How much do you know about the path required to become a veterinarian?
This is a long and demanding path. It requires academic strength. It requires compassion for animals. It requires a lot of work. You will see animals die, and will be bitten, and will be pooped on. Possibly more than anything else it requires a great deal of determination. It also requires that you find a way to pay for 8 years of university.
One daughter has just started her fourth year of a DVM program. If all continues to go well she will be a veterinarian in a bit less than a year. This is the correct path for her. She loves it and is doing well. However, she is drawn to this career and has a very strong determination to do it.
First you need to get a bachelor’s degree, while completing the pre-vet requirements. The required pre-vet classes are the same as premed classes. These will be very tough classes, and will be full of academically very strong premed students. While getting her bachelor’s degree my daughter also took some optional but valuable classes such as “lameness in horses” (which apparently was a difficult class). She also look part in a program over the summer where you look after a small herd of dairy cows. This included cleaning up after the cows, but also including given them shots and giving them pills. Apparently cows don’t swallow pills, so you place the pill inside the cow. She also helped to pull a baby cow out of its mother. She loved it.
After this, but just before she started applying to DVM programs, I told her that I was impressed that she had reached inside a cow three different ways. She gave me a very strange look, then said: “Dad, which way don’t you know about?”.
There are a lot of universities (hundreds of them) that are very good for premed students and which are also very good for pre-vet students. Getting accepted to a university that is very good for a pre-vet student is probably not that large of a problem. A 3.4 high school GPA should be fine. However, the premed/pre-vet classes that you will take in university will be tough, and you will want to keep a university GPA that is somewhat better than a 3.4. Perhaps learning how to do well in tough classes is more important right now compared to keeping up your high school GPA.
After you get your bachelor’s degree, then you need to get accepted to a good DVM program and do well in the DVM program (which is another 4 years). Admissions to DVM programs will depend upon undergraduate GPA, test scores, your experience with animals some of which will need to be in a veterinary situation, and your letters of reference. It is possible to pick up veterinary experience while you are an undergraduate student (whether during the school year or over the summer). However, some students take a year or two or three off after getting their bachelor’s and before applying to DVM programs. My daughter and I both think that her experience with animals including a wide range of veterinary situations and her references (including references from two veterinarians) were a major part of what got her accepted to multiple DVM programs (you only need one acceptance, of course).
Throughout all of this you will want to pay attention to the cost of your education and try to avoid or at least minimize loans as much as you can. As such it does make quite a bit of sense to consider your in-state public universities. I think that you should consider other public universities in Florida in addition to UF.
One other thing that is worth mentioning: When my daughter started her DVM program we got to listen in to the opening reception via zoom (the COVID pandemic was still going on). We got to hear where each incoming student had gotten their bachelor’s degree. It was rare to hear the same school mentioned twice. The various incoming students in the program had gotten their bachelor’s degrees at a very, very wide range of different universities. Most had gotten their bachelor’s degree at a university that did not have a DVM program. Many had majored in either biology or animal sciences, but some had majored in other subjects.
In terms of extracurricular activities, I would suggest that you do what is right for you. Shadowing a vet is good. Volunteering is good. Do what is right for you. Whatever you do, do it well and treat people well (or at least fairly). Veterinarians do need to deal with people (every animal comes with a human).
), and I was wondering what steps I can take to become a vet? I wanna go to the University of Florida to major in biology and try to apply to their vet school. But is my plan of attack good enough? I have a 3.4 GPA, and I’ll try to raise it for my 2nd semester, I’ve already taken 3 AP classes (got an A in 1, and B in 2 :/) and the exam, and I’m currently studying for three more for next year’s exams. As a junior, I’ll study for the SAT and 2 APs(stats and bio), and if I do well in the SAT, I’ll take dual enrollment at UF, as either a junior or senior(microbiology and stats). So far, I think my academics are okay…but my extracurriculars? Super bad. I’ve only been in a youth group and homeschooling group for not even 6 months as a tween. I’m thinking about shadowing a vet clinic over the summer, and maybe see if there are any local food drives nearby that I can volunteer in, and I’ve also been looking at the Young Arts competition. I don’t have any physical clubs to join, so I was wondering if virtual clubs would work as well. I’d really appreciate it if anyone could give me some extracurricular ideas/ interesting hobbies (esp in literature, creative writing, cooking, or basically just using your hands lol)
I appreciate it!
