Hi there, I am interested in Occidental College, UMASS Amherst, Kansas State University, and Hollins University, as I have heard that they all have great biology programs. Any insight into the academic difficulty of these schools, acceptance rate into vet schools from undergrad programs, and research opportunities would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Wow. What I diverse list.
I can only speak with any level of first hand knowledge to the university of Massachusetts.
Excellent science programs and pre health outcomes for the focused and talented students.
Access to resources for internships through the medical school in Worcester.
The history as an agricultural college, now known as the Stockbridge school within the university, has a history of dealing with animal husbandry and livestock etc. which might offer interesting electives while you are there. I personally took dendrology in the forestry department while there. It was a great elective.
As an aside, the Final exam was walking the forest land owned by the university and identifying species pointed out by the prof as we walked around. Very different than Econ. Lol.
It is also in western Massachusetts which is the more rural and pretty section of the state.
Great college town.
Brand new buildings including the student union and business school center.
Great honors college and number one dining options for its students in the country.
Top level men’s lacrosse teams and now a national men’s hockey power to follow.
It’s a remarkable success these days and a real growth story. It seems to be getting better each year and the student profiles are becoming unrecognizable on average compared to my years.
Best of luck!
Well I can speak for Kansas State. S17 is pre-vet in their early admit program and his gf is a pre-med biology major. All the prerequisites for vet and med school are very strong. The biology department is very good with helpful professors. The students are happy in their majors and the professors like to teach!
The classes are hard but A’s are not impossible to earn as long as you do all the work, go to lectures, recitations. The honors program is excellent. Research is a very strong point. Son’s gf got a great research job freshman year doing cancer research and son was also offered a research job. If you want one there is no shortage of them!
I don’t know the actual numbers but everyone the kids have known that applied to vet school got into one.
The town is small but they love it there. They go into Kansas City from time to time for big events. Greek system is good, not crazy, and fine if you join or not. S17 is president of his fraternity, works for the physics dept. and has a 4.0, so having a life and good grades is very possible. Having the vet school there is a plus for getting animal and vet experience.
@jello246 . . . I’ve seen a few of these threads on vet medicine recently and conspicuous in its absence is UC Davis Veterinary School, which is the best or one of the, say, three best. Here’s a [url=<a href=“https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/admissions/application-statistics-class-2023%5Dlink%5B/url”>https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/admissions/application-statistics-class-2023]link[/url] to the stats of admittance.
The link for the class of 2023 has 51 students from Davis undergrad who will enroll out of a total class of 150 (it says 148 up top though I counted a couple more), so that’s 33% from its undergrad.
Here’s the [link](Application Statistics - Class of 2022) for last year’s 2022 class, about the same percentage accepted – noted that its rate of acceptance of those native to the U runs proportionate with the percentage of apps the vet school receives.
Certainly looks as though you’d an out-of-state applicant, so the cost is obviously prohibitive, but I saw that you included Oxy, so I thought I’d include Davis.
Based on the costs and future earnings I’d go to the cheapest school as possible.
I would suggest that you look at the pre-vet/vet forum. Lots of good posts there that will help. Keep undergrad costs to the lowest possible as your loans for vet school will be astronomical. Public veterinary universities first obligation is to instate residents, they accept the majority of students from instate, then they accept OOS students from states that they have articulation agreements with and their last and lowest number of seats go to OOS students from the rest of the US. Look at undergrad options where cost is lowest, have a strong mentor and preprofessional program and high admit rate to vet schools. This information will be found on their websites. The other option is to look at combined BS/DVM programs, one is Kansas State that momocarly mentioned. You will need high GPA, standardized test scores, some direct animal care experience and leadership skills. These schools are highly competitive but offer a great option.
UNH has a very high admit rate to vet school. Durham is a great town. Check it out.
I would look at your land-grant in-state school.
You may wish to think about majoring in Animal Science instead of Biology. Biology (or Zoology) programs tend to focus on wild animals, whereas Animal Science is all about domestic animals - which is also the focus of most veterinary care.
And I agree that the best place to find strong Animal Science programs is in Land Grant universities.
Colorado State University is worth looking into. It is in a great town surrounded by rural areas and opportunities to beef up the resume before you apply to their Vet school, which is ranked top in the nation. Best to you.
My honorary D went to a directional state school, majored in biochem and cellular/molecular bio, and got into five vet schools. What that nearby school got her was the ability to be an academic superstar, continue working at an exotic animal rescue facility where she’d been volunteering for many years, lots of research with profs who knew her well, and a post-UG job in the bio field. Stellar GPA, decent but not overwhelming GRE. One of the schools where she applied asked her to take an animal A&P class after she submitted her application but before her interview, so she was able to take it in the fall and send her grade out to schools before decisions were made.
Her UG school recommended pre-vets major in cellular/molecular bio (it met the requirements for the in-state vet program) or animal science (recommended for people wanting to work in large animal med).
Best undergrad college for pre-vet? One that will let your graduate without debt.
Colorado State in Fort Collins. Its the agricultural school, and offers large animal vet school, for livestock as well as the dog/cat type of training. Colorado state is a research vet school, where undergraduates have many options to work in world class animal science labs.
https://ansci.agsci.colostate.edu
Colorado State is on the WUE exchange if you live in a western state, it will cost less than if you are from a NON WUE state.