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Pre-Veterinary course of study?


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No experience, but possibly something of interest to you. Texas Tech University is working on starting a new Vet. school. It will be in Amarillo TX.  They will try for funding/approval when the Legislature meets during 2017. It will probably be patterned after the Vet. school at the University of Calgary. if my memory is correct. To train vets who can not only work with household pets, but with large animals  for food and fiber.    GL to your student!.  I would take a guess at  Biology or Pre Med or Pre Vet.

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I have one who is interested in that path.  We met with a vet and her advice was not to go directly to vet school.  Instead, she encouraged DD to start working at an animal hospital (not just a shelter) as early as possible.  Vet tech and Vet assistant are fantastic careers with far less cash laid out to get started.  

 

Her reason for this advice wasn't the cost of the schooling though.  She said that she graduated with many people who liked the idea of working with animals, but didn't really know what the position involved.  There is far more interaction with humans than pets - many times upset or defensive humans requiring lots of hand-holding.  The happy end-result isn't always guaranteed, and that can be hard emotionally.  Her final reason was what she called the "poop to puppy ratio" - She interacts with more poop, vomit and blood than puppies.  Anyone who can make it through those working conditions and still be passionate enough to want to study vet science as a career has what it takes to make it.

Edited by Plink
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Plink wrote some excellent stuff in post #4. I think many well meaning people (animal lovers, all of them) go to Vet. school not really understanding what is involved.   I think in TX there is only one vet. school (Texas A&M University in College Station) and that it is much harder to get into the Vet. school there than into Medical School. And the earning power of vets. is much lower than that of an M.D.

 

But a lot of a Vet. practice involves animals who have been in horrible accidents or have some terrible disease.  Our late Rottweiler had some terrible problem that my wife now believes is in the DNA of ,many Rottweilers.   His right rear leg was amputated, and a few days later we thought he was going to come home and then the vet. called and told us the dog had died.   He was such a sweet friendly wonderful loving dog that the vet. and I think the other people who work there cried after he died.. That was about a month ago and was a hard experience for our family and also for the vet.

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I have one who is interested in that path.  We met with a vet and her advice was not to go directly to vet school.  Instead, she encouraged DD to start working at an animal hospital (not just a shelter) as early as possible.  Vet tech and Vet assistant are fantastic careers with far less cash laid out to get started.  

 

Her reason for this advice wasn't the cost of the schooling though.  She said that she graduated with many people who liked the idea of working with animals, but didn't really know what the position involved.  There is far more interaction with humans than pets - many times upset or defensive humans requiring lots of hand-holding.  The happy end-result isn't always guaranteed, and that can be hard emotionally.  Her final reason was what she called the "poop to puppy ratio" - She interacts with more poop, vomit and blood than puppies.  Anyone who can make it through those working conditions and still be passionate enough to want to study vet science as a career has what it takes to make it.

 

My daughter wants to be a vet or work for a zoo. I've been trying to get her to be able to volunteer at an animal hospital, or honestly even a shelter, and no one around here allows it under the age of 18. There are a few programs through pet stores that allow kids 16 and older to stand next to pets during an adoption event, but nothing really useful. It's driving me crazy. 

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If you have a local vet school I would check and see if they have an open house. Texas A&M here does. They also have webinars programs you can sign up for given by the vet school students. Dd attended several over the last two years- some were extremely helpful. Between attending all of those and seeing the actual school cost to salary ratio, my dd changed her mind, which is ok. At least she made a well informed decision. She had wanted to look at focusing on the zoo program and then learned there is ONE national internship available a year in most cases.

 

There aren't very many vet schools in the US, so assuming you're here you could easily pull up the entrance requirements. Most will tell you the required undergrad work. That will be more than enough to point you the right way. The A&M webinars also had segments on vet school entry and all sorts of advice. They're very worth your time if your student is interested. I can find you the sign up links- PM me if you're interested and I can dig them out of my email. The website is kind of a rabbit hole.

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My daughter wants to be a vet or work for a zoo. I've been trying to get her to be able to volunteer at an animal hospital, or honestly even a shelter, and no one around here allows it under the age of 18. There are a few programs through pet stores that allow kids 16 and older to stand next to pets during an adoption event, but nothing really useful. It's driving me crazy.

