You don’t need another comment but as a Junior, this year is important academically. So rather than fret on your list, focus on school, your standardized test and ECs.
You’ll find a great school and have plenty of time to narrow. Plenty of time !!!
But don’t let the search get in the way of your academic performance !!
When my oldest graduated from UC Davis, several of his pre-vet friends spoke about wanting to work with large animals vs domestic animals. I’m sure there are more specialties and classifications. In your experience, how much do students need to know about what type of vet medicine they want to practice before they apply to grad school?
If you are interested in being a veterinarian, you may want to start limiting your search by learning what undergraduate programs are feeders to strong DVM programs. Not surprisingly, many highly ranked DVM programs are at land-grant public schools in big agricultural states like Purdue, UW-Madison, Texas A&M and Ohio State. Do you live in a state with a strong DVM program at one of the public universities? Here is a link the USNWR ranking for DVM programs: https://premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/veterinarian-rankings
Note that I focus on the large public schools because they are likely less expensive than Cornell and Penn, especially if you are in state. You may also want to check if any of these schools have an undergraduate program that feeds directly into their DVM school. Since many of these schools were founded in the mid to late 1800s much of the architecture will be classical, but what you consider pretty is purely subjective. Of these, Madison has a reputation for being a cool college town. My wife attended MSU and loved it.
It is my understanding that DVM programs are pretty competitive, so keep that in mind. DadTwoGirls likely has some insight on this.
Beyond that, I second others here who suggest that you see some campuses to learn what you really like… big vs small, urban vs rural, etc. before you start developing a manageable list of schools.
Good luck.
My daughter has just started the second year of a DVM program. At this point she has not yet chosen a specialty. I do not think that she will choose one any time this year. My understanding is that starting in their third year they get to do (are required to do, but my daughter is looking forward to it) rotations where they get to help out in a variety of different specialties.
@aheltzel @saillakeerie @momocarly are likely to have some knowledge in this area.
I have heard that also. I have heard that DVM programs are more difficult to get into compared to MD programs. However, the average GPA of students who are accepted into DVM programs, while relatively high in tough classes, is a bit lower than the average GPA of students accepted to MD programs. My guess on the reason for this difference might be that in addition to a strong GPA, there are a number of other tough requirements to get into a DVM program. Being willing to reach inside a cow multiple different ways, not freaking out when an animal dies, and putting up with being bitten or pooped on might be examples of some things that will help potential DVM students. Of course there are also other things that will help admission into an MD program.
I am wondering how sure @LMrose is that she is interested in veterinary medicine, as well as some thoughts of other things that she might be interested in when choosing a university. Since she is starting her junior year of high school, there does seem to be plenty of time to think this all through.
First issue is money. If your family is low-income, and your grades are very high, you could be looking at expensive, highly selective private U’s that might give you an extremely generous fin aid package, possibly a full ride. If your family is middle class to upper middle class, or wealthy but doesn’t see the need to spend >320K on undergrad, then you are looking at your in-state flagship public U, and possibly certain less-selective state U’s in the deep south and southwest, that offer large merit money to high achieving students.
Aside from money, you can do the pre-vet prerequisites at virtually any school, including your local 4 yr public state college. Right now, no matter what the finances, the most important thing that you can be doing, is doing well in school, prepping for SAT/ACT, and getting involved in extracurricular activities (maybe working in a vet’s office?) that will help you to figure out if this is what you want, and help you to get accepted by the colleges that you want.
Here are my stats if it helps. I will get back to you all on finances.
Demographics
Intended Major(s): Zoology/something biology related
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Coursework
Spanish honors ever year so far (the only honors classes that are offered are in math and language subjects)
AP Seminar last year ( score of 5 on AP test)
Ap World History last year (score of 5)
Taking AP bio, APUSH, and AP research this year.
Will be taking the AP English test but they do not have a class for it.
planning to take 3-4 more APs next year
Awards
I got a gold/1st place marketing award in a state wide competition.
Extracurriculars
Beekeeping: have my own hive, have been doing it for a few years now, and I manage a few hive as a job. I also sell honey as a small side business.
