What did you major in College as a Pre-Vet student?

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Germadirk123

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Hello Everyone!

I'll be attending LSU in the fall and I am completely lost when it comes to choosing a major that will satisfy the requirements asked by the Veterinary Schools! I was thinking about majoring in Animal Science, but I wanted to ask everyone here to see what everyone did in their college time to give me a better idea for school!

Thanks for the help!
 
I majored in Biology with an emphasis in zoology and got a minor in chemistry. I do want to let you know that you can major in whatever you want. It does not have to be science related. So if you like Anthropology than major in that. If you like Music History than major in that. As long as you complete the pre-requisites required by the vet schools you are applying to (and do well in them) than you will be fine. A science major is not a requirement for getting into vet schools and some vet schools like to see other majors because it brings diversity to the class. Good Luck! :luck:
 
I've been up here at LSUA and all we have is a Biology major which I claimed as my major, but I was more concerned about getting the prerequisites for the vet school I wanted to go to.

If you do decide to go for animal sciences, apply and get into LSU vet school after your third year, then your first year of vet school will count as the last year of your bachelor program. I think it's called a "three-in-one program" or something.

Of course, always have your courses fit into another degree so you can keep moving forward.
 
I majored in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation with a pre-professional specialization. DVMDream is right. As long as you complete all the prerequisites for whichever vet school you plan on applying to, your undergraduate major does not matter. Animal science and other science majors make it easier as the prereqs for vet school are many of the same classes required for your major anyway. I would suggest you look into the vet schools you want to apply to and find out what their requirements are. Good luck :luck:🙂
 
I majored in Math. So you can definitely do something different that interests you and broaden your knowledge. It may also help you stand out just a bit. 🙂 I think it definitely helped me during the interviews.
 
DVMDream is right, you can major in whatever you'd like.

I majored in Animal Science! It was the perfect fit for me since I wouldn't have had any farm animal experience if I didn't choose that major. I got lots of hands-on time with all species, and even got a little exotic experience as well. If I had to do it over again, the only thing I would have done differently was minored in music. 🙂
 
I majored in cultural anthropology. So, yeah, your major really doesn't matter; granted I am a non-trad and wasn't planning on becoming a vet when I got my degree...
 
Agreed--you can major in whatever you'd like.

I have two BS degrees: the first (declared before I decided to pursue vet med) is in Zoology; the second (pursued in order to finish pre-req's) was Animal and Veterinary Sciences.
 
I majored in biology. I could have majored in animal science, but I heard that there isn't a whole lot that you could do with that degree. If I don't get accepted, I don't want to be stuck with a degree that will stick me in a career that I would find less desirable.

If I could go back in time and change my major, I wouldn't!
 
I haven't yet applied, but I'm studying chemical engineering with a minor in biology. My advice: find something you think you might like and go for it. I'm sticking with a major I don't enjoy and it can be difficult to be self motivated at times. Then again I also decided after my third year to go for vet med so it just didn't make sense to change majors at that point.
 
I haven't applied yet but I'm in a health sciences program. It is primarily geared towards pre-med, the vast majority of my peers are applying to med school so I kind of stick out as "the wannabe vet girl".
 
I'm majoring in Animal & Nutritional Science with a minor in Equine Management.

As far as I know, you can major in anything as long as you have the pre-reqs completed that the vet school requires. At WVU (where I go), there are two majors that are formatted for vet school (if that makes any sense). Animal & Veterinary Science and Animal & Nutritional Science. In A&NS there are 2 degrees you can aim for -- a BS and BSA. The BS is the one that has the requirements of vet school incorporated into the degree, and then obviously A&VS is the same way.

I would say pick a major that you think will be the best for you and something that interests you.
 
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I am an Animal Science major-- which I would recommend to anyone who is interested in Food Animal medicine or someone who has no experience with livestock and is looking for some. As for no other career options besides vet med, that is really not true at all. There are so many grad programs, so many jobs in the beef or pork industry, jobs in ag ed, ect.

That being said, choose a major you enjoy--enjoying a major means higher GPA, usually! I like AS because I took all my pre reqs as part of my major and was able to take some extra science classes--remember that VERY FEW applicants get accepted with just the pre reqs! Good luck!
 
gilch said:
I am an Animal Science major-- which I would recommend to anyone who is interested in Food Animal medicine or someone who has no experience with livestock and is looking for some. As for no other career options besides vet med, that is really not true at all. There are so many grad programs, so many jobs in the beef or pork industry, jobs in ag ed, ect.

