Does anyone know anything about becoming a Vet or Vet Tech?

[glinda]

Got a phone call a couple nights ago. My niece in Hawaii is coming to our State to hopefully study to be a Vet. Because she is not a state Resident, she might go to a Community College somewhere. She is all alone and we are the part of the family she doesn't know but closest to her father who died when she was five.
Is it easier to become a Tech and then a Vet? Or is it best to just become a Vet and by-pass the tech part? I am sure she is going to have to get loans and whatever she can.
The Vet school is 2 hours from here but there is a College Campus for Vet Tech just 35 minutes from here.There is a Community College north of here also. She was saying she might have to take some classes to get State residency..... I feel compelled to watch over her some. She wants to go into Aviary Sciences.
Any experience or advice would be helpful.

[undeterred]

1. Its hard to get into vet school.

There are only 27 vet schools in the country, and the application standards are at least as high as those for going to medical school. Applicants have completed an undergraduate bachelors degree in animal science or biology with very high grades. There are entrance tests (VCAT) and experience working with animals is required. Vet school is 4 years of graduate level study after college.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5162524_veterinary-school-requirements.html

There are programs to prepare for the vet tech certificate in 1 or 2 years at many comunity colleges.

http://www.allalliedhealthschools.com/faqs/veterinary_tech.php

[kestrel91316]

2. Community college won't get her into vet school. Veterinary schools in the US

are all far more competetive than medical schools, and only take the cream of the crop. A community college track is the kiss of death for getting into vet school, IMHO. She needs to attend a good university to get her prerequisites (for example, I went to Colorado State University and got my BS in microbiology there while also taking all the vet school prereqs). Most veterinarians did not start out by being vet techs, but that is a legitimate career possibility for her that wouldn't invlove near as much time or expense or potential heartbreak.