I am currently in 11th grade and looking at colleges and really have no idea where I want to go, but I do know I am interested in veterinary medicine. Does anyone know any good schools for someone interested in going into this field? I have done a lot of extracurricular activies/clubs including varsity sports, NHS, and French Honor Society. I think I have a good GPA (3.94 cumulative) and have taken many honors classes but will not be taking any AP classes until senior year (AP Chem and maybe another). I got a 25 on the ACT but I am retaking it in July and from my ACT program I am aiming to get at least a 30, so I am looking for a school that is not extremely selective. Are there any good colleges for someone interested in veterinary medicine who has an acedemic record like mine?
What is your home state?
How much can you spend for university without taking on any debt?
If money is not an issue, and you can tolerate cold weather, University of Vermont. It’s an expensive public university, especially for OOS students, and limited aid. Terrific school, Burlington is a great college town, right on Lake Champlain.
https://www.uvm.edu/cals/asci/undergraduate-program-bs-animal-and-veterinary-sciences
It would be helpful to have an idea of what region would be your top choice and some idea of your budget. Your own state’s public universities will probably be on your list unless cost is not much of an issue, and maybe even if it is. Also, I know my state has an agreement with at least one neighboring state to reserve a certain number of spots in the state vet school for students from that state. This happens in vet studies and other fields to reduce costs and manage the number of people entering the profession. So that type of thing could be a factor for you and vet schools.
Good luck!
From what I’m learning from my sister who has a daughter looking at undergrad to prepare for vet school, admission to vet school is easier if you get your undergrad at a school with a vet school. There aren’t a lot of them, so that should narrow your list.
Colorado State - top notch vet program, beautiful location and you might even quality for some merit aid.
I agree with #4. Is there a vet school in your state? Or does your state have an agreement with a vet school in a neighboring state?
Virginia Tech is another one. Students and alums LOVE VT, and it has an excellent vet school. OOS costs would likely be high, though you should always run the NPC before rejecting a school on cost, since everyone’s circumstances are different. It would be a reach right now but perhaps in reach with improvement on your ACT. Fingers crossed.
https://vt.edu/academics/majors/animal-and-poultry-sciences.html
Some other good choices, with vet schools (which is not a must but a plus): Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Colorado State. These might be more accessible in terms of admissions, though sometimes admissions can be more competitive if you have to apply for direct admit into a program that is very popular, like vet medicine. You can research costs, but I believe KSU and ISU offer pretty generous merit money to OOS students.
For example, here’s a link to OOS merit aid at Kansas State, which is in a great college town,
https://www.k-state.edu/admissions/finaid/scholarships/freshmen/out-of-state/
Good luck!
Visit the vet forum on this site (see post #1). Rutgers has a good animal science major. Spend as little as possible. Vets don’t make huge sums of money like physicians do, so you need to minimize your overall debt.
Applying to vet school is not like applying to med schools. If your home state does not have a vet school, you need to find vet schools that have agreements with your home state to admit a certain number each year from your state. If your home state does have a vet school, that’s your best bet.
I would suggest that you follow the link in post #1. It is a forum that will give you a great deal of insight into how to plan for your end game of entry into a school of veterinary medicine.
At this point it is important to focus on increasing your ACT score. Have you done any practice SAT tests? That may be something else to consider.
Public vet schools accept the largest number of applicants from their home state, then any students from states where they have articulation agreements and lastly, from OOS students. You do not have a greater advantage for acceptance to a vet school if you graduate from an undergrad. program from the same university if you are an OOS student.
Vet schools want high GRE scores, (unless you are in a combined prevet/vet BS/DVM program and each of those programs differ in requirements), High GPA, (it does not have to be in animal science as long as you fulfill the prereqs. for the program), dictated hours of direct animal care under the supervision of a veterinarian, leadership positions, community service involvement in areas other than animal care. The bottom line is to attend an undergrad school with low cost of attending, where you can achieve a high GPA, a proven track record of a strong pre professional program with an above national average rate of students accepted to vet school, and where you are able to get those necessary hours of direct patient care.
Your options include looking at the combined BS/DVM programs. These are highly competitive, some of them are: Purdue, Tufts, Cornell, Farleigh Dickenson, Washington State, Kansas State, Iowa State, UMASS-Amherst.
The following are copies of posts from the forum:
Below is a copy of an answer that I posted to another question. You have a number of options available and as others have posted, it is not necessary to major in animal science to be accepted into vet school. You almost have to walk the process backwards from the state where you live and what that vet school requires for admission because that will be your best choice for admission unless you apply to a combined BS/DVM program. The idea is also to attend the undergraduate institution where the cost will be the lowest as vet school will be very expensive. This could be your local state university, or a private LAC that awards merit aid. You must also take into consideration the undergrad. school where you will be able to receive the highest GPA, offers a solid pre-professional program with high rate of acceptance to med and vet schools and offers or is located in an area where you can get the direct, hands on animal experience, and develop leadership skills.
My post as an answer to another question in the forum:
Unless your student is interested in applying to direct admit/early admission type programs, (Perdue, Tufts, Kansas State, U-Mass Amherst, etc.-each have their own requirements regarding GPA, grades in particular courses, some bypass the need to take the GRE and bypass application into the Vet program), then they most likely have the best chance for admission to Vet school in their home state. Most Vet schools have similar admission requirements regarding courses. Check to see what those requirements are at your local state veterinary school and if they are available at the LAC’s your daughter is interested in.
