Daughter is a Junior top 3% of her class and 1290 on SAT 1st try. Current TX resident, but military with move happening right after graduation. Can’t seem to find information on what schools have the BEST acceptance rate into VET school. She likes Texas A&M but we may move to Florida and I know Univ of FL has a VET school too. She also likes to sing (Soprano 1 Opera type) would like to sing as part of a “fun” group not major in Music (too hard to do both!) Any advice on how to find which school would be best??? We were told by Texas A&M Vet School Professors they do NOT give extra credence to TX A&M undergrads. Hard to believe but that’s what we were told? Any advice is very welcome! Thanks!
This school is probably not on your radar as it’s not in Texas but it has a strong pre Vet program. Anecdotally, I know someone who completed her undergraduate here and was admitted to two Vet schools. She is attending Tufts.
https://www.findlay.edu/sciences/animal-science/pre-veterinary-medicine-emphasis/
https://www.findlay.edu/campus-life/performing-arts
Thank you! Yes, we have heard of Tufts because of their Veterinarian Camp. I may check into it more thoroughly!
I misunderstood your first post. I am looking at Findlay now. You were correct that I had not heard of it!
They may not give a special bump just for attending Texas A&M, but there can be indirect advantages to attending a university with a vet school.
[ul][li]Animal handling and veterinary experience are absolutely crucial for vet school admissions; you’re expected to have several hundred hours of each. Experience with both small animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, etc.) and large animals (sheep, pigs, horses, etc.) is important. Attending a university with a vet school and hospital on campus provides the opportunity to gain a lot of relevant experience. [/li]
[li]Some vet schools require specialized undergraduate courses that are not offered everywhere (e.g. Texas A&M requires animal nutrition). [/li]
[li]Universities with vet colleges tend to have excellent pre-vet advising and a good variety of pre-vet/animal science clubs and organizations. For example, Cornell boasts a “block and bridle” club, a dairy science club, a herpetological society, a service dogs society, a raptor society, a pre-vet society, a wildlife society, and various other animal-related extracurriculars. [/li]
[*]Some vet colleges coordinate with the undergraduate colleges to offer early admission to high achieving students in their sophomore or junior years. Taking Cornell as an example again, it has an accelerated BS/DVM program in coordination with CALS that reduces the 8 years of a BS and DVM to 7, which can save a fair amount of money.[/ul]
Big factor in acceptance rates for many vet school is state of residence. Many of them give preferences to in-state applicants (and residents of states with which they have admittance agreements). Admit rates are often significantly higher for those preferred residence. Tuition is also reduced for in-state kids at many vet schools. Not sure how the rules would work for military families in terms of determining residence.
Also look into early acceptance programs to vet school. We are TX residents and son chose Kansas State because he loved the vet school and was given early acceptance his Sr. Year of High School That means if he keeps a 3.3 GPA in his science prerequisites he is automatically in vet school. He can also start after he has his 64 hours of prerequisites which for him will be after 3 years. He got great scholarships too. Other colleges also have this program, Purdue and Mississippi State are a couple. Scholarships made undergrad as cheap as in state for us. Vet school will be a lot more expensive than A&M but he knows he can get in and that means a lot!
I used to be a leader in a 4H veterinary science program. The creator of the program and a professor at the A&M vet school told students not to go to A&M for undergrad if they wanted to go to be admitted into vet school. It’s too competitive and students are not likely to get the grades needed to get into vet school. He advised students to go to Tarleton State because the staff and professors are very supportive of the students. The last time I heard him speak on this was around 7 years ago and he’s retired now, so you may want to see if that information on Tarleton is currently true, although it does have that reputation. Also, I visited on a visit day at Tarleton and am quite familiar with A&M. Not to be rude, but I had a strong impression that the academic competition at Tarleton would be considerably lower than that at A&M.
Also, if you attend the annual Vet School Day at A&M (I can’t recall its exact name) they usually have a session on exactly how they judge a student’s application. The day is sometime in the spring.
Excellent info! Thanks so much!
I would imagine that the state agricultural schools would be great for pre-vet for the reasons @warblersrule mentioned.
U Delaware has a program http://www.udel.edu/apply/undergraduate-admissions/major-finder/pre-veterinary-medicine-and-animal-biosciences/
You can look at where vet school classes went for undergrad for at least some of the vet schools (haven’t checked all of them). From what I see, there is a broad range of schools. So I don’t think there is something of a school that itself will get you into vet school. To me I think it makes sense to go to a school where you will do well (college you like is more likely to be that school and college where you are in bottom 25% of admits may make that less likely). Financials should also be a factor. Admissions folks at Ohio State vet school told a group of us: undergrad as cheap as possible. Vet school is expensive and its cash/loans to pay for it. And if you look at it, being a vet isn’t necessarily a path to riches as they say.
Another factor to look at, although not the most important is the availability of places to get in volunteer animals in an animal medicine setting. The vets in the College Station Bryan area where A&M is located turn away students wanting to get volunteer hours, at least that’s what one animal clinic told me. There are so many wanting to do this they can’t use them all. If she goes to a small town with a vet school she may need to get her hours in at home during the summer and other school breaks, or be prepared to drive further to surrounding areas. Waller Equine on the very north side of the Houston area is one hour 15 minutes south of A&M and takes volunteers.
These tips are ALL SO HELPFUL! Wow thanks everyone! EVERY tip gives us more to think about! I hope others are benefitting too! Keep them rolling!