Starting from square one. Looking for advice

[andersob]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I am a 25 y/o male starting school all over again. I currently work for a Sheriff's office as a Correctional Officer been doing this for five years. I now want to become a vet I have given it a lot of thought.

I went to Jr. college right out of HS but dicked around and failed practically every class except football. I transferred to a another Jr. college and took all of the criminal justice classes I could and received mostly A's and B's. For the three years of Jr. college I took only one of my classes will transfer to the Veterinary Science program at University of Nevada Reno.

I have been working around horses and cattle for the past 6-7 years. Before working as a CO i worked on a 5,000 acre cattle ranch. I worked with cattle regularly and I did everything with horses from breaking them to showing them. I now have my own small cattle heard (nine pairs) and my girlfriend has two horses. We have two dogs and a cat.

For the Sheriffs office I am a training officer and when there is not a supervisor there I fill in when needed. I have received a life saving award. I have more collateral duties than anyone else I work with. I also receive great remarks on my annual evaluations.

I have no volunteer experience with vets or the community.

What should I look into doing to make my application look good in the 4-6 years till I can apply for Vet schools.

Thanks for any and all input.

 

[wildcatj]

Start here: http://www.aavmc.org/Students-Appli...nary-Medical-College-Application-Service.aspx
They have all sorts of info on what schools require what for applications. It will give you an idea of what pre-reqs you will need to get done.
Once you've figured out what you need to take, get started on pre-reqs. You'll have at least 2 years worth of full time classes to get done if you don't have any basic sciences done.
Definitely take advantage of the search function on here too.
Good luck!

 

[that redhead]

I think your first step, aside from snooping around here and checking out that VMCAS link above, is to spend some time shadowing a vet. That will give you a bit of an idea of what you'd be getting yourself into. Good luck

 

[wolfspeaker]

That 1 class that would transfer may not count towards your pre-requisites when applying to Vet School. Some schools require pre-requisites to be taken in the last 5-6 years when you apply. That class would be too old. You would have to take it again.

You do not need a degree to apply, merely need to take all the classes required by whatever schools you want to apply to. Each school has there own list of classes. Get the best grades you can.

http://www.aavmc.org/data/files/vmcas/prerequisite_chart_2013.pdf

This site should help you find out which classes you will need to take. Note: it may change next year, never know. 😛

Start shadowing/working for a Veterinarian(veterinary hours are required, get a minimum of 500 hrs before applying). Large and small animal. Maybe volunteer at a shelter if you have time. Even 1 day a week, after a couple years, really adds up. And it will help you find out if veterinary medicine is really for you.

Animal hrs, like working at the ranch, do not count towards veterinary hrs.

 

[wildcatj]

I think your first step, aside from snooping around here and checking out that VMCAS link above, is to spend some time shadowing a vet. That will give you a bit of an idea of what you'd be getting yourself into. Good luck

I knew I forgot to mention something important! Haha.

 

[andersob]

Does doctoring cattle, castrating and giving shots count towards vet hours? I learned that from my old boss who is not a vet. I have a vet I go to regularly who is willing to help me with my hours I just have to find the time to go in and follow him around.

Thanks a lot for pointing me in the direction of that website that will help out a lot.

Will the leardership/ supervisor roles I have at work help with making me more disirabale?

 

[wildcatj]

Does doctoring cattle, castrating and giving shots count towards vet hours? I learned that from my old boss who is not a vet. I have a vet I go to regularly who is willing to help me with my hours I just have to find the time to go in and follow him around.

Thanks a lot for pointing me in the direction of that website that will help out a lot.

Will the leardership/ supervisor roles I have at work help with making me more disirabale?

Medical procedures don't count as vet hours unless they are supervised/observed under a veterinarian or other health professional.

 

[LetItSnow]

Does doctoring cattle, castrating and giving shots count towards vet hours? I learned that from my old boss who is not a vet. I have a vet I go to regularly who is willing to help me with my hours I just have to find the time to go in and follow him around.

Thanks a lot for pointing me in the direction of that website that will help out a lot.

Will the leardership/ supervisor roles I have at work help with making me more disirabale?

From the way you're describing it, no, those hours will not count because you were not supervised by a vet. They're still "animal experience" hours, which is another category.

You basically need to do a very limited number of things that will take up a lot of time:

1) Look into the academic requirements at a variety of schools that you might be interested in. Make a compiled list so that you can meet all their requirements. Make a plan to get through those classes. Get A's. Not A's and B's. Yes, people get in with 3.0 GPAs. Try and do better. I literally had a spreadsheet of required classes that I could check off as I went.

