I have decided to create a little forum as part of my blog. I am hoping it helps readers communicate with each other and share ideas. Go to the link on the top of my site:
Inside this page you will find Topics, Discussions, and Q&A. You can contact me through here or a direct email if you like. It looks something like this:
Please feel free to use these resources to help you with your application process for Veterinary school.
Veterinary experience is one of the most important parts of your application to vet school. You will notice that vet schools require a small amount of experience as part of the admissions requirements. This is kind of a joke. UC Davis has a minimum of 180hrs needed to apply. Now the actual average is around 2,000 hours. If you start volunteering/working in high school you can easily surpass this average which makes your application that much stronger.
I have mentioned before how important experience is and what you should do to get it. I'm going to go more in depth in the areas where you can find animal related experience. While reading these suggestions know that I have done pretty much all of them and I would say that almost ALL veterinarians had to start with these same sometimes not-so-glamorous jobs.
Animal Shelter This is where a lot of people get their first volunteering experience with animals. Most towns have a local animal shelter and if yours doesn't you might have to drive a little ways to find one. There are sometimes two options for working at an animal shelter. A) Paid or B) volunteer. Obviously getting paid is better for you since your time is money when in college but volunteering is a great experience. Donating your time helps the homeless animals find a family. The things you will be doing will be cleaning cages, feeding, walking, and playing with the animals. You might also work the front desk and do some paperwork. You may occasionally have a vet come in and do some spays and neuters you might get to help with if your lucky.
Ranch Hand Working on a farm with large animals is some of the best experience you can get, even if its not what you are into. Vet schools want to admit people with large animal experience because the US government needs vets to work with dairies and poultry farms. If you have lots of large animal experience you have a 1up. To find this kind of job you kind of need to be in the right area. Find a local ranch or dairy farm and ask to owner if you can have a job. It might not be the most glamourous work but experience is experience. If he is not willing to pay you, ask if you can just help out a few days a week. Another thing you can do is contact a local large animal veterinarian and see if you can help him out. Lots of times they know the community really well and will have some contacts they can refer you to.
Veterinary Technician
This is by far my biggest recommendation. I learned more from working at my animal hospital than any classes I took in college. You obtain first hand experience working side by side Veterinarians and other technicians. For me it was like having a Mentor show me the ropes. What you will be doing is talking to clients, administering vaccines, restraining animals, setting catheters, assisting euthanasias, trim nails, and expressing anal glands! Thats the fun stuff, otherwise you have to clean a lot and maintain the hospital. The only place I really know how to find a job is through craigslist. Just search jobs and animal or veterinary. It took me a few months to find a job and in the meantime I volunteered at Project wildlife. I recommend once you find a job to still try and find ways to volunteer. A great thing about being a technician is that its paid. Generally pre-medical students can only volunteer and cant get paid for their experience hours but not so for pre-vets. :)
Heres a video showing some of the joys of being a Vet Tech.
*Note from my experience anal gland expression on a cat is pretty rare I worked at a clinic for 3 years and did maybe 2. Dogs though are really common. If a dog is scooting his butt its most likely cause the glands need expressing.
Internships
These are helpful in gaining experience in different areas to do with animals. Im not sure there are exactly veterinary internships for pre-vets. I know Natural History Museums have good internships for students studying biology. I worked with reptiles at the Museum in San Diego for 6 months. Most of the work you do is with preserved specimens but still gets you acquainted with anatomy and taxonomy. Another place to look is at your college campus. There are internships in certain labs that can double as units and experience. The only other place I know of is at your closest zoo. I volunteered with elephants for a few years at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I got to watch for the pregnant cow's labor signs. Didn't actually get to see her give birth but the whole internship is something I will never forget. It is such a crazy feeling being one of the only people in a zoo in the middle of the night.
Leadership
Like more professional programs leadership is looked for in applicants. Most schools have pre-vet clubs or classes that students can take. I recommend getting involved in your freshmen year with the programs in order to increase your exposure to the field. Become to the president of the pre-vet club and plan trips for the students to go volunteer at different organizations. Your pre-professional health advisor is your best resource make sure you use him/her to your advantage. I was able to teach a class as on the different aspects of veterinary medicine. I organized different speakers to come in to the class each week and speak about their specialties. This helped me learn to lead a class and make connections with veterinarians in my area. Definitely my most valuable leadership experience.
Shadowing I got to shadow those speakers that came in to speak to my class. This is a good chance to see different aspects of veterinary medicine if you work at a small animal hospital. I got to shadow vets in the following fields: large animal, exotics, public health, military, and oncology. The more you shadow, the more you will be enlightened by the vastness of the profession. Vet schools want well rounded students so if you have experience in multiple fields you will look pretty good on paper.
