Your high school student has always talked about someday becoming a vet. What guidance can you offer to help your teen prepare for an undergraduate pre-veterinary track or the diverse array of other animal-related programs? This post is part of a series about majors and pre-professional programs.
“Listen for the spark, then fan the flame.” Below, I offer suggestions for clarifying what your student’s interest is and where it may be leading; then how to further explore it, research it, and find a college and career in which it can be nurtured, expressed, and grown into a way to contribute to the world.
1. Clarify the interest. Your student has always loved animals. Is this interest personal (i.e., a pet), recreational (i.e., equestrian sports), or is it truly a vocational passion? If so, what kind of animal-related career should your student pursue? This question can be broken down in three different ways.
First, does your teen want to work directly with animals or do work that is simply “about” animals? Working directly with animals suggests a wide spectrum of careers, ranging from veterinarian, to zookeeper, to animal trainer. But many professionals do work that relates to animals without direct interaction. Examples: marine biologist, marine ecologist, or animal scientist (specializing in genetics, breeding, nutrition, agribusiness, behavior, or biotechnology). These professionals are research scientists who happen to focus on living things, from microscopic to gargantuan. Is your student enthusiastic about hands-on interaction with animals, or does he or she get turned on by investigating research questions?
Second, what kind of animal populations are of interest to your student? Children and teens are highly specific about their target animal interest areas, some only interested in companions like dogs and cats, others interested in large domestic animals such as horses, others passionate about birds or wild animals, and still others crazy about whales, dolphins or manatees. As a practical parent, if you are wondering which field is most in demand today, it is large animal vets, since so many vets choose to pursue lucrative small animal residential practices.
Third, what kind of function and setting appeals to your teen? Your student may wish to deliver medical services in a hospital setting (i.e., vet, vet technician), conduct laboratory research (i.e., geneticist, molecular biologist, food scientist, biotechnologist), carry out research in nature (i.e., field biologist), care for animals in an outdoor setting (i.e., zookeeper or wildlife rehab worker), manage an animal-related business (i.e., manager of a barn, kennel or shelter, dairy farmer, pet shop owner, dog groomer), train animals (i.e., equestrian trainer and riding teacher, pet or service animal trainer, marine mammal trainer), or create animal-related art (i.e., wildlife photographer, equine artist).
2. Evaluate the skill set. Does your student excel in math and life science? You’d be surprised at how many kids say, “I want to be a vet,” with C’s in biology or chemistry. Children grow up reading James Herriott‘s beloved classic, All Creatures Great and Small and its sequels, and are exposed to vets early in life when taking Fluffy in for a shot. A parent can offer a gentle reality check for an animal lover who cannot comprehend what is required to undertake a veterinary career. Help your teen make the connections. If a student doesn’t thrive in math and science, he or she will not survive (or enjoy) the road to vet school, one of those most difficult medical routes due to the relative supply of vet schools versus demand (number of applicants). If your student does have what it takes for vet school, there will be further decisions down the road, such as specialty (i.e., animal dentist, radiologist, ophthalmologist, oncologist, cardiologist, surgeon, etc.). The field’s come a long way since James Herriott’s day!
What if your teen is above-average at math and life science, but not geared for a decade competing in an intense, debt-accumulating academic environment, yet still passionate about working directly with animals? Take heart! There are many other rewarding careers out there (i,e., veterinary nurse or tech, vet assistant, wildlife rehab worker, zookeeper, hippotherapist, equine massage therapist, canine physical therapist). Students who want animal interaction, but who possess non-medical skill sets, can also find satisfying careers with all creatures great and small. A student majoring in psychology or animal behavior can become an animal trainer (i.e., equestrian trainer, sea mammal trainer, service dog, pet therapy or dog obedience instructor, TV/ film animal trainer). An equestrian with an animal science background and business acumen can become a riding instructor and barn manager. A shutterbug can specialize in wildlife photography, an illustrator or painter can focus on animals, and an aesthetically talented animal-lover can train to become a dog groomer.
3. Create opportunities to explore animal career interest areas. Pre-college programs offer academic exploration, although these expensive programs are not necessary for getting into elite colleges. Here are some pre-college programs related to animals worth checking out: Tufts: “Adventures in Veterinary Medicine”; Cornell: “Animal Science: Captive Raptor Management”, “Animal Science: Sustainable Animal Husbandry“, “Conservation Medicine: A Veterinary Approach“; U Penn: “VETS: Veterinary Exploration Through Science“, and U Mass Amherst: “Equine Management Program“.
