Department of

Veterinary Medicine

The general pre-requisite courses for Colleges of Veterinary Medicine are shown below in the table. These requirements can vary widely by institution so students are strongly urged to obtain information from all the schools of interest and be sure to incorporate the required courses into their four year plan.

COLLEGE OF VETERNINARY MEDICINE
REQUIREMENTS		 MBC EQUIVALENTS
English (6 hrs.) ENG 101 and ENG 201
Calculus (3 hrs.) MATH 211
Statistics (3 hrs.) MATH 213 or PSYC 250
General physics with labs (8 hrs.) PHYS 201-202
General chemistry with labs (8 hrs.) CHEM 111-212, 214L
Organic chemistry with labs (8 hrs.) CHEM 112-211, 213L
Introductory biology with lab (4 hrs.) BIOL 111-112
Genetics BIOL 222
Microbiology with lab (4 hrs.) BIOL 255, 256L
Biochemistry (3 hrs.) BIOL 324
Humanities/social sciences (6 hrs.) basic studies
Business/finance (6 hrs.) any business or finance course, including accounting and economics

All of the above courses must be completed with a C- or better grade. All but two must be completed by the end of the fall semester during which the students applies. The remaining courses must be completed in the spring semester. Students are encouraged to take as many courses as possible to reflect a liberal, but targeted education.

  •  BIOL 224 (Cell Biology)
  •  BIOL 328 (Molecular Biology)
  •  BIOL 354 (Comparative Vertebrate Physiology)
  •  BIOL 355 (Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy)

By the spring of your junior year you should take the GRE exam (some schools require the VCAT), then over the summer begin to complete the VMCAS application (www.aavmc.org/vmcas.htm). By fall semester of your senior year you should submit the application through VMCAS. Letters of reference are an important component of the process so it is extremely important that you contact your referees very early in the process.

In addition, most schools require completion of the Graduate Records Examination (GRE). This test consists of three sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing. Each of the multiple-choice sections is scored on a scale of 200 to 800. The average scores for the GRE are about 470 for Verbal Reasoning and 570 for Quantitative Reasoning. The Analytical Writing section is scored on a scale of 0 to 6. Some schools require that applicants take the GRE subject test in Biology. Applications to take the test can be obtained online (www.ets.org/gre/) or by contacting:

GRE-ETS
PO Box 6000
Princeton, NJ 08541-6000