Zoo Jobs
This is a vague section. From my understanding people that work for zoos need to start in food service or something like that. I know that at the SD Zoo you can start as a tour guide. That is a good place to start. From there you might be able to move up since most zoos hire from within. Being a zoo keeper would be great experience but probably pretty hard to do as a student. You might have luck at smaller community zoos. You may not start off working hands on with animals but hopefully you will move up and get to.
I hope this has been helpful in ideas to get veterinary experience. If you have any questions for me I would be glad to help answer them for you. Just post your question in the comments or send me an email.
There has been some debate about whether the Veterinary Symbol below is called the Cadeceus, the same as human medicine, or Staff of Aesculapius, which has 1 snake.
I have researched this after a colleague brought it to my attention that it is not necessarily a Cadeceus. According to the AVMA the symbol is the Staff Aesculapius as stated in the following:
"The official seal of the Association Comprising the letter V super-imposed on the staff of Aesculapius encircled by the words American Veterinary Medical Association, and with a line encircling all of those elements, shall be registered with the U.S. Patent Office as a registered mark and shall be used by no other organization or individual without written permission of the Association" (AVMA Bylaws, Article X).
This symbol was approved by the AVMA in June 1970 as the associations trademark. It was not until November 21, 1972 that the symbol was officially a registered trademark as decided by the USPTO. The AVMA has the following copyrighted as their logos to denote membership to the association:
Either with the circle and AVMA around the symbol or without.
Now from the research I have done there is no clear distinction that the Veterinary symbol of the single snake and staff is strictly for animal medicine. I have seen it noted as the symbol of medicine in general but most veterinary sites, schools, and hospitals agree that their symbol is the Staff of Aesculapius rather than Caduceus.
Caduceus
Now the Caduceus is generally a staff with 2 snakes and wings. This arose from the Greek God Hermes the Messenger which later turned into the Roman God Mercury. The staff was attributed to Hermes from the story of Tiresias:
In "Les Mamelles de Tiresias" (The Breasts of Tiresias) tells how Tiresias--the seer who was so unhelpful to Oepidus and Family- found two snakes copulating, and to separate them stuck his staff between them. Immediately he was turned into a woman, and remained so for seven years, until he was able to repeat his action, and change back to male. The transformative power in this story, strong enough to completely reverse even physical polarities of male and female, comes from the union of the two serpents, passed on by the wand. Tiresias' staff, complete with serpents, was later passed on to Hermes...
This magic used to transform Tiresias was also seen later on in time in the use of alchemy. Alchemy had some connections to medicine, chemistry, and metallurgy which were attributed to Hermes (Mercury) and described using the image of his two snaked staff.
Staff of Aesculapius The staff with one snake arose again from the Greek God Aesculapius. He was most likely a skilled physician who practised medicine in Greece around 1200BC (even described in Homer's Iliad). Through myth and legend he came to be worshipped as Asclepius, the Greek God of Healing. Now the origin of the staff has a much more grotesque beginning.
In ancient times infection by parasitic worms was common. The filarial worm Dracunculus medinensis aka "the fiery serpent", aka "the dragon of Medina" aka "the guinea worm" crawled around the victim's body, just under the skin. Physicians treated this infection by cutting a slit in the patient's skin, just in front of the worm's path. As the worm crawled out the cut, the physician carefully wound the pest around a stick until the entire animal had been removed. It is believed that because this type of infection was so common, physicians advertised their services by displaying a sign with the worm on a stick.
So the single snake staff could have been started from a worm underneath the skin. Stiff think thats a better symbol than changing from male to female and back like some kind of Mrs. Doubtfire action.
Let the debate rage on but I am taking the side of Staff of Aesculapius.
Roman sculpture of Aesculapius with single snake staff.
So you want to be a Veterinarian, yes? Is it because you have always loved animals and want to work with them? If so that is a good start but you need to understand a little more about the profession to really commit to the large amount of schooling and debt needed to do so. Its not all just giving puppies vaccines, there are some hard parts.
If you are not up to perform euthanasia for animals then this is not the profession for you. Depending on the type of practice you will be performing this gift to suffering creatures. My advice is to get a job or volunteer with a local vet to get some first hand experience with euthanasia. It is extremely sad but you might be surprised at how you can handle it. This should be a good indicator of whether or not you really want to go through with the long path to become a veterinarian. Now an important thing is to not base it off personal experiences with pets. Go in with a open mind and just be the fly on the wall seeing the whole process and how helpful it really is to the animals. If I based this off of the 1st, and only time, I have watched Marley and Me then I would not be going to vet school. Because everyday would be the saddest day of my life.
