Spinoff..Has anybody gotten into vet school with no small animal experience?

[chyactnate]

I saw the large animal experience thread, and was wondering if anybody had little to no experience with small animals. I had dogs and cats, but all my experience has been with horses. All I really want to work with is horses, but was wondering if I should do some work with the small animals. Thanks

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[Emio]

short version: i did have SA clinical experience despite only wanting to work with horses.

real version: i had asked my pre-professional advisor if i *had* to do SA stuff before applying (cause i so desparately wanted to avoid it if at all possible). her answer was pretty much 'yes.' i think it came from the point of view of adcoms wanting to see a well-rounded applicant, and even if i had had years of extensive veterinary equine experience worthy of getting me in anyway, she still would have said that i needed the SA stuff. so, i went out and got me a part time tech job at a really small SA clinic near school for a year before apps.

my opinion: while i think it would be possible to work as an equine vet tech, horse handler/trainer/competitor/barn manager for several thousand hours and get accepted without the SA, i think it would be a risk not many would take. seeing as much of vet school itself is focused on SA clinical settings, i think that they want you to know what you're getting into for the next four years even if its not how you want to spend the rest of your life.

are there any successful applicants here who did *not* have any SA experience? and i don't mean 'oh i volunteered at a shelter for two years, but other than that, no.' really... no experience other than your own pets?

 

[ri23]

Most of my experience was large animal/exotic (zoo). I only had 100 hours of SA shadowing and it was brought up during my interview. In fact they asked me more questions about SA than anything else - despite it not being my area of concentration (I had 1000s of hours in the other fields). I kept bringing any open ended questions to my other experiences. I would recommend trying to do some SA shadowing this summer if you have time. It will show that you've at least had a look at that aspect of the profession.

 

[chyactnate]

Thanks

 

[livealoha84]

I had basically none. I shadowed about a day in a small animal clinic. I had a great deal of large animal experience and about 120 hours of exotic animal experience, plus I did some research. But I really did not have true small animal experience, for example I had never restrained a dog or cat before coming to vet school. I think that it worked out for me because I had so much experience in an equine clinic, plus my interests were either equine or research, not small animal. However, just because it is possible does not mean it is a good idea and you might want to consider getting some experience if it is possible for you.
Good luck.

 

[kate_g]

If you look at the "no large animal" thread, pretty much everyone who answered had no traditional horse/beef/dairy LA experience, but *did* have something other than plain dog/cat small animal private practice experience. They did research, worked at a zoo, rescued wildlife, whatever.

There may be a bias against the "I only want to do equine" folks, though, because there are fewer horse-only jobs than there are small animal private practice (or even food/production) jobs, so they want to know your interests are varied enough to withstand not being able to find a job as a horse-only vet.

 

[Sassygirl]

Because of the shortage of equine vets, it is actually quite easy to work as a "horse-only" vet. The equine vet I work for in PA used to do some small animal work but he stopped because he had so much equine work that he just didn't have the time. Now, he's working like crazy trying to keep up with all our equine clients. He actually thinks that our area could support 1-2 more "horse-only" vets and, from what I hear, this situation is pretty typical across the nation...

 

[kate_g]

He actually thinks that our area could support 1-2 more "horse-only" vets and, from what I hear, this situation is pretty typical across the nation...

Huh. Well, my impression was certainly not personal, it was only from hearing people say things like "I was sure I only wanted to work with horses, then I found out I wouldn't be able to get a job..." I'm sure there's some amount of regional variation - not surprising there's demand for equine vets in places like PA (and guessing likewise KY, WY) that have large populations of working and competing horses. I'm sure the general shortage of large animal vets in rural areas also applies. I guess if the above-mentioned complainers were not willing to move to those places, it's their loss...

 

[cubs11]

not surprising there's demand for equine vets in places like PA (and guessing likewise KY, WY) that have large populations of working and competing horses. I'm sure the general shortage of large animal vets in rural areas also applies.

this is very true. Large Animal vets are in high demand in KY. the LA vet i work with, refers to it as the "dying breed" in our area.

 

[QTkitty]

OK so I'm going to start off by admitting that I didn't read the entire thread so this has probably already been said and I'm going to say it anyway... I don't think you necessarily have to get any SA experience but you do need varied experiences. You could get research, exotic, shelter, etc. experience and I think it would be just as good as SA clinical if you are applying with LA as your main focus. good luck on your app!!