Pre-Veterinary Medicine Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

UAF Pre-Veterinary Medicine Adviser:

Todd O'Hara, D.V.M., Ph.D., Diplomate ABVT*
*American Board of Veterinary Toxicology
Associate Professor of Wildlife
Wildlife Toxicology Laboratory
Alaskan INBRE program
Institute of Arctic Biology
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 757000
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000
Phone: 907-474-1838
Fax: 907-474-2799
E-mail: fftmo@uaf.edu

NOTE: I AM CURRENTLY UPDATING THIS WEB SITE. PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH SPECIFIC QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS THAT MAY NOT BE ADEQUATELY OR CORRECTLY ADDRESSED BELOW!!

Alaskan residents interested in a career in veterinary medicine could have, up until 1993, applied to a variety of Veterinary Colleges by registering with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE Program). The WICHE program enabled an Alaskan resident to obtain the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree without paying out-of-state tuition. Alaskan residency may now be a hindrance to pursuing a professional education. DO NOT EMBARK UPON THE PRE-VETERINARY PROGRAM WITHOUT LEARNING HOW RESIDENCY WILL AFFECT YOUR FINANCIAL PLANNING!

Pre-veterinary requirements for all the veterinary schools may be completed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Students may be accepted into a veterinary medicine program after 3 years of study or after completion of a BS or BA degree (many possible majors). A degree is not required to apply to one of the veterinary programs. There is no harm in applying a few times to a vet school so don't be discouraged if you are turned down!

Be sure to plan your courses as if you are going to get a degree from UAF. I can advise you in Biology and Wildlife but if you are majoring in a different department I suggest you obtain an advisor in that department and I will act as a co-advisor to ensure that pre-vet requirements are met. Don't worry about your major, Vet Schools will accept you from any discipline (even music) as long as the pre-vet requirements are completed. Plan ahead, you don't want to get caught having to take an extra year to finish a degree!
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

1. GRE (general test) - Scores must be no more than 4 years old (5 years at some schools). Do not write the test any later than October of the year you apply. If you are going to apply to UC-Davis you must also write the biology test!
2. Veterinary Medical Exposure and Animal experience - No formal requirements but it is very important to acquire this experience.
3. You will need to get three references for your application, one of which MUST be from a veterinarian.
4. Although the WICHE Program in Alaska has not funded new students since 1993 it is probably still worth getting certified. You never know what the legislature will do from one session to the next! Be sure to get certified before October 15 of the year that you apply to vet school! The WICHE Program in the State of Alaska is administered through the Alaska Commission on Post-Secondary Education.

INFORMATION AND PAMPHLETS ARE AVAILABLE FROM MY OFFICE. IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT APPLYING TO A VET SCHOOL ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE, PLEASE COME AND SEE ME NOW!

PRE-VETERINARY REQUIREMENTS -- UAF COURSE LISTING

I provide the UAF courses that fulfill the pre-veterinary requirements for the following Veterinary Schools (WSU, OSU, CSU, UC-Davis, KSU). If you want to apply to a different program please contact me (ffab@uaf.edu) so we can determine the appropriate courses. I will gradually start adding course equivalencies for additional veterinary schools. Please be aware that this course listing can be used as a basis for a BS in Biology from UAF. Click here for a sample program that will lead to a BS in Biology while fulfilling pre-veterinary requirements for most programs. Worksheets for a BS in Biology are available from the Department of Biology and Wildlife, UAF. Please talk to me if you want to complete a BS in Wildlife Biology -- this is a very intensive program and combining it with a pre-veterinary program will require some very careful planning and a lot of work!

LEGEND:

WSU: Washington State University Pay attention to general education requirements at WSU if you intend to apply before getting a B.S. degree from UAF (or anywhere else). Part of the WOI Regional Program.

OSU: Oregon State University Part of the WOI Regional Program.