I digress. The main reason for this post was to give a little concise history of what it is to be a Veterinarian as well as the history behind the profession.
The Veterinarian's Oath:
Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.
I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.
This oath was adopted by the AVMA in July 1969 by the House of Delegates. It was slightly modified in 1999. A key point is the relief of animal suffering for which i mentioned early about euthanasia. Its in the Oath you pledge upon graduation to end suffering if no other means can help the animal. Once again get experience with euthanasia if you are hesitant and you will understand that it is a good thing for the suffering of animals.
Ancient Veterinary Medicine History Veterinary medicine dates back to 3500BC in Egypt (in hieroglyphics), China, and Mesopotamia. The domestication of livestock was the first sign of humans tending to animals. In China between 4000-3000BC there are records of herbs used for curative effects but the true healing of animals was thought to have begun in Mesopotamia around 3000BC with the first known veterinarian, Urlugaledinna.
A little closer to our time comes Alcmaeon, he was the first recorded person to dissect animals for scientific reasons, this happened around 500BC. Few hundred years later the first animal hospitals were recorded in 273-232BC during the reign of King Ashoka in Indian history during the Brahman era.
Semi-modern Veterinary Medicine History The first official veterinary school was in 1762AD by Claude Bourgelat in Lyons. Lyon College was created by the work of Bourgelat. This led to a new veterinary teaching schools in the 1770s in Hanover, Sweden, Denmark, and Vienna. The Royal Veterinary College in London was founded in 1791. The first American veterinarian school was not established until 1879, more than a century after the first European schools.
Modern Veterinary Medicine History This brings us to the present. There are currently 28 Veterinary Schools in the United States. There are many schools abroad in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Senegal, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Libya Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Phillippines, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, U.K., West Indies, and Jordan. As you can see the world of Veterinary Medicine has grown quite a bit.
The next post will deal with the different areas that Veterinary Medicine has grown into. There are many specialties to choose from which will be discussed next time. For now enjoy the Universal Veterinary Symbol:
Veterinary symbol (staff of aesculapius). Best medical symbol ever? yes.
So you have made it to the first real challenge on your way to become a vet. There is a lot to learn about yourself and college your freshmen year. So what major do you declare if you want to be a Veterinarian? That may seem like a straightforward answer. Biology. But to become a vet you do not need to have any specific major. As long as you complete the prerequisite classes you will qualify for admissions. Now most students are Biology or Chemistry majors since the prereqs and course materials overlap so much. The admissions committee takes into consideration other majors and likes to make a diverse class. So you can be an Art major or Political Science and get into vet school as long as you do the prereqs.
At my university it was unusual to finish a BS degree in a mere 4 years. It took me 4.5 years because of the availability of classes. I advise you take the prerequisite classes for vet school ASAP. They can be tough but schools are different in their registration for classes. I ran into trouble when I changed my major after my freshmen year. My school gives priority registration of classes to 1st years then in the following order: 5th+ year, 4th year, 3rd year, and lastly 2nd year.
So when it came time for me to register for classes for my 2nd year all the 1st year students filled up the prerequisites I needed for Vet school. This is why it took me 4.5 years (including all summers) to graduate. So to avoid this, stick to your major and take as many prerequisite classes as you can do at a time. Do not overload yourself. Make sure you give yourself an easy class to give yourself a break. I like classes like rock climbing, Scuba diving, or photography to use as an outlet of stress.
Here are the classes that are generally part of the prerequisite material for veterinary schools (give or take a few classes depending on the school):
General Biology w/ lab - 2 semesters (8 units)
Biochemistry - 1 semester (3 units)
General Chemistry w/ lab - 2 semesters (~10 units)
Now remember these are just the generic requirements. Every school is slightly different so make sure to check the schools you want to apply for. Become familiar with this site: AAVMC. This is the portal where you submit your application to most of the schools. At the link is a list of each school and the requirements for each.
I will not go into how hard it is or statistics just yet for getting into school. I will worry you of those later. For now remember to continue volunteering or getting a vet technician job in order gain experience. Remember get a WIDE VARIETY of exposure to the veterinary field to show that you are a well rounded applicant.
Some ways to find experience:
Pre-Veterinary Club
Vet Technician Job Postings (craigslist, newspaper ads, job postings)
The path to become a veterinarian should start in high school. Best thing that you can do at this time of your life is get experience. Experience with animals in a medical setting is one of the major factors in the admissions process. When I say get experience I mean a ton. The average number of hours is around 2,500 for most vet schools. To better your chances of getting in, starting in high school will help build a foundation for what you will add to in college.
3. Wildlife Rehabiliation Programs (I worked at Project Wildlife in San Diego,CA)
4. Job at an Animal Hospital
5. Work on a Ranch with large animals*
*I might add that this is a huge thing you can do that would help your application. Vet schools want people with a wide variety of exposure to veterinary medicine. There is a high demand for food industry veterinarians so experience with cows, chickens, goats, pigs, etc... will look great on your application.
I think the cow knows whats coming next.
It also goes without saying that you need to have good grades to get into vet school. But concentrate on your high school grades and where you would like to go. Most every school has a Biology major with all of the prerequisites that you would need to get into a 4year veterinary school. So if you are a high schooler concentrate on getting experience, keeping grades up, but most importantly have fun with what you are doing and be optimistic, it'll save you stress later on.
I have started this blog to chronicle my journey through school. I am attending St. George's University in Grenada in about a month and decided to start this site to chronicle my journey which could hopefully help people as they try to get into the profession. The picture to the left is of SGU, just to show you where I will be doing my studies. Jealous yet?
Some background information on me. I am 23 years old with a B.S. in Biology w/ emphasis in Zoology. I got the degree at San Diego State University (Photo on the right) in December 2009. I decided that I wanted to become a veterinarian at the end of my freshmen year at SDSU. The film program I was in did not hold up to my expectations. It felt like I was wasting my time in college learning about filmmaking. It was like I didn't need to take classes to do what I wanted. So I was upset with my classes and decided to take a fun class for the spring semester. This class was The World of Animals, taught by the wonderful Dr. Bradford Hollingsworth. He really is the professor that showed me the amazing diversity of life on the planet. After realizing I liked this biology class much better than any of my film classes I decided to switch majors to Biology. This was the best decision I made in college to counter the many bad decisions. ha.
While in school I worked at Rose Canyon Animal Hospital in the Claremont area of San Diego. It was here where I got my first experiences in a vet clinic. The job really helped me learn how to interact with people, which turns out is probably the most difficult part of being a veterinarian. My three years of experience at Rose Canyon helped me gain a great appreciation for the work a veterinarian does by seeing how it helps the clients. The owners of our patients generally care more for the wellbeing of their pets than themselves. So seeing them get so happy after healing their loved one is quite an amazing thing. The team of Rose Canyon Animal Hospital is shown in the photo above. I am the guy on the far left. The white coats are the DVMs, Dr. Michael (next to me) and Dr. Barre (far right).
More to come from this blog will be steps to prepare yourself for the application process. Applying for Vet school is much more complicated than it seems. I will have some tips and tricks I have learned on how to get into the US Schools. Another option I will be recommending is going a different route and applying to the Caribbean Vet schools. With the current need for new veterinarians, and the US's lack of schools, the Caribbean supplies the most viable option for some people to solidify their dream.
This is where a lot of people get their first volunteering experience with animals. Most towns have a local animal shelter and if yours doesn't you might have to drive a little ways to find one. There are sometimes two options for working at an animal shelter. A) Paid or B) volunteer. Obviously getting paid is better for you since your time is money when in college but volunteering is a great experience. Donating your time helps the homeless animals find a family. The things you will be doing will be cleaning cages, feeding, walking, and playing with the animals. You might also work the front desk and do some paperwork. You may occasionally have a vet come in and do some spays and neuters you might get to help with if your lucky.
Working on a farm with large animals is some of the best experience you can get, even if its not what you are into. Vet schools want to admit people with large animal experience because the US government needs vets to work with dairies and poultry farms. If you have lots of large animal experience you have a 1up. To find this kind of job you kind of need to be in the right area. Find a local ranch or dairy farm and ask to owner if you can have a job. It might not be the most glamourous work but experience is experience. If he is not willing to pay you, ask if you can just help out a few days a week. Another thing you can do is contact a local large animal veterinarian and see if you can help him out. Lots of times they know the community really well and will have some contacts they can refer you to.
I got to shadow those speakers that came in to speak to my class. This is a good chance to see different aspects of veterinary medicine if you work at a small animal hospital. I got to shadow vets in the following fields: large animal, exotics, public health, military, and oncology. The more you shadow, the more you will be enlightened by the vastness of the profession. Vet schools want well rounded students so if you have experience in multiple fields you will look pretty good on paper.
I have started this blog to chronicle my journey through school. I am attending St. George's University in Grenada in about a month and decided to start this site to chronicle my journey which could hopefully help people as they try to get into the profession. The picture to the left is of SGU, just to show you where I will be doing my studies. Jealous yet?
