Hello everyone,
I am an incoming senior in high school and I’m conflicted with what to major in.
Current Career aspirations:
Vet
Nurse
Vet tech
Business?
In the science field, I’m leaning more towards a Biology major. However, I’ve heard multiple times that if you don’t become some sort of doctor, a biology degree can be useless and a waste of time/money (and that worries me).
What about microbiology or neurobiology? Is that considered the same level as general biology? And psychology?
I’m also interested in business. Plus, you could be eligible for tons of jobs with a business degree. I just don’t know what to do.
I would be very very interested in an animal-related major/degree, but the colleges I’m applying to don’t have any. (CSUSB. CSUSM, CPP, UCR). I’m pretty smart and can handle challenging courses, but I’m not a brilliant scientist.
GPA: 3.7
SAT 1100
Take a good variety of courses during your first year to see what you like and what you have an aptitude for. It’s too soon to worry about your major. I recommend you explore cognitive science which is a blend of biology and psychology. There are other interdisciplinary majors that combine biology or other sciences with another field which may make for a more versatile bachelors degree. Best of luck!
The previous poster is correct, you can work on your core science classes while keeping the door open for your final major decision. You don’t have to know exactly what you want to major in now, just a general direction. For you it sounds like you will want the science and mat core to possibly go to vet school or get a nursing degree.
If you are serious about Vet school as you apply to colleges research their acceptance rate of their undergrads into vet school. It is hard to get into and you’ll want to make sure you choose a school with a good track record. You will probably be looking for a medium to large sized university that can give you pre-vet, nursing, and a business school. This will leave you options. In time, your path will become more clear. Breathe and good luck!
If you want nursing, it is difficult to get into a California program unless you either apply to one of the two direct admit programs or go to a CC for an associate degree in nursing and then transfer to a CA program as an RN for your BSN. It is next to impossible to transfer into any nursing program unless you are an RN with your associate degree. Look at the CA vet school programs to be sure that you take the prerequisite courses as an undergraduate and have the necessary number of hours of direct animal care supervised by a vet. The vet schools also look for well rounded, community minded leaders with high GPA and high GRE scores, apply to those undergrad. schools where you will be able to be a competitive candidate for vet school. As the previous poster noted, look at the preprofessional programs and type of mentorship and acceptance rate to vet schools that the undergrad colleges offer. All of this would increase your acceptance to vet school if you choose this path.
Choosing a business track may preclude any choice of vet school unless you can follow the above advice I listed in the above paragraph.
CPP offers a certified vet tech program. There are a few vet techs in my daughters vet school class.
A major in biology is versatile in that you can go into a number of different fields from medicine, research, PT, OT, speech/language, psychology, teaching, environment, marine, geology, to policy and management. All will require further degrees. Much of this will depend upon the type of internships and mentorships that you will have available.
As an anecdote- daughter’s boyfriend started as marine bio major, switched to bio, did 3 summer internship programs with a college alum at Mass. Gen. doing genetic research. Worked for the alum for a year and is now in a Ph.d program. A great deal depends upon the availability of opportunities along the way.
Just wanted to point out that it does NOT matter where you go to school for undergrad to gain acceptance to vet school. The biggest factor regarding vet school admission is state of residency. If you have an in-state vet school, you stand a much better chance of being admitted as the pool of applicants is much smaller in-state. Of course having high gpa, gre, veterinary hours and stellar recommendations are helpful as well.
An interesting read for any California students considering vet school admission. It attests to what @chestie69 stated about chances for admission to a student’s instate vet school, the stats required versus stats required from out of state students. It also demonstrates that in CA, UC Davis only offered admission to 25% of the CA applicants, so the high GPA, GRE, vet hours and leadership roles will increase one’s chances for admission.
Wonder if the OP is still thinking about options?
@chestie69 best of luck in your studies. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to offer assistance to prospective vet students.
Thanks @ECmotherx2 This semester I definitely feel that we have been pushed into an Olympic size pool and we haven’t even been taught how to doggie paddle yet! Staying afloat this semester is going to be tough.
To add to the undergrad school choice, I think what happens is the vet schools release data that shows 50% of the incoming class attended school X. Thus, future students think “oh attending X school must increase my chances of vet school admission.” Unfortunately, the data is skewed as a lot of pre-vet students attended school X and thus school X had a much higher percent of applicants during the application cycle. We have to remember correlation vs causation. Plus, I swear vet school admins make decisions via throwing darts anyways. :))