Junior Aspiring to be a vet.. but knows nothing about college, really

College Majors Science Majors
1

<p>I'm a junior in high school and very recently, I found out what I'd like to major in and have a career as and that was animal sciences/ vet. </p>

<p>However, I don't really know anything about college at all.
I haven't taken the SATs, I haven't looked up colleges and stats, I haven't done a college road trip, and etc.
I'm really lost right now and I just need some advice on where or how to get started (most likely, go take my SATs)...</p>

<p>But, I have a few questions.
I want to major in animal sciences but I'm wondering what CA schools have relatively good animal sciences programs and what the process is, really, to become a vet. I read some confusing stuff about undergrad programs, going to vet school or going to UCD for their program after coming from another college and other things.. I'm really confused.
can someone help?</p>

<p>Also, is the vet field very competitive?</p>

<p>My friends have assured me that I don't HAVE to have shining grades primarily because I have a lot of extra curricular, but you never know.
I get A's and B's, so far, a 4 on my AP Bio Exam, and that's about it in terms of school.
I'm not taking like 3 or 4 rigorous AP classes and doing extraordinary in all of them.
I'm worried I'm not smart enough to qualify for any great vet schools/ programs in the future but I'm not sure how much that really really matters. </p>

<p>My extra curriculars go from..
- volunteering (I've received 100 hours in a week for volunteering at a science camp for 5th graders while school was in session and I plan to do it again, and I've done some volunteering here and there my past semester with a measly +35 hours)
-Color Guard season (18 hours of practice a week
-Swim season
-piano self-taught
-baking and selling cookies independently to raise money to fight human trafficking
-president of an anti-human trafficking and awareness club
-summer job as a swim instructor this past summer (and I plan to work again next summer)</p>

<p>I plan on volunteering at a nearby vet clinic soon, hopefully I can intern or become an assistant to see if it's something I really want.</p>

<p>I understand colleges are meh about simply listing extra curriculars, but when the time comes, I plan to just elaborate about my passion for one or two of them.</p>

<p>I'm just a lost student right now with no clue on how to start my path to college and my vet career aspiration, so any tips or advice would definitely help!
This is just to give people an idea of who I am and what I want.</p>

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<p>Becoming a vet is a lot like becoming a doctor. First you go to a four-year college, and then you go to vet school. You don’t have to major in animal science in college, but you’ll want to take a lot of chemistry and biology, and do well in them. There is a standardized exam for vet school called the VCAT, but some vet schools take the MCAT (med school exam) or GRE (grad school exam) instead.</p>

<p>Here’s a nice pdf prepared by the friendly folks at UCLA Vet School telling you what the application process looks like, and even listing the specific courses they recommend you take while in college to prepare yourself for vet school. <a href=“https://www.eeb.ucla.edu/images/EEBpreprofVeterinary.pdf[/url]”>https://www.eeb.ucla.edu/images/EEBpreprofVeterinary.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;