I will soon be an animal science major on a pre-vet track at Cornell. I was wondering how the whole thing works.
Is it hard to balance classes for the ansci major and fit in classes for vet school pre-reqs?
How do I know which classes I should take for the pre-vet track?-how do I make sure to take all the classes I need for vet schools, like all the bio, chem, phsyics, etc?
Can I still have a minor?
oh my god im so jealous of you! Going to cornell for prevet is my dream. And im by no means and expert, and everything I know about prevet at cornell is just from obsessive research and googling. The animal science and prehealth track are fairly independent from one another. Few of the courses you take for ansci major will fulfill prevet requirements. What those “requirements” are depends on the vet schools you plan on applying to. Each has their own requirements, but a general breakdown goes as follows
2 semesters of general bio
2 semesters of physics
2 semesters of general chem
2 semesters of organic chem
1 or 2 semesters of biochem (most schools require/prefer 2 semesters)
2 semesters of english
1 semester of calculus and 1 semester of statistics or an additional semester of calculus (varies by school)
1 semester of genetics
1 semester of microbiology (few schools require this, but cornell does, so definitely take it)
1 semester of physiology (some, not all require this; notably UCDavis and I believe Colorado state require this)
1 semester of animal nutrition (again, only some schools)
The animal science major is fairly easy, both in terms of required credits and rigor of classes. You’ll find that completing the prehealth track will put you at about 2 or 3 classes away from a bio major. Something to consider in case you wanted to double major in bio. Minoring would be possible but difficult. Double majoring outside of biology would be pretty much impossible, because prehealth is pretty much a major in and of itself. It’ll be possible to do animal science and prevet, but there will be much less wiggle room than if you only did biology.
@cornellian19 Just out of curiosity, what are your stats?
Yo so the animal science major is not fairly easy, in either terms of required credits or rigor of classes. I’m an animal science on the pre-vet tract currently, so just a heads up that its tough. It’s not really that difficult to balance classes for the animal science major and the pre-vet requirements - you’ll have an advisor that helps plan everything out pretty well. Also, a lot of the pre-vet requirements actually fill you general requirements for CALS.
The other pre-vet requirements, fit pretty well into the animal science major itself (animal nutrition, genetics, physiology, etc.) are covered by the major requirements, either through electives or core courses.
Good luck!
@ChooChooo I simply meant the ansci major is fairly easy as compared to the prevet classes. Biochem is a lot harder than dairy cattle principles. Ive spoken to several others who are doing ansci prevet at cornell who would agree, but perhaps youve just had a different experience than they did. Animal nutrition is a requirement for the ansci major, whereas physiology and genetics would likely be done through the biology department, as would most of the other prevet classes, thus making biology an easier major to complete in terms of credits, while the animal sciences classes would be less rigorous.
Thanks for all of your comments! Any other advice/input is appreciatedd