Letter to dvm360: Getting into veterinary school early not that uncommon

I'm writing in response to Rachel Ellerd's recent article on how to get into veterinary school without an undergraduate degree (dvm360.com/noBS). A bachelor's degree has actually never been a requirement; similarly, an undergraduate degree is not required for many medical schools or law schools (and in some states you don't need to go to law school to become an attorney-see Kim Kardashian).

Fulfilling the actual requirements doesn't take four years if one takes a heavy course load. Had I had good counseling and known that the University of Georgia reserved 10 seats for Maryland residents, I likely would have gotten in in two years, as 10% of my class did-I got in my junior year, as 20% did. Having accrued 110 hours in three years I was able to parlay an undergraduate degree in absentia. (I did this to please my father, a government-services executive who worried I might drop out my junior year to get married and he'd have paid for six years with no degree, whereas “with any degree I can get you a job in the government.” What can I say? It was the '70s.)

My only “animal” experience was two summers at the Washington National Zoo, feeding worms to marsupial rats. I followed that with the best two summers of my life as a park ranger at the Grand Canyon. I never worked in a veterinary clinic until my senior-year externship. (In other words, I had no idea what I was getting into; I am not recommending that!) How schools choose students may change over time, but I think GPA still reigns supreme. Mine was based on A's in humanities, soft sciences and math, not chemistry and physics.

I fully agree one needs to research what's required and which school one is most likely to get into. And yes, yes, a thousand times yes-if you have a choice, choose the “cheapest” of the established continental U.S. veterinary colleges; you will not learn more than a small percentage of what any of them can teach you. (It's a different story at the internship and residency level.)

Once I met a young woman attending Tufts. I noticed her car had a Virginia license plate. I inquired, and she said the DVM she worked for had said she should go to Tufts-as if in four years she would learn more there than at Maryland-Virginia, or perhaps the degree would have more cachet (after all, it's “almost the Ivy League”). I didn't say what I was thinking: If you have any sense, someday you'll smack that guy for ridiculous advice that cost you (or your parents) an extra $100,000.

Patricia Burke, DVM

Providence, Rhode Island