Thousands of Hours?

[bluesails]

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Hi! I'm new to the forums and I've mostly been just reading other threads, but a question occurred to me. I've been looking over the successful applicant stats and it seems that a lot of people have thousands of hours put into at least one of their sources of animal/veterinary experience. Realistically, how do you get this done?

I'm going to be a freshman at Dartmouth College and I don't have too many experience hours as a high school student, so it can't come from there; also, I'm a little scared about the workload of Dartmouth's quarter system so realistically I'm planning to volunteer or work during the summers mostly.

Let's say I do a couple months in the summer, so about eight weeks, and a clinic gives me a job maybe 40-50 hours a week, that's still just a few hundred and not the THOUSANDS of hours a lot of pre-veterinary students seem to accumulate. Do you just keep going back to the same clinic and add up the hours, or are these from cumulative hours spent during the schoolyear working part-time at these clinics?

Thanks!

 

[david594]

Do you just keep going back to the same clinic and add up the hours, or are these from cumulative hours spent during the schoolyear working part-time at these clinics?

Thanks!

I think you will find most people with thousands of hours of experience have worked at least part time(some of us full time) while in school.

Good time management and you will realize you have a lot of time for non-educational things while in school. Hobbies, sports, exercise, work, etc.

 

[Clairea11]

Just to clarify, how bad is it not to have thousands of hours? I'm going abroad for a month, so I'm only going to be able to manage 40ish hours this summer. I should be able to get a lot more experience next summer with better planning, but I doubt it will add up to thousands of hours.

 

[rhinocerotidae]

Hi. The amount of experience varies for everyone, some people have minimal experience and get into vet school while others have LOADS of experience and don't get in or vice versa! Keep in mind that there are alot of factors that are taken into account on vet applications (It's more than just GPA and Experience). It would be a good idea to work/volunteer as much as you can in the summer, during the school year you can always work/volunteer weekly or monthly - but that depends on how much extracurricular activities you can handle while in university.

I'm one of those people that has alot of experience. I've worked/volunteered in multiple veterinary fields for many years. I've maintained a steady veterinary job throughout university as well BUT my marks have suffered a bit, so keep that in mind. Only work as much as you can handle!

If you find it hard to get THOUSANDS of hours (which it is!) just do your best. Try to get a wide range of different experiences or focus in areas that you are interested in. Keep in mind that some people (ie: ME) who have lots of experience may also be slightly older… Therefore we've had more time to accumulate hours.

 

[bruinvetman]

focus on grades moreso than veterinary hours for the time being. Work/volunteer during breaks and figure out if you are able to commit some time during the school year without it interfering with studies. You can always take a year or two off of school to work full time (most people with the thousands of hours have done this) but its very difficult to raise a gpa

 

[Clairea11]

What sort of positions did you have during college, and how did you get them? I emailed a few vet offices about volunteering but they said no because of liability issues. I do plan to volunteer at shelters, if I can get transportation.

 

[Clairea11]

focus on grades moreso than veterinary hours for the time being. Work/volunteer during breaks and figure out if you are able to commit some time during the school year without it interfering with studies. You can always take a year or two off of school to work full time (most people with the thousands of hours have done this) but its very difficult to raise a gpa

Yeah, grades are my priority for sure. So far I've only taken math because I decided on pre-vet late, and I definitely don't want my grades to drop when I begin taking science. My plan is to try and get experience over breaks and maybe Fri-Sun if I can. (It will be hard during the week since I get out of class at 4 or 5, depending on the day)

 

[deleted266066]

.

 

[der2002]

upon applying last year, I only had ~400 hours of experience and I was accepted into 3 vet schools outright and waitlisted at one, then accepted. I was a non-traditional applicant so it was very difficult to take all my pre-reqs, work in a non-vet related job and get lots of (unpaid) hours of animal/vet experience. I should note that I was able to get more hours after applications were due (another ~500) in case I wasn't accepted.

It's doable. Like many people have already said on this thread, some schools look for loads of experience (and have a minimum number of hours required) and some schools focus more on other factors. As long as you can demonstrate an understanding of and committment to the veterinary field, you should be fine.

good luck to all those applying this year!

 

[parietal]

I was a non-traditional applicant so it was very difficult to take all my pre-reqs, work in a non-vet related job and get lots of (unpaid) hours of animal/vet experience. ...

It's doable. Like many people have already said on this thread, some schools look for loads of experience (and have a minimum number of hours required) and some schools focus more on other factors. As long as you can demonstrate an understanding of and committment to the veterinary field, you should be fine.

👍 This.

