wildlife veterinary medicine?

[schoolhopefull]

Hi all,
I'm applying to schools in this cycle and want to pursue wildlife veterinary medicine. I have a 3.2 GPA and doing a post bacc year to gain more experience and take the remaining required courses. I've always been interested in exotic and wildlife medicine, but do all schools have exotic or wildlife programs?
I'd appreciate any advice on the subject of getting into school with a 3.2 GPA and about schools that offer wildlife veterinary studies.
Thanks!!

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[itsrocky]

Not all schools do have specific wildlife and exotics programs, but all schools do provide you the opportunity to pursue externships and other opportunities to get some experience with it. I didn’t have a specific program at my school, but we would often partner with sanctuaries and research facilities to get experience if we so desired.
It’d help to know what your in state school is, if you have one!

I recommend posting in the what are my chances thread as far as your stats are concerned.

 

[PippyPony]

Tufts has a great wildlife medicine program! Our pet exotics department is pretty small, though.

I believe Illinois has a separate wildlife clinic, too. @SkiOtter @SportPonies might be able to tell you more. At the very least, they have a cute opossum.

 

[CoffeeQuestionMark]

Hi all,
I'm applying to schools in this cycle and want to pursue wildlife veterinary medicine. I have a 3.2 GPA and doing a post bacc year to gain more experience and take the remaining required courses. I've always been interested in exotic and wildlife medicine, but do all schools have exotic or wildlife programs?
I'd appreciate any advice on the subject of getting into school with a 3.2 GPA and about schools that offer wildlife veterinary studies.
Thanks!!

I can't speak for every school but I can name 3 schools that I'm aware of with programs and let you know the opportunities differ SO much between the three. So they may have them, but it may not be what you're interested in.

UF is especially well known for their exotics/wildlife opportunities, and aquatic medicine in particular.
Here at WSU, there is hardly anything related to exotics or aquatic medicine aside from the exotics department in the VTH, however there is a large wildlife research program, namely working with elk, bears, and raptors
UMN has a partnership with a zoo, so they have opportunities to work with zoo animals.

 

[SkiOtter]

Tufts has a great wildlife medicine program! Our pet exotics department is pretty small, though.

I believe Illinois has a separate wildlife clinic, too. @SkiOtter @SportPonies might be able to tell you more. At the very least, they have a cute opossum.

@batsenecal or sporty prob can give a better description of the WMC than I can

 

[SportPonies]

Tufts has a great wildlife medicine program! Our pet exotics department is pretty small, though.

I believe Illinois has a separate wildlife clinic, too. @SkiOtter @SportPonies might be able to tell you more. At the very least, they have a cute opossum.

Illinois has an entirely student-run wildlife clinic. Undergrads through third years are grouped into teams that are assigned to patients through the year. These teams are responsible for nearly 100% of the care and decision making for these patients, from intake to release/transfer/euthanasia. It’s a really fantastic opportunity for students of any interest area to get hands-on experience with patients they may never work with again. We see approximately 2000 patients a year.

I’ve been afforded a lot of opportunities through the wildlife clinic that I’m very grateful for

we also additionally have 9 permanent wildlife ambassador animals: 5 raptors, 3 reptiles, and an opossum. A small team of about 20 students perform husbandry and training for these animalsas well as bring them out to public events.

our exotics department is fairly extensive compared to many schools, and regular curriculum includes at least a handful of exotics lectures. There are additionally specific electives if you want to learn more about avian, reptile, or small companion mammal medicine and surgery.

this all being said, always take into account that wildlife medicine does not often provide a livable salary alone, unless you were to pursue a residency and subsequent job at a university or zoo. All incredible opportunities aside, if wildlife med is your dream, make sure that your student loans at a particular school are not going to make pursuing that path impossible.

feel free to let me know if you have additional questions about Illinois’ program.

 

[Blueangel7]

KSU has a great exotics program where they also work with a local wildlife rehab institute

 

[battie]

I'd appreciate any advice on the subject of getting into school with a 3.2 GPA

Take a look at our other WAMC thread set ups and fill out the info. We cant really help with just your cGPA

 

[clparsnick]

Cornell also has their own wildlife hospital. It's top notch, I did a technician program there for a month in undergrad and it was the greatest experience of my life.