<p>This is one of those times when it’s just great to be a parent. My daughter, who is a college sophomore, just received an early conditional acceptance to veterinary school. She has to maintain her GPA and finish her prerequisite courses, but if she does (and I have no doubt that she will), she has a guaranteed seat and can start as early as the end of her junior year. She’s bouncing off the walls! The normal overall admissions rate to this vet school is about 22%. Life is good, woo hoo!!!</p>
<p>Congrats to both of you.</p>
<p>Congratulations!!!</p>
<p>Super news…a very tough admit…congratulations to the whole family!</p>
<p>Congratulations to her- that is a great achievement!
Tell her this amusing anecdote to illustrate just what an achievement it is- my human anatomy lab partner in med school was quite brilliant, but med school was her 2nd choice…she was rejected from the vet schools she applied to! (She’s a well known pathologist today)</p>
<p>Congratulations! From everything I’ve ever heard, it’s quite an achievement to get admitted to a vet school. And as a sophomore in college! Wow! :)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your kind replies. She is a special kid and I am one proud (and soon to be in debt) Dad.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s fabulous. You have great reason to be beaming!
Child #4 is a HS freshman and has wanted to be a vet since I can remember. She voluteers over 600 hours a year with the adoption and rescue agencies around here. I didn’t know there were pre-admit programs for vet school like there are for med school. Are they common or is it just a few select schools?</p>
<p>As a horse owner who has been dealing way too much with vets lately but am so grateful to have a good one, I want to know what kind of vet she hopes to be.</p>
<p>sewbusy,</p>
<p>There are only a few such “guaranteed admission” programs which are designed exclusively for exceptionally talented high school seniors with a demonstrated interest in veterinary medicine. The programs that I am aware of are offered by the vet schools at Purdue University, Kansas State University (where my daughter is), the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Mississippi State University. There are a few other vet schools that offer more limited programs which are designed for (a) underrepresented minorities in the veterinary profession, (b) applicants who are committed to specific areas of veterinary medicine in which there are demonstrated shortages of veterinarians (e.g., food animal medicine), or (c) existing undergraduate students who may apply for guaranteed admission to vet school after completing their freshman year in college (e.g., UMass-Amherst has this arrangement with the Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine). All of these programs are extremely competitive and require applicants to meet certain academic standards (minimum ACT/SAT, high school GPA, class rank, etc.), to major in only certain subjects (usually animal science, biology or biochemistry) and to have considerable work experience with animals in order to be eligible to apply for admission. In my daughter’s case, she attended an agricultural magnet high school and had been studying veterinary science for four years prior to applying. She also completed her first year of college while in high school and entered college as a sophomore. Her stats were 4.0 GPA, 98th percentile ACT, great ECs and recommendations. She also had more than 10,000 hours of experience working with a variety of animals in many settings (veterinarian’s office, horse farm, zoo, shelter, etc.) which was an enormous advantage. All of these programs also require admitted applicants to maintain a certain undergraduate GPA, complete certain prerequisite courses, etc. and in this regard they are essentially similar to the guaranteed admissions programs for medical school. </p>
<p>Cartera45, </p>
<p>She hopes to become a large animal/equine veterinarian.</p>
<p>gbesq—what exciting news, and what an accomplished daughter! You’ve got every right to be proud!</p>
<p>and galwaymom—I laughed at your med school lab partner story. I assume she doesn’t tell her human patients that story now! :D</p>
<p>wow----what an accomplishment! I remember investigating Cornell vet school when I was in college, and the prevet courses were so much harder than premed courses. She must be a very bright, driven girl. Congrats!</p>
<p>lol, astrophysicsmom- re: my lab partner- it’s why I mentioned she was a pathologist now- her “patients” will never know!</p>
<p>gbesq,</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all of that info. D should be able to have the GPA and test scores, but I never even knew there were magnet HS for this type of study. Sounds like your daughter has had an exceptional backgraound for this; what a great nod to all of her achievements!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter gbesq- glad to hear she has chosen large animal/equine. She will be a part of many exciting advances in equine medicine - I have seen huge strides since I have been a horse owner.</p>
<p>sewbusy,</p>
<p>One thing that I meant to add in my reply to you was that if I can give you one great piece of advice about your daughter’s aspirations to go to veterinary school, it’s this: start early and do your research. We started planning for my daughter in earnest at the beginning of 7th grade. This probably sounds ridiculously early, I know, but getting into vet school is absurdly difficult because there are only 28 of them in the U.S. It’s particularly important to identify well in advance those schools in which your daughter is interested, identify their prerequisite courses for admission (they vary from school to school) and, most importantly, get lots and lots of experience working with animals and veterinarians in varied settings and keep a log of the hours worked. If can help you in any way, don’t hestitate to pm me. Believe me, I’ve become an expert on the matter purely by circumstance!</p>