College List for Student Interested in Working with Animals

College Search & Selection
1

Hello! I’m an incoming senior looking to apply to colleges soon and I have a college list in the works, but I still think it needs a lot of work. If you could help eliminate or add colleges to my list that would be fantastic!

I know for sure that I want to work with animals in the future. The problem is that I’m interested in the study of, care of, AND conservation of animals. I am open to anything, but for colleges I am probably looking more for those offering strong programs in ecology and evolutionary biology, marine biology, zoology, and anything preparing me for vet school, (if i do choose to go to vet school) like Animal Science. I also like anything to do with conservation and saving the environment. So while I prefer working with animals, I am open to environmental studies/science.

I’d love colleges that will give me access to numerous facilities (research vessels, farms, teaching hospitals, etc) so that I can gain a lot of hands on experience, especially because I am a hands on learner. And of course the more research opportunities the better!

In terms of college life and location, I’m pretty open to anything! I am from SoCal, but I’m willing to bundle up if necessary. Probably my only requirements are that the college is more towards the liberal side because I’d like to live in a really open minded, accepting community. I also prefer smaller class sizes, but that is definitely not a rule breaker for me and I’m willing to attend a college with large class sizes as well.

Thank you for reading this far and (hopefully) helping me with my college search! Here’s my current college list, as is. Let me know if you need my test scores or anything!

Note: Safety does not mean I am less interested in the college, but rather I am fairly sure that I will get accepted into the college if I do apply!

Safety
College of the Atlantic
UC Santa Cruz
Colorado State University
Eckerd College
University of Findlay

Match
Amherst College
UC Davis
Bowdoin College
UC San Diego
Colby College
University of Miami
Oberlin College
Tufts University
University of Vermont
University of Wisconsin Madison

Reach
UC Berkeley
University of Chicago
Cornell University
Duke University
Princeton University
Stanford University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University

2

You need to post your GPA unweighted/weighted/UC GPA weighted, test scores and EC’s so posters can help you evaluate your list better and give some suggestions.

3

Thanks Gumbymom!

Weighted GPA: 4.8571
Unweighted GPA: my counselor hasn’t updated my unweighted GPA at the end of junior year, but last time i checked it was 3.83. I’ll update this when I do find out my current one though.

Test Scores:
Highest SAT: 2170 / Highest ACT: 34 (will be retaking both though)
Math Level 2 SAT Subject Test: 770
US History SAT Subject Test: 730
World History AP Test: 4
Environmental Science AP Test: 4
Biology AP Test: 4
United States History AP Test: 5
Calculus AB AP Test: 5

EC’s:
Principal’s Exemplary Honor Roll every semester so far
I have my NAUI Scuba Diving Certificate
260 hours volunteering at Critters in Need Pet Rescue from 2010-2013
ASPCA Club (1 year as member, 1 year as vice president, 1 year as president, going on another year of presidency)
School Newspaper (1 year as staff writer, 2 years as editor, next year will be managing editor or editor in chief)
Member of CSF for 2 years, going on 3rd
Volunteer at Discovery Cube Orange County (currently have over 220 hours)
On June 6, 2015 my application + interviews made me eligible to become a Team Captain managing the science center’s numerous volunteers of which we have over 200
Currently enrolled in an Animal Health Care ROP Class
Will begin internship at Irvine Pet Complex next week!

4

I have no idea if I’m supposed to put in my senior year classes, but here goes!

AP Spanish
AP Art History
AP Literature
AP Physics
AP Gov / AP Econ
AP Statistics
Journalism

Also I forgot but I think I will be graduating with my seal of biliteracy, I am getting a Silver Presidential Service Award(probably a gold one for senior year), and hopefully National Merit because I got a 227 on the PSAT.

5

I see you’re from either Santa Ana or Irvine, which means you presumably have easy access to both the Ocean Institute and the Pacific Marine Mammal Sanctuary. You may want to profile current employees to find out where they did their undergrad. Usually people are happy to talk to a high schooler who shows serious interest in the field.

Frankly, this list is one of the most well balanced I’ve seen in some time. There are only a few schools I might recommend you add, and those are purely if you want to. Here they are in no particular order:
-Montana State University (part of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. PM me if you want to learn more about it)
-University of Georgia
-Cal Poly SLO

As I said, you may or may not want to include those. Frankly, assuming you can afford at least one of your safeties, this list looks outstanding.