That being said, choose a major you enjoy--enjoying a major means higher GPA, usually! I like AS because I took all my pre reqs as part of my major and was able to take some extra science classes--remember that VERY FEW applicants get accepted with just the pre reqs! Good luck!
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Does your school offer many companion animal classes? I came to WVU thinking there would be a variety of classes (large & small animals) for me to take and I was shocked to find out that there are about 2 classes geared towards small, companion animals!

Luckily, I liked learning about cows, horses and other barnyard animals so I stuck with it, but it's a real deal breaker for some people including my friend.
 
I majored in Zoology. Most pre-vet students at my school are animal science majors and after talking to them/looking at the degree sheet I felt that Zoology would be more challenging and would better prepare me for vet school. I also like to study more of the biology aspect of things. But that's just me.
 
I majored in English, with a Journalism minor. 😀

I'm a non-trad, and decided to pursue vet med in my senior year. I had virtually NO science at all, so I've spent the past 3 years doing pre-reqs. Honestly, I wouldn't change a thing. I loved being an English major, and when I made the decision to go back and take my pre-reqs, I was ready to focus on them.
 
I got a BS in Cell Molecular Biology and a minor in anthropology. Go with whatever makes you happy and just take the pre-reqs on the side (unless bio/animal sciences makes you happy, then do that!)
 
I'm majoring in biology with a zoology emphasis (which I only found out my college offered yesterday). I want to minor in history, possibly with a CS double-minor. I looooveloveloveLOVE history. And I like computers. Plus, my school offers a forensic CS class that I sooooo want to take. Anyways. Minor details. :laugh:
 
gilch said:
I am an Animal Science major-- which I would recommend to anyone who is interested in Food Animal medicine or someone who has no experience with livestock and is looking for some. As for no other career options besides vet med, that is really not true at all. There are so many grad programs, so many jobs in the beef or pork industry, jobs in ag ed, ect.
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Being a veggie, I have no interest in working for the beef or pork industry. Also, if I wanted to work in my home province, there wouldn't be a heck of alot for me to do. Those are two reason why I decided not to be an animal science major. If you're into stuff like that, it's awesome! I'm not... if I didn't want to be a vet, I could see myself doing something with parasitology, forestry, or conservation... things that a BSc in animal science wouldn't really let me do.

So I highly suggest you pick a major that you love... also think about what you want to do if something happens that you don't get accepted or you decide that vet med is not the route for you. I don't want to be a downer, but I think it would be scary to get into vet school, realize it's not for you, and then not have a degree that you like to fall back on.
 
I am applying next cycle... but I am getting a BA in Biology. It fits the best with the pre-req requirements at my school, and since I'm graduating in 3 years instead of 4, it is the only major I can complete. I was debating about doing a philosophy major, but managed to fit 5 philosophy classes in to complete my GE credits... so that urge has been satisfied, lol.

My 2 cents: pick a major where you simultaneously fulfill pre-vet requirements and then take a ton of fun electives. Why? You aren't trying to take the hard pre-vet classes at the same time as difficult required courses for your major you aren't interested in.
 
I was a Biomedical Science Major and Microbiology Minor. I got to take a lot of graduate level courses from professors (and vets!) that taught at our vet school this way. I was out of state for undergrad and only applied to my in state for vet school but I think one of the reasons I was accepted was that I had great rec letters from vets that could also attest to my ability to do well in very hard courses. I'm glad I went this route as well because it's a degree I can enjoy now that I'm graduated. I got a great job right after graduation in December and really love working so make sure your degree will make you happy if you have to have some time off between graduation and vet school!
 
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Biology, with a concentration in marine and environmental biology. Two minors in chemistry and psychology. I love my major, but I sometimes wish I had gone to a slightly larger school. There are very few course offerings beyond the usual science courses (cell bio, genetics, developmental, etc.). I would've loved a mammalogy or ornithology class.
 
BriannaWV said:
Does your school offer many companion animal classes? I came to WVU thinking there would be a variety of classes (large & small animals) for me to take and I was shocked to find out that there are about 2 classes geared towards small, companion animals!

