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Pre-Veterinary Medicine
Background Information
Graduates of veterinary medical programs receive a D.V.M. and work in the public and private sectors. Approximately 75% of graduates are in private practice, but veterinarians are also employed by the US Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Interior in the Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and municipal and state governments. Other veterinarians find employment opportunities in medical research and laboratory animal care facilities. Information regarding career opportunities in veterinary medicine is available at
http://www.aavmc.org/students_admissions/students.htm. For an executive report on the future of veterinary medicine read the attached pdf file entitled The Current and Future Market for Veterinarians and Veterinary Medical Services in the United States.
The requirements for specific schools of veterinary medicine vary considerably, and it is recommended that pre-veterinary students identify potential schools by the end of their sophomore year. There are 27 accredited schools of veterinary medicine in the United States, and they may be accessed through the web site of the AAVMC.
Admission to schools of veterinary medicine is extremely competitive; for the academic year 1999-2000 approximately 33% of the applicants were accepted and enrolled in veterinary medicine programs. Slightly more than 35% of the applicants were repeat applicants, and the applicant pool was 72.4% female. The number of applications has tripled since the early 1990s.
Examples of Prerequisites
As an example of application requirements, the requirements for admission to the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine are:
Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores (General Test and Writing Assessment) -
http://www.ets.org/gre/ -
College courses (minimum required or highly recommended):
General Biology/Zoology - 2 semester courses with labs Genetics - 1 semester course with lab General Chemistry - 2 semester courses with labs Organic Chemistry - 2 semester courses with labs Biochemistry - 1 semester course Physics - 2 semester courses with labs English - 2 semester courses with writing components Speech - 1 semester course Statistics - 1 semester course Calculus - 2 semester courses Humanities, Social Sciences - 4 semester courses
Experience with animals and practicing veterinarians Interview - to assess motivation, degree of maturity, and general character Volunteer service and leadership experience
Primary Contact Information:
Student Services Hall
1240 Lynn Hall
School of Veterinary Medicine
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1240
Phone: (765) 494-7893
FAX: (765) 496-1261
http://www.vet.purdue.edu
Professional Societies
Other Career Options
Students interested in working with animals may also consider careers in basic animal medical science and pathology (Master’s and Doctoral degree programs or combined D.V.M./M.S. or D.V.M./.Ph.D. programs). See the Purdue web site (http://www.vet.purdue.edu/admissions.html) for an example of graduate programs available.
An additional career pathway is as a Registered Veterinary Technician. For information regarding programs, consult the American Veterinary Medical Association listing of accredited programs at:
http://www.avma.org/.
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