Where can you get good pre vet undergraduate work?
Started by scswimmer123
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Hello.
I asked a similar question a few days ago.
Basically, from what I got from people... it doesn't matter where you go. Pick a major that you are interested in and find colleges that suit you.
if you want to look at the thread "schooling"... thats the one i started about this...that might help you a little bit.
What are you looking for/ wanting to go into?
I asked a similar question a few days ago.
Basically, from what I got from people... it doesn't matter where you go. Pick a major that you are interested in and find colleges that suit you.
if you want to look at the thread "schooling"... thats the one i started about this...that might help you a little bit.
What are you looking for/ wanting to go into?
i was wanting to go in to an animal science program with the pre vet concentration, have you heard of any decent programs, and what did you or are you majoring in
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The animal science programs at large agricultural schools, including several Big 10 universities such as Michigan State (I have to put a plug in for my own school!), Purdue, Illinois, etc, are excellent. Cornell also has animal science, and I believe it's the only Ivy with an Agricultural school (but maybe Penn does, too?) On a personal note, I have to say that I chose MSU over Cornell at the last minute, and I have never regretted my decision...but it was for many personal reasons, which may be different for you. For one thing, I am now majoring in zoology, a major Cornell does not have.
However, please choose animal science because you want to learn about livestock husbandry, not because you think it will get you into vet school.
However, please choose animal science because you want to learn about livestock husbandry, not because you think it will get you into vet school.
NCSU has a good pre-vet program and advisers. They have an animal science program with both an industry concentration and a science concentration. The science concentration covers most vet pre-reqs. I would recommend highly not going to Duke, my first undergrad school, because I have heard of more problems with people getting in and advising.
I don't know where you live. The best bet is to look for land grant schools--these are schools that were begun as agricultural schools and will likely have agricultural programs. If you live in the northeast University of Massachusetts, U of New Hampshire, U of Connecticut all have animal science programs. I attended Uconn and majored in animal science. I enjoyed it but it is very production oriented. At Uconn pathobiology and veterinary science had more courses geared towards vet school but you will get all those courses again in vet school so I didn't want to major in PVS. You can really major in whatever you want as long as you can take the pre reqs mostly the basic sciences (gen chem, organic, microbiology, biochem, physics)
Along similar lines to this... Stellar grades as a Biochem major will look better than stellar grades as an AnSci major (because *most* places, Biochem is the harder major). Likewise, stellar grades from Cornell (e.g.) will look better than stellar grades from East Podunk U. BUT... Less-than-stellar grades as a Biochem major at Cornell will hurt you. When your grades are not so good, Vet school admissions committees seem to give much less consideration to a difficult major or a "good" school than you might hope.
So, to boil it down: Take the hardest major you can excel in (and enjoy) at the best school you can get into (and like).
One other consideration nobody has mentioned in this thread or the other one: $$$. Unless you have a wealthy family or have been out in the workforce for several years already, you are likely to have to take out quite a bit in loans for vet school. So for undergrad, if you can go to your state school, or get a hefty scholarship, or have an opportunity for lucrative part-time or summer work, don't ignore that in your decision. I know there are people around here who are *starting* vet school with $50K-$100K in loans from undergrad, postbacc, etc.
hey! well, im a student at cal poly pomona and i love it. we have the animal science classes, theres the equine research center, animal labs, research lab, and everyone at the school is really nice. i think they said 1 out of 4 students get into veterinary school. i dont know how exact that is though. it seemed as though a lot of people were getting into veterinary school last quarter. good luck finding a school!
Since thelarson put in a plug for MSU, I have to put in plug for Wisconsin a rival Big Ten school. UW-Madison has a wonderful animal science program. It is very hands-on and provides you with a lot of animal opportunities. I also think going to a large research school is benefical by giving you the chance to work in a lab. When I went to my interview at UPenn I talked to a bunch of people that had gone to schools without an animal science program and quite a few felt that they missed something by not having easy access to animals on campus.
