Success Happy

Do successful applicants to vet school usually have much practical experience?

When it comes to applying to vet school, how important is experience? Do successful applicants usually have experience working in a clinic? If so, how much and what kind of experience is typical of someone entering vet school? Finally, can anyone recommend steps an undergraduate might take to make herself a more desirable candidate for a vet program?

Public Comments

1. Yes the practical applicants should have experience's
2. If you would like to get into a veterinary school, experience is usually a requirement (or if not directly stated as a requirement it is strongly suggested). Different Vet schools have different requirements, so if you know where you want to go to school you can check their website. For example, Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine www.cvm.msu.edu suggests 40+ hours of experience. This can be done either working in an animal clinic, or with a traveling Vet. This is called job shadowing and if you call a veterinary office they should be willing to accommodate you. The more experience that you have the better you will appear as a candidate for vet programs across the country.
3. You should have at the very least, done some shadowing at a vet clinic or hospital, or with a large animal vet, depending on what you think you want to end up in. Or if you're not sure, you can do many different types of shadowing. It may not be very important to the school, but it will certainly help you out as you are learning, and to make sure that is what you want to spend your time and money on. Contact a local Veterinarian and ask if you can shadow them for a week or two. Then you basically follow them around and help out as much as they let you. Now, if you are more interested in going into research, it may be near impossible to get any shadowing experience there because they have strict security. Any experience you get though will be helpful, even if it is just volunteering at an animal shelter or working at a pet store. If you want to go into large animal medicine or exotics, make sure you contact people in those lines of work. Wildlife rescue programs are always glad to have volunteers and helpers, and many farmers look for extra help in the summer with calving and things. It would also be a good idea for you to start thinking about getting your preventative Rabies series.