US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student
US Citizen
State/Location of residency:
NC
Type of high school (or current college for transfers):
Public
Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)
N/A
Cost Constraints / Budget (High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Intended Major(s)
Animal Science with Pre-Vet Track, Zoology, Biology
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: (calculate it yourself if your high school does not calculate it)
3.77
Weighted HS GPA: (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
-4.36
College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
Class Rank:
-215
ACT/SAT Scores:
List your HS coursework
(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)
AP Bio, AP Psych, AP CS, AP ES, Chem Honors, AP Stat, Spanish I and II, Animal Science I, AP US Gov, AP WH, AP Precalc, AP Lang
Awards
NCSEF, NCSAS stem awards, Eagle Scout
Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Animal Internship, Working at a Local Pet hospital, Museum Internships
Schools (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)
NC state ED, Purdue ED, UNC Chapell Hill ED, UNC Charlotte, ED, ECU ED
It’s good that you’ve got some animal experience in your extracurriculars. If you’re pre-vet you can of course major in anything you want while completing the required prerequisites for vet school. That’s great because almost every college in the country offers a major in biology, for example.
I am curious about a few things:
What can your family afford to pay per year for college?
Will you qualify for financial aid? Do you know your approximate household income?
I notice you only have listed large public universities with professional vet/med programs. What are the reasons you’re interested in this type of school?
If you didn’t end up attending vet school (for whatever reason), what would plan B be?
One daughter just got her DVM a few weeks ago, so this goal is something that we are familiar with. I do not think that her high school stats were all that different from yours. I think that this is possible.
And this is a good start at making sure that you want to do it and getting relevant experience.
You can’t apply to more than one university ED. Hopefully you mean EA, which is a good plan if you can get your applications done in time. I do not know ECU, but this looks like a good list to me.
Getting a DVM is a tough 8 year marathon. Quite a few students (including my daughter) take a few years off after getting their bachelor’s degree before starting their DVM, which of course can make it take more than 8 years.
8 years of university is expensive. You want to avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree if you possibly can. Leaving some money in the college fund to help pay for the DVM program would be even better if it is possible. You have several very good in-state public options which hopefully can help in this direction (and I am happy to see your list is full of very good in-state universities). I am pretty sure that UNC also has a very good DVM program. I haven’t specifically checked, but I would be willing to bet that their DVM program has students from pretty much all of your in-state public universities, and quite a few other undergraduate schools.
My daughter has mentioned multiple times that most of the students in her DVM program were taking on way too much debt, and did not want to talk about it. Minimizing cost is important.
The required pre-vet classes are the same as the required premed classes. Quite a few of these classes are going to be very tough, and they are all going to be full of very strong premed students. As an example at one point she referred to organic chemistry as “the most difficult B- that I ever had in my life”. Fortunately she had enough A’s in other classes to make up for it. Then she got to her DVM program and said that on average the classes were just as tough as organic chemistry. She needed to step up her already-strong study intensity to match.
So, this is a long and challenging and expensive path. You will be bitten. You will be pooped on. You will most likely be stepped on (hopefully by something that is not too large – for example you might want to keep your distance from any Bison that you happen to come across unless they are unconscious). You will want to keep up on your rabies vaccinations. You will work exceptionally hard for many years, and will end up with a career which still involves hard work. Being a DVM pays reasonably well, but not well enough to make up for the difficult path it takes to get there nor the cost of the education to get there. You have to be driven to do this.
And for my daughter being a DVM is absolutely the right path for her. She wouldn’t want to do anything else, and she is thrilled to be starting her first job as “Doctor TwoGirls” (not her actual last name) in the very near future. She is driven to do this and right now is right where she wants to be.
I have said before on this forum that it takes multiple types of skills to become a DVM. Of all the skills that are needed, determination might be the most important.
Looks like you have all great schools, including a bunch of in-state options. As others have said, it’s a long expensive process, so going in state for one or both degrees is helpful. It is true that you can attend most colleges/universities and major in anything as long as you take the requisite courses (many pick Animal Science/Biology/Zoology)
A couple items to consider:
Opportunity for Animal/Vet/Research hours:
If you attend a land grant university with a farm and R-1 designation (very high research activity), you’ll have opportunities to gain experience with a variety of animals and potentially assist with some research (though this is harder given the current administration).
Percentage of graduates accepted to vet school:
I’d look for something around 80% or above. It tells you something about the strength of the academics and advising. You have to look closer to see what’s behind the numbers. Schools with very high rates may weed out students in the first two years.
Agreements with Veterinary Schools:
et asides, early admission or accelerated programs. Some schools may have opportunities like these.
What can your family afford to pay per year for college?
30ish
Will you qualify for financial aid? Do you know your approximate household income?
No
I notice you only have listed large public universities with professional vet/med programs. What are the reasons you’re interested in this type of school?
I wasn’t really interested in out of state but thought of selecting a few, I want to know if I will make it to NC state.
If you didn’t end up attending vet school (for whatever reason), what would plan B be?
Clinical research, microbiology, wildlife Biology but not sure if I may get paid well and probably I have to end up doing a phd.
