Taking a Human Biology-geared Sequence for Vet School

[BlueLensFlares]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all,

So I'm a third year majoring in the humanities, and my school has a two-year biology sequence for students who are pre-med but are not majoring in biology or chemistry. Because my school has a lot of pre-med students who are not science majors, they felt it was a good idea to have this sequence available to these students.

One thing that I've spoken to my advisors about is whether or not this would be okay with applying to vet school. The two-year course sequence is primarily focused on human-related pre-medical biology - in fact, the courses in this sequence are human cell and developmental biology, genetics, biochemistry and nutrition (which I'm guessing are both human-related), biostatistics I and II, and finally human anatomy and physiology. I go to a quarter-based school, and these courses would suffice as the pre-biology requirements for medical school and other health-related professional programs, and according to my advisor, these courses alone would suffice as the necessary general pre-health biology sequence most schools require.

However, only on average 1 student a year applies to veterinary school out of a graduating class. My question is, do veterinary schools care whether the biology course you took in college had an emphasis on animal/comparative biology? I think that in terms of the rigor, I've heard this course is pretty challenging and provides a nice survey of pre-health human biology good for graduate health programs. I'm just hoping this sequence would be okay for vet school. I mean, eukaryotic cells are eukaryotic cells, right? If not, I have no other choice since I'm a third year, and might have to consider an alternative sequence, even perhaps at a different college. Or, if this general human biology sequence does not suffice, can I supplement it with comparative anatomy courses my biology department offers?

Thanks!

 

[Kyoht]

From what I've seen while researching the pre-req for the schools I'm applying to next year, some specifically say general biology while others say 8 semester hours of biological sciences with labs or something else. I would say to look at the schools that you would want to go to and look up/call them and see what they require. Then go from there. Also, most require inorganic, organic, and biochemistry as well as physics (so I am assuming you are taking or have taken those classes). Other classes like cell bio, micro, genetics, and nutrition can be pre-reqs, just recommended, or not mentioned at all. I think only a couple require a physiology class. But as I said before, best thing to do would be to call specific schools and see if they would accept it.

 

[BlueLensFlares]

That didn't cross my mind, actually. Thank you very much!

 

[Lissarae06]

A lot of those classes aren't needed for vet school. I personally would only take the pre-reqs since you are already a junior. The schools you are wanting to apply to should have a list of pre-reqs on their websites.

 

[StartingoverVet]

If you can fit in all your pre-reqs, almost all of those courses would be helpful for vet school.
* Dev Bio is not a pre-req at most schools, but you are going to need to know it in school, and it hardly matters if it is human or animal.
* Genetics is a frequent pre-req and will be needed. Again, human or animal is relatively unimportant.
* Biochem is a pre-req at most schools, again there is no animal/human distinction.
* nutrition is a requirement at a few schools, but i am pretty sure it needs to be animal nutrition.
* Biostats I is a requirement at a couple of schools (or just plain statistics).
* human anatomy and physio. There are schools with an anatomy/physio requirement, and human usually meets it. Of course, animal would be more helpful. Physiology is pretty simple, but anatomy would be a little more helpful in animals, but at least you get the concepts.

In general, the human vs animal thing is not a huge issue, but you might be better served picking and choosing what is best for you to meet pre-reqs AND to learn as much as you can BEFORE you get to vet school. It will definitely make the first 2 years a little easier.