Pre-Veterinary
About the Profession
Veterinarians are medical professionals that licensed to care for pets, livestock, zoo, sporting, and laboratory animals by treating sick and injured animals as well as control animal diseases. Veterinarians work with people in advising proper care of animals. Some veterinarians use their skills and knowledge to conduct clinical research.
Preparation Starts Now
From the time you begin college, you are assembling a complete dossier with which to apply to veterinary schools. Veterinary Medicine is a very competitive program; applicants pursuing a veterinary program are expected to have:
- Completed a bachelor's degree in any major
- Completed veterinary school course requirements
- Achieve excellent grades; overall and science GPAs should, at a minimum, be at a 3.5
- Admissions Examination; there are variances in required exams. Some schools require the Graduate Record Exam whereas others require the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT)
- Letters of Recommendation: academic and clinical
- Extensive experience working with animals is essential; some schools require a varied experience with a set number of hours (i.e. over 1000 hours including both large and small animals in a veterinary setting)
Course Requirements
Start planning as a first year student to meet the following course requirements for Veterinary Medicine. Below are the courses at SUNY Geneseo that are recommended you complete based on the requirements for College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University:
Course Requirements |
SUNY Geneseo |
Notes |
| One year of Biology |
BIOL 117 and119 BIOL 118 and 120 (labs) |
Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring)
|
| One year of General Chemistry | CHEM 116 and 118 CHEM 119 and 129 (labs) |
Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring)
|
| One semester to one year of Organic Chemistry | CHEM 211, 213, and 216 (lab) | Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring) |
| One year of Physics |
General Physics: PHYS 113, 114 (lab), 115, and 116 (lab) OR Analytical Physics: PHYS 123, 124 (lab), 125, and 126 (lab) |
Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring) |
| One semester of Biochemistry | BIOL 335 or CHEM 300 |
Full academic year preferred Pre-reqs for BIOL 335: BIOL 117, 119 and CHEM 211 Pre-reqs for CHEM 300: CHEM 213 and 216 |
|
One semester of Advanced Life Science course:
|
BIOL 300 - 400 level | Be mindful of course offering schedule as well as prerequisite courses |
| 2 semesters of English | INTD 105 and one ENGL course | INTD 105 is the Basic Communication General Education requirement |
*Check with schools for specific course requirements. Schools may require additional coursework not listed above.
It is recommended that course requirements are completed at SUNY Geneseo, but there are instances where a student would need to complete one or two courses elsewhere. If that is the case, it is suggested that coursework be completed at a four-year higher education institution. All course requirements must be taken for a grade and demonstrate mastery, no lower than a C, for most professional schools.
State Residency
Most veterinary colleges, as publicly supported institutions, have policies regarding the number of out-of-state students they will admit. Keep this in mind as you research schools; consider determining how many non-residents each perspective school will admit. As a New York resident, Cornell University of Veterinary Medicine is a public veterinary college in the state, and may be your best prospect for admission.
For more information on veterinary colleges in the US, visit The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC).