PRE-VETERINARY STUDIES
WHAT IS PRE-VETERINARY STUDIES?
Pre-veterinary is the course of study you take to prepare for admission to veterinary medical school. Not a major, per se, pre-vet is rather a guiding principle for your education designed to increase your chances for admission to veterinary schools. If you are interested in applying to veterinary school, meet with your pre-vet advisor early in your freshman year. Gaining admission to veterinary medical schools is highly competitive—more so even than medical school—and you will want to begin planning your undergraduate curriculum with this in mind.
WHAT COURSES DO YOU NEED TO TAKE?
While biology remains a popular pre-veterinary studies majors (because it allows you to easily fill veterinary school prerequisites), you do not have to major in biology to gain acceptance to veterinary medical school. Understanding that veterinarians need an understanding of everything from government regulations to small business management, veterinary medical schools look for students with diverse educational experiences, compassion, and a commitment to animal health. Veterinary schools do, however, require certain courses for admission. You will need at least one year of general biology or zoology with labs, one year of organic chemistry with labs, one year of inorganic chemistry with labs, one year of general physics with labs, one year of English, one quarter in statistics, one quarter in college algebra or pre-calculus, and one quarter of genetics. Be sure and check with each veterinary school to find out their individual requirements for admission.
Veterinary schools also look at your extracurricular involvement and your commitment to the animal medical profession. Many students volunteer in clinics, conduct undergraduate research in the sciences, or shadow veterinarians as a way to learn more about the profession.
These classes might also be helpful when it comes time to gaining entrance to veterinary medical school:
- Biochemistry
- Genetics
- Microbiology
- Human Anatomy
- Human Physiology
- Zoology
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A PRE-VET MAJOR?
Most individuals use an undergraduate degree in biology for a background to further their education for health careers in medicine, veterinary school, physical therapy, dentistry, and optometry, to name a few. A bachelor's degree in biology with a teaching certification qualifies you to teach at the middle school and high school levels. Many undergraduates are employed as lab technicians for hospitals, medical schools, and pharmaceutical companies. At the local, state, and federal levels, governments hire biology majors for positions with the forest service, fish and wildlife divisions, and the Bureau of Land Management. In addition, private industries employ biology majors to monitor environment concerns, such as factory locations and waste disposal.
Students, who go on to get their D.V.M. degrees can choose to work in a small animal hospital or go on to careers in public health, equine or large animal medicine, production animal medicine, and many other areas.