The vet offices here locally work with the public schools and start internships at 14. You might check and see if your PS has a vocational training program and then if so, see if the vets would be open to you applying as a homeschooler. Our animal control meanwhile has the 18 rule, so might be worth checking through the school. I know everything varies so much by state though.

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Here are the websites I mentioned earlier: 

 

http://peer.tamu.edu/

 

http://peer.tamu.edu/VBB/VideoPresentations.asp

 

I can't remember how we got on the mailing list for the webinars, but it was buried somewhere in those links. I'm sure if you subscribe to enough things there eventually you'll end up on the right list. :) We learned about them at the Vet School Open house last year and probably attended five webinars over the course of last school year. It's all free and provided by Texas A&M. 

 

Here are the descriptions of just a few of the webinars dd participated in last year through the PEER program. It is primarily designed for TX public school children, but I never had any issue registering from my home (non .edu email) with one student attending.  

 

2015: 

Monday, August 3rd - Orthopedics: Down to the Bone

 

   Veterinary students answer the question "What is orthopedics?" They discuss the structure of bone with a hands-on activity to learn about fractures and what part bone density plays in where fractures occur. Students will also learn about bones as levers and how to calculate forces. (Grades 9-12)

 

 

Tuesday, August 4th - Animal Behavior: From Wolf to Woof

 

  Veterinary students explain the history behind domestication of dogs and the science behind animal training. An interactive activity teaches students just how hard it is to teach an old dog new tricks. (Grades 8-12)

 

 

Wednesday, August 5th - Nutrition: Food and Digestion

 

   Veterinary students discuss the importance of nutrition for both people and animals, and use a simulated veterinary case study to give a real world application. They will also teach a digestion game to demonstrate what happens when digestion works properly and when it functions incorrectly. (Grades 9-12)

 

 

 

Thursday, August 6th - Introduction to Stereology and Quantitative Microscopy

 

   Histology professor Dr. Larry Johnson will explore and describe both digital and electromagnetic microscopic cell and tissue images. He will then demonstrate tools to statistically analyze various aspects of the cell or tissue in order to draw conclusions about structure and function.

 

 

 

Edited by texasmom33
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We are very limited in giving our children all the experiences they say a homeschooler can have.  Thru the craziness of military life my oldest has held onto the dream of veterinarian.  She's done shelters and local zoo.  She's read all that she can find that is animal related.  There been some very interesting books that child has read and I though the medicine and care of the human body was alot (prior nurse here).  

She just did a college visit that does have a veterinarian program and got a list off all the pre vet classes she need to complete before applying.  Now she has spoken to a handful of people in the veterinarian world,  and all have gone to a few colleges prior to vet school. Right now she is doing all non math, science, and elective classes online that she can do while in her Jr/Sr of high school.  She likes to be in a class for mathematics and science.  Since she will actually go to a college for those, they are at the bottom of the list due to price.

She gets her licence soon and then she can start her road for interning, employment, volunteering at one of the many SPCAs, veterinarian offices, pet stores (nearly all have some type of clinic in them).

There are a few more colleges to go check out this year, thankfully all within a 1500 miles from home.

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I have one who is interested in that path.  We met with a vet and her advice was not to go directly to vet school.  Instead, she encouraged DD to start working at an animal hospital (not just a shelter) as early as possible.  Vet tech and Vet assistant are fantastic careers with far less cash laid out to get started.  

 

Her reason for this advice wasn't the cost of the schooling though.  She said that she graduated with many people who liked the idea of working with animals, but didn't really know what the position involved.  There is far more interaction with humans than pets - many times upset or defensive humans requiring lots of hand-holding.  The happy end-result isn't always guaranteed, and that can be hard emotionally.  Her final reason was what she called the "poop to puppy ratio" - She interacts with more poop, vomit and blood than puppies.  Anyone who can make it through those working conditions and still be passionate enough to want to study vet science as a career has what it takes to make it.

 

This is really good advice. What a vet actually does can be very different than what a young person thinks the vet does, or what that person wants to do.  

 

Another factor is what the institution expects from its students. There are only 2 veterinary colleges in Canada, and the competition to get in is fierce. The cost to the institution to graduate a student through the program is very high, so their expectation of what each student will do with their degree is perhaps quite different than the student may want to do with their life. They want people who will work in the agriculture industry, who will continue working after their degree (so no SAHM), or even date during college.  This may be a little different than US colleges, where the students pay for more of the actual costs. Apparently it's very expensive to dissect elephants and such. 

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