Luckily, I liked learning about cows, horses and other barnyard animals so I stuck with it, but it's a real deal breaker for some people including my friend.
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If I may answer for gilch-we're at the same school-it's about the same here. There are only a few companion animal classes, and they include horses, even though there are plenty of horse classes. I know they are looking into adding a companion animal emphasis (currently have equine, livestock, and poultry.) I don't really see how a companion animal emphasis fits into a land-grant university, though. Are they going to do research and extension on dogs and cats?

Anyway, I am an Animal and Poultry Science major, too, and I loooooove it! I had very little livestock experience growing up so it was great to get hands-on with the cattle, sheep, and especially pigs!
 
I got my BS in animal science.

Most of it was equine/bovine based, the hands on aspect of it at least-- handling, management, training, repro.

Companion animals were included in lectures, but it was always just little bits here and there, and we never got to do any hands on work with them. (unless they were dead and it was a necropsy or something in the diagnostic lab.)

The associates program in animal science offered a lot of companion animal classes (small animal diseases, grooming, handling/management, anat/phys, etc.) I probably could have taken a few of those, but they never fit into my schedule right, and the credits wouldn't count towards my graduation or something like that, since they were only associate's level.
 
scarcelyheard said:
Being a veggie, I have no interest in working for the beef or pork industry.
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I think it's interesting how many vegetarian animal science majors there are at my school. I personally know at least one in all 3 emphases (poultry, livestock, and horse.) There are many career options for animal science majors, and a lot of people that don't go to vet school get advanced degrees in genetics, nutrition, etc.

Many (maybe most?) people end up working at a job that doesn't directly relate to their major. My mom graduated with an English degree and ended up running an animal shelter... I think an animal science major could get the same job as a bio major if they wanted, and get to play with animals in the process. Sounds good to me.
 
scarcelyheard said:
Being a veggie, I have no interest in working for the beef or pork industry. Also, if I wanted to work in my home province, there wouldn't be a heck of alot for me to do. Those are two reason why I decided not to be an animal science major. If you're into stuff like that, it's awesome! I'm not... if I didn't want to be a vet, I could see myself doing something with parasitology, forestry, or conservation... things that a BSc in animal science wouldn't really let me do.
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Vegetarian animal science major here! There aren't many of us, but we do exist. And honestly, in some of my intro or production classes, I find myself thinking, "I could do this for a living, this is really cool and interesting," ect.

I've also heard it refered to as a relatively easy major. At my school at least, not true!

And animal science is a great major for someone interested in conservation! Livestock are one of the biggest producers of green house gases and waterway pollutants. A good understanding of the livestock industry would be an asset to someone planning on doing graduate work/getting a job in conservation. As for parasitology, a large chunk is dedicated to grazing animals--why wouldn't a strong foundation in their lifecycle be good? At my school, many upper level biology classes--cell & molecular, cell, parasitology, immunology, ect are among the pool of required electives--you have to have a certain number of credits in science, business, and agriculture to graduate. So it's pretty easy to get a well rounded education that would prepare you for whatever future career.

It all comes down to what works for the individual. Animal Science worked really well for me, but might not be everyone's cup of tea.

And BrianaWV--we have a few small animal classes and an equine minor. That's something my department is really working on improving.
 
I have yet to apply but I am double majoring in Biology and Spanish. 🙂 Biology as a way to get my pre-reqs done and Spanish is purely for the love of the language, culture, and history.
 
I'm majoring in animal science too, i love it, but that's also because I love livestock/agriculture too. Everyone has said it already, but as long as you have the pre-reqs you can take whatever you want!

Every semester I make a point to take at least 1-2 classes that I find really interesting, even if they are outside of my faculty/field of studies. For instance this year I took a comparative religion class and next year psychology and parasitology. I found this approach to really help me, especially while taking pre-req classes.

I'm also not planning to apply till I'm done my degree, so I've spread out my pre-reqs instead of cramming them all in two years.

I've also heard it refered to as a relatively easy major. At my school at least, not true!
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SO TRUE. I don't find it animal science an easier major at all, at my school it's filled with pre-vets (who are all extremely nice!) so everyone is gunning for the top grades, which is fine. EXCEPT my school grades on the brutal bell-curve...
 
I have a BA in English Poetry and Japanese with a German minor. Because of the pre-reqs, I'm now one course short of a BS in Biology, too, but you couldn't pay me to cram that last class in now that I've gotten in to vet school.

