Taking many gap years

[scott1818]

Has anyone taken multiple years in between undergrad and vet school? Not just 1 or 2, but like 5,6, or 7?

I am in a place where this might be my only option if I ever want to go to vet school and become a DVM. Without getting into too much detail about my situation, I was hoping to hear from anyone who's done something similar. Has anyone basically not gotten in, then taken 5+ years and worked in something unrelated, only to come back to the dream of vet school later on?

A little background on me: I have a B.S. in something completed unrelated but have now finished all the pre-reqs and have about 1500 hours of veterinary experience. I no matter what would have to either retake most of my pre-reqs or get a masters because I did very poorly in these classes. And depending on how long I waited, they might expire anyways.

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[Lab Vet]

Yeah, me. I graduated undergrad in 2001 and began vet school in 2014. It's possible.

 

[sheltermed]

I worked with a veterinarian who graduated undergrad then worked in finance for 5 years, then went to vet school. Not sure about the details of her timeline within that, but I think this is definitely something people do!

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Has anyone taken multiple years in between undergrad and vet school? Not just 1 or 2, but like 5,6, or 7?

I am in a place where this might be my only option if I ever want to go to vet school and become a DVM. Without getting into too much detail about my situation, I was hoping to hear from anyone who's done something similar. Has anyone basically not gotten in, then taken 5+ years and worked in something unrelated, only to come back to the dream of vet school later on?

A little background on me: I have a B.S. in something completed unrelated but have now finished all the pre-reqs and have about 1500 hours of veterinary experience. I no matter what would have to either retake most of my pre-reqs or get a masters because I did very poorly in these classes. And depending on how long I waited, they might expire anyways.

Can be done, and is done by more people than you might think. As for expiring classes, you may not have to repeat them. The schools I've looked at have said you can prove that you've mastered the material, but exactly how they have you go about that, I don't know. If you did poorly, they may tell you that you might as well repeat them, though.

 

[sheltermed]

Can be done, and is done by more people than you might think. As for expiring classes, you may not have to repeat them. The schools I've looked at have said you can prove that you've mastered the material, but exactly how they have you go about that, I don't know. If you did poorly, they may tell you that you might as well repeat them, though.

I'd imagine maybe GRE subject tests? Or the MCAT, even. Just speculating

 

[pinkpuppy9]

I'd imagine maybe GRE subject tests? Or the MCAT, even. Just speculating

Possible. But man...if it really did end up being the MCAT, I'd rather retake the course.

 

[lhmhtd]

I know of several people who finished either high school or undergrad, and did unrelated work for several years. A lot have gone into the military or taught school for a while. A vet I worked for previously was in liability insurance work for about 5 years before deciding he wanted to become a vet. I knew a couple people at a vet school I worked at who had already had their phds or masters. As someone else mentioned, it's a lot more common than you'd think. You need to do what's best for you. Not every single vet was made to follow the paved, traditional road to becoming a vet.

 

[LadyOtheFarm]

The school I talked to about demonstrating mastery of a subject said that I would basically fill out a form and write a blurb talking about what I would want to use to prove I had mastered the subject.

Like, was I working in a field that uses chemistry? How about math skills? Ideally, they said it would be best to use a current upper level course that was a more advanced version of what I was trying to not retake.

In truth it sounded a bit difficult to write something to explain why I shouldn't have to retake each and every course, but I would have needed to explain away most of my pre reqs with their course expired date. They really expect people to only have to talk about 1-2 classes, or maybe freshman stuff after completing a grad program, not someone who left the field (or just school) to come back a few years later. The lady sounded like I was crazy for asking about more than 2 classes.

 

[TrashPanda]

Has anyone taken multiple years in between undergrad and vet school? Not just 1 or 2, but like 5,6, or 7?

I am in a place where this might be my only option if I ever want to go to vet school and become a DVM. Without getting into too much detail about my situation, I was hoping to hear from anyone who's done something similar. Has anyone basically not gotten in, then taken 5+ years and worked in something unrelated, only to come back to the dream of vet school later on?

A little background on me: I have a B.S. in something completed unrelated but have now finished all the pre-reqs and have about 1500 hours of veterinary experience. I no matter what would have to either retake most of my pre-reqs or get a masters because I did very poorly in these classes. And depending on how long I waited, they might expire anyways.

If I get in this cycle (it's my first time applying), I'll have had 7 years between graduating college and starting vet school. Some non-trad applicants didn't go to college until shortly before applying to vet school, but I think it's fairly common for older applicants to have multiple years between undergrad and vet school.

Why do you think it'll take so long for you to apply again? There's nothing wrong with taking more years off, but since you already have enough hours and just need to boost your grades, I'd think that would just take a year or two (depending on how many classes you retake).

Some schools don't have pre-reqs expire, and others are pretty generous: I think Ohio and Minnesota give you ten years, and Iowa and VMRCVM are around seven or eight. I think seven years was the shortest I saw, but definitely check with individual schools. Keep in mind that's from when you took the class, not from when you graduated, so it can sneak up on you.

I'd suggest looking in the successful applicants thread. There are more non-trads than you might expect!

 

[scott1818]

Why do you think it'll take so long for you to apply again? There's nothing wrong with taking more years off, but since you already have enough hours and just need to boost your grades, I'd think that would just take a year or two (depending on how many classes you retake).

I am getting married soon and my fiancée does not make much being a teacher. I am just worried about taking ~6 more years of going to school all while bringing in little to no money. I thought maybe if I worked for a few years and saved up, maybe that could help relieve some of the pressure on her while I'm in school but I just don't know. I would really like to just continue through and not have to take too much or any gap, but I want to be realistic.

 

[WeimMama]

I took 2 1/2 years off but most of my close friends here too MANY years off. My closest friend here took 7 years off and second closest took 9 years off. Don't let your age or time off stop you if you feel you are capable and willing to go thru the suffering!

 

[RecLeagueCurry]

It's been like 5 years since I graduated and this is my first application cycle, I'll let you know how it works out for me!