Welcome to Vet School!

The Lincoln Memorial University-College of Veterinary Medicine Inaugural Class of 2018 after the White Coat Ceremony on August 15th.

On August 13th, 2014, ninety-six people from across the country gathered in the Math and Science Building, anxiously awaiting the start of orientation. Dr. Gil Burns, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, took the microphone to officially welcome the Inaugural Class of 2018 to the United State’s newest College of Veterinary Medicine. It was an indescribable moment for me–everything I’ve been working toward since I was a junior in high school was finally becoming true. I was starting vet school!

All Creatures Great and Small

One of the most exciting parts of veterinary medicine is getting to work with many different breeds and species of animals; it’s what separates veterinary medicine from human medicine. Whenever I tell someone that I’m starting vet school, they always ask about the program– the length, clinical rotations, internship and residency requirements–especially since this is LMU-CVM’s first class of students. In previous posts I’ve discussed the application process that I went through this past year to become part of the first class. Now, I want to talk about LMU-CVM’s program as well as the classes and experiences that I will be going through over the next four years.

“Vetting” the Field, Part 2

In Part One, I talked about my experience in human clinical research. In addition, I got to work with several vets (in the capacity of shadowing, for the most part) so that I could get a realistic view of large and small animal work and the differences the two practices present. Some of my classmates had thousands of hours of veterinary experience from working in practices; I only had a few hundred, but I had the opportunity to hear the doctor’s reasoning about why they thought the animal had [X] disease and they were going to proceed with [Y] treatment because I was shadowing instead of working as an assistant. Admissions committees want to see that an applicant has put thought and gained real life experience in the field of veterinary medicine so s/he know what s/he is getting into down the road. Veterinary medicine is less glamorous than often portrayed!

It’s All About The Animals, Part 1

As I’ve mentioned in past posts (see The End is Only the Beginning Part 1 and The”Perfect” Application”), animal experience is incredibly important in the veterinary application process. This experience allows for applicants to understand an owner’s perspective and to feel more at ease when working around different species. For instance, I have a lot of experience with horses and dogs, but not cats; other people in my class have a TON of dog and cat experience, but don’t feel comfortable around large animals. A lot of this variation is because of our future professional interests: I want to work with horses, while others want to focus on small animals, whether that be in shelter medicine or running a practice.

My 2012 Wrangler Family
(photo: Jenna James)

I got my start in working with horses at the meek age of eight. My family and I were planning a vacation, and my dad goes, “Why don’t we go to Estes Park, Colorado?”. So my mom gets on the computer and starts Googling (keep in mind, this was in 2001 and Google wasn’t as huge as it is today) and finds Wind River Ranch, a Christian Family Guest Ranch, in Estes Park. We spent a wonderful, action-packed week out at “the ranch”, riding horses on trails and in the arena. I was hooked–my dad didn’t know what he had started! For my birthday later in the summer, I asked for horseback riding lessons. We were able to find a local stable that offered lessons, so my brother and I started lessons in October 2001. Over the next few summers, we headed back out to the ranch for more weeks of fun and riding adventures.

The “Perfect” Application

This isn’t QUITE fair, because getting into med school is tough too!

Along my pre-vet journey, I’ve done a lot of research in to the 30 veterinary medical schools across the United States. There are a lot of helpful websites and blogs out there on getting admitted to vet school and how to be the “perfect” applicant, like Student Doctor Network and this blog that post tips about the application and even offer coaching and personal statement proofing (for$200 an hour-what?!). If you compile all of this information, like I did, you would basically find the components of the perfect applicant, according to previous applicants (not admissions committees):

1.  >3.8 GPA
2. >1000 hours of veterinary experience in ALL fields (small, large, farm, and zoo animals)
3. >1000 hours of animal experience in several fields (small, large, and farm animals)
4. 90th percentile GRE scores (verbal reasoning >162, quantitative reasoning >164, analytical writing >4.5)
5. 1000’s of hours of community service & extracurricular activities, especially where you are in a leadership position