I had a internship this summer at the aquarium working with turtles and I also volunteer there once a week ( I think I started in April)
I worked at a vet clinic this summer
I am an editor for a youth magazine
I volunteered at a monkey sanctuary for over 150 hrs and 1.5 yrs
I have been doing ballet for a long time and have earned soloist roles
Summer before sophomore year I auditioned for a ballet summer intensive, was accepted, and I attended
Tips to elevate my EC’s would be much appreciated
Your ECs are great…ballet…monkey sanctuary (keep doing it), editor for a magazine and working at a vet clinic…keep doing it.
You want tenure - and quantifiable responsibility - i.e. I fed up or cleaned up for 28 monkeys, etc.
I performed in 3 ballet solos, etc.
Do what you enjoy, do it well, and build tenure. Sounds like you’ve done that.
Your stats look quite good. Your ECs also look very good. I think that the point of ECs is to do what is right for you, and do it very well. This looks to be exactly what you are doing.
Being from a WICHE / WUE state (WUE is the undergraduate part of WICHE) may help to make the out of state WUE universities somewhat more affordable.
Unfortunately the airplane flight from Hawaii to the rest of the US is a bit far, but I guess that is just part of living in Hawaii. Where I live we have to worry about snow storms in the winter (this has impacted Christmas trips home a few times). I guess it is always something.
I like the fact that you are volunteering at a monkey sanctuary and working at a vet clinic. This can help you get a feel for what veterinary medicine is about now, before you arrive at university.
To me it looks like you are doing very well.
Oh also can someone explain WUE schools to me? I think that if a student is from a certain part of the country they can get cheap tuition on certain schools in certain states… But I am still a little confused
Sorry I’m a little late to the thread to answer. My son is entering his third year of a DVM program. He is very happy with his selection. I’ll give you a few things from our decisions which are different from others.
First cost is important. WICHE/WUE is a great selection for cost.
In high school my son knew this was what he wanted and had worked with vets for a couple of years and gone through his hs’s pre-vet program. He was sure he wanted to be an equine vet. He looked at schools and decided he wanted to go to a school with a vet school. Just to have the resourses and potential research and jobs close by. He wanted school spirit (D1 football), a good study abroad office, good honors college, and not a total pressure cooker. Knowing he was going to be in school for 7 - 8 years he wanted a well-respected program that wasn’t going to kill him but prepare him well. He also had a preference to get out of Texas (our state) and to look at early admit programs. Also funnily he wanted a school that was not red brick but looked nice! We wanted reasonable cost for undergrad so we could help him pay for vet school. We narrowed it down to 5 colleges and he chose Kansas State because they gave us the best deal and just made us all feel at home. The students seemed so happy to him. He also got into their early admit program.
So 3 years later he loved the campus and the opportunities to do research, study abroad, work directly with professors and still be the president of his fraternity and get a 4.0. He was academically challenged and ready for vet school.
Now in vet school he went in knowing he no longer wanted to be an equine vet but not sure what he wanted to do. No problem at all with that. He did research with faculty, thought about a lot of different areas, has published 3 or 4 papers in veterinary journals, did a mini study abroad this summer, and now has it narrowed down to cardiology or radiology. This year he is starting surgery and next year they do their rotations in various specialties. A lot of people don’t decide until then what they are interested in and that is fine. He is at the top of his class, president of the major club, engaged, and very happy.
This is just to tell you a path that we took. Your path will be your own. He rarely came home once he started college. Even though the town is small he always had so much to do or places to go, friends to see that it was fine! So wherever you go make sure you can afford it with minimal debt, can see yourself there, and feel happy there. Look at early admit programs. He loved having a year less undergrad. Good luck and let me know if you have other questions.
If you’re from one of these states, you can potentially go to a school in another state - if it’s a WUE school.
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
Not all schools participate - but tuition would be 150% of instate tuition. Perhaps you’d get as good or better deal on regular merit but. Someone else will need to answer but I don’t believe it’s assured - you still have to apply for the program.
