Veterinary Medicine

Veterinarians are medical professionals who promote and protect the health and well-being of animals. They diagnose and control animal diseases and treat sick and injured animals, as well as advise owners on proper care of their pets and livestock. A veterinarian provides a wide range of services in private practice, teaching, public health, research and other areas. There are also veterinarians that specialize in food safety and inspection, and others are research veterinarians.

Observing and Volunteering – the best way to determine if this is the right career choice for you is to observe and volunteer in a veterinary practice not just once or twice, but many times. You can also volunteer at a rescue shelter, a zoo, a wildlife ranch and/or an equine facility. In fact, the more chances you have to volunteer/observe in many different areas of veterinary care, the better you can understand if the profession is for you.

The daily life of a veterinarian varies depending on where the veterinarian works (private practice, group practice, mobile practice, zoos, aquarium, state fishery, etc.), and although you may have a great love for animals, there may be cases in which an animal needs to be euthanized (for various reasons) and you may be the person making that decision.

What should I major in? – In deciding a major (remember, vet school admissions committees don’t care what you major in), you will want to check to see which pre-requisite courses are already in the degree plan for that major. Then you will need to check to see where you can add the rest of the pre-requisite courses into the degree plan (usually free electives). This is where visiting with an academic advisor within that major can greatly help you with this.

Required Coursework – These are the courses that you need to have taken and have made at least a “C” in; although, grade expectations are higher.

Please note: All prerequisites and information are subject to change at any time without notice. It is the responsibility of the applicant to remain up-to-date on all requirements.

• *OCHEM 227 & 228 are required
• **BIOL 112 is required
• ***BIOL 112 is required AND the TAMU Vet School will accept yet it is not the preferred course

Required Veterinary Experience – These experiences are the times that you actually spend with a veterinarian, either helping or observing care. You must have experience with a veterinarian in small animal care and large animal care. The requirements state “at least 100 hours” but most successful applicants have many, many more hours. Begin a log of hours that you spent during high school and keep all hours during your collegiate career for you will need this listing when you fill out your application. Don’t rely on memory.

Required Animal Care Experience – These experiences are any times you have spent with animals, whether volunteering at a shelter, walking animals, cleaning out kennels, fostering an animal, or any time you help with animals when a veterinarian is not around.

Again, the more hours you accrue, the more competitive you will be.

Note: You can use any hours that you have animal care while in high school so if you were in FFA or 4-H, showed animals in livestock shows, volunteered at an animal shelter or any other help with animals, all of those hours count as well. So keep a log also of animal care hours- high school as well as while in college.

Leadership, Extracurricular Activities, Evaluations and Academic Rigor – These activities help you become a more competitive applicant for admission; therefore, we encouraged to get involved in student organizations, volunteering and community service.

What is the GRE? – The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is a multiple-choice, computer-based, standardized exam that is required for admission to most Texas veterinary schools.  This exam consists of 3 sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing.

Most students take this exam in the spring or early summer of the year in which they apply. The exam can be taken on weekday mornings or afternoons and your score is given to you at the conclusion. You can take the exam more than once, yet you must wait 30 days in between testing.

When to apply? – Students should be ready to apply the summer BEFORE they want to attend veterinary school. Many students apply to veterinary school during the summer between their junior and senior year of college if they plan to attend veterinary school the fall after they graduate from college.

For the Texas A&M Veterinary School, the Texas application (TMDSAS) opens on May 1 and will close on Oct. 1. For other out-of-state schools, the national application (VMCAS) opens in June and closes on Oct. 1.

For Texas students, it is strongly suggested to work on the Texas application throughout the summer and submit by August 30. That way, the student can concentrate on ensuring that supplemental materials have been transmitted by Oct. 1, have time to fill out the secondary application, and concentrate on fall classes that are beginning.

Aug. 30 Arbitrary Deadline:

1. Texas application (TMDSAS) submitted and paid. This will include the personal statement (on the application) which is very important for it is your chance to let the admissions committee know all about you and your motivation.
2. Graduate Record Exam Scores – Have taken test and submitted scores to Texas A&M University (#6812).
3. Evaluation forms – Forms should be either 1) out to evaluators or 2) evaluators have already sent to TMDSAS. The Texas A&M Veterinary School requires three evaluation forms with at least one from a veterinarian you have worked/shadowed/volunteered with. Many students get two or three from veterinarians.
4. Transcripts – Students should ensure that transcripts have been sent from ALL colleges you have ever attended (including dual credit) to the Texas application service (TMDSAS).
5. Secondary Texas A&M application – There is a secondary application for the Texas A&M Veterinary School that you will fill out and send directly to the Texas A&M vet school.

If you plan to apply to any out-of-state veterinary schools, please check with the pre-veterinary advisor. She can help you decide where to apply and what your chances are of being able to attend an out-of-state school and costs:  these are very big factors to consider.

If you have decided to apply to out-of-state schools, the above timeline is very similar for the national application (VMCAS). Just be sure and fill out the Texas application first.

Application Workshops – We will host Veterinary School Application Workshops during the months of April/May each year. These will be announced on the pre-vet Aggie listserv.

Additional Resources – The following are other resources to research when considering a career in veterinary medicine and/or the application process.

• Explore Health Careers
• AAVMC
• Texas A&M Veterinary School
• TMDSAS
• VMCAS

Student Organizations

• Texas A&M Pre-Veterinary Society
• Aggies for Animal Rescue (AAR)
• Aggie Guide-Dogs and Service-Dogs
• Patriot Paws of Aggieland

Texas A&M University Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences – College Station
The DVM Professional Program curriculum is a four-year program with three years of classroom and laboratory instruction and a final year of clinical rotations in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH). It’s designed to give future veterinarians a solid foundation in disease recognition and clinical competency.

The college views the selection of students admitted to the DVM Professional Program as a priority and a responsibility to Texas A&M University and to the veterinary medical profession. CVM faculty members make up the Selections Committee. Most of the vet school’s first-year classes have 50% to 60% of Aggie graduates.

Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine – Amarillo
This program just welcomed their inaugural class for the fall 2021 semester. They have strategically grown their faculty and staff and are ready for classes to begin. Now that they have accepted their first class of students, they have been placed on Provisional Accreditation status by the AVMA COE.

They are now accredited, albeit provisionally, at this point. They will remain on Provisional Accreditation until the class of 2025 nears graduation, at which time they anticipate receiving Full Accreditation status based on AVMA COE evaluation. Students graduating from a school or college with provisional accreditation are afforded all the privileges of students from fully accredited programs.