Admissions into Veterinary Schools

Answer 1

Getting into veterinary schools can be a tough task. Due to the small number of veterinary schools in the country, acceptance rates are quite low and requirements are demanding. In fact, studies have shown that it is statistically much more difficult to gain acceptance into veterinary school than it is to be admitted to medical school. If you are interested in applying to veterinary schools, here are a few things that you should think about during the application process.

Before applying to veterinary schools across the country, you need to ask yourself if this is what you really want to do with your career. Many people think that animals are cute and that being a veterinarian would be a great job since you can spend all day with animals, but the reality is that vets do a lot of work that is hard and tedious. On top of that, they make on average half of what a medical doctor makes in salary per year. Being a veterinarian doesn’t mean that you’ll be playing with pets all day and taking care of them. You’ll have to know how to face medical emergencies and diagnose problems in patients that cannot communicate with you verbally. On top of that, you’ll have to prepare yourself for the fact that you will have to euthanize many animals that are in your care.

If you still want to be a vet, you’ll need to have a high GPA in college. Also, check with different veterinary schools about their prerequisites prior to your junior year in college so that you can be sure to have time to take the classes that you need to be qualified for admissions. Many veterinary schools also require work experience with animals prior to acceptance. In your free time, try volunteering at an animal shelter or working part time at your local animal hospital. Make friends with the staff and the doctors there, since they may be able to write recommendations for you. Finally, make sure that your GRE score is very high, because a lot of veterinary schools will use this score to make the first cuts in their admissions process before even looking at the rest of your application. If your GRE score is not good, consider taking GRE study classes and retaking the test at a later date.