The website shows all the majors and bio will be everywhere. But if you get down to the Zoology level, there are 8 schools -
Humboldt State - $8613
Colorado State - $18,794
Idaho State - $8,892
Western New Mexico - $7,454
Oregon State University -$15,840
Weber State U - $7,994
Washington State - $15,066
Wyoming - $6930
Also- I would like to go to a school that has a dance studio or offers ballet classes. I do not want to major or minor in dance but it would be nice to be able to go to a school that offers dance classes. How would I find a school like this
Many schools have ballet as an extracurricular or a limited number of classes. Some, like Indiana University, Butler University and University of Utah have majors that are well respected. You’ll have to do a deep dive into the offerings for each school to find the ones that have what you are looking for. It takes a lot of time to curate a college list including ballet.
D16 couldn’t find a ballet extracurricular at her college, so she taught classes through her school’s athletic department.
Again - you are early - enjoy the school year and come back in Spring. What you don’t want to do is suffer academically or EC wise (or socially) because you are putting too much effort here.
That said, as you start to narrow your list - and you will (by budget alone - hence it’s the first chat), your 75 becomes 20 or 30, etc. and even smaller if you pursue zoology vs. just bio - and then it’s a question of ensuring ballet is available at each school - and it likely will be. But that would be another “criteria” for you - that you’d use to narrow down.
But that’s way premature - it’s great you are thinking now - but first talk to your family regarding budget. That’s 1a, 1b, 1c. It’s not what they can afford to pay so much as what they’re willing to pay.
The rest then comes easier.
But you have lots of time - it doesn’t have to happen today.
I’d recommend U of Wyoming and Colo State.
Wyoming has a very nice Agriculture school with zoology It has about 12000 students, is a D1 school, is in a nice town. While Wyoming is a red state, Laramie is blue and very close to Colorado. In fact, Laramie is only about 40 minutes from Fort Collins and there is a lot of rivalry between the schools. It doesn’t have a vet school but has a lot of animal related studies for undergrads.
CSU has a great vet school and the undergrads are involved too. A friend’s daughter picked it over Tufts and is very happy. She got to bring her horse to school and she works at the vet hospital (as a receptionist but it got her in the door to get to work with the animals and professors). It is a much bigger school (~30k), has D1 sports. Fort Collins is a very nice college town. It is in a redder part of a blue state, but I’d say it was neutral politically, especially around campus.
Like @bouders said, University of Utah would be a great fit for dance. It has a wonderful biology program, and while it’s known for having a lot of pre-meds, there are plenty of pre-vets as well.
Your exact major doesn’t matter. You can major in biology, chemistry, animal sciences, zoology, etc. You don’t even have to major in a science (though I’d recommend it). As long as you have have done your prerequisites (which overlap considerably with those for pre-med), you should be fine. The prereqs (like those for medicine) are more focused on basic science classes rather than animal science. The recommended prereqs vary by vet school, so you should look up a variety of vet schools (such as the list at aavmc.org) to get a sense of what you should take.
The majors offered don’t matter much for school selection here. They’ll all have biology and chemistry, so the different flavors aren’t important. If you’re choosing an undergrad at a university that also has a vet school, that’s an obvious advantage. But beyond that, you can do your pre-vet studies just about anywhere, as long as you stay highly informed about what it takes to get into vet school. You’re doing great!
Edited to add: Just like the advice for pre-meds, you should go somewhere that you think you can excel and enjoy yourself. If you go to a prestigious school but struggle to keep your GPA up and distinguish yourself, that will not help your application as much as going to a less competitive school where you can really shine. Which means that any school is potentially the right fit – you just have to figure out which one is best for you and has the resources you need rather than worrying too much about prestige.
My daughter just started her second year of vet school- in HS she was sure that’s what she wanted to do but in college there were so many other fields that caught her interest that she started to waiver (she eventually came back around). Going to a school that offers options should you change your mind is important - if vet school is your ultimate goal you don’t need zoology or animal science as a major to get in - plenty of kids have bio or even a humanities major - you just need the science pre requisites and experience- which it looks like you have. Yes you should focus on grades this year but realistically it’s not a bad idea to start visiting some places now since you’re rather far away. Coming from a warm climate you might be able to knock cold weather schools off your list - my daughter did undergraduate in the northeast and she had a friend from California who hated the weather. To that end you also might not want a school that is too far away as it will affect your ability to get home for breaks. One school my daughter visited had a flight canceled to get home because of snow - after that visit she decided against anywhere that required flying.
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