I am a high school senior and have always wanted to be a veterinarian, in particular I am interested in large animal/equine medicine. I am ranked in the top 10% of my graduating class and have a 4.09 GPA, 1370 SAT, and 30 ACT. I have always taken honors science, math, and english courses throughout high school and will have graduated with 6 credits of science courses. I received a 5 on the AP Biology and AP Calc AB exams last year. For animal experience, I did an internship for a semester at an emergency animal hospital and volunteer every week at the local animal shelter in the barn. I would like to major in biology, but I also want to be prepared for vet school and would like an undergrad program that will offer me animal experience or research opportunities before I apply to vet school. Right now, my favorite schools are Texas A&M, Purdue, UMichigan, Baylor, and Colorado State. I really have no preference on location, going to a school that will prepare me well for vet school is more important to me. Are there any other schools that I should either be adding or removing from this list? Any suggestions for undergraduate schools with strong biology departments and pre-professional advising? Or even just any additional advice is much appreciated. Thanks!
What is your home state?
State-run vet schools give a huge preference to their instate students. You have a lot of OOS vet schools on your list.
How much will your parents pay for college?
Well, OP wouldn’t be going to vet school yet - they’re a high school senior - but public universities don’t give much financial aid to nonresident students. Can your parents afford to pay the entire nonresident cost of attendance at these public universities?
There are lots of schools that will prepare you well for vet school - pretty much anywhere with a good solid pre-med course of studies will prepare you well for vet school, as the course requirements have a lot of overlap.
You don’t even have to go somewhere with a strong animal science curriculum, as vet schools don’t require you to take a lot of classes in animal science. (Some vet schools require one class in animal science, but most don’t.) It would be great if you could, but you can demonstrate your interest in animal science and care in another way.
Where are you from?
^here is a similar thread.
I would start with the big state schools in your state, see if they offer merit.
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OP wouldn’t be going to vet school yet - they’re a high school senior - but public universities don’t give much financial aid to nonresident students. Can your parents afford to pay the entire nonresident cost of attendance at these public universities?
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True, but it seems that these schools were chosen with an eye on attending their vet schools.
MS State has a UG honors kind of program, I believe they select 40 applicants - and those students are guaranteed placement in their vet school if they meet the UG curriculum requirements there. DD’s HS classmate is in that program now as a college junior; we know another student who completed vet school and started in that program. They offer high stat kids full tuition scholarship. Look at their info on the web site and complete application by their deadlines.
My state of residency is New Hampshire, but I am looking to move out of state so I have not been considering any in state schools.
https://admissions.unh.edu/pre-veterinary-program-information-session
Well you should at least check out UNH. There is a visit day coming up in Sept and Oct.
Public Vet schools look for students with high GPA, high GRE scores, fulfillment of their prerequisite courses, and consider their own instate students first. Some have even higher standards for out of state students with the average acceptance rate of less than 10%. They also want specific number of hours spent in direct animal care, (this can be through a vet office, 4H, FFA, pet sanctuaries, zoos, etc. Pet shelter hours do not count. Do the schools that you are considering offer significant financial aid? Do they offer letter of recommendations by committee that will support all students or only the ones that they believe stand the highest chance of acceptance? How supportive are their pre professional programs?