My D24 has been accepted to UCDavis, UW Madison, and UMass Amherst. We’ve visited all within the last year. She can’t decide between them. We live in Seattle. Distance is a con for UW and UMass, cost is highest for UCD, but we can probably make it work. Taking cost out of the equation and looking at just the program itself, what are pros/cons of the schools? She cares about hands on opportunities (the earlier the better), research opportunities, collaborative not competitive environment, access to professors. She knows the difficulties of going down this path, so no opinion needed on that. Which school will best prepare her and position her for a strong vet school application?
Not sure how you can take costs out of the equation since Undergrad + Vet school is a large price tag especially if you are paying OOS costs.
The majority of UC Davis Vet school admits come from UC Davis and so that is obviously a plus but not a guarantee of admission.
Based on her wants UC Davis seems like a very good option but Animal science is one of the largest majors in the College of Agriculture so plenty of competition. I cannot comment on the other two schools
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UMASS is an EXCELLENT pre vet school. Did you visit that program specifically? The farm etc is amazing. Also if you maintain a certain GPA I believe you can get an automatic acceptance to Tufts vet school which is incredible. Vet school is harder to get into than med school.
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We just visited UMass this past week. She loved it. We couldn’t make an admitted student day but the animal science dept offered a senior student ambassador to show us around the Hadley farm. It was so nice of them to do this and my daughter loved all the opportunities that even freshman get to do hands on work at the farm. Our student ambassador was recently accepted to Tufts vet school. It is not an automatic admit but she provided lots of advice on how she got there. It’s the farthest away but also the lowest cost because my daughter received some merit. It’s a great option. Just so far!
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All three of these schools are excellent for animal science. I think that any of them could prepare your daughter very well for applications to DVM programs. Congratulations! I can see how this is not an easy choice to make.
If your daughter is serious about keeping open the option of becoming a DVM, then you should keep in mind the possibility of paying or at least helping quite a bit for a full 8 years of university.
Being a veterinarian is a great career for some people. However, you have to be drawn to it. Academic strength is important. Determination, hard work, and the willingness to put up with things like reaching inside a cow and being pooped on are just as important, as is dealing with dying animals. Also, veterinarians do not make enough to pay off the full cost of getting through all 8 years of university.
One daughter is in the third year of a DVM program. She reports that most students in the same program are taking on too much debt. This is something to minimize as much as possible, and preferably avoid at least for the first four years. She also appears to be very happy about her choice to become a DVM and the effort to get there.
And yes, hands-on experience is important.
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Thanks for the feedback. And yes, she is mentally prepared (or as much as she can be at this age) to deal with all those downsides of being a vet. It seems that every person who comments to her about being DVM mentions the “butt” thing :), poop, bites, dying animals, etc. I agree it takes a special person to be willing to handle these things. Like you say, they must be drawn to it. I believe she is. Cost is an issue for everyone because it is a 8 year commitment but if we base our decison on that, then Oregon State or Colorado state are her cheapest options. We fortunately have the means to make that not our only criteria.
My son is in Animal Science at UMASS-Amherst. I cannot say enough good stuff about the program. Access to animals and research and way more access to professors than I would have expected at such a big school.
A couple things to consider:
-everyone starts in Animal Science. There are three or four concentrations you select later on, ability to elect pre-vet is based on achieving a certain benchmark in core classes. I think it is a B-.
-there is an articulation agreement where high performing students can apply to Tufts in sophomore year. Acceptance is not guaranteed. If accepted they must maintain a certain GPA for the remainder of their undergraduate career.
-there are different types of opportunities with other vet schools.
-merit award is conditioned on “satisfactory” progress, so easier to maintain award.
-I recommend joining a residence academic program “RAP” related to the major.
Good luck!
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What is a residence academic program?
It’s like a living learning community.
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Curious why Colorado State is not under consideration. Did she visit and not like it as much as the others? CSU is a fantastic option for pre-vet.
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These are also very good universities, with very good DVM programs. I quite liked Fort Collins when we visited. I am pretty sure that I have never visited Corvallis but I have heard good things about both the town and the university.
It sounds like you have quite a few very good options.
Which does make it more difficult to decide which one to attend.
We did visit Corvalis. She didn’t love the town. It’s the closest to Seattle but it just didn’t make an impression on her. We have plans to visit Fort Collins in April. It’s another WUE school so we feel that cost is a consideration we don’t want to dismiss without visiting. As for WSU, there is a decent probability she will apply there to vet school in 4 years and being instate she will have preference but the idea of being in Pullman for 8 years is not something she wants (and I don’t blame her). Net net, she has wonderful options. It’s just finding the right fit where she will be able to thrive academically, mentally, and socially.
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