All in all, this took me 6 years (overlapping with high school and a year after I graduated) and over 200 credits. So, while you can major in anything at all, I might suggest that this isn't the best choice. 😀
 
I majored in zoology. In one of my interviews, I got asked if I'd change anything I did in school. I mentioned that I might have changed to an animal science major because you actually get more hands on experience with the animals. He totally shot that down and said that he and the other adcoms like to see people majoring in biology driven majors because it is more on par with the difficulty and material you'll be learning in vet school.

I'm not trying to start up anything...just telling you what he said to me! I was kind of shocked because he was working for the same vet school as my undergrad and I know that my school is driven a lot by agriculture (including animal science). Honestly it doesn't make any difference in the long run what major you have as long as you complete the requirements.
 
Biology, no concentration. Perfect because I got to take any electives that suited my fancy. Yay for taking 50% ecology/50% molecular! 🙂
 
I am actually at LSU right now in my third year of undergrad and I am going to apply to vet school this coming fall. I am majoring in Animal Sciences. I was just pre-vet at first, but that is not an actual degree path, it is just taking those prerequisites for vet school. I changed to animal sciences because if I do not get into vet school my first or even second tries, then I can finish an undergraduate degree instead of being stuck with nothing. Hope that made sense. If you have any other questions about LSU let me know!
 
gilch said:
And animal science is a great major for someone interested in conservation! Livestock are one of the biggest producers of green house gases and waterway pollutants. A good understanding of the livestock industry would be an asset to someone planning on doing graduate work/getting a job in conservation. As for parasitology, a large chunk is dedicated to grazing animals--why wouldn't a strong foundation in their lifecycle be good? At my school, many upper level biology classes--cell & molecular, cell, parasitology, immunology, ect are among the pool of required electives--you have to have a certain number of credits in science, business, and agriculture to graduate. So it's pretty easy to get a well rounded education that would prepare you for whatever future career.
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I see what you're saying.

The university around here that offers an animal science degree is all about agriculture. Most of the pre-vets go there, so it is very competative. It is a small university, so they don't have a lot of non-agriculture based courses. I wouldn't have been able to take entomology, evolution, natural history, marine ecology, philosophy or psychology there, which is all stuff that I really enjoy! Also, at the time, I was uncomfortable attending a school where 99% of the students were okay with killing mink for fur and shipping male calves off for veal. I've done some growing up since then. I've become more open-minded and I know I have to deal with this stuff when I attend vet school... it doesn't mean I have to make it my career. I know a SA vet who is a vegetarian. She's environmentally conscious and does a lot for the community.

I basically had to chose between getting my BSc in animal science at a small agricultue university, or my BSc in biology at a different university that wasn't agriculture based. The agriculture university pretty much screams "If you want to be a vet, come here!" Most of the techs I know graduated with their BSc in animal science there, never got accepted to vet school, and instead of making use of their degree, they turned around and did the vet tech program. I've come too far and worked to hard to become a vet tech!

I have no regrets! I met some pretty amazing people in my program... most are planning on being pharmacists, doctors or becoming academics and we all help each other out when we can. I feel at home here! I think if I went the other route, I would have had a more difficult time fitting in. Feeling comfortable and like the school and program is a good fit for you is also very important.

Hehe, those are my excuses. I'll keep quiet now 😛
 
Lissarae06 said:
I majored in Zoology. Most pre-vet students at my school are animal science majors and after talking to them/looking at the degree sheet I felt that Zoology would be more challenging and would better prepare me for vet school. I also like to study more of the biology aspect of things. But that's just me.
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Ditto here (same school even). I'll admit that not wanting to take meat & carcass evaluation played a role in the decision as well, at least at the time. Now I'm graduating with that degree and pursuing a second in microbiology, which I think will be a better fit for me. Plus, it's better for the 'plan B' part of things, since I'm not interested in most of the jobs related to a zool degree.
 
I'm majoring in Biology. Mainly because its seems like its going to be pretty convenient to take courses that I want to take anyway. I might do a minor in either Art History or Anthropology.

I'm totally jealous of all of you who get to take cool animal science courses though.
 
I majored in biochemistry. It allowed me a decent amount of electives and mine have all been animal science classes. I think being a science major you have to take harder classes than animal science majors do sometimes (ie surveys versus series), but you come away with a better understanding. So its good and bad
 
yup - zoology.

animal science nor biology were an option.

not that I'd change anything because it was definitely a challenge, but I LOVED it.

