What elective should I take?

[ae1992]

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I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for additional classes to take outside of the vet school prerequisites. My schedule has a little room for some electives, and I want to pick ones that will hopefully help me out in the long run. I'm a Zoology major with a concentration in ecology, evolution, and organismal biology, so I'm already taking ecology, evolution, comparative anatomy, and animal behavior.
Thanks!

 

[bipolarbear123]

These are additional/recommended courses you can take, straight off Cornell's website: Additional Recommended Courses

Anatomy/
Comparative Anatomy
Animal Science
Bacteriology
Behavior
Business Mgmt.
or Administration
Calculus
Cell Biology
Communication Ecology/
Population Biology
Embryology
Endocrinology
Entomology
Epidemiology
Genetics
Histology
Immunology
Invertebrate Zoology Medical Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Mycology
Nutrition
Parasitology
Physiology
Production/Handling
Reproduction
Statistics
Toxicology
Virology

I'm sure they'd all be helpful for vet school, so take whatever interests you!

 

[StartingoverVet]

If you stick to upper level bio you should be fine.
From cornell's list I would take something like:
embryology, histology, immunology, endocrinology , parasitology.

Anything that gets you more familiar with the stuff you will be studying.
Of course, you might want to do something fun as well.

 

[Fly Racing]

I would try and get into any upper bio course that you WANT to take and that have an awesome professor. Otherwise, you are already doing a biology based degree (so already ahead of the game), and I highly recommend taking classes that you'll really enjoy, will raise/maintain your GPA, and give you either a break or a higher credit load with out so much work. Some of the classes I learned the most from that will help me as a vet have been non-science courses 🙂

My electives include Equine courses, business classes, a few interesting psyc courses, and international studies courses (including study abroad). I think these things will help make my app unique in a good way!

 

[Katie8]

I can tell you what I wish I would have taken: immunology. It would have been so helpful not only for vet school, but because the concepts are so applicable to almost everything science related. I've had to learn a lot of immunology related topics since I started working in research an feel I would have benefited greatly from an immunology course. But that's just my opinion

Edit: I will say though, why not a course you're interested in? Are you behind on upper level courses or science classes? You could try for a class that is interesting to you, maybe diversify your courses, but again just my opinion 😉. I took a substance abuse course my senior year (okay okay I admit, not a toughy) but it was really interesting! And Kansas actually asked me about it during my interview and we went on this 5 minute discussion about it that turned out to be quite entertaining (somehow I made it applicable).

For the most part though, I'd follow the other suggestions of science/upper level courses

 

[Tonkamoo]

I'd recommend a class in medical terminology if that's offered. One that teaches common roots, prefixes etc of medical terms - I wish I'd taken that!

I also found my microbiology +lab class very helpful.

 

[SocialStigma]

Anat&phys and immunology were the 2 most useful undergrad courses that I took. Wish I had had the opportunity to take histology in undergrad as well.

 

[Foxhunter]

Otherwise, you are already doing a biology based degree (so already ahead of the game)

Just wondering aside from perhaps making it easier to get pre-reqs while getting your degree how does a biology based degree put you ahead of the game? Are you saying for vet school itself or for admissions? Not trying to be rude, just curious. I think one of the strongest parts of my application was that I had a non-traditional major.

 

[cowgirla]

Just wondering aside from perhaps making it easier to get pre-reqs while getting your degree how does a biology based degree put you ahead of the game? Are you saying for vet school itself or for admissions? Not trying to be rude, just curious. I think one of the strongest parts of my application was that I had a non-traditional major.

I think she means that in general, bio-based degrees include a lot of the pre-reqs as major requirements. So less to try to squeeze in around other classes, because you have to take them anyway. Not that it gives you a leg up or looks better or anything like that.

 

[Lissarae06]

If you're looking for something fun to take, I did a self defense class in undergrad that was amazing and really useful. I don't know if your school offers anything like that, though.

 

[Jamr0ckin]

Here's a vote for business - if you want to own a practice or be a partner a business class will be very helpful!

 

[kakurubird]

Kind of going against everyone else here, I'd say take whatever you think sounds interesting, even if it doesn't seem to be something that will help prepare you in a straight-forward way for vet school in the long run.
To fill out my schedule different semester, I took, among other things, French film, Chinese I, urban anthropology, sports in American culture, etc. They were all classes I thought sounded interesting, but that I know I will never have a chance to take again. It was also really nice to have some kind of work to do between studying for orgo and two biology classes, especially that semester where I had to watch a movie a week for class.

 

[ae1992]

Thanks everyone for your responses- you are all so nice! And you were definitely helpful. I am definitely going to try and take some of the classes you guys mentioned. I'm for sure gonna do substance abuse online this year for an easy 4.0 to break up my hard schedule, and then try and take a business class at some point, and an immunology class once I complete the pre-reqs for it.

 

[Foxhunter]

I think she means that in general, bio-based degrees include a lot of the pre-reqs as major requirements. So less to try to squeeze in around other classes, because you have to take them anyway. Not that it gives you a leg up or looks better or anything like that.

That's kinda what I thought. Though it probably does give a leg up in some first year vet classed.

 

[Trilt]

Kind of going against everyone else here, I'd say take whatever you think sounds interesting, even if it doesn't seem to be something that will help prepare you in a straight-forward way for vet school in the long run.
To fill out my schedule different semester, I took, among other things, French film, Chinese I, urban anthropology, sports in American culture, etc. They were all classes I thought sounded interesting, but that I know I will never have a chance to take again. It was also really nice to have some kind of work to do between studying for orgo and two biology classes, especially that semester where I had to watch a movie a week for class.

Assuming we're talking about free electives, not science electives, I echo this thoroughly! I think some of the non-science courses I took were amazingly fascinating and gave me a break from super hard courses. I particularly loved my history of film and philosophy courses. I took a technology in science course that sounded super fluffy but really taught me a lot about different countries' standards of living and a bunch of socioeconomic theories. I'm also currently in a non-english literature english course and it's really neat to read stories from all over the world instead of the standard hamlet/beowulf/etc.

University is such an opportunity to learn things you'd never find otherwise, and I would have been really sad if I left with only knowledge of biology. Perhaps it will make vet school a little harder in the future, but I personally think it's worth it.

 

[bunnity]

If you are planning on applying to Penn, I would recommend one of the following:
Nutrition
Immunology
Histology
Developmental Biology (aka embryology)

You can get exempt from these first year courses and you will be so happy when you have one less thing to worry about!

 

[SnowyRox]

Check out the professors and take upper level science classes with the best professors!

I LOVED my developmental biology class simply because the professor was awesome. He loved the subject, didn't teach by the textbook, had the coolest labs, and taught straight from primary literature (the most recent issues of the Developmental Biology journal). Unfortunately these traits mean I can't get credit for the class at vet school.... but totally worth it to have a sweet semester.

I think that I liked my classes better than most people because I based my schedule around the best professors, regardless of what they were teaching.