One daughter just graduated a couple of months ago with a DVM. We have some experience with this.
This is a long path. Being a veterinarian does not pay as well as being a human doctor. Thus it is a good idea to avoid debt if possible, at least for your bachelor’s degree. If you can save some of your college funds for the DVM program that would be even better. My daughter has said that most of the students in her DVM program were taking on way too much debt, and that most did not want to talk about it. The minority of students who were taking on little or no debt also did not want to talk about it largely to avoid making the first group feel bad, but will be in better shape down the road.
This is a path that requires quite a bit of determination.
The required undergraduate pre-vet classes are the same as the required premed classes. UC Riverside has a good medical school and I would expect is very good for the premed / pre-vet classes. My daughter took a few optional veterinary specific classes and I do not know whether UCR has these.
My daughter and I both think that her experience was a big part of what got her accepted to several DVM programs. Part of this was experience in a veterinary office. There almost has to be veterinary offices somewhere near UC Riverside where you could volunteer. However, part of this was large animal experience. I am not sure how you would get this at UC Riverside. Some of her large animal experience involved volunteering on a farm when she was in university. However, some of her large animal experience came after graduating with a bachelor’s degree and before applying to DVM programs. I am not familiar with Riverside and do not know whether there are farms in the area. It would be possible to take a gap after graduating with a bachelor’s degree and take time to get the relevant experience.
I do not think that I have answered your question, but hopefully these are at least some things to think about.