<p>My daughter is a senior enrolled in an agricultural magnet high school program in Connecticut. The agricultural magnet program is fully integrated with the regular academic curriculum within the high school, so D has been able to take a traditional honors/AP college prep sequence while also studying veterinary science for the past four years. The magnet program also requires that she log at least 200 hours of animal related work experience each year (she presently works for a vet). The magnet program is supposedly one of the best of its kind in the country, has won numerous awards for the quality of its instruction, and was recently featured on a PBS special about agricultural education. D is presently looking/applying to colleges and is interested in preparing for veterinary school through an undergraduate major in animal science (she's very interested in livestock and equine medicine). D has an unweighted GPA in the B range, weighted GPA in the A-/B+ range, no class rank assigned yet, ACT composite of 31. ECs: vice president of the school's FFA chapter (300+ kids), winner of several regional, state and national FFA competitions, 4-H, formed her own company to start a horse training and equestrian lessons business, church/community involvement, equestrian sports (competitive riding/showing, polo, rodeo). She has also been taking college classes at U-Conn since her sophomore year and should graduate from high school with about 42 semester hours of college credit, including AP. She is presently looking at Cornell CALS (probably a long shot because she's neither a straight A student nor a New York resident), U-Conn, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Michigan State, University of Missouri-Columbia, Kansas State University and Colorado State University. She wants to attend an undergraduate school that also has a vet school. Financial aid/scholarships are an important consideration. Any thoughts on chances at these schools or recommendations on others? All feedback appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vet.uga.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.vet.uga.edu/</a>
<a href="http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/</a></p>
<p>Due to where we live (NC), these are the two schools that horse owners in the area use for complicated equine vet care. I know all vet schools are very difficult to get into--I wish your d. the best of luck. Sure sounds like she's on the right track.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech has an animal science major with an equine emphasis. It's also home to a vet school.</p>
<p>It's great that she already has veterinary experience. I always advise people to volunteer before they decide to go pre-vet because it's a lot different than you can expect. When I first started working at an animal hospital this summer, I was thinking about pre-vet, but seeing a dog infested with maggots...well, that pretty much killed that desire. </p>
<p>It's a good idea to attend a college with a vet school, like your daughter intends. As you probably know, vet schools require several hundred hours of animal (or sometimes veterinary) experience, so it's a great advantage to have a vet school on or near campus. </p>
<p>I wouldn't think about focusing on large animal med quite yet. Most vet schools expose students to small and large animal medicine, and it's even less important at the undergrad level. Taking a look at the class profile of Tufts, you can see that students come from a wide range of majors and colleges.</p>
<p>How strong is your daughter in science and math? I went to UC Davis, which has California's vet school and a ton of pre-vet students among its undergrads. And every year there would be hundreds of new freshman who just loved animals and harbored dreams of some day getting into vet school. A fair percentage of these were hoping to somehow make it in spite of having no particular liking or aptitude for science. Those kids always got crushed by the required science courses - usually chemistry.</p>
<p>Tufts? Wisconsin?
Niece from MA is considering vet school and currently having an amazing time with equine studies at Kentucky.</p>
<p>I think if her ultimate goal is vet school, you need to look carefully at OOS vet school admissions NOW! I know things have changed from the 70s when there were way more applicants than spaces and an OOS (Connecticut as it happens) applicant had a snowball's chance of being admitted. She needs to know now what it's going to take to get into vet school and what the chances are as an OOS applicant.</p>
<p>I believe that Tufts now has some contract slots for Connecticut students? I would not think in terms of Tufts for undergrad tho, as the vet school is not even close to the main campus.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are close to UConn from your post. I would get an appointment with the pre-vet advisor and talk about options and strategy for vet school admission now.</p>
<p>The other thing I see in your post is financial issues. UConn might be a really good choice here -- as it is affordable, although it doesn't meet the criteria of a vet school on campus. My other suggestion -- move to New York!</p>
<p>(I'm a Connecticut resident, UConn grad, pre-vet/ animal science major with equine and dairy concentrations. There's lots of us that didn't get into vet school due to being OOS with no contract slots available. One of my CT resident friends has a BS from UMichigan in animal science, plus a MS in reproductive physiology from UConn, couldn't get into vet school, worked in university animal labs, and --finally -- a BSN from UConn and is working as a nurse. Lots of stories like this.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone. Coureur, it's true that she loves animals, but she is also strong in science and math -- 96th and 98th percentiles, respectively, on the ACT. She has already taken two years of biology (including AP bio), one year of chemistry, is currently taking her second semester of calculus at UConn and will be taking physics at UConn beginning next semester.</p>
