Western Prerequisites confusion

[VetStudent123]

Hey guys,

just had a question about Westerns prerequisite sheet. It basically says you need 2 units of chemistry, 2 units of micro, a few units of physiology, etc.

It never mentions any animal courses which are offered and must be taken to get a BA at Cal Poly Pomona. Some of these classes for instance are animal genetics, animal breeding, animal parisitology (all must be taken).

So if these courses aren't on the prerequisite for Western then what do they go towards? Is there no point in taking them if you just want to get into Western U?

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[natalieises]

I took a few animal courses during my undergrad for other vet schools. I would say not to put all your eggs in one basket. Since you need those classes for your major just go ahead and take them. Plus, due to the PBL nature of Western I would think those classes would give you a good base of learning to start with. Plus, if you change your mind and want to go to another school you may need some of those classes. You might be able to apply those classes to some of the prereqs. You can look at their catalog of accepted courses from every school and see what all would work for you.

 

[Pomona2006]

You can check out the prereqs for applicants applying for Fall 2010 matriculation here: http://prospective.westernu.edu/veterinary/requirements

You can search their database to see which courses at Cal Poly Pomona (or any school for that matter) fulfill the pre-reqs (although it seems the database hasn't yet been updated for the new pre-reqs). The database is located here: http://wsprod.westernu.edu/wu/admn_...D=155&COLLEGE_NAME=cal+poly&DEPT_NAME=VetMed&

If you are trying to determine whether a course fills a requirement, you can do any of the following:

1. Fill out the prerequisite verification form, which can be found here: http://prospective.westernu.edu/veterinary/prerequisites
2. Complete and submit an academic worksheet, which can be found here: http://prospective.westernu.edu/assets/prospective/veterinary/dvm-academic-worksheet.pdf
3. Contact your admissions counselor, which is determined alphabetically and you can determine who your counselor is here: http://prospective.westernu.edu/veterinary/contact

In my experience, the staff has been very willing to work with me to get courses approved that were not listed in the database.

Hope that helps...

 

[natalieises]

In my experience, the staff has been very willing to work with me to get courses approved that were not listed in the database.

Hope that helps...

This is also very true. If you argue with them long enough you can get almost anything approved as long as it really is relevant to the pre req. I've experienced this, as well as some other applicants I know.

 

[JKIM02]

Hey guys,

just had a question about Westerns prerequisite sheet. It basically says you need 2 units of chemistry, 2 units of micro, a few units of physiology, etc.

It never mentions any animal courses which are offered and must be taken to get a BA at Cal Poly Pomona. Some of these classes for instance are animal genetics, animal breeding, animal parisitology (all must be taken).

So if these courses aren't on the prerequisite for Western then what do they go towards? Is there no point in taking them if you just want to get into Western U?

Hey Vetstudent123... I also attend cal poly pomona (AVS)...If Western is the only place you want to apply to than all you need to do is take their prerequisites to apply. Parasitology (which is a beast of a class), breeding, and any other classes that are on our curriculum sheet are just courses we need to complete in order to graduate. Although the knowledge learned from some of theses courses may help in vet school, they are not required unless stated as a prerequisite.

However... obviously if you do not complete these courses you cannot graduate and get your bs before heading on over to Western for your DVM. I spoke with my advisor and he advised me to try to get my bs JUST in case something happens with vet school and i would have something to fall back on. Other vet schools such as Davis that have pre-veterinary programs in their undergrad can give you your bs if you dont have one after starting vet school but unfortunately Western cannot. It is close enough however that you can perhaps finish up a bachelors as well as attending vet school but unless its like only one course I would highly not recommend doing that!!

I suggest speaking to your adviser, emailing Western, or track down some people that applied this year for help. Hope this helps...
btw.. are you 1st year? 2nd?...

 

[mdnghtdnc]

Western is a school that accepts well rounded students and pride themselves on diversity. Without a BS degree you will not be a competitive applicant...and therefore it is not rec. to skip those classes. It will only hurt your application process in the end.

As I am sure you have already looked into Western is 95% PBL and therefore you must learn all of these topics on your own through your own research. If you already have a background in these areas you will be ahead of the game and will benefit you a ton.

This however is just my opinion...and I can say I am really glad I took several extra classes before I started at Western. The school is still working out what pre-req classes are neccessary for this type of program. They take current student input each year to add or change things based on our rec.