This was pretty much my experience, too, as a non-trad. I couldn't afford to give up my non-vet job to work in a clinic, so I focused on shadowing and volunteering at my animal shelter under a vet. As a result, I only have maybe 500 hours of vet experience (plus more animal experience), but it's very diverse: research, public health, wildlife, zoo, food animal, equine, small animal, emergency, etc.

I was prepared to defend my decision in my interviews, but it never seemed to be a real issue and my schools really seemed to like the diversity of my experience. But it could be different for other schools.

As long as you have something to make yourself a unique applicant and your grades/GRE are strong, you should be fine.

Good luck!

 

[aspiringDVM]

You might also want to check with schools you're applying to about what they recommend. When it comes to admissions, some have specific formulae that may emphasize breadth of experience (how many different types of vet med you've explored), whereas others might want you to have lots of hours in a certain area. Some schools also have certain minimums you have to reach in terms of either hours or different fields.
As others have said, I'd really focus on the grades for now. You might try to pick up a volunteer/shadowing job a few afternoons a week during the school year to accumulate hours and spend your summers getting experience you might not have time for otherwise, ie interning at an equine hospital or riding with a large animal vet.

 

[RunTheWorld]

I don't think you need 1000s of hours as long as you have varied and quality experiences that you can write about and talk about in an interview. I didn't have any experience coming into undergrad except maybe 50 volunteer hours. I just worked one summer at a zoo and one summer at a small animal hospital, then I did 2 one-semester internships. If you want to focus on your grades you should talk to your pre-vet/health professions advisor about doing an internship with an animal hospital. Those have been by far my best experiences, and I got credit for them! So I really didn't end up with a whole lot of hours, but I feel that I had strong experiences and I got into my 1st choice school 🙂

 

[quantized]

Oh man run around the bonfire for me at homecoming after they lose at the football game.

I had so much fun at Dartmouth. Don't work so hard that you can't enjoy yourself up there. It's a beautiful area of the world. The gym classes they offer are awesome. White water kayaking was a blast, the skiing is really close, and the outdoor club has tons of amazing stuff to do! Make sure you go on their retreat thing before school starts!

 

[bluesails]

Wow, thanks so much for the replies - didn't expect to get so many so fast!

quantized, I plan to run around the bonfire until I drop dead (I'm not that athletic ahahah), and I am definitely going on the first-year doc trips 😀

 

[lalzi22]

You can get over 1000 hours just working summers and winters. After my freshman year I started at a clinic where I worked winter and summer break until I applied. I worked 30-40 hours per week and eventually I made it up to about 1600 hours at that one clinic. Some people will say you don't need 1000 hours to get in, while others will say the amount of experience they had got them in. Its very individual. The best you can do is get good grades, get as many hours as you can, get diverse experiences, throw in some leadership experiences with clubs and see what happens. Its good you found SDN so early though; it will help tremendously. Good luck!

 

[milkmaid]

I do have thousands of hours; a lot of them come from a part-time job I worked year-round through the last three years of high school, but the others are from college. I work and/or shadow during summers, winter breaks, and work part-time during the school year. The hours do add up. 200 a semester, 500 during the summers, and if you apply your junior year - that can be as much as 2700 hours. As rhino mentioned though, some of us are older. Even a year or two more than "average" can make a big difference as to the hours of experience we have.

 

[NStarz]

I'd like to echo what some others have said on here. There are two ways of going about this. Once is to have 1000s of hours in one area, most likely at one or two clinics. The other is to have less hours but more varied experiences (ie, zoo, lab, small, large, equine, research). Vet experience is just one part of the package, albeit a very important one. If you have a good GPA (I believe around 3.5+ or maybe 3.6+), leadership experience, good LORs, varied and important ECs, good GRE, you should have an excellent and competitive application. After around 500 or so hours at one clinic, I think the return rate on increased knowledge/understanding of the profession remains stagnant. There is only so much one gain learn from working at a small animal clinic (albeit different clinics may yield different experiences, but the basis will be the same).

Anyway, I think it's more important to have a well-rounded application than to have 1000s of hours in one field at one clinic. Obviously, non-trads and those with full-time jobs at a clinic will be able to get these kinds of hours, but I am only shadowing and therefore will never be able to rack up those kinds of hours. However, I don't think the ADCOMs will completely pass over my app, because my LORs will be excellent, I have varied and important animal experience, good ECs, and my vet experience will be limited but varied (and will include ~1500 hours of research).

My 2c.

 

[Minnerbelle]

You can get over 1000 hours just working summers and winters.

This! I didn't get ANY appreciable experience during the school year at all because I concentrated on being a super nerd. But I made sure that every summer, I had full time, meaningful animal/vet internships or jobs lined up. Also, I ended up just taking a semester off to do a full time internship for a spring semester straight through that next summer instead of doing a study abroad program.

