High School College Counselors and faculty play an important role in advising students regarding career and educational goals. Contact us anytime with questions or concerns, we are always happy to hear from you.

High School Courses:

Students should achieve good grades and take the highest level course available to them to enable acceptance into good colleges. Our DVM program has prerequisite courses, (English, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics), so it might be helpful to take a course or two in those subjects in high school to prepare. 

Advanced Placement:

We accept AP Chemistry and Physics with a score of 4 or higher for our prerequisite requirements.  However, we do not accept AP for Biology or English.  If the student does take AP in these areas and is granted college credit when they enroll in their undergraduate program they would take upper-level college coursework in those subjects once in their undergraduate curriculum. 

Choosing a College/University:

Encourage students to consider a using a guidebook to make their choices. They are preparing for medicine and should aspire to attend a college or university that offers them a challenging curriculum.

Choosing a Major:

We do not require a specific major in college. The student should choose a major that they enjoy and do well in, but can also fit in the required labs sciences and English courses.

Bachelor’s Degree NOT Required:

We do not require a bachelor’s degree to enter the DVM degree. We will require all the prerequisite courses be completed along with a minimum of 60 semester credits.

Veterinary Experience:

This can be gained through volunteer or paid experience with a veterinarian. While many veterinarians prefer students to be a certain age before they will let them volunteer, encourage students to ask anyway. In many cases a veterinarian will allow them to shadow for a while and come back at a later date to gain hands-on experience

Animal Experience:

High school students can gain animal experiences in a variety of ways.  It is helpful to be able to advise them on what is available in your community and assist in making these contacts.  Perhaps a file of locations and contact names.   If the student can bundle the experience into an internship this may also help them when they speak with the practice or place of business where they are looking to do the experience.  Some places may already have an internship in place. 

Summer College Experiences:

We offer 3-week summer courses for high school students in the following areas:

• Veterinary Medicine: Small Animal Practice
• Veterinary Medicine: Equine Practice
• Veterinary Medicine: Conservation Medicine
• Animal Science: Captive Raptor Management
• Animal Science: Sustainable Animal Husbandry

For more information about these classes please go to the following link www.sce.cornell.edu

Attend a Presentation and Tour or the Open House at the College of Veterinary Medicine to learn more~ http://www.vet.cornell.edu/admissions/PresandTours.cfm

Contact DVM Admissions to ask questions~ Vet_admissions@cornell.edu or (607)253-3700