In article <lruble.827781235@copper> lru
...@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Lisa Ann Ruble) writes:
>From: lru
...@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Lisa Ann Ruble)
>Subject: Re: becoming a vet
>Date: 25 Mar 96 19:13:55 GMT
I am a third-year vet student at Michigan State University and I thought I
should point out that contrary to what Jim says, most applicants are not
accepted. I don't know about other universities, but at MSU the year I
applied (1992) there were 650 applicants and 150 were accepted. Usually about
50 of those accepted decline and go elsewhere or do something else, and in
that case, a few more will be accepted to bring the class size up to 100. The
advice to move to a state with a vet school is very good. Tuition for in-state
students is about $5,000 a semester and for out-of-state students is $10,000 a
semester. Even if you're in state, you can plan on being $40,000 to $80,000 in
debt by the time you finish, and that doesn't include whatever debt you ran
up in undergrad. In addition, the course work is extremely difficult and the
hours are long. We have to learn the anatomy, physiology, behavior, and
medical problems of so many different animals - and they are all unique! The
amount of information we are expected to know to pass the board exam is
mind-boggling - it literally encompasses 30,000 + pages of reading material
(and we have to know it in detail). The worst part, though, is having to deal
with dying and unwanted animals. That goes without saying, I guess.
Layle
>Ian makes many good points on the desirability of a general sciences
>education and the necessity of having a fall-back option in a more
>more traditional field like chemistry (where bachelors degreed
>graduates apparently currently have good employment probability).
>> Plus, a LARGE number of people who want to get into veterinarian
>> are not admitted.
>Approximately 2/3 of applicants were accepted in most states
>during the 90's, with a progressive slight decline particularily evident
>in 94-95. (Much higher than I was always led to believe.)
>Probably the most important aspect is what state you live in, as
>there is an unusual "in-state" acceptance policy in almost all
>insitutions. If your state does not have a Veterniary Medical
>College, you would be well advided to move to one that does.
>It appears to me that if you i) have established experience
>working with animals, ii) have better than average grades
>and test scores, iii) you live in a state with an acredited
>institution , you should not have a problem being among
>the majority of applicants which ARE accepted in most
>state programs.
>> The only real problem with getting a bachelor's degree in biology is that
>> if you don't get into veterinarian school, you will have trouble finding
>> a good job; a PhD is essential for employment in science.
>However, having a PhD in biology will at this time surprisingly
>MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT to find a permanent job. Sounds perverse,
>but it has been a fact for almost a decade now. A Biology BS with
>some lab expereince (eg.independent research project) will find numerous
>job opportunities around the country as a academic or industrial research
>technician,while the opportunities of the Masters degreed biologist will
>be
>more limited, with the PhD finding the least number of avialable
>positions,
>and facing the greatest competition for an increasingly limited
>number of positions.
>This is not the "conventional wisdom" as it does not well-serve
>the academic and government research infrastructure of the
>US, which runs almost entirely by the hard work of the
>"graduate students" and "postdoc interns" who are the
>unrecognized crticial cog in research world. Attempts to
>perpetuate what has become designated "The Myth" of
>an ever-impending shortage of PhD scientists and engineers
>has been a policy initiative of the relevant governmental
>agencies such as the Departmental of Labor Statistics, in
>spite of the facts of a explosion of qualified PhD's in the
>sciences (several thousand in biology a year in the US) and
>an academic job market which has been static and shrinking
>since the mid seventies. Typically today there are 2-300
>qualified PhD applicants per industrial research position in biology
>and almost twice that for academic positions at well-known
>schools.
>Both the medical and veterinary fields have avoided this discouraging
>situation by essentially "unionizing" (AMA, etc.) and limiting the number
>of "liscensed" individuals and degree granting institutions (in the
>case of Veterinary Medicine). Overall then, ones future seems quite
>secure as a veterinarian, it would seem, although the pay is relatively
>low compared to the training required ($30,000+ for the junior
>partner) It is possible to do better though marketing and
>practice ownership for the ambitious individual.
>Go for it, its not as "selective" as usually suggested.
>Jim
>J. Graham PhD
>Biology Department
>Washington University of St. Louis
