"FOR THOSE WHO LOVE animals and enjoy science, a career as a veterinarian might be a good fit. These health care providers have doctorates in veterinary medicine, and their doctoral education includes lessons on how to care for a variety of nonhuman creatures ranging from household pets and farm animals to aquatic creatures and zoo animals.
‘You get to learn about the large and small animals,’ says Dr. Jim Carlson, a veterinarian outside Chicago who provides conventional and alternative therapies to animals.
‘That’s unique to our profession, because we come out (of vet school) having a basic knowledge of all animals, from ants to elephants,’ says Carlson, adding that most of his patients are small animals like dogs and cats." …
Good article. One thing it didn’t mention is that some schools have early admission programs where you can be guaranteed a spot in vet school straight out of hs as long as you meet the requirements. This has been a very helpful option for us cutting one year off S17’s undergraduate time. He will be starting vet school in the fall. This took a lot of pressure off his undergraduate years and allowed him to be able to go into vet school relaxed.
Another item the article mentions is that you need a BS degree. Many of the vet schools will accept you without a BS if you have the prerequisites and good experience. In our early admit case S will be given a BS after he completes his 2nd year of vet school.
Tracking vs. non-tracking vet schools is one thing students should look for. Some of the vet schools will but you on a large or small animal track. Others, like the one S goes to, trains you for both and you can choose electives or clinical rotations in the area you decide to specialize in.
As mentioned emotionally it is hard, financially it is hard. Going to the least expensive school, or one that minimized debt is key!
Was the vet school instate? My daughter applied for early admission as a junior but is oos and didn’t even get an interview even though she has great credentials.
I believe that momocarly’s son is out of state at Kansas St. But she can confirm.
There are different types of early admit programs. Some (like Kansas St) are out of high school. Others are after one or two years of college. End result is the same: you can graduate from vet school after combined 7 years rather than normal track which is 8.
You also only have 30 (or so – always puzzles me that there isn’t an exact number given its not a lot) vet schools in the US (I know kids who apply to 30 or more med schools). So all of the early admit programs (and vet schools themselves with normal admissions) are very competitive. So there will be a lot of highly qualified people who are not admitted.
Some schools are going GRE optional (and some say they will not even look at GRE scores). And in something that is a surprise to many people, men are viewed as an underrepresented minority as the about 80% of vet students are female.
@AZ2019 my son was OOS and is at Kansas State. Their early admit program was one he got into out of high school. Mississippi State’s was the same way. I think Purdue’s is a little different. Oklahoma State had one but only for in state applicants. Not sure about others but I know there are some you apply to after you are already in college. He mainly looked at those he could do straight out of high school.
Even the most qualified applicants get turned down. S was turned down by Mississippi State. He was fine with this since K State was his first choice. The difference in this was an interview. MS does not do interviews for early admits and K State does. (He interviews very well)
@saillakeerie is totally right on everything written. K State has not dropped the GRE requirement but for the early admits they just said don’t embarrass yourself. He got about the medium for the vet school but didn’t really study for it. It is becoming less and less important at most (but not all) vet schools.