<p>Cornell may not be such a long shot. My D (also a vet wannabe) was accepted, and while her grades were higher than your D's, your D's EC's are far more extensive. If she loves the school, then apply. You never know.</p>
<p>Cpn55 is giving great advice about the pre vet advisor...</p>
<p>I agree that if Cornell is her dream, she should go for it. Cornell loves kids with passion, focus, and direction. Sounds like your kid! One of my former employees (a Connecticut resident) is at Cornell CALS as a pre-vet student.</p>
<p>But don't rule out UConn -- she'll get a great, if close to home, education, and the price is right!</p>
<p>(I don't know the current pre-vet advisor -- I graduated in '77 -- but if she knows any current professors in the Animal Sci department, she should talk to them informally about her career plans.)</p>
<p>Thanks, cnp55 and motherof4pearls, for your replies and advice. We are visiting Cornell in late October for the CALS open house and we'll see how that goes. I agree with cnp55 and do wish that D would give U-Conn a closer look, particularly since she's taking classes there now. It's a great school and getting better every year. Unfortunately, D is really set on going out of state for college. Perhaps she'll change her mind. By the way, I forgot a few ECs: first chair oboe player in the school band (three years as second chair), Tri-M music honor society</p>
<p>UConn's just not far enough away is it? But she could live in the dorm and feel that she is away at school, and get a great education for what ... 30% of Cornell?</p>
<p>Cornell OTOH is practically at the other end of the earth -- and I live on the NY State line in CT -- my son is a current Cornell freshman. Maybe you could dangle Cornell summer school? Ithaca in the summer is spectacular ...</p>
<p>Oldest DD graduated with a BS in animal science- Science (vs. industry) from NCSU and then on to their vet school, this past year. We were CA residents and were quite aware of the stiff competition for UC Davis and applying out-of-state to other vet schools. When the family was considering relocation 3 years back her vet school options played HUGELY in our state choices. After much research we settled on NC. With 4 other siblings still in high school and all on their way to college NC appealed for many reasons.</p>
<p>The above posters were correct in looking very carefully at all the schools requirements...1)residency 2) hours 3)recs and 4)course requirements. The course requirements can vary greatly. NCSU has an extensive list of very specific courses that must be taken and passed. Something like 62-68 units. Many are NOT offered at unis with no animal science specific major. She had many students in those specific classes with degrees from Duke, UNC, Davidson and other colleges from around the country that had to take those specific courses just to be eligible to apply to NCSU vet school.</p>
<p>She was very happy at NCSU and spent over a year residing in their Equine Research facility. The university has 7-8 of these research facilities that provide housing. She worked 10 hours a week at the facility (research, breeding and training quarter horses and thoroughbreds) and in exchange live rent free. Each facility has a large kitchen so they cook for themselves. The facility is adjacent to the vet school so they work very closely with the hospital and all the vets/profs. There are dairy units, small ruminents, wildlife and fisheries, swine, poultry, beef, metabolism and a few others. Each has live-in facilities, some are smaller, others are larger.</p>
<p>She loved all her classes and met many people involved in the horse world. The horses for Raleigh PD are housed in her barn. We would always tell people she lived in a BARN!! Her window in her room opened to a stall where they keep the horse that was cuurently in labor. She ended up delivering many foals.</p>
<p>They were also advised to let the vet school know they were interested in large animal since NCSU DOES reserve spots for students who want to specilize in large animal.</p>
<p>We also took a look at tuition, both undergrad and vet school and NCSU had a fabulous rate for in-staters. So this is where we ended up. Her/our other choices had been Tenn (Knoxville), and Missouri (Columbia). We cross-referenced this with the other schools in that state for the other kiddos (UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, ECU, Wilmington and Davidson). Of course they have ALL opted to attend OOS for undergrad but will comeback home for grad (med, law and grad school). But only choose to do so if their scholarships where better than their in-state offers. And their in-state offers were great.</p>
<p>The VMCAS website provides charts of which students got in where, their specific demographics and which schools take OOS students and how many.</p>
<p>Again we looked at this long and hard knowing she wanted vet school and how difficult admission has become. Her cousin graduated from UMass top of his class and tried for several years to many US schools. He ended up at PEI and with some very nasty loans. Between his undergrad loan and vet school loan (250,000+) he and his wife (also a PEI grad) were struggling. It very MUCH determined what type of vet med they were going to practice.</p>
<p>With our choices daughter does not have that same restriction as she graduated debt-free and little to none for vet school. HUGE difference and yet same end result. DD also transferred in 58 units from local CC which made her stay as an undergrad much shorter, less costly. She also did much of her vet prereqs at the CC and came out with a much higher vet school science GPA because of it, which is important for vet school apps. Her research and work experience on the vet school campus and their research facilities helped enormously as well. And at no extra cost to us, helped greatly in cost since she paid no housing.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Good luck.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>The VMCAS site is awesome!
Lots of info on getting in to vet school -- along with the geographic distribution of first year students and what schools they are attending.</p>