CSU: Colorado State University Please note that CSU modified its pre-vet requirements in 1990 and markedly reduced its required courses. However, you must have at least 68 semester credits and most of their required courses have prerequisite courses that must be taken.

KSU: Kansas State University Kansas State University is not a WICHE school but they have maintained a contract with Alaska to take 1 student per year. This is managed through the WICHE office. Due to budget restrictions to the Alaska WICHE program it is unlikely that the state will pay the student fee for KSU.

UC-D: University of California - Davis This is a WICHE school, however, since it is a state university that does not offer a regional program, they do not enroll many WICHE students (1 or 2 per year). The chance of being accepted to UC-D as a WICHE student is low.

UAF: University of Alaska Fairbanks Your pre-vet courses fit into a BS in biology program. A BS in Wildlife Biology is possible but this is a very structured program and good planning and a little extra work is needed. Please see other departments for advice on other majors.

R = Required

S = Suggested

WANT TO APPLY TO A DIFFERENT VETERINARY SCHOOL?

If you intend to apply to other veterinary schools (there are 27 in the U.S.) you must write or phone each school to get their pre-veterinary requirements. Addresses and phone number are in the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Directory (I have 1 and there is 1 in the Biosciences Library). There are enough differences between schools to warrant checking. Once you have the basic information I can help you establish course equivalencies at UAF. You can also check out the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges on the web or get college listings from the Veterinary Education Page at NetVet.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Many colleges are now using the Veterinary Medical College Application Service. All the WICHE schools, except CSU, use this service.

Course Listing

BIOLOGY

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU1	UC-D	KSU	UAF-BIOL2
BIOL 105X 3/3 4cr Fundamentals of Biology I	R	R	R	R	R
BIOL 106X 3/3 4cr Fundamentals of Biology II	R	R	R	R	R
BIOL 362 3/3 4cr Principles of Genetics	R	R	R	R	R
BIOL 310 3/3 4cr Animal Physiology	--	--	R	--	R
BIOL 342 3/3 4cr Microbiology	--	--	--	R	OPTIONAL
BIOL 418W 3/3 4cr Developmental Biology	--	--	R	R	OPTIONAL

CHEMISTRY

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU1	UC-D	KSU	UAF-BIOL2
CHEM 105X 3/3 4cr General Chemistry	R	R	R	R	R
CHEM 106X 3/3 4cr General Chemistry	R	R	R	R	R
CHEM 321 3/0 3cr Organic Chemistry	R	R1	R	R	R
CHEM 322 3/0 3cr Organic Chemistry	R	R1	R	R	R
CHEM 324 1/8/4 4cr Organic Laboratory	R	S	R	R	OPTIONAL
2 CHEM 451 3/0 3cr General Biochemistry	R	R	R	R	OPTIONAL
3 CHEM 452W 1/6 3cr Biochemistry Lab	--	--	--	R3	--

MATHEMATICS or STATISTICS

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU	UC-D	KSU	UAF-BIOL1
MATH 107X 3/0 3cr Functions for Calculus	--	--	--	--	--
MATH 200X 4/0 4cr Calculus or MATH 272X 3/0 3cr Calculus for Life Sciences	--	--	--	--	R2
STAT 200 3/0 3cr Elem. Prob. & Statistics or STAT 300 3/0 3cr Statistics (calculus-based)	R	R	R	--	R

PHYSICS

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU	UC-D	KSU	UAF-BIOL
PHYS 103X 3/3 4cr College Physics	R	R	R	R	--
PHYS 104X 3/3 4cr College Physics	--	--	R	R	--

PUBLIC SPEAKING (oral communication)

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU1	UC-D	KSU	UAF-BIOL
COMM 141X 3/0 3cr Fund. Oral Communication: Public Context	R1	S	--	R	R

ENGLISH

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU1	UC-D	KSU	UAF-BIOL
ENGL 111X 3/0 3 cr Introduction to Academic Writing	R	R	R	R	R
ENGL 213X 3/0 3 cr Academic Writing about the Social and Natural Sciences2	--	--	S	R	R
Other ENGL	--	--	6 cr	--	--

