<p>I am currently a junior in high school and although I still have a whole year to think about my college choices, I am already starting to panic. I want to be a Veterinarian, and I just don't know what college is right for me. I have no idea what colleges do aspiring veterinarians attend? I need help, please any ideas?</p>
<p>Calm yourself! You said it in the first sentence-- you are just a junior. You are in the exact right place for your age. Just starting to look. That's fine! If you have a college guidance office in your HS, begin by asking questions there. Make an appointment, unless it's part of the school's program for you to start the college process this coming semester. Also, you can use the internet. If you are a good student, you could look at Cornell. It has a very fine vet program. Use college board web site, or any others to begin your search. If you are this overwrought now, how will you be 10 months from now, when you will be applying? You will figure it out; most kids do.</p>
<p>Focus on schoolwork, SAT/ACT/SAT IIs, and extracurricular activites now. You can look for colleges after you get some scores and have an idea where you stand. IMO there's no point in looking for colleges without having an idea of whether you have a chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Vet school admissions are among the most competitive of any grad school. It is far harder to be admitted to vet school than to medical school. Best advice is to work really really hard wherever you go and distinguish yourself academically. AFIK there is no advantage to going undergrad to a school that has a veterinary program.</p>
<p>The questions we ask can frame the way we see the world. You're already starting off down the wrong path by asking "what colleges do aspiring vets attend?" as if it is somehow the college that gets you into vet school. Nope. </p>
<p>What gets you into vet school is what you do in college; did you take the required science classes, do you have a strong GPA, have you gotten to know some profs so you have good letters of rec, have you done volunteer work and/or have exposure to the veterinary world? You can go to the websites of vet programs and see what they look for in applicants. They will have a FAQ that explains what they want to see. I'll give you your first link -- Frequently</a> Asked Questions for Students of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis You should spend some time looking at the websites of other schools. You can also read books about the topic, such as one written by the former director of admissions at Cornell's vet school Amazon.com:</a> Get Into Veterinary School: Insights by an Admissions Expert</p>
<p>As a poster above said, focus on taking/improving standardized test scores. Make sure the remainder of your junior year and next year are spent keeping grades up. </p>
<p>As an Ohio resident, and someone recently accepted into OSU, I am biased to place Ohio State's vet school on the list of recommendations. :)</p>
<p>A friend of mine is going to major in Biomedical Engineering at GaTech, and is considering becoming a Vet.</p>
<p>Michigan State University, has one of the top vet schools.
(Also a junior in high school, MSU is my top choice... UofM-Ann Arbor second)</p>
<p>I interviewed at a school known for their veterinary school and was told that they want students who show a love for learning, strong academic abilities and diverse interests. They said they take acceptances from liberal arts backgrounds all the time.
J</p>
<p>Lots of good advice here. Also remember that your statistical chance of getting into vet school is improved if you apply to the vet school in the state you are a RESIDENT of. In some cases (Tufts, Virginia Tech) the vet school "serves" two or more states. </p>
<p>I suppose it is possible that candidates who receive their undergraduate degree from a college in the same state the vet school is located in might receive a slight "bump" (for instance a graduate of Franklin & Marshall who is a legal resident of Rhode Island might have a slightly better chance of getting into Penn than an Ohio resident who graduated from Skidmore) but I don't know that for a fact.</p>
<p>Hey there, seems like we're on the same boat o_o
I'm a junior too, and I just realized how much this year how much I want to be come a vet.
Except I have no idea where to begin (along with the fact that my dad isn't really happy with the idea and won't aknowledge it....he wants me to be a human doctor...I guess I can see where he's coming from since he's a doctor and so's the rest of the family..)</p>
<p>Are you interested in becoming a vet for "small" animals or "larger" animals? I'm not sure if that matters in terms of college, but just wondering if you thought about it. </p>
<p>And it's okay, don't panic so much! We still have time, but it's good that you're thinking about these things now.</p>
<p>Although you are only in high school, it is important to already begin working or shadowing a vet. A large portion of an application to vet school (aside from very high GPA in required coursework) is the demonstration of >1000 hours of documented work with animal health care. Online listings usually only require a few hundred hours, however, you are competing with applicants who began to show demonstrated interest in high school as evidenced by volunteer work at that time.</p>
<p>When in college, I recommend you concentrate on maintaining a high (higher than pre-med) GPA in required science courses and continued involvement at an animal hospital or vet office.</p>
<p>It really doesn't matter where you go for undergrad. Going to a college that has a vet school might help a tiny bit, but I don't think it should be the deciding factor on where you choose to go. Go somewhere you're comfortable and can see yourself achieving. The main thing is, keep your grades up (you need at least around a 3.5 to be competitive) and get experience. Vet school is huge on wanting applicants to have experience. Any animal experience is good (volunteering at a shelter, farm, zoo, etc.), but at least some of the experience should be with a vet. Try finding an opportunity to shadow, volunteer, or even work at a vet clinic.</p>
<p>I am a high school senior and I have decided to go to SUNY Albany for undergrad. I most definitely want to be a vet and I love the school I chose. I’m just scared that because of the competitiveness for vet school and the fact that albany doesn’t have an animal science major or anything like that, I’ll have a harder time when applying to vet school. any advice on how I can personally increase my chances without being in an animal science major? One professor said pre-med and pre-vet are exactly the same. Is this true?</p>
<p>ParAlum: </p>
<p>You mentioned that aside from a very high GPA in the required coursework, the demonstration of >1000 hours of documented work with animal health care is extremely important. When you say ‘animal health care’, do you solely mean shadowing a vet or working at a vet clinic? </p>
<p>To give you a background:
I am a high school senior ( graduation June 19, 2009 ) and I am strongly interested in the vet career. I have been working at PetSmart as a professional dog bather for almost a year now and recently started volunteering at an animal shelter. Would these two activities count as ‘animal health care’?</p>