Hey lizzie733,
There's a lot of previous talk on the forums about this; run a search for "large animal experience," and you'll get enough reading material to keep you busy for a while. With that said, I'll try to sum it up (though I'm really not known for my brevity...
).
This is kind of like asking a prof how much you really have to study for an exam.Is there a set amount you
need? No. I know people who got in with essentially (or actually) zero large animal experience; most worked quality time with lab animals and/or with small animal vets. Personally, I had lots of experience with horses (though just one solid summer of working as a vet assistant with horse vets themselves), about a year volunteering at a SPCA shelter, and some miscellaneous other animal experience, but
zero practical experience with the stereotypical "large"/food animals (e.g., cows, pigs, sheep, goats, etc.).
So, do you even
need "large" animal experience to get in? Honestly, I'd say no...with the caveat that those people better have good quality experience with the other animal fields, and at least a general understanding of the concept of large animals. Vet and animal experience comes in with the BIF, which is really more of a screening mechanism (i.e., to make sure you have seen animals of at least some type before, you have good quality vet experience of some kind, you're not some crazy person who hates all cats and will only work with alpacas, etc.). What they really want to see is that you have put in an effort to get experience, and
especially vet experience, and have at least some variety in there (i.e., not just one clinic with one vet). They want to see you've made an effort to get out and see the vast array of opportunities available in this field.
Another important consideration is that they're more interested in
quality experience than just raw quantity. Close, hands-on, practical work in-the-field shadowing vets and working with animals (large or small), even if it's just for a relatively short time like a week, will count for a lot more than something like cleaning cages at a shelter for a year.
I'd say you have a really good start already with volunteering in the OVC large animal ward, shadowing at a small animal clinic, and your horse "experience" (just be careful that it's actually experience they would consider applicable, since they're kind of funny about how they define their horse experience for the purposes of the application. Basically I think they just want to make sure it's not like people just went out on trail rides or something). You have a good start on a decent mix and amount, so keep doing what you're doing, and the more you can get the better.
Now, I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here with some other points, which, though maybe not directly answering your question, I think are still important. After I've just said you don't really
need large animal experience to get in, why would and
should you do it? Honestly, though I like working with the largies, I know there's a good number of people who would be perfectly happy to go though life (not to mention just the vet program) without having to get even remotely close to a cow.
WELL...:
[/b] You
WILL have to get close to cows (and horses, sheep, pigs, etc.)...and in 2nd year, actually a lot closer than some people might wish...
The reality is that the vet program is both small
and large for at least 3 years, so the more experience and comfort you have with large animals coming in, the more it will be to your benefit.
[2] It will broaden your understanding of the different opportunities available in vet med, which I think is really what the admissions people are gunning for. They want to see you are a well-rounded person and are going into this with a good amount of commitment.
[3] I think most people who apply have at least
some experience with large animals, so this is kind of expected. I have mentioned people who had zero large and zero equine experience, but this is more the exception than the rule.
[4] Do an Internet search for the kinds of MMI questions vet schools like to ask. People quickly find they're not just asking about dog and cats, but also about goats, cows, pigs, sheep, horses, and pretty much any other animal out there. The more of an understanding you have of the intricacies of the different fields, the more prepared you will be to better answer the interview questions. With that said, they're
not asking you industry specifics like what "milk fever" is, how a pig barn works, or what kinds of vaccines are core for horses; what they
do want to see is that can speak logically about different kinds of situations involving animals, which will be a lot easier if you have at least a general appreciation of the different fields.
[5] In my experience, once you've proven yourself interested, I've found large animal people are generally
a lot more open to getting you more directly involved and doing hands-on work with the animals/patients. Even for people who
will just be small animal in the future, most of this experience is directly transferable (e.g., the diagnosis process, suturing, drugs, client interaction, etc.), so you're really getting a jump-start on key skills, no matter what field you end up going in to.
[6] You
might actually find you
like working with large animals; you definitely wouldn't be the first. There are a decent number of people who come into the program
convinced they want to be strictly small animal vets who, once they get in and start getting to actually work with the largies, find it's actually a lot of fun. One of our profs now came in "
knowing" he was going to be a small animal ophthalmologist; he ended up going into mixed animal, and worked a lot with cattle. One of the great things about the program is you at least get the opportunity to work with a wide range of species, so you can find what you like; for some people it reinforces their previous decision, and for others it opens up whole new worlds they had never thought of before.[/ul]
OK, somewhere way up there I told you I wasn't known for my brevity... so here's my tl;dr:[/u] kinds of experiences as you can
[/ul][/b]
).