet techs, if it is something that would originally be taught by the vet that is what counts. I mean, its pretty impossible to be a vet tech and never learn anything from the vet, so dont worry about it 😀

 

[NStarz]

I applied this year and i put all of my PhD experience under work experience. BUT, when reading the forums after I applied everyone said that PhD counts as vet experience! Blah, i wish i knew before lol So PhD can be written down as vet experience. With the vet tech position, assuming that every vet tech works with a veterinarian then yes, that is vet experience too. You dont have to be butt buddies with the vet to make it count as vet experience. Just that your supervisor was a vet and you watched/assisted surgeries for them, helped them give vaccines, etc etc if a vet works there then it is vet experience. Even if you get trained on some things from other vet techs, if it is something that would originally be taught by the vet that is what counts. I mean, its pretty impossible to be a vet tech and never learn anything from the vet, so dont worry about it 😀

Thank you for your input! Unfortunately, the place I am talking about does not usually have a vet on staff. There is a vet who spays/neuters and does surgery (if she can) but the daily care of the animals, ie illness, injury, vax, etc. is done by the techs. As I'm not usually in their department, I can't really say as to how much the vet is physically in the shelter, but I don't believe it's much (at least not enough for me to get a LOR!). She is more like a "visiting" vet persay.

 

[twelvetigers]

In that case, that sounds like animal experience. Just be specific about all the cool things you do while there when you describe it, and I'm sure it will still be a grat contribution to your application.

About the PhD thing - if it's research related to animals at all, I would for sure count it as vet experience.

 

[eventualeventer]

Just remember - when in doubt, the answer is "It depends." Sometimes I think they all do things differently just to confuse us! 😀

 

[sumstorm]

1) would the vet consider themselves as supervising you? If not, I would put it as animal experience. I did a zoo internship under a vet, but I only saw him once in a while, however, my time was occupied by the tasks he specified for me, and he recognized himself as my supervisor, not the other staff I worked with

2) I think you will have to check with the schools you are applying to

3) animal behavior research is occuring at vet schools as well, and is directly related to animal helath. this can count as vet experience. I conducted toxicology and other research on animals which went under vet experience (alot of the field work involved medical treatment for wildlife as well, and many PhD researchers that work with animal models also do things like perform surgeries, which is very relevant experience.

 

[rugbychick16]

I worked under an RVT who was shelter manager in a humane society, and I just put it down as animal experience. There were a couple vets associated with the shelter, but I never worked with them at all.

Its great experience and thats what counts!!

 

[NStarz]

Thanks so much for all your responses! Your answers were very informative!

 

[BlacKAT33]

Thanks so much for all your responses! Your answers were very informative!

😀 In the end, as long as all your experiences are in SOME category, they will count towards something! Just make sure you don't leave anything off haha i almost did that!! im dumb lol


EDIT: i found that old thread i was talking about. its from 9/24... I had JUSTTT sent in my apps before i read this haha but like i said above, as long as you have it written somewhere thats what really matters. They will recognize if it goes in a different category.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=667761&highlight=vet+experience