2) Start getting veterinary experience. Don't freak out when people talk about the 2,000 hours "average" or the 5,000 hours they personally have. They always end up being the people you roll your eyes at in vet school when every other sentence out of their mouths is "Well, at MY clinic we do it THIS way." (Note: That's very different than "Well, at my clinic we do it this way." The emphasis matters.) I got in with around 500. I think you want to aim for 400-500, though more is obviously better.

2.5) Develop a really solid relationship with a veterinarian. Most schools either require or strongly suggest that at least one of your recommendations come from a vet. You want it to be glowing.

3) When VMCAS opens for applications (I can't remember when; they're probably closed right now because the application date just passed a day or two ago.), create an account. It's free. That way, you can see exactly what's on the application and you can start making a plan for what you'll do to fill everything out. Link: https://portal.vmcas.org/

It sounds like you have a relatively diverse and interesting background, so I'd think you'd be able to write a pretty compelling application.

One suggestion, though. When you talk about your mad cattle skillz and your herd in your application, don't spell it 'heard'. The application people may wonder if you're totally fabricating your experience. 🙂

G'luck!!

 

[wolfspeaker]

I don't think VMCAS is open again until June.

 

[irrelephant23]

Don't freak out and try to cram in vet hours though! It can be overwhelming once you commit to a vet shadowing or working position. Do what you're comfortable with. You don't need to have thousands of hours to get in to vet school (although that would definitely be wicked!) I got wait listed at KSU last cycle and I only had 200 vet hours (but 300 research hours). However, now that I have increased my hours tremendously, I feel more confident about my application. If you are not doing so hot in one area of the application (grades vs GRE vs Experience), overcompensate in the others.

 

[anotherbusybee]

In my opinion, it's far more important to go back to school, take science classes, and do WELL in those science classes. Part of doing "well" in science classes also implies that you should thoroughly enjoy science.

In fact, I would say that you should LOVE science and biology and that grades are merely indicators of your intellectual capacity to understand and pursue medicine.

I think your other questions about experiences will be answered over time, but, now, you should focus on loving science and doing well in these classes. Otherwise, veterinary medicine would not be an appropriate career.

 

[Foxhunter]

In my opinion, it's far more important to go back to school, take science classes, and do WELL in those science classes. Part of doing "well" in science classes also implies that you should thoroughly enjoy science.

In fact, I would say that you should LOVE science and biology and that grades are merely indicators of your intellectual capacity to understand and pursue medicine.

I think your other questions about experiences will be answered over time, but, now, you should focus on loving science and doing well in these classes. Otherwise, veterinary medicine would not be an appropriate career.

I HATED every undergraduate biology course. I don't like some of my graduate biology courses. I don't think that has anything to do with being a good vet. I do, however, like science and research. I know many vet students who dislike or HATE most of their classes. I still think they'll be great vets.

 

[485501]

I HATED every undergraduate biology course. I don't like some of my graduate biology courses. I don't think that has anything to do with being a good vet. I do, however, like science and research. I know many vet students who dislike or HATE most of their classes. I still think they'll be great vets.

The classes or the subjects? If you hate biology itself, I would think that being a vet wouldn't be very fun or satisfying. But hating a class that is covering a subject that you like is something else. It could be due to teachers, course format, fellow students, etc. That, I think, doesn't predict whether or not someone will be a good vet or enjoy being a vet.

And I'll bet it's not good to say "Well, I hated all my biology classes" in an interview!

 

[anotherbusybee]

Are you trying to refute my suggestion? I said: You should love science and biology - never mentioned that you should love your *classes*.

 

[vethopeful2011]

Hi andersob!
I have a law enforcement/teaching background too. I worked as an animal cruelty investigator, but we incorperated a lot of corrections training into our academies bc in NYS corrections officers are peace officers like we were.
I just applied to vet school this year, and having just completed the process, looking back, I think having that background really helped demonstrate commitment to community service et. As far as what you need to focus on; I think trying to acheive a breadth of experience is important. Definately work as much as possible with the vet you already have a relationship with, but try to gain some experience with SA and possibly exotics as well.
Like many people on here have said, experience working with animals that is not supervised by a vet or research scientist is not technically clinical but it DOES 'count'. It depends what schools you plan on applying to how much it is taken into consideration.
Definately check out the VMCAS site, this is the best source of info out there in my opinion. Every year there is a book called 'Veterinary Medical School Admission Requirements' published by the Association of American Veterinary Colleges which is also a good source of specific information. This book really helped me par down my choices in the end.
It's important to decide where you most want to apply early because different schools do have different course/experience requirements and you want to be sure you are focussing on the right things to make you stand out.
Most importantly, really make time to do well on pre-reqs, esp if you have a spotty academic background. This may mean it takes a lot longer, but it will be worth it in the long run. And don't underestimate the GRE! Give yourself plenty of time to prepare for it, and if you've been out of school for a while, take some science/math prereqs first if you can.

Good luck!