Stigma being pre-vet?

[marycatherine]

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Currently, I am having people tell me, "I know you will get in you have all of that experience.” I will tell them yes, I have quite a bit of SA experience, but I have NO LA experience and experience isn’t everything. There are also grades, GRE, PS, and eLOR’s. I still do not think they get it. They still think that I am just being too critical of myself and that I will easily get in (I wish).

Yes! I am wicked nervous about applying and while my parents recognize vet school is really hard to get into, all of my friends seem to think that because I went to a good undergrad I should be a shoe-in. I wish it were that easy!

I'm just starting pre-reqs and my parents are really wary about me spending 2 years getting classes out of the way, then applying and possibly not getting accepted-- they think I'll be wasting a lot of years at home when I should be setting myself up for a more secure career. I was supposed to go straight into my Ph.D... oops.

 

[parietal]

This!! I know my family is just trying to be supportive. But, they are always like, "I know you will get in." I try to explain to them how hard it is and how nervous I am, but they are always like, "Don't worry; you will get in." I still don't think they understand exactly how competitive and difficult it is.

When I get this, I remind my family/friends that almost 1,100 people applied for 97 seats at my instate school (Minnesota) last year. That seems to help give them perspective. 🙂

I've generally found my classmates to have a very realistic perspective on vet school, but find much greater ignorance in the broader community, including the dreaded "oh, that's a two-year program, right?" 🙄

Sadly, I've also heard a lot of ignorant things from students at the vet tech school in my area. Quite a few that I've worked with seem to think tech school is the prereq to vet school and are stunned to find out that they need to take additional science and liberal arts classes. Most of the actual vet techs are very understanding and aware of what more is required, but some of the students, not so much. 🙄

 

[Shanomong]

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[Whyevernot55]

This!! I know my family is just trying to be supportive. But, they are always like, "I know you will get in." I try to explain to them how hard it is and how nervous I am, but they are always like, "Don't worry; you will get in." I still don't think they understand exactly how competitive and difficult it is.

Gaaah me too. I'm like, yes, great, thanks for the positive attitude, but you have NO IDEA what I'm up against. There is a really, really big chance that I won't get in this time around!
Fortunately most of the people I encounter are understanding, and a lot of the pre-med students have a good sense of how challenging vet school is - when they here the numbers of schools available, class sizes, and number of applicants, they generally have a lot more respect for pre-vet students!

 

[Coquette22]

I'm lucky, I haven't really encountered this. I'm one of a small handful of pre-vet students at Dalhousie, most pre-vets go to NSAC (tried it, hated the school!). So I'm surrounded by pre-med and pre-dental students, but they seem to appreciate that what I'm doing is just as difficult as what they're doing. Some acknowledge that it's harder.

(*waves* New to the boards. Hi!)

 

[luplodw]

Met two people last night that were amazed that vet school is 4 years...and to top that off...didn't believe me when I said it was just as hard as, if not harder, than getting into med school

 

[twelvetigers]

There was a recent article in Dolittler about what to tell kids that want to be vets, and a lot of the comments after it ruffled my feathers a bit. A lot had to do with loans, though, but a few people showed some ignorance about what is involved in applying.

http://dolittler.com/2009/12/18/What.to.do.when.your.kid.says.she.wants.to.be.a.veterinarian.html

 

[HopefulAg]

I read, and had that same reaction, to the article. Especially the lady claiming that we should need to own dogs to get into vet school. Oft times it's hard enough getting animal experience as it is, no need to force animal ownership on us.

I do own dogs (and always will) but she's getting a bit carried away.

 

[luplodw]

If we had to own the animals we work on then we'd own a zoo!! I mean you can't just say that we need to own dogs if you aren't going to say the same about all the other animals