6

Thank you so much, whenhen! And yes, I am from Irvine haha.

I have checked out some opportunities at the Ocean Institute and Pacific Marine Mammal Sanctuary but unfortunately one is too far (in my moms opinion) and I don’t meet age requirements for the other. But I haven’t tried asking employees about undergrad colleges! I’ll try and stop by to visit.

I’ll also check out Montana State University and University of Georgia. I have heard about those two but never really did much research on them.

I did have one question about Cal Poly SLO though. I was considering applying to either that one or Cal Poly Pomona. Which one do you believe better suits my interests? I’ve read some mixed reviews online…

7

Cal Poly SLO has a better agricultural program, a more accomplished student body, and a nicer location for someone interested in diving. If you’re going to apply to the Cal States, the application for multiple CSUs (also look into Humboldt as a super safety) is extremely simple. The only caveat is that you will need to pay an additional application fee for each CSU you apply to.

I’m also from Orange County and used to live next to MSU with a grad student/ assistant professor. If you do have any questions about the school, I can likely answer them.

8

Cal Poly SLO has a better agricultural program, a more accomplished student body, and a nicer location for someone interested in diving. If you’re going to apply to the Cal States, the application for multiple CSUs (also look into Humboldt as a super safety) is extremely simple. The only caveat is that you will need to pay an additional application fee for each CSU you apply to.

I’m also from Orange County and used to live next to MSU with a grad student/ assistant professor. If you do have any questions about the school, I can likely answer them.

9

While your list nicely groups into safeties, matches, and reaches, I would suggest giving more thought about preferences and fit—some are small, some are huge; they’re in widely diverse regions; some are small/town semi-rural, others are very urban, etc. In part, I think the list of schools also reflects the diversity of your interests—some are good in marine biology, some are good in ecology & evolution, some are known for environmental studies in general. While animals are a common thread, I would suggest there is some need to focus your interests more. It’s almost like saying, “If I end up at a school that great in marine biology, I’ll do that, if I end up in a school that’s great in animal science, I’ll do that, if I end up at a school that’s good in environmental studies, I’ll do that…”

10

I think it’s a good list, but it definitely needs to be cut back! Have you visited any of the colleges? What did you think of them? I think you can cut some colleges from each of your categories so you have a more manageable list. I am certainly not an expert on all of the colleges you listed, but I would say definitely keep Cornell and definitely keep UCSD. Aside from that, it’s really based on your preferences. Amherst College would also be more a reach than a match.

11

I would also keep UC Davis on the list since their Environmental programs are highly ranked along with majors and concentrations in Marine Biology (Bodega Marine Laboratory), Wildlife and Fish conservation and of course their Veterinary Medicine school and Animal Science and Animal Biology majors. You have an excellent chance for an acceptance at UCD. My older son is a Environmental Science and Management major at UCD, so if you have any specific questions just PM me.

http://www.caes.ucdavis.edu/students/future/academics

12

@whenhen- eyyy a fellow Orange Countian (yes, that’s a thing according to wikipedia). I’ll be sure to send you a message if I have any questions in the future. Thanks!

@zapfino- Thank you, zapfino! Of course my ideal situation would be a college offering top programs in all my interests, but of course that college doesn’t exist. I honestly enjoy urban, rural, and everything in between! But in regards to focusing my interests, I’ve been thinking about it and decided that even though Animal Science will help prepare me for vet school I still want to explore the more science-y aspect of working with animals. The real veterinary education will probably be taught more in graduate school than undergraduate school, so for undergraduate school I might as well do some exploring into conservation careers (while still getting experience working with animals) and see if I like it better. So I’m probably going to focus on schools offering me good programs in marine biology, zoology, environmental studies, etc.

@Ranza123- I had the same thoughts! I feel like I’ve just thrown too many of my reach schools on there because I heard they had ecology and evolutionary biology AND a strong biology program. My one problem is that I have no idea which schools are strong specifically in organismal biology versus say biomed. **If anyone could help me with determining which is the best for ecology and evolutionary biology, that would be fantastic./b

@Gumbymom- Thank you again for your feedback. UC Davis is one of the top schools on my list. I’m just worried that as a UC (and a popular one for pre vet/marine biology/environmental) I won’t get enough opportunities there because it will be too crowded/competitive! What do you think? Everything else about Davis sounds wonderful in my opinion.