The animal science program at UW will cover all of the requirements for vet school, even some of the odd ball requiremnts like nutrition and physiology (if any school even requires it) and some extras like reproductive physiology and myology. But as kate_g and thelarson said an animal science program doesn't make you a shoe in for vet school. When I talked to the admission's director at UPenn he said focus your time on the traditional sciences like biochem, genetics, and the a like. He said they put very little weight into classes like lactation and other production courses. So any school with a solid science program will do just find. But if you like cows, cheese, beer, and decent football think about Wisco. Good luck!
The animal science program at UW will cover all of the requirements for vet school, even some of the odd ball requiremnts like nutrition and physiology (if any school even requires it) and some extras like reproductive physiology and myology. But as kate_g and thelarson said an animal science program doesn't make you a shoe in for vet school. When I talked to the admission's director at UPenn he said focus your time on the traditional sciences like biochem, genetics, and the a like. He said they put very little weight into classes like lactation and other production courses. So any school with a solid science program will do just find. But if you like cows, cheese, beer, and decent football think about Wisco. Good luck!
I'm sorry, but I think this is a absurd statement! UMass Amherst has a highly revered AnSci major, as well as the other schools mentioned (UConn, UNH, and UVM all have very well balanced pre-vet programs that have a VERY high rate of acceptance into vet school). I am not saying that biochem majors do not get into vet school, but I think you are undermining those of us who are animal science majors. I want to see a biochem major do organic chem studying (and biochemistry studying!) while being on calf watch overnight (yes, no sleep).
That's just my input...
I agree with Kate_g. All of the hard science majors are notoriously more difficult than animal science majors, and I come from a school with a great deal of animal science majors. In fact, I many people are in animal science in order to boost their GPA for vet school admissions. Though I'm not familiar with all of the animal science programs at every school, this seems to be the trend - and Kate did qualify her statement with most, which I believe is accurate.
I think its highly ignorant to suggest that any science is harder than another. There are differences, yes, but I think people in this forum need to be more careful in saying that biochemistry majors or whatnot work harder than animal science majors. We take the same core classes as you do, and get into vet school the same way you do.
I certainly don't think it is ignorant. I'm surprised that you have not learned how to objectively compare programs. At my school I am a biology major, and I admit that in the biosci majors biochemistry and molecular genetics are more difficult majors. I have no problem admitting when someone is in a more difficult major than I am in. I am a bio major as that was my area of interest and I thought it would best prepare me for vet school. I have a lot of friends that are animal science majors because they were interested in the major, but they have no problem admitting that biosci majors are more difficult and rigorous. For example, as a biosci major we have to take more advanced math courses as pre-reqs than an animal science majors. I don't think that one could argue that biosci majors taking two calculus courses as a requirement and animal science majors only having to take pre-calculus that biosci majors have to take more difficult courses. Also, though I don't know that this extrapolates to all schools with these programs, but at OSU animal science majors are not required to take labs with ochem, whereas biosci majors do. I think that adcomms know that with different majors comes different core classes/pre-reqs many with varying levels of rigor.
I think some of it depends on what you do outside of your major. I was an animal science major, but I took other elective classes that I felt would help prepare me for veterinary school. Personally, it would have been harder for me to be a biochem major because I hate biochem. Some of our animal science majors had it easy because they did the bare minimum for the degree. Biochem majors tend to like biochem....I know a lot of biochem majors who would have freaked at the idea of handling a sheep. Everything is relative. Making sweeping statements about any one program over another may be getting a bit ahead of oneself. My husband was a chem major, and it was a breeze for him because that's where his skills lie....I would have DIED in that major.
Anyway, MSU has a great animal science program and there are some pretty cool classes that I feel gave me a leg up as compared to my classmates. I agree that going to a school that has a vet school has its perks because not only do those schools have good pre-vet programs, but you have a huge teaching hospital right there at your disposal to gain experience. Iowa State is a pretty neat school, I went there for a weekend for the midwest animal science conference.
School is what you make it! I liked having the core animal science classes and then branching out with extra zoology/biology classes to round out my education. Now, that being said, I am interested in large animal. For those interested in small animal, you may want to find a zoology or biology major and take a few animal science classes on the side. Just my take on this.