SOCIAL SCIENCE AND/OR HUMANITIES

• Courses followed by a s or h in the UAF catalog.
• To cover Pre-Veterinary requirements and the courses required for a degree at UAF, I strongly recommend taking courses listed under the UAF Core Curriculum (note that the entire UAF requirement is not necessary to apply to a vet school):

  Perspectives on the Human Condition (18 credits) (Humanities and social sciences)

  Complete the following six courses:

  1) ANTH 100X/SOC 100X -- Individual, Society and Culture (3 credits)s

  2) ECON 100X or PS 100X -- Political Economy (3 credits)s

  3) HIST 100X -- Modern World History (3 credits)s

  4) ART/MUS/THR 200X -- Aesthetic Appreciation: Interrelationship of Art, Drama and Music (3+0)h

  OR

  HUM 201X -- Unity in the Arts (3 credits)h

  OR

  ANS 202X Aesthetic Appreciation of Alaskan Native Performance (3 credits)h

  5) ENGL/FL 200X -- World Literatures (3 credits)h

  6) COMM 300X -- Communicating Ethics (3 credits)h

  OR

  JUST 300X -- Ethics and Justice (3 credits)h

  OR

  NRM 303X -- Environmental Ethics and Actions (3 credits)h

  OR

  PS 300X -- Values and Choices (3 credits)h

  OR

  PHIL 322X -- Ethics 3 (3 credits)h

  OR

  complete 12 credits from the above courses plus two semester-length courses in a single Alaska Native language or other non-English language or three semester-length courses (9 credits) in American Sign Language taken at the university level.

Course	WSU/OSU	CSU	UC-D1	KSU	UAF-BIOL
Humanities	3-6 cr	6 cr	3-6 cr	6 cr	see core
Social Sciences	3-6cr	6cr	3-6cr	6cr	see core
Total	9cr	12cr	8cr	12cr

ANIMAL SCIENCE
None of these courses are required by the WICHE veterinary schools, however, if you hope to work in the area of food animal production, equine medicine, or exotic animals I recommend fitting 1 or more of these NRM courses into your program. NRM 321 is strongly recommended because some vet schools have deleted animal science programs from their curriculum. A background in animal nutrition is important for any veterinarian regardless of their future career path.

• NRM 310O 3/0 3cr Agricultural Concepts
• NRM 320 2/3 3cr Introduction to Animal Science
• NRM 321 2/3 3cr Applied Animal Nutrition
• NRM 420 3/0 3cr Animal Nutrition and Metabolism

OTHER COURSES THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL

ENG 314W,O/2 - Technical Writing

STAT 401 - Regression and Analysis of Variance

WLF 305 - Wildlife Diseases

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
If you are going to apply to the Veterinary Program at Washington State University before obtaining a BS degree from UAF (or any other place) you must address the WSU General Education Requirements for an undergraduate degree at WSU. This need not concern you if you have, or will have, a BS degree before entering your first year of Veterinary Medicine at WSU.

From WSU Veterinary Medicine Admissions Page:

Courses needed to satisfy general education requirements concern only those students who have not obtained a B.S. degree before entering the professional program. Students without a B.S. degree must complete general education requirements to obtain a DVM degree. Applicants should consult WSU and OSU University catalogs for specific general education requirements. Students should try to satisfy these requirements before entering the professional program.

The basic program outlined for UAF fulfills most of the WSU General Education Requirements except for:

• 3 credits in Intercultural Studies (click here for a selection of UAF courses that fulfill this requirement)
• 6 credits in World Civilizations (UAF Courses Hist 101 and 102 are accepted by WSU)
• A WRITING PORTFOLIO. You are advised to generate a writing portfolio during your time at UAF using the guidelines set forth by Washington State University. This will be asked for before you can obtain a DVM degree at WSU.