Oddly enough my other daughter is getting a PhD in a field related to microbiology or cellular biology. This is another path that takes determination. She is more interested in lab research rather than clinical research, I think (if I have the terms right).
One difference is that for someone working in biomedical research, research funding is important and can be intermittent. Some struggles may be needed to find funding. For a DVM, once you get there, you need animals as patients and you need that some human is motivated to pay to treat their animals. At least to me it seems like there will always be animals that need medical care. Humans have been using animals to supplement our food sources for about as long as there have been humans.
Another difference is that a PhD is typically fully funded, with a stipend that is (minimally) enough to live on. While some modest family support can be helpful to a PhD student, it is not strictly needed and “modest” support is all that is even desirable.
It at least looks to me that a lab environment is often very clean, and they seem to make a lot of effort to keep it clean and sterile. An environment with large animals is often not so clean, even if it is as clean as they can get it to be.
A DVM takes four years (my daughter knew a very small number of students who due to some glitch will end up taking five years, but this is unusual). A PhD will usually take longer than 4 years, and might take 6 or 7 years. The failure rate for PhD’s is typically larger, although some students who start a PhD end up getting a master’s degree instead and then get a job.
If you end up going for a DVM then you will want to get quite a bit of experience in a veterinary environment. If you end up getting a PhD and going into research then you will want to get quite a bit of experience in a research environment. However, you can certainly get a bit of both while you are an undergraduate student. You can get experience in either area (or both areas) after you get your bachelor’s degree and before applying to graduate programs.
And which of these paths that you take will largely depend upon just which you want to take. You can get some experience in veterinary situations and some experience in research environments and just see what feels more right to you.
The undergraduate classes that you will need to take will have a large overlap between these two areas. You can certainly take quite a bit of time to decide which of these two paths to take, and it is possible to decide this even after getting a bachelor’s degree. Some students will of course start off with these two paths as possible options, and then decide to do something else. We each figure it out over time.
@Gdude would you like some other suggestions that might work in terms of affordability and chances of acceptance? Other colleges that are not in NC? You have Purdue in your list…wondering if you want suggestions of other colleges?
I think you certainly have a chance at NC State, though I would not consider it an extremely likely admit based on your class rank (i.e. top 40%ish). If you are in the RDU our Charlotte areas, then I think your odds are lower than they would be if you were in a different area, but that certainly doesn’t mean your chances are impossible. It does mean, however, that you should find some additional schools that you would be happy to attend that would be affordable and extremely likely to admit you. If those are UNCC and ECU, that’s great.
If you’re looking for other schools that could meet the $30k budget for you, let us know, including what it is you want out of your college experience (like size of classes, importance of sports/Greek life, vibe of campus, type of students you hope to find, particular interests you want to pursue, climate and/or geography considerations, etc).
Purdue is a non starter if your budget is $30k. A school like Ms State would be a flagship in budget and has a strong rep in animal science. Closer to home WVU has an animal sciences major and would hit cost after auto merit.
But you noted two great in state Carolina back ups already. But neither appears to have Animal Science. NC A&T does in state.
Yes please suggest some other colleges also just to look at the program. But I am more settled with local colleges, if I am going to do vet med for 8 years then I better save my parents money by not going out of state and choosing between ECU and UNCC.
To me size of class or Greek life is not important but colleges that can give me good internship opportunities and very good lab facilities if I end up choosing Plan B to do microbiology or Biology ending up doing clinical or lab research.
NC State has some really excellent programs for your interests, and with in-state pricing, it’s a hard option to beat. But some other schools you may want to consider include:
For small to medium-sized schools:
Ohio Wesleyan: About 1500 undergrads at this school in a Columbus suburb. It’s well-known for its zoology program and also has a number of research opportunities, including in microbiology. Here’s the departmental website: Department of Biological Sciences | Ohio Wesleyan University
SUNY Oswego: About 5700 undergrads. You can read about its zoology program and it also has other majors that could be of interest.
Berry (GA): About 2200 undergrads. You can read about its animal science program, and there may be other majors of interest.
SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry: About 2300 undergrads and students can cross-register for classes at Syracuse U. next door. Within its bio department there are majors in Aquatic and Fisheries Science, Conservation Biology, Environmental Biology, and Wildlife Science, depending on what type of animals you’re interested in.
U. of Oklahoma: About 22k undergrads. Its bio major offers significant depth in studies of various animals.
Ohio U.: Within its bio department there are majors in wildlife and conservation biology; marine, freshwater, and environmental biology; among others that could be of interest.
Oklahoma State: About 21k undergrads. Possible majors of interest include Animal Science, Zoology, or Natural Resource Ecology and Management (with fisheries/aquatics, forest, rangeland, and wildlife) as options along with a Wildlife Biology and Pre-Veterinary Science option.
Where available, take a look at the auto merit charts to see how much you would qualify for. Run the NPC, and if it asks for your academic stats, that is usually the minimum that you would receive. I’m least optimistic about Michigan State meeting budget, but it might not be entirely out of the realm of possibility. I suspect that a good number of the schools I listed above would grant you enough merit aid to come within budget or pretty close.