College advisors and faculty play an important role in guiding students throughout their college education. We are happy to offer some advice as you guide your students.  Please know we are always happy to hear from advisors and faculty as questions arise.

Prerequisite Courses:

Provide your students with a guide of courses to should focus on as part of a pre-vet program:

• Full Year of English Composition or Writing Intensive Courses; 6 semester credits. 163 Verbal GRE score will satisfy this requirement.
• Full Year of General Biology or upper level biology with labs; 6 semester credits.  Note if student comes in with AP biology, then they would need a year of upper level biology with labs.
• Full Year of General or Inorganic Chemistry with labs or AP chemistry with score of 4 or higher; 6 semester credits
• Full Year of Physics with labs or AP physics with score of 4 or higher; 6 semester credits
• One semester of Organic Chemistry (lab recommended); 3 semester credits
• One semester of an Advanced Life Sciences Course; 3 semester credits
• One Semester of Biochemistry; 4 semester credits.  If the biochemistry  course at your college is worth 3 semester credits, advise your students to do one of the following (in recommended order):
  • Take a biochemistry lab
  • Take a second semester of biochemistry
  • If the full year of organic chemistry  with labs exceeds 6 semester credits, then one credit can be used toward the lacking biochemistry credit

Important Notes:

• All prerequisite courses much have a grade of C minus or better
• All labs must be on-campus labs (not virtual or by home lab kit)
• Students can apply lacking up to 12 credits of prerequisite course work pending completion by the end of the spring term prior to enrolling.
• A bachelor's degree is not required to enter our Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree program.  We require a minimum of 60 semester credits. 

Veterinary/Animal/Biomedical Research Experiences:

Veterinary Experience: We recommend students have some hours in veterinary medicine. We do not have a required number of hours, but enough to gain an understanding of the profession and provide the admissions committee with information on how the experience has helped inform your decision to pursue this career.

Breadth of Experience: We also encourage applicants to have some breadth of experience (different species in different environments). This would include an experience in veterinary medicine along with additional veterinary, animal husbandry or biomedical research experience for some depth with different species.

These experiences can be volunteer, paid, through an internship, etc. As you advise more students, ask where they did their experience and build a database of places students could take advantage of.

Internship Experience: Internship experiences can be a good way to not only gain experience, but also some credit recognition.  Assist the student in finding these internships so you are also aware of these opportunities.

Research: As an advisor you may be aware of the research faculty are conducting at your institution. It is helpful to connect interested students with the relevant faculty to gain research experience.

Making Connections with Cornell and other students

Pre-Vet Connections: Many pre-vets feel on their own among many pre-med students. As you become aware of these students try to connect them with each other. Introduce students to the pre-vet club, if one is available. If you know advisors at other local colleges, see if you can connect pre-vet students from different colleges.

Pre-Vet Club Saturday: We offer a Pre-Vet Club Saturday in October. Any Pre-Vet Club (big and small) is encouraged to register and attend! 

Open House: Our Annual Open House is typically the second Saturday in April and many pre-vet clubs come as a group to this program. This is a way for the pre-vet students to meet each other as well as learn more about Cornell.

Video Conference Presentation: If we are unable to travel to your college or university, contact the Director of Admissions to set up a video conference presentation or Skype meeting. This is the next best thing to being there and a great opportunity to connect!

APVMA- Connect your students with the American Pre-Veterinary Medical Association.  They hold a symposium each March. www.APVMA.org