The Path to Vet School

Components of a successful applicatnt  Good Grades  Animal Experience  GRE score  Leadership/Invovlement  Personal Statement  Letters of Recommendation

Academics  Put forth your maximum effort  Try to keep your grades up in your earlier years of college  Get help before its too late ( Broward Teaching Center, Office hours, Study Group)

Animal Experience  Need to have at least 1000 hours bare minimum of 500 ( depends on applicant)  Try to make your experiences diverse ( small, large, exotic, research)  Summer is the best time to obtain these hours; less hectic with course schedule

Animal Experience cont’d  Small/Large Animal Clinic  Livestock handling  Zoo/wildlife center  Humane Society  Animal Services  Spay/Neuter facility  Study Abroad opportunities

Volunteer places in gainesville  Alachua County Humane Society Alachua County Humane Society  Animal People Inc. Animal People Inc.  EARS EARS  Florida Wildlife Care, Inc. Florida Wildlife Care, Inc.  Gainesville Pet Rescue Gainesville Pet Rescue  Gainesville Rabbit Rescue Gainesville Rabbit Rescue  Helping Hands Pet Rescue Helping Hands Pet Rescue  Home Van Pet Care Project Home Van Pet Care Project  Lubee Bat Conservancy Lubee Bat Conservancy  No More Homeless Pets No More Homeless Pets  Operation Catnip Operation Catnip  Puppyhill Farm Puppyhill Farm  Retirement Home for Horses Retirement Home for Horses  Two Tails Ranch Two Tails Ranch

GRE SCORE  Try taking a free practice exam  Vocabulary- make flashcards and study  Use prep materials such as Kaplan, Princeton Review,  Learn the format of the exam in order to b more comfortable

Leadership/Involvement  Membership in organizations  Research Involvement  Study Abroad  Internships  Doing something fun ; that you are passionate about

Personal Statement  Reference your experiences during volunteer opportunities and other memorable experiences  Be genuine  Get a professor as well as a few friends to review it and give you feed back  Broward teaching center is a great resource  Please do not say you want to be a vet because you love animals (this is very cliché answer)

Letters of Recommendation  Get to know your professors early; go to office hours  Ask early so if you are applying during the summer; start asking in Spring

Applying to vet school  VMCAS org  When does the VMCAS open?  Check the prerequisites of each school  Fees for applying Advisors/Veterinary-Medical-College-Application- Service.aspx

DON’T PANIC What to do if you don’t get in the first year?  - Find out what your weaknesses are and work on improving it  -Ex: if need more experience try getting a job at an animal clinic  Ex: if your GPA is not competitive consider doing a 1 year graduate program in Animal Science for Biomedical studies

Resources  Pre- health advising with CLAS - Workshops on how to be competitive - Reviews of personal statements - Mock interviews - Small group applications Volunteer

Time line  Freshman year- Grades and Animal Experience  Sophomore year- Grades, Animal Experience, Practice GRE  Junior Year- Grades, Animal Experience, Real GRE, application (during summer)  Senior Year- Keep grades up, prepare for interviews, Good Luck

BE YOURSELF  Acknowledge your strengths and embrace them  Work on your weaknesses even after you have applied ; you may have to discuss them through an interview process