Just do the best you can with your school work as your #1 priority (unless you're superhuman like some of the people here and can get great grades AND experience during school), fit your experiences when you can... and worst comes the worst, if you feel like you haven't had enough experience come senior year, you can just take an extra year after graduation to get experience. I had over 2000 hrs of experience by the end of college, but I ended up having cold feet and didn't apply. I took a research job with a 2 yr commitment, and did a lot of animal stuff during that time as well. So in 1.5 yrs after graduation, my experiences ballooned to ~6000 hrs.

 

[Clairea11]

Thank you for the advice! If I manage to bring a car to school, I'll try to get a part time job. Otherwise, I'll just try to build up more hours during breaks.

 

[that redhead]

I'm a student with a ton of hours. I've been riding for most of my life and began working with horses as soon as I was able. Include summers, lessons, teaching, working camps, grooming, farm hand and thousands of hours accumulate easily. My vet hours accumulated because I worked full time over summers, part time from sophomore year of college on, held two jobs at one point (both with animals/as a research assistant), and so forth. I think you're being smart in waiting to see how your freshman year pans out, but if you can wrangle your time to include volunteeer/work with animals, definitely do so. For me, any drop of free time was spent working or volunteering with animals. My grades aren't the best, though, so definitely stay tuned in to your academics.

 

[moosenanny]

I'd like to reiterate that you should probably wait a semester or two before over-committing yourself with extra curriculars, vet shadowing, and/or picking up a part-time job. See how your grades are going first, and what a college schedule is like, before extending yourself too far.

Aside from 600 hours at a shelter I accumulated throughout high school, my other vet hours came from the summers after sophomore and junior years, plus about 250 hours spread over six semesters of college (I volunteered four hours per week in a zoo hospital to which I walked two miles, and over three years the hours slowly but surely added up). I didn't even do anything animal related the summer after freshman year! Because I got ~1000 hours one summer, and ~600 during the other, my total was about ~2,400 hours.

As others have said, I think diversity in vet experiences is really important - perhaps even more so than having 1000+ hours. My experiences range from shelters to zoos, SA clinics to mixed animal hospitals, to raising moose calves in Alaska (that's where my ~1000 in one summer came from)!

If you're worried, I'd say cram your summers as best you can, and see if there are any local opportunities with low/manageable time-committments.

 

[bluesails]

Again, thanks so much for the replies. I think waiting through freshman year is best - I really have no idea how much harder the courseload is going to be for me. I did the International Baccalaureate so I know I'm not going to be one of those kids who is completely clueless, but at the same time I don't want to get overconfident and end up feeling lost.

Also, I'm an international student, so summers will have to be planned really carefully and in advance, which is why this message came about. 🙂

 

[RunTheWorld]

Also, I'm an international student, so summers will have to be planned really carefully and in advance, which is why this message came about. 🙂

Yay! I'm international too! The international center at my school was super helpful in helping me organize a summer job at the zoo in the U.S. and helping me find a place to stay. Definitely take advantage of it!

 

[Clairea11]

I'd like to reiterate that you should probably wait a semester or two before over-committing yourself with extra curriculars, vet shadowing, and/or picking up a part-time job. See how your grades are going first, and what a college schedule is like, before extending yourself too far.

Aside from 600 hours at a shelter I accumulated throughout high school, my other vet hours came from the summers after sophomore and junior years, plus about 250 hours spread over six semesters of college (I volunteered four hours per week in a zoo hospital to which I walked two miles, and over three years the hours slowly but surely added up). I didn't even do anything animal related the summer after freshman year! Because I got ~1000 hours one summer, and ~600 during the other, my total was about ~2,400 hours.

As others have said, I think diversity in vet experiences is really important - perhaps even more so than having 1000+ hours. My experiences range from shelters to zoos, SA clinics to mixed animal hospitals, to raising moose calves in Alaska (that's where my ~1000 in one summer came from)!

If you're worried, I'd say cram your summers as best you can, and see if there are any local opportunities with low/manageable time-committments.

That's great to hear, especially since I didn't really do anything animal-related freshman year and am having trouble getting hours with the local vets/shelters this summer.

Moose calves in Alaska?? That sounds awesome. Was that through a specific program?

 

[ckd816]

FWIW, I just met a 4th year from Cornell who was an extern at the clinic where I volunteer and said she had absolutely no clinical experience before getting in to vet school. She was OOS for Cornell too... She did have a lot of research hours though. So basically the whole thing is a crapshoot! 😀 Obviously try to get as many hours as you can, but make academics #1 as others have recommended. You can always get more hours later but if a GPA sinks, that ship is awfully hard to raise out of the water. 😉

 

[moosenanny]

Moose calves in Alaska?? That sounds awesome. Was that through a specific program?

