Any advice for a prevet student? Good undergrad prgrams?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello all, I'm a very confused highschool student who would like to go to college with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. I've done a lot of research, I know I'll need undergrad and also graduate school, there are only 28 grad schools for vets in the US, I can choose any major I want as long as I fufill course requirements etc etc. </p>

<p>But now I've gotten into looking at undergrad programs and I'm completely overwhelmed. If only there were just 28 choices here as well! With over 4000 colleges to choose from I feel like I will inevitably miss some great oppurtunity. I've tried some college searches but I still end up with huge lists of results that I can't decide between, too many for me to visit them all. So I figured I would list my stats and ask for some advice. </p>

<p>I go to a private, nondenominational Christian highschool.
Weighted GPA: 4.23
Unweighted: difficult to tell, I'm guessing 3.8ish.
PSATs: 73 reading, 69 math, 76 writing
Haven't taken the SATs yet, I'm a sophmore.
Class rank: Not sure yet. Probably in top ten, but my class only has 65 kids
Classes: All honors except math.
AP starts next year with AP US History.
Then Senior year I plan on taking AP British Lit and AP Biology.</p>

<p>ECs: I'm very very weak here.
My only sport is horseback riding, been doing it for 8 yrs.
I'm in rock climbing club, been doing that for 2 yrs.
I have a job to help pay for my private school tuition, dunno if that counts for anything.
Have about 30 hrs community service at a therapeutic riding farm and will continue doing that until graduation.
I've taken voice lessons and sing in school choir.
Participated in Academic Decathalon freshman year.
Will be in NHS next year if all goes well.</p>

<p>That's about it for ECs...I also got a headmaster scholarship from my highschool that I could write on applications, only 1 student in each grade gets that.</p>

<p>So I know I'm not going to make it in an Ivy, I don't paticularly want to go there anyway, but I need to get into a good enough school that I have a chance of getting into the super competitive veterinary grad schools. It would also be great to get a nice aid package or maybe a scholarship since I need 8 yrs of school, that's going to cost quite a bit more money than my family can provide. So what's a good place for me to study biology or perhaps animal science?</p>

<p>There is one other thing, veterinary students need to have a lot of hands on experience with animals. Does anyone know of schools that have on campus farms or maybe internships at veterinary practices? </p>

<p>Thanks for any advice you can give.</p>

2

<p>Look at your state school(s). With your grades and test scores (using the PSATs as a predictor) you should be able to get good scholarship money to any state school. And if you work hard in college, a high GPA and good MCATs (or whatever test you'd take to get into Veterinary School) will go a long way towards getting you into the grad school of your choice.</p>

3

<p>You need to find out if your home state has a veterinary school, and if it doesn't which veterinary schools in other states have signed agreements to grant the same preference for admissions for students from your home state as for their own in-state students. You can apply to any of the vet schools you want to, but it will be much easier for you to get into your home state school.</p>

<p>Then, see if there is a six-year option at your home state school. Back in the last century, students at Iowa State U used to be able to apply to the vet school after only two years of undergraduate studies. My organic chem lab partner was one of those students. She was able to finish her undergraduate and vet training in only six years.</p>

<p>Biology you can do anywhere. Animal science is at fewer schools - generally the public ag and tech universities, all of which would have campus farms. One private college that offers animal science is Delaware Valley College in PA. You might want to take a look at it.</p>

4

<p>i thought the title was "any advice for a pervert student" lol</p>

5

<p>North Carolina State University has one of the FINEST Vet Schools in the nation. U Georgia and Washington State also have great Vet Schools.</p>

<p>In general, veterinary medicine is something you will find at large state schools. </p>

<p>If it were me, NCState is the place to be.</p>

6

<p>If you are SURE that you want to be a veterinarian, you should look into the guaranteed early admission programs that are offered by the colleges of veterinary medicine at Kansas State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Missouri-Columbia and Purdue University. This is how my daughter was admitted. The information for each program is available in the admissions section of the website for each of those colleges of veterinary medicine. These programs are specifically designed for exceptionally talented high school seniors who want to study veterinary medicine and, if you are admitted, they offer you a guaranteed seat in the DVM program at the vet school if you successfully complete the undergraduate prerequisite courses, maintain a certain gpa, achieve a certain ACT or SAT score, etc. The catch: you MUST attend the undergraduate school in order to be considered for the program (i.e., if you apply to Kansas State's early admissions program, you must complete your undergraduate prerequisites at Kansas State). Admission to these programs is very competitive, but the early admissions track still gives you an enormous advantage over applicants pursuing admission through the regular process -- where the odds of getting in can be next to impossible at many schools, particularly if you are a non-resident. Case in point: only 19 of 1,168 non-resident applicants were offered admission to the vet school at Colorado State University for the class entering in 2007 (yep, you read it right, that's an admissions rate of 1.6% for non-residents). If you need more information or have questions, feel free to PM me.</p>

