Veterinarians care for the health of animals. They diagnose, treat or research medical conditions and diseases of pets, livestock, and animals in zoos, racetracks and laboratories.
From the time you begin college and your pre-veterinary medicine program, you are assembling a complete universal application to apply to these professional schools. Veterinarian schools will review your application as a whole; you can work with your advisors to provide a competitive application.
Prospective veterinarians must graduate with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M. or V.M.D.) degree from a 4-year program at an accredited college of veterinary medicine. There are 30 colleges that meet accreditation standards set by the Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in the United States and 19 colleges outside of the U.S.
You are not required to select a particular major in order to be eligible for admission to a Veterinarian program. In selecting a college major, consider how you will satisfactorily complete the prerequisite courses for your designated program in addition to the college/university's degree and major requirements. Work with your academic and/or pre-veterinarian advisor to plan your course schedule.
You have the option to choose from a variety of undergraduate majors to prepare you for a veterinarian program. Suggested undergraduate majors include Biology, Biochemistry, and Chemistry.
Most programs look for a minimum undergraduate cumulative 3.0 GPA but the average GPA for matriculates is a 3.6 cumulative and a 3.5 in the sciences. Keep in mind these numbers are averages and various schools can have their own averages that are higher or lower. Also, these averages are climbing higher each year and admission to veterinary medical schools is more competitive than ever. Be sure you take your studies seriously and put in the proper time for reading, studying, and review for each course.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics data regarding careers in veterinary medicine can be found here.