Animal Biology

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Im having one hell of a time searching for schools with animal science programs, or at least schools with biology programs and available opportunities for research in animal science. Ideally the school would have at the very least some prestige, but the only notable schools ive found thus far are UIUC, UF, UCD, and Cornell. Any other schools I should be looking at? Any forums you could link me to?</p>

2

<p>Are you looking for animal science (domesticated animals) or zoology programs? Either way, you mentioned in a previous thread that you’re from Florida. UF has a great organismal biology program, and FSU is quite good as well. You won’t get more bang for your buck elsewhere. </p>

<p>I’m more familiar with zoology than animal science, but the best organismal biology programs are usually at public land grant universities – Michigan State, Ohio State, NC State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Auburn, and the like. Unfortunately, they rarely give money to out-of-state students. </p>

<p>Regrettably, private colleges do not place nearly as much emphasis on organismal biology as they should, and several supposedly elite biology programs neglect it altogether. Aside from Cornell, I don’t know of any private colleges that offer animal science. For zoology or organismal biology, you could take a look at Wash U, Duke, Stanford, Dartmouth, and Penn among universities (if you have the requisite high stats) and Conn College, Juniata, Middlebury, Ohio Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Lawrence U, Eckerd, Allegheny, Whitman, Hood, and the College of the Atlantic among liberal arts colleges. </p>

<p>If you’ll be pre-vet, attending a college with a vet school is usually a good idea. You’ll get excellent opportunities for animal handling <em>and</em> clinical experience (a big component of vet admissions), and such schools are more likely to have the somewhat obscure classes that vet schools sometimes require (e.g. animal nutrition). </p>

3

<p>You might also take a look at West Chester University in PA and UMD-CP. And I second Penn.</p>

4

<p>Auburn has automatic Freshman scholarships with stats that are not unreasonable for someone looking a those majors. <a href=“http://auburn.edu/scholarship/undergraduate/freshman.html”>http://auburn.edu/scholarship/undergraduate/freshman.html&lt;/a&gt;. </p>

5

<p>The Lyman Briggs School of Life Sciences at Michigan State U, but you won’t get any financial aid. I hear that U of Georgia’s Zoology Department is pretty good. Washington State U is good also, and being from the east coast, with great grades you may get a decent aid package from WSU since you bring regional diversity with you. Keep in mind that the climate/environment in Pullman WA is a world away from the situation in Florida.</p>

6

<p>University of Delaware? I would think any land grant college would have that. What is your state school?</p>

7

<p>OP, some of your difficulty finding animal biology programs might be due to the titles of the programs for which you are searching.</p>

<p>As warblersrule pointed out, the field of animal science concerns domesticated animals (primarily food animals). Majors in animal science are offered in colleges of agriculture, most of which are located at public landgrant universities. Every state has one. (<a href=“List of land-grant universities - Wikipedia”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_land-grant_universities&lt;/a&gt;) The schools you’ve identified (UCD, UIUC, etc.) are public landgrant universities (though Cornell s a private university, which operates the college of agriculture under contact to New York State). </p>

<p>While the traditional division of biology into botany and zoology departments still exists, primarily at some public land-grant universities, it is now more common to divide biology into departments of molecular biology and departments of ecology & evolution. (There are other variations in the names of these departments, depending on the particular school, e.g., organismic & evolutionary biology.) So, much of what traditionally has been taught in zoology departments now falls under the aegis of departments of ecology & evolutionary biology. Also, some schools that have a general biological sciences dept.offer sub-concentrations, which might include zoology or ecology & evolution. A few ecology & evolutionary biology departments offer separate sub-concentrations in ecology and in zoology.</p>

8

<p>Interesting, I had not been aware of the distinction between animal science and zoology, I had thought it was all just minor variations in nomenclature. Whatever college I go to I am probably gonna be prevet, so it would be great if it had a vet school. I am not entirely opposed to a degree in biology with a concentration in organismal diversity or something of the sort, but I was looking more for schools with specific zoology/animal science programs, because they typically offer more varied courses in the field that I’d be interested in. I do live in Florida as @warblersrule‌ said, but I don’t want to go to school in-state, which sucks because UF has a great vet program; but staying in-state would be even worse for me, so I’ve ruled that out. I really appreciate all the help, you guys have clarified quite a few points for me.</p>

9

<p>OP, you might consider schools that have early admissions programs with vet schools. If you have the academic qualifications, these programs can be an advantage in the competitive admissions process for vet school.</p>

<p>Augustana College in illinois has an early admissions agreement with U Illinois College of Vet Medicine:
<a href=“http://www.augustana.edu/x39417.xml”>http://www.augustana.edu/x39417.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.augustana.edu/academics/majors--areas-of-study/pre-veterinary-medicine”>http://www.augustana.edu/academics/majors--areas-of-study/pre-veterinary-medicine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Some other schools with early admissions:
<a href=“Early Entry Program | Vet Med”>http://www.cvm.msstate.edu/academics/prospective-students/early-entry-program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.vet.k-state.edu/admissions/requirements/early-admission.html”>http://www.vet.k-state.edu/admissions/requirements/early-admission.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.cvm.missouri.edu/pre-vet-scholars.htm”>http://www.cvm.missouri.edu/pre-vet-scholars.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://asci.uvm.edu/?Page=current/pre_vet.html&SM=currentmenu.html”>http://asci.uvm.edu/?Page=current/pre_vet.html&SM=currentmenu.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://cvm.msu.edu/student-information/dvm-program-admissions/veterinary-scholars-admission-pathway”>http://cvm.msu.edu/student-information/dvm-program-admissions/veterinary-scholars-admission-pathway&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.vet.cornell.edu/admissions/applicants/OAEarlyAcceptance.cfm”>http://www.vet.cornell.edu/admissions/applicants/OAEarlyAcceptance.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;