I. A panel of students that recently applied for vet school were nice enough to come and talk to the club. There were 3 speakers, and each discussed their experience with the application/interview process

a. Leslie

i. Leslie’s background:

1. A nontraditional (returning) student

2. Experiences: Worked at rabbit shelter, animal shelters, volunteered at wildlife rehab center, Northside clinic which spay and neuters rats

a. 1100 hrs. of mousework in a lab

b. 250 hours of vet experience

ii. Applied to 7 schools; make sure you follow up with them to make sure they have all the correct information!

iii. Look at course reqs. now for schools because VMCAS not always accurate

iv. Some schools allow you to take nutrition and microbio during summer if admitted

v. Decided to apply to Davis because in state, and no supplemental app; it had the most minimal requirement

vi. VMCAS has no structure on how to list experiences and there is not much space

vii. If rejected from a school, you can send a Post Mortem and ask why; they will give you the details of why they did not select you and this can give you an idea of what you’re missing

viii. Colorado and Cornell require 300 hours of experience with a “single vet”àonly one veterinarian; they stated that they wanted more large animal and equine experience from her

ix. ***Leslie was gracious enough to create a powerpoint for the club; Sophie already sent it out but I will attach it to the email just in case you didn’t see it

b. Victry-talking about out-of-state schools

i. Choice was based on classes required, the application and probability

ii. On VMCAS website, there’s a table of all required recommendations; career center also has a vet book that you can rent out and can scan with all of this information

c. Calla-applied to schools out of country

i. Experience: 1200-1600 hours at one hospital, Fix Our Ferals, OLAC, Marine Mammal Center, horse camp

ii. At Edinborough, you need a full year of gen chem.

iii. Choice was mostly based on classes

iv. You can get scholarships that pay for school if interested in farm animal medicine

v. Dr. Hahn from OLAC will proofread personal statements, so do it ASAP, start application in the springàdue in October

vi. Animal nutrition offered at Oregon State online, also at North Carolina and Purdue (~$1200); without this class you are limited to the number of schools you can apply to
Schools also look for microbio and public speaking

I. Announcements

a. T-shirts are ready, so come pick them up or buy one ($12) if you have not already. I think we have some extras, so just email Amanda if you are still interested

b. Fundraiser: 3/20 and 3/21

i. We passed around a sign-up sheet at the meeting, but I will post a Googledoc as well for people who couldn’t make it.

ii. Advantages to signing up for the fundraiseràit allows you to gain full active membership, you get to bond with your fellow club members, and it’s fun!

c. 1st Social Event of the Spring semester

i. And the winner is . . . “Best in Show!” We took a vote at the last meeting and this movie got the most interest from you all. It’s a pretty hilarious movie about how crazy people can get during dog shows, so please come especially if you’ve never seen it before.

ii. When: It was originally scheduled for March 15th, but the status as of right now is TBA. Possibly after spring break . . . stay tuned!

d. Paw Fund

i. A local volunteer experience, in which you can help out at a vaccine clinic and give pets free vaccines

ii. The next vaccine clinic will occur Sunday, March 25th 9:30am-12

iii. If interested visit the link: http://pawfund.org/

II. Getting Experience

a. This meeting was mostly focused on how and where to get various experiences for vet school. Each of the officers added their own two cents about their own personal experiences, so if you have any additional questions, feel free to email one of us on the subject

b. General overview of what vet schools are looking for:

i. Need about 200-300 hours of vet experience; the average applicant hours are about 3000 at UC Davis

ii. The VMCAS website has space for you to talk about 3 areas: animal experience, vet experience, and work experience

1. Vet experience=if work supervised by a healthcare professional, i.e. a veterinarian

2. Animal experience=anything that involved working with animals of some kind; no need for supervision of healthcare professional

3. Work experience=anything you think would be applicable to the veterinary profession, doesn’t always have to have animals involved; for example, if you worked as a customer service rep, you can talk about how you gained experience working with people

c. Resources

i. Application Questions

1. https://portal.vmcas.org/applicants2012/instructions/vmcas_help_entrance.html

ii. Vet school admissions

1. www. avma.org/careers/VetSchoolAdmission101.pdf

2. If this link doesn’t work, google it and it will come up

d. There is also an “Honors and Rewards” section; and a “Community Activities/Service” section as well so keep some of those in mind

e. Summer is a great way to get vet experience

i. Simon: getting vet experience

1. Talk to a person that knows if they are accepting volunteers; you’ll have to start from the bottom and work your way up

2. Make sure they know you’re willing to do anything just so you can get your foot in the door

3. Send cover letter and follow-up frequently; be persistent and remember: “The squeakiest wheel gets the most oil!”

4. Most vet clinics won’t advertise that they’re looking so you must find out yourself

ii. Haley: work experience

1. Working at a pet store is a great way to get animal experience and work experience at the same time; a lot of interaction with people

2. Fix Our Ferals

a. Organization that spays and neuters feral cats for free

iii. Caroline: getting research experience

1. Summer is a great way to get started in research. And while research is not essential for vet school, it will really strengthen your application if you do have some experience

2. Things you can do

a. URAP (Undergrad Research Apprentice Program)

b. Join listserves for undergrad research to receive emails about programs and professors: www.research. berkeley.edu

c. Don’t be afraid to approach your professors if you are interested in their research

d. Make sure it’s something that really interests you and you’ll have a great time doing it; otherwise it might be really monotonous

e. Can do research for units

f. Summer course=IB 87: Introduction to Research Methods in Biology; offered every summer, a pre-research course; highly recommend it!