Anyway, MSU has a great animal science program and there are some pretty cool classes that I feel gave me a leg up as compared to my classmates. I agree that going to a school that has a vet school has its perks because not only do those schools have good pre-vet programs, but you have a huge teaching hospital right there at your disposal to gain experience. Iowa State is a pretty neat school, I went there for a weekend for the midwest animal science conference.
School is what you make it! I liked having the core animal science classes and then branching out with extra zoology/biology classes to round out my education. Now, that being said, I am interested in large animal. For those interested in small animal, you may want to find a zoology or biology major and take a few animal science classes on the side. Just my take on this.
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You missed my point. Sure, there are some well-known schools where the animal science program is known to be super rigorous. (I kind of doubt the reverse is true, that there are any well-known schools where the biochemistry major is known to be cake.) But IN GENERAL, absent any school-specific knowledge, the admissions committee is likely to assume that the biochemistry major is harder. Not "better," or even better preparation for actually doing well in vet school, or that the science itself in the abstract is harder, but that the classes you need to take in order to satisfy the major are more difficult to get good grades in. Solely in terms of how they judge your grades, a person with a 3.8 in biochemistry from an unknown school will likely "look better" than a person with a 3.8 in animal science at the same school. It wasn't a value judgement on my part.
Now, the sticky thing, which I meant to emphasize and you completely ignored, is what happens when you have a 3.8 in animal science vs. a 3.0 in biochemistry. I think the AnSci major would win there - specifically because AnSci is not *that* much easier a major than biochemistry, and you've still got to do all the prereqs.
So the point to the OP was that if, given your personal aptitude, your choice is between getting a 3.8 in animal science or general biology, vs. busting your ass for a 3.0 in biochemistry or engineering, then the former would be preferable (from the getting-in-to-vet-school perspective). The admissions committee is unlikely to give you as much "credit" for a difficult major - in terms of making up for lower grades - as the people in that situation would like. Cf. the "I went to a really prestigious school and took a really hard major and I'm proud of my 3.0 but all these people who got a 3.8 in an easy major at some no-name state school are getting in ahead of me" thread from a couple months back.
And finally, my point was simply about weighing the difficulty of getting a stellar GPA in a particular major against your own personal aptitude. There are people who beat the odds, but it's simply true that a stellar GPA goes a long way to getting that acceptance letter. Of course, I also totally agree with the points others have made that you should choose a major that interests you and caters to your career goals. If you do either biochemistry or animal science for the wrong reasons, it will come across in your application and probably not do you any favors. So by no means was I suggesting that perceived difficulty should be the only choice criterion. But since others had already made this point, I didn't feel I needed to repeat it...
The dustup about AnSci vs Biochem aside, whether you will get credit for attending a more difficult undergrad program/major or not depends on the veterinary school.
Some schools consider this and some do not. The reason is what has been mentioned already -- how do you accurately compare say a 3.6 in theoretical physics from Harvard to someone with a 4.0 in barbecue science from Mullet Community College? And since there's is an almost infinite combination of various schools and majors how do you keep track of who is how much better than who?
The reality is you can't. So some schools have quit trying.
Some schools consider this and some do not. The reason is what has been mentioned already -- how do you accurately compare say a 3.6 in theoretical physics from Harvard to someone with a 4.0 in barbecue science from Mullet Community College? And since there's is an almost infinite combination of various schools and majors how do you keep track of who is how much better than who?
The reality is you can't. So some schools have quit trying.
I'm plugging Illinois Animal Science, because it has concentrations to choose from within animal sciences( pre-vet, biotechnology, and science; lab animal science; dairy, etc...). I took the same classes with pre-meds, mcb's, biochem's during my entire time at the U. I'm sure other schools do the same thing. We had an informal separation of SA and LA students within each concentration of animal sciences as well. It just depends on where you feel comfortable. That's the main thing, isn't it? You'll do better where you feel comfortable.
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