Nope. I simply worked for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. They raise calves every five years, though, so I think the next summer would be 2014 . . . Sorry!

 

[168135]

Even now, you could probably start getting some animal experience by volunteering Saturday or Sunday mornings at a shelter. University can't be all studying and no fun. You'd go insane! I volunteered from 9:30-11:30ish on Satuday mornings. It was a pretty small shelter and that's how long it took me and one other volunteer to clean all of the cat kennels. I find volunteering very relaxing. No matter how stressed out I am over school, roomates or if I'm just plain missing my family, as soon as I step foot in a shelter, I forget about whats bothering me. It makes me feel good about myself, knowing that I'm helping those in need.

 

[jtom]

As others have said, make sure your grades are good because you cant fix a poor gpa as easily as low hours. I was in the same position as you in may, I had absolutely no experience, animal or veterinary but have since gotten 300 hours of vet experience. I believe this late in the game i should concentrate on getting enough veterinary hours since it means more (i believe) to schools then animal experience. I might try to get some animal experience in there somehow but at this point I feel I need to make vet experience my priority if I am applying this year.

Not to hijack your thread but could I put down getting horseback riding lessons as animal experience? I started last week. I know some schools let you put down having a pet as experience so I was not sure.

Thanks!

 

[breenie]

To the OP: Yes, grades are important. It's hard to fix sunk grades. What I found though, is that having a job/volunteering/having something to do besdies school forces you to have better time management and study harder when you do. If you have oodles of free time and challenging classes, you'll use your time somewhat inefficiently. Maybe you are a super human and have fabulous time management, but I found a job really helped me learn that.

I worked 10hrs/week at a clinic for the past 1.5 years. At one point I was working another job with it. It's hard, it's stressful, and sometimes you don't want to do it, but I still got good grades. I'm not any smarter than anybody, so I think it's very doable to work a job during school and get good grades. One thing you have to know how to say is "NO!" to extra hours, though. 😉

Anyway, I racked up ~800hrs at that clinic, and then I've got ~200 from another animal job, ~400 from research (to be completed this summer), ~500 from an internship one summer than turned into a job this summer, and maybe around ~50 of some miscellaneous shadowing. That adds up to a bit under 2000 hrs, and I just finished my sophomore year of college. Work a little during school, work a lot during breaks. It adds up.

Not to hijack your thread but could I put down getting horseback riding lessons as animal experience? I started last week. I know some schools let you put down having a pet as experience so I was not sure.

Yes.

 

[bluesails]

To the OP: Yes, grades are important. It's hard to fix sunk grades. What I found though, is that having a job/volunteering/having something to do besdies school forces you to have better time management and study harder when you do. If you have oodles of free time and challenging classes, you'll use your time somewhat inefficiently. Maybe you are a super human and have fabulous time management, but I found a job really helped me learn that.

That actually is how I function now! Thanks. 🙂

 

[Tobysgirl81]

I think it depends on the person as well. Like, for me, I knew at age 5 I wanted to be a vet (or, I wanted to be a doctor for animals. My grandmother taught me what the word was for it 😉 ). From the time I could make independent decisions for myself I gravitated towards anything animal or vet related - 4-H, FFA, volunteering at vet hospitals, taking a vet assistant class, working as a tech, etc etc. Most of the time it was just to do what I love, and not necessarily to "get experience", but in the end it worked out in my favor. I accumulated thousands of animal experience and vet experience hours, but its over the course of a lifetime.

For those people who decide later - like in college - that they want to get into vet med it can be near impossible to accumulate "thousands" of hours. But if you get out there and start volunteering and getting involved in animal related work you'll get a respectable number accumulated by the time you apply. Though, take the opportunity to decide if vet med REALLY is for you as well!

 

[Kat0303]

I know several people in my class that never worked at a vet clinic before applying to vet school. One of those did have some undergrad research experience in herpetology, but a few had absolutely NO animal or vet related jobs. I definitely don't suggest doing that if you can avoid it (since obviously it's a good thing to have vet related experience), but don't be intimidated by the stats you see on SDN.

I had a couple hundred hours of small animal vet hospital experience and a year milking cows at a dairy. I was SO paranoid that I wouldn't get in because of my lack of thousands of hours, but the interviewers never made me feel like it wasn't enough. So, don't get discouraged! Just get in as much as you can, but to reiterate what everyone else has said, grades are the most important thing and I wouldn't sacrifice that for 1000s of hours of experience. I can't speak for other schools, but at least at UT, grades are what gets you an interview and then the experience and other factors are taken into account.

Good luck! 🙂