Summer enrichment camps and trips offer opportunities to see what it is like working with animals as a scientist, trainer or conservationist. Marine programs abound, including: Go Broadreach; Sail Caribbean; Odyssey Expeditions; Florida’s Dolphin Research Center, Dolphins Plus, Seacamp, or American Pro Diving Manatee Camp; Maine’s Arcadia Institute of Oceanography; Whale Camp in the Bay of Fundy; Texas A&M Galveston’s Sea Camp; California’s SEA Lab or Seacamp San Diego; Hawaii’s Teen Seacamp; and Seaworld Camps in Orlando, San Diego or San Antonio. Earthwatch Institute Expeditions, NatGeo, and Sierra Club organize trips for volunteers to support research and conservation involving animals on land and sea worldwide. For horse lovers, local equestrian camps offer opportunities to not only improve horsemanship, but also to learn more about horse care and barn management.
Volunteerism is one of the best ways to explore animal careers and to gain the critical hands-on experience that vet schools, marine biology programs, and animal-related employers want to see. Your teen can serve at local animal shelters, wildlife rescue facilities and state parks. Your student can apprentice equine management by assisting his or her barn manager, or learn about hippotherapy by helping out at a therapeutic riding camp. Visit Web sites that match volunteer age, interests, and zip code to local needs, such as: Idealist.org, VolunteerMatch.org.
There are myriad programs that seek volunteer interns from around the country. Examples: California’s Gibbon Conservation Center; Utah’s Best Friends Animal Sanctuary; Arizona’s Ironwood Pig Sanctuary; Florida’s Big Cat Rescue; New Mexico’s Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary; Minnesota’s International Wolf Center; Tennessee’s Elephant Sanctuary; North Carolina’s Noah’s Landing Zoo; Georgia’s Caretta Loggerhead Turtle Research Project; NJ’s Raptor Trust and Save Barnegat Bay; and the National Audubon Society.
4. Research colleges and universities offering pre-veterinary programs. I have not found any rankings of pre-vet programs, but I suggest reviewing US News & World Report’s 2011 Veterinary School Rankings, presuming that a university with an excellent vet school will offer strong undergraduate pre-vet training. The top fifteen veterinary schools are: Cornell, UC Davis, Colorado State, North Carolina State, Ohio State, U Penn, U Wisconsin Madison, Texas A&M, Michigan State, U Georgia, U Minnesota, U Florida, Tufts, Purdue, Auburn, and Washington State.
I agree with an education portal opinion I came across in my research: “...study at a university with a top-ranked veterinary school. They often provide the best opportunities for undergraduates who wish to focus on a specific discipline in veterinary science and perform research that can impress vet school admission committees. These schools often share characteristics such as advanced facilities and award winning faculty. Top veterinary colleges often have facilities that reach beyond veterinary medicine to encompass a variety of areas within veterinary science, including nutrition, genetics and animal physiology. Facilities utilized by pre-vet programs can include research, breeding and food science laboratories. Faculty at top schools often include researchers and administrators who have worked in a variety of areas, such as food safety, epidemiology and endangered species (Degree Directory.org).”
For exceptional students who are able to commit to a specific veterinary school at the beginning of their college career, it may be worthwhile to consider a combined BS/DVM degree. Examples: Purdue’s Vet Scholars Program, Tufts’ Early Acceptance Program (for undergraduates enrolled at Tufts, U Mass Amherst, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Vermont), University of Georgia, and University of Florida.
Since there are only twenty-eight veterinary schools in the U.S., many students consider doing their graduate training at AAVMC accredited schools in Canada, the Caribbean, the U.K., or Australia. St. George’s in Grenada and Ross University in St. Kitt’s were accredited in 2011. StudentDoctor.Net forums offer discussions of pros and cons of studying outside the States.
5. Encourage your student to explore long term career trajectories. Suggest informational interviewing with family friends who work in the field. What are the rewards and frustrations of careers with animals? Is getting into vet school really possible today? How difficult is it to find employment in high supply-low demand fields, such as marine mammal trainer positions? How does an animal worker in a low compensation category make ends meet? Urge your son or daughter to try to shadow a veterinarian, biologist, animal trainer, barn manager, or any other professional whose career with animals appeals to your teen.
Related reading: Vetting: The Making of a Veterinarian by Dr. Pete Freyburger, Get into Vet School 2012 by Joseph Piekunka, Careers with Horses: The Comprehensive Guide to FInding Your Dream Job by Vicki Hogue-Davies, Opportunities in Marine Science and Maritime Careers by William Ray Heitzman, Starting Your Career as a Marine Mammal Trainer by Terry S. Samansky, and Great Jobs for Biology Majors by Blythe Camenson. Related posts: Preparing for Pre-Professional Programs: Pre-Medicine and Pre-Dentistry, Preparing for a Major in…Marine Science. From careerblog: What Is Informational Interviewing?