However, if I had the option (wasn't available) I might have chosen a conservation science major, but like I said, if you like animals, zoology is the best major we have.
 
I have to agree. I am jealous of all of those who have the animal science degree. We do not have that here (in the middle of the ponderosa pine forest.) We do have a great forestry program though. 😀
 
My major was called Law, Letters and Society. Yup - my school totally made that up! It was mostly for pre-law students, which I was considering, but I was really glad I stayed with it after I decided for sure on vet med. My non-science major didn't even come up in any interviews, but I sometimes felt the need to address it. I emphasized that I was really glad I had the opportunity to study something so different during undergrad since I would be doing science for the rest of my life, and it really rounded out my academic career, so on and so forth. Which I believe in! I was just relieved that something I was self-conscious about didn't end up being a big deal to adcoms at all - in fact, I think they kind of liked it. I proved I could handle a big science courseload, and that's all they cared about. And I learned some really interesting stuff about Constitutional Law 🙂
 
I am majoring in biomedical engineering and one of the positives is that many of the vet school academic requirements will be covered for me by just following my engineering curriculum. I was wondering if anyone had some advice for people with majors that pre-vet students generally don't choose... I'm worried that I might now have some of the positive attributes that, say, an animal and dairy science major might have when applying to vet school.

Also, does anyone have any input or experience on biomedical engineering and veterinary medicine? Thanks
 
SocialStigma said:
I haven't applied yet but I'm in a health sciences program. It is primarily geared towards pre-med, the vast majority of my peers are applying to med school so I kind of stick out as "the wannabe vet girl".
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That's me. I'm currently a Kinesiology major and journalism minor.
 
mydogTuck said:
I am majoring in biomedical engineering and one of the positives is that many of the vet school academic requirements will be covered for me by just following my engineering curriculum. I was wondering if anyone had some advice for people with majors that pre-vet students generally don't choose... I'm worried that I might now have some of the positive attributes that, say, an animal and dairy science major might have when applying to vet school.

Also, does anyone have any input or experience on biomedical engineering and veterinary medicine? Thanks
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I majored in chemical engineering. I didn't initially start out on the pre-vet path, but I added it in the beginning of my junior year. At first, I worried that sticking with such a non-traditional major would be a stumbling block to vet school, but I made sure to stress the similarities of the two professions in my personal statement (problem solving, application of data and knowledge to real-life situations, adapting to new technologies and an expanding forefront of knowledge, communicating technical concepts to a wide variety of audiences, teamwork, etc).

Keep in mind that engineering is *super* difficult. You will not have a 4.0 GPA. You will feel that the courseload is staggering if you are taking it at the same time as other pre-reqs. However, I felt that schools like to see people take on challenging coursework and succeeding - it shows that you can handle the vet school curriculum. Also, if you are doing the engineering path, DO RESEARCH! There are so many neat fields, especially in biological engineering that may not perfectly line up with vet school but still show a well rounded applicant (for example, the majority of my research focused on expanding bioimaging techniques). Anyways, I've been accepted to two schools so far, so its definitely possible to do the engineering route and get into vet school. Good luck!

Oh... and it appears we've hijacked an old thread....
 
BA in biology. That's like all we had other than neuroscience and biochem, which were interdisciplinary majors and didn't even really have a dept of their own.
 
Germadirk123 said:
Hello Everyone!

I'll be attending LSU in the fall and I am completely lost when it comes to choosing a major that will satisfy the requirements asked by the Veterinary Schools!
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Well, I majored in theology, with a hefty dose of art history.

Surprisingly the single A- I got in my college career came from a fluffy liberal arts class, every other grade (include vet school pre-reqs) was an A. Go figure.

I can absolutely promise you that my theology degree did nothing to satisfy any vet school pre-reqs. 😀 But, you know, theology majors love nothing more than sitting around debating while drinking beer...... 🙂
 
On the advice of my freshman Honors Chemistry professor I majored in Biochemistry (switched from Bio). Whether or not that set me apart from the other biological science majors come application time, I don't know. The major did help me out in that there were some classes that prepared me very well for vet school that I might not have taken otherwise--pharmacology, a biochemistry lab, virology, and an extra quarter of biochemistry were the most useful. I still had time to take some of the Bio electives I was interested in, so it all worked out.
 
Started with an Animal Science major and added a Biology major 2 years in after learning I loved Biology as well. With my pre-reqs, I picked up a chemistry minor as well.
 
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