A distinct advantage to the early admit schools besides an accelerated program and the possibility of not having to take the GRE or apply to the vet school is that the program builds in the opportunities for direct animal care, (large, small, avian and exotic), under the guidance of veterinarians as well as research opportunities. Vet schools require specific number of hours in each of those areas. They also want a student to have leadership skills on campus, research experience and good communication skills.
Make certain that the LAC’s offer a strong pre-professional program. Ask what is the percentage of students who apply to vet school and are accepted. The school doesn’t necessarily need to have a designated animal science program but must offer the required courses, opportunity for research, and aid the student in finding internship and job shadow opportunities with veterinarians
For pre-vet with your stats Auburn, Mississippi State, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Colorado State (less merit available there) all have vet schools and great pre-vet programs available to whatever major you choose. My son was OOS and got great merit with all of them (didn’t apply to Oklahoma State). You do need to get your ACT up to a 29 or 30 for the best merit aid. Mississippi State and Kansas State have early admissions programs you should look into if you get that ACT to a 29 or 30. Otherwise look at your in state. Smaller schools are good but my son has found her likes being at a school with a vet school.
He is going to be a Junior at Kansas State next year (from large city in TX), and will enter vet school one year from now.
Key: You want to spend as little as you can undergraduate because vet school is expensive. Go where you think you can get the highest grades, animal experience, and enjoy yourself for the least cost. Vet schools look at GPA, experience and the GRE scores (at those that require it) above anything else! They also have the majority of their seats for in-state but with good grades seats are available for OOS students.
Colorado State, Fort Collins, offers the Western Undergraduate Exchange, WUE for students in western states-
https://admissions.colostate.edu/2018/05/29/ramchat-freshman-wue-award/
It does not cover every top western college, so none of the U of California research/PhD campuses
, or U of Colorado Boulder, but Colorado State is part of WUE.
Veterinary medicine is somewhat focused on livestock, but there are many top dog and cat doctors in
our region of Colorado and the advanced surgery on pets at Colorado State is phenomenal.
Do not confuse Colorado State Pueblo, no vet school down there, not as well ranked either.
With a 3.94/25, the OP is just meets the minimum eligibility requirement to apply for WUE at CSU. WUE is competitive and not guaranteed at CSU. I would not count on that being guaranteed. It’s a beautiful campus though in a cool little northern Colorado town. You could go to college in a worse place for sure.
I’d put Missouri on your list as well as Washington State, the latter especially if you are from a WICHE state.
Thank you so much for all the advice, it has been really helpful so far! I live in Wisconsin and the UW, which I am also considering, has a pretty good vet program from what I know, but I am trying to learn about more schools outside of that to have more choices. My main worry is that my ACT score/class rigor will not be high enough to get into any good schools because I know vet schools can be very competitive, which is why I am trying to explore a lot of options. Colorado State looks like it has a really great program though!
Perdue always comes to mind.
Perdue like the chicken guy? 
Lol. No, more the Boilermaker version. or in this case, “Vet-maker”.
That’d be Purdue University, hence the chicken reference, which is Perdue. 
Here’s one tip that certainly applies to pre-med student and probably good for pre-vet as well, and many other students.
Freshman year, the first week, arrange a tutor for math and especially science classes.This indicates academic strength not academic weakness. A pre-med advisor at a top national university, who taught organic chem, told us that almost everyone of the very few students who made A’s in his class did this. It keeps you on top of things. Tutors can help you navigate tricky material. They know what the tests will look like and can prepare you for them.
Here’s what usually happens in challenging bio and chem and physics classes. The first test comes around. The class average is something like a 62 and students who got straight A’s or nearly so in high school get scores in the 50s. They all rush to get a tutor. Students who already have one are set and can just keep moving forward. Again, it’s an indication of strength to go get a tutor. And you are paying a lot of money to have academic services like this available.
Also, meet your professors. Most of the time the want to know their students. They will be very helpful one on one. Also go to test prep sessions.
Also, get involved in research and other programs. This came seem daunting from your perspective today. There will be opportunities A professor for one of my kids mentioned their lab and that several students were seniors and would be graduating. They emailed the prof and went by office hours and asked to work in the lab. Prof said, sure come on by. This all was a month into freshman year. They started working in the lab and was a senior person by sophomore year. They got free housing from the school the next summer because they were working in the lab.
And take advantage of vet programs if you go to a school with a vet grad school. I don’t know much about this but am thinking of the University of Vermont. They have some sort of program where undergrads–mostly pre-vet–work on the farm they have there. This means getting up extremely early every day to feed animals, etc. But a crazy-high % of the students who did this got into vet school. I don’t remember the numbers though. I’m sure there are similar programs at other schools.
Good luck!
It would be almost impossible to beat UW-Madison. Remember, you are applying for undergraduate, not Vet school. I would be more inclined to go to one of the other UW schools and try to be a superstar than go OOS. Just remember that white females interested in small animals are way over represented in Vet school applications. If you don’t already, get some large animal experience.
Its spelled Purdue U, @privatebanker.