13

UC’s in general are competitive but my son has had no problems in regards to opportunities available to him. His college advisor regularly sends emails about internships and volunteer opportunities on campus and within the community. UCD is the largest UC campus so you really do not get that too crowded feeling except at some of the sports events and Picnic Day. I highly recommend a visit. Spend time in the Arboretum and visit the Raptor center if possible.

14

You should do an internship in South Africa, at Kruger National Park! Last summer, I met two young women who had done that. They both fell in love with the country and plan to live there permanently if they can. One of the girls was a Georgetown grad. The other one was from London.

15

@Gumbymom- I’m definitely putting UC Davis on my college visit list. I did not know they had a raptor center!

@MaineLonghorn- Do you have a link that I could maybe check out? There seems to be a lot of internship/traveling abroad programs when I did a quick google search.

16

I’m no expert on animal science programs or on most of the schools on your list, but I go to Cornell and have friends in the animal science department who love it. Cornell has an excellent vet school, and I know people who do their undergrad in animal science here and then continue to Cornell’s vet school. I’m not sure if having a vet school makes the undergrad program better, but I would guess that it would provide the undergrad program with more resources. I believe many of the undergrad courses are held in the vet school itself, and it wouldn’t surprise me if an upper-level animal science undergrad student could take vet school classes or at least classes taught by vet school professors (I know Cornell allows pre-law students to take classes at the law school, which is why it wouldn’t surprise me if the vet school had a similar program).

So it may be beneficial to look at which of the schools on your list also has a vet school or is near a zoo or an animal sanctuary, because the school may then allow students to work/study/shadow at a place with more resources.

17

I just posted this link in your other thread: http://www.grinnell.edu/academics/offices/prairie-studies/opportunities

Amherst and Bowdoin should not be considered matches; they belong on your reach list, IMO.

Edit: some of those might be summer internships only. Not sure. Anyway, Grinnell is in the midst of farmlands, so i’d imagine there’d be some opportunity to engage with animals during the year…

18

Choose a school with a vet school. That way you can do veterinary research and distinguish yourself among the very competitive pack. I wouldn’t do Grinnell. Simply because it doesn’t have access to animals. If you want Midwest, UW-Madison or Iowa State both have vet schools. I know for a 100% fact that talented pre-vets at Iowa State have boundless opportunities to perform research, interface with small animals and farm animals, and work with young animals (baby horses on campus!).

Honestly, vet school is almost more competitive than med school. So hear what I’m going to say next; maybe go to a school that isn’t so tippy tippy top that curves and classes are going to be much harder and the environment is more stressful. GPA is important going into vet school, so you want to set yourself up to succeed. Also, if you are interested in doing vet school, consider preparing yourself by doing animal science and something like biochem or microbiology or genetics as a double major in order to separate yourself from the pack. But that would be only worth doing if you know you could be successful.

19

Colorado State, if you enjoy the big-school feel, is an excellent safety choice because of it’s top vet school (with a huge veterinary teaching hospital and lots of access to animals) and its generally outdoorsy, conservation-oriented student body. I grew up in Fort Collins and have lots of friends who attend CSU. FoCo is a great college town with lots of community orgs that connect with animals.

20

Thank you to everyone who commented!

@Ranza123- Cornell is definitely one of my top schools although my only concern is spending too much money if I do choose to go to Cornell for both undergraduate and graduate school. But I love all the experience it would give me!

@SDonCC- Thanks for checking out both threads! I might actually lean more towards Grinnell than Oberlin because of their prairie research center and it’s good that they have all those internships available. If I do choose to go more into the environmental studies field, I think Grinnell might be a good match school.

@biochemgirl67- I am applying to UW-Madison, so that’s good! Do you know if U of Findlay is good? I heard that they have a vet school acceptance rate double the national average for their undergraduates. That’s why I put it on my list for one of my more vet-centric schools. And I don’t think it’s as competitive as some of the other schools.

@claryco- Colorado State is also one of the colleges I chose for it’s awesome vet program. Do you know if they have any opportunities working with wildlife/conservation too? That would be a huge plus for me!