7

<p>USNWR rankings for Vet Schools: 2008 (2009 rankings are now out too but I dont think they changed much if at all in this category)</p>

<ol>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Colorado State</li>
<li>UC-Davis</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>NCState</li>
<li>Ohio State</li>
<li>Texas A & M</li>
<li>U Wisconsin</li>
<li>Michigan State</li>
<li>Minnesota.</li>
</ol>

<p>How accurate are these rankings and how relevant are they? You decide. Its just a starting point.</p>

<p>Kansas State, Georgia and Washington State also have excellent programs. Many of them have early admission programs...but that is not the only methodology of getting in.</p>

<p>Some schools are LOT tougher to get in out of state than others. So you have to decide if that is important or not.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

8

<p>The top three ranked vet schools are at Cornell, Colorado State, and Univ. of Cal at Davis--but there are many other fine ones across the country also. I think the best advice for undergrad is to go to the school where you would like to eventually get in for your graduate degree. I knew a lot of undergrads at UC Davis who volunteered at the Vet school to get experience and become aquainted with the profs.--and then got accepted to the Vet program. It doesn't seem to be like Law or Medical School where the Grad programs often look for students who did not attend their same institution.</p>

9

<p>^</p>

<p>I wouldn't focus too much on the rankings. There are only 28 vet schools in the U.S., all of them are accredited, and all graduate competent professionals. It is true, however, that some vet schools have developed exceptional programs for certain specialties (e.g., Kansas State for large animal/livestock medicine, the University of Pennsylvania for equine medicine, etc.). Actually, the only guaranteed early admission programs that I am aware of are at the four vet schools that I mentioned in my prior post. While it is true that gaining admission as a non-resident is tougher at some vet schools than at others, it is also true that gaining admission as a non-resident is MUCH tougher than gaining admission as a resident at ALL vet schools. I also agree that it's a smart move to do your undergraduate work at the same university where you would like to go to vet school because the pre-vet programs, pre-vet advising and opportunities for animal related work experience are particularly strong at those schools.</p>

10

<p>Think carefully about where you will want to practice. Many of the professional connections that will help you find clients/help clients find you once you complete your DVM are made during your Vet school years.</p>

11

<p>Just pick your favorite undergraduate school, it doesn't matter where. I'm going to a small LAC, but plenty of prevet kids go to large public schools too. If you're worried about the cost, I would definitely look into your instate public. Penn State University is a great choice. </p>

<p>My only cautionary note... vet schools such as Cornell/Upenn/Tufts may take the difficulty of your undergraduate school into consideration, but the others will not to such an extent. Getting a 3.9 at UPiit looks much better to the adcoms than a 3.4 at Amherst even if the difficulty is the same. </p>

<p>Vet school prereqs are much more comprehensive than med school prereqs, so most of the students applying directly from college end up science majors. When I mapped it out at my LAC, I will only have to take 2 more chem courses above the prereqs to get a Chem major.</p>

<p>And ignore the rankings. Honestly, they don't matter! It is much easier to get into your instate school, check the numbers... it's insane to get into some OOS. UCal-Davis for example only takes 2-5 OOS, while a hundred IS. What you DO need to look at is the different specialties of the different schools. Are you interested in livestock, equine, small animal, wildlife, shelter med, marine, etc, etc? </p>

<p>There is no distinct advantage to attending UG where you want to go to vet school. Pick where you'll be happy!</p>

12

<p>Volunteer at a local animal hospital while still in high school if you can, its good to start early and you can start that now. And yeah a chem or bio major would probably be the best for undergrad I would guess, my friend who is prevet is majoring in one of those, I can't remember which though.</p>

13

<p>I've heard that there's a large chunk of vet students who don't get in to vet school the first time they apply. Or the second. Or, sometimes, even the third time. Persisting, and talking with the adcoms if you're turned down, seems to count for something. I've seen this happen with one good friend a couple decades ago, and a few years ago with a relative.</p>