Veterinary Medicine

For pre-vet students, are you aware that . . .

Students recently admitted to veterinary schools across the nation have a cumulative GPA of 3.4 to 4.0?
Majors in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, such as Animal Sciences (ANSC),(or ENBE, FDSC, etc.) provide the math and sciences courses you need for vet school?
Academic performance is the single largest factor in being invited for an interview?
After you have established academic credibility (a couple of semesters of really good school work!), you should get in touch with a veterinary school admissions professional in addition to your regular academic advisor?
You can check through the AAVMC's Vet Application Service page VMCAS for specific pre-application education requirements of each veterinary college?

Basic requirements for all schools:

You must complete 2 semesters of laboratory biology, 4 semesters of laboratory chemistry, 2 semesters of laboratory physics, 2 courses in math (e.g., MATH 113 and MATH 220), 1 writing course (e.g., ENGL101), and courses in genetics, microbiology, etc.

A word about degrees and degree codes:

In the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, some students have the academic code, 1299D, which is the Combined Agriculture-Veterinary Medicine program. Students in this code who sucessfully complete application requirements and have appropriate GPA, GRE scores, etc. may apply as Juniors for early admission. If admitted to an accredited US veterinary school and if the first year is completed satisfactorily, upon receipt of official transcripts from the vet school, UM will award the Bachelor of Science degree.

The majority of pre-vet students in our college track through the Animal Sciences' Science /Preprofessional option (code = 0104E) and are awarded the B.S. in Animal Science at the end of their degree work. They apply in the Fall of the Senior year as regular veterinary school applicants. 1299D students who do not apply eary are automatically converted to code 0104E prior to graduation. Conversely, a student in 0104E who decides to apply early may have the code changed to reflect early admission.

There is a new option in ANSC, "Animal Biotechnology, academic code 0104F, which may also serve pre-veterinary students. However, please note that some specific vet school requirements are not automatically included in this option and must be taken as electives.

Further information about careers in veterinary medicine is available through ANSC 398V, Veterinary Medicine, Options and Opportunites, offered each Spring semester.

For more information, contact Dr. Ray Stricklin

Last updated: 03/9/2009