Hey everyone,
I’m going to be a freshman at UMD next year and will be majoring in bio. Not sure where in the field of bio I’d like to explore yet (def not med school though), and I was looking into vet school. However, I’ve heard from many people that getting into vet school is nearly impossible. I was wondering if this goal is even obtainable for someone like me. I’ve always been smart, but never the smartest; I’ve always had a long list extra-curriculars and such, but never the longest. Can anyone who is familiar with this process provide me with some insight?
Gracias
The key will be how you do in college and for some schools how you do on the GRE. You will need lots of A’s but some Bs are ok. Study really hard for the prerequisite classes for sure. It is not impossible and is about the same as getting in to med school. You do need to get a significant amount of animal and vet hours. Start now if you are even thinking about it. It is expensive and doesn’t pay all that well. Shadow a vet and watch what they do to make sure it is something you really want to do.
@momocarly pretty much nailed it. I agree with everything that she said. You definitely would want strong grades, and significant experience working with animals in a variety of ways. The people that I know who either are vets or are thinking of becoming vets have (or had) a very long list of volunteering in animal related activities.
You need to be very sure that you want to be a vet before you launch into veterinary school. Fortunately veterinary schools know this.
Also, the financial aspects of veterinary school are rather daunting. Veterinary school is at least as expensive as medical school (possibly slightly worse), but it pays much less. As such it is hard to imagine how vets manage to ever pay off their student loan debt. To me it looks as if you need a very large education fund to pull it off without many years of paying off debt.
I would think that determination, hard work, good grades, and a strong education fund are important assets if you want to do this.
Definitely make sure that you are truly interested in veterinary medicine. Why are you interested in veterinary medicine but not human medicine? If your answer is because you don’t have to deal with people, I can assure you that veterinary medicine is all about the people as well. You might not be fixing people but you have to talk and deal with their owners. Also, know that getting into vet school is tougher than medical school (way fewer vet schools than med schools).
Helpful to volunteer at animal shelters, animal hospitals & veterinarian offices.