<p>I am thinking of applying to veterinary school for the fall 2010 semester. I love animals but up until recently I have been interested in ecology/conservation. However, due to the poor employment opportunities and the current economy I am hesitant to pursue this field. I want to make it clear that I am not interested in becoming a vet simply because it has more security in terms of employment; it has always been on my list but not my first choice. </p>
<p>I recently graduated with a bachelors in biology with a final cumultative GPA of 3.69. I have four letters of recommendation and have conducted research. However, as I said my main focus has been ecology. As a result, I have not had any experience in a vets office etc. I did care for hundreds of amphibians while conducting research on pollution however. </p>
<p>My other weakness is my GRE scores. While not very bad, they are not that great: 540 quantative, 570 verbal. </p>
<p>I do not think I have enough to get into a veterinary school personally. Unfortunately becoming a vet was not my main focus throughout college and I thus did not get veterinary experience. </p>
<p>So should I even bother applying to any vet schools? Are there some schools that would give me a greater chance in accepting me? Unfortunately there are no schools in my state so I would have to apply as an out of stater and obviously schools admit far fewer out of staters which decreases my chances of getting in.</p>
<p>Vet schools will have required some experience under a veterinarian. One of your letters of recommendation must also be from a licensed vet. So, if you don’t have these, then I wouldn’t apply this time around. If you can get some experience over the next year, and secure a recommendation from a vet, then I don’t see why you couldn’t apply next year (assuming you did all the pre-reqs). The research experience will certainly be a bonus.</p>
<p>The thing is though most of them state that they do not require vet experience. Can I assume based on the other applicants that while this is not a requirement it basically is in order to get into vet school?</p>
<p>I’m just a sophomore undergrad, but I’m pre-vet and have done tons of reading on what vet schools are looking for.</p>
<p>Most applicants do have a decent amount of both animal and veterinary experience (even though schools often don’t state that they require it). However, lots of vet schools also value research experience. In fact, if you did your research with a PhD, it’s my understanding that many vet schools count this as veterinary experience.</p>
<p>Other than that, I think you have a pretty strong GPA (I think the average for vet school is a 3.5 or 3.6). I’m not sure about your GRE just because I haven’t taken the GRE yet and don’t know what is considered to be a good score.</p>
<p>Hope that helps some! Also, you might want to try posting in the pre-vet forums at studentdoctor.net. There’s lots of very helpful people there with more experience than myself with this all. Here’s the link:</p>