3. Sumer Programs

a. CNR-BSP Summer Research Program

b. Pre-IMSD

c. Biology Fellow Program

d. Many more, but you must scope them out

We discussed the various types of AVMA-Accredited veterinary schools and things to look for in a vet school in a powerpoint presentation.

I. Agenda for the day

a. Dr. Hahn’s Interview Workshop; lab animal vet; will address questions they ask you during interviews, skills, tips

b. Club picture (you all looked wonderful!); this picture will go with the thank you cards we will give to speakers and vets who helped the club out last semester

c. T-shirts: today was the last day to buy shirts ($12); if you still want a shirt, contact Amanda, she may order extras

II. Announcements

a. Marine Mammal Center field trip; will be about $6 for each member that wants to go

i. When: Sat, Feb. 25th 1-5pm

ii. Can interview with marine mammal vet and see facility

iii. Active members will have priority

1. To be an active member, need to have attended at least 2 club meetings

2. Sign-up for fundraiser tabling and/or be in a committee

b. Committee Updates

i. Social

1. Movie night in Dwinelle with projector (TBA, around beginning of March)

2. Party towards end of the semester

ii. Fundraising

1. Bakesale, possibly will buy giant muffins from Costco and sell them on Sproul; brownies, a variety of things so people can choose

iii. If interested in being in a committee, email the club: calprevetclub@gmail.com or anyone of us; committees meet on the Tuesdays we don’t have club meetings at 5:30p FSM

III. NEXT MEETING WILL BE TUESDAY, FEB. 21ST 5PM @ NAF. Thanks!!!

PVC Meeting Minutes
January 24th, 2012

I. Spring 2012 Semester Agenda

a. Midyear survey, please fill that out if you haven’t already! http://tinyurl.com/6vbbq8n

b. T-shirts $12; tomorrow is the last day to order our awesomely cute T-shirts!

c. Committees will be revamped this semester and will meet on the Tuesdays in between our general meetings at 5:30-6:00p at FSM
i. Social and Fundraising
1. Social: Chelsea Yost, Lauren Hein, Mikie Hay, Jess Kwan, Sophie Demathieu
2. Fundraising: Victoria Lo, Nozomi Sakai, Wingyee Ng, Girish Motwani, Holden Jensen, Amanda Perez, Emmelyn Hsieh, Eba Kim, Casie Lee, Esther Chung
3. Please let me know if you want to change or get added to one of the committees; we would really appreciate your input!
ii. Benefits to joining a committee=active membership + get to know your fellow members + contribution to our club

d. Sophie’s outreach program is also a way to contribute and gain active membership; if interested see Sophie

e. Fieldtrips
i. Lindsay Wildlife (April)-talk to wildlife vets and see the awesome museum
ii. Marine Mammal Center-$5/person

f. Speakers (depends on interests of the members)
i. Pre-vet club alumni
ii. Vets of all sorts

g. *Lastly check out our website for some cool resources!

I. Announcements
- Hyena colony field trip last Friday; check the facebook club site for pictures!
- Saturday, November 19th: tour of the Golden Gate Fields racetrack 7-10am

Guest speaker: PETS Referral Center Emergency Vet, Dr. Cindy Lamheart

Things you might see at an ER:
- Bite wounds
- Toxicities
- HBC (hit by car
- Excretions
- Allergic rxn
- Vomiting and diarrhea
- GI obstruction
- Urinary obstruction

Cases discussed:
- foxtails
- HBC: hemorrhage, broken bones, neurological trauma, respiratory, shock*
Tests to run:
– chemistry panel—can look at liver and kidney function

– CBC (complete blood cell count)

– X-ray (radiographs), esp. for lungs

– Ultrasound (U/S)

– Blood pressure

Steps to take: pain meds, antibiotics, clean cuts (wound care), stabilize fracture, E-collar, give O2 if trouble breathing, give blood

- X-ray demos were shown of actual cases

***Next meeting is on Tuesday, November 8th @5pm NAF

I. Announcements
- Next meeting will be Tuesday October 25th at NAF 5pm
- Wednesday October 26th, Cornell vet school is coming to talk to us at 5pm
- Hyena colony field trip on Friday October 28th at 3pm, we will take 20 people; there will be
carpools, those with active membership get priority.

Speaker: Kelly Jensen (lab animal/clinical vet on campus)
Experience in small animal med, certified in vet acupuncture, holistic med
o Vet acupuncture not an actual specialty; chi institute in FL has vet acupuncture
certification
Attended University of Illinois vet school, focused on pathology; externship at San Diego
Seaworld
Went straight into joining a practice after she graduated, no residency required in SF
o Saw exotics and small animal
Herbal medicine and food med also available
3 year residency in lab animal medicine; takes care of research animals, helps them
when they’re sick and during surgery; makes sure procedures are necessary for results of
research

Questions asked (Q&A):
What about small animal med didn’t you find fulfilling?
o Felt all the good cases got sent to the specialists; requires you to work with both
animals and people and some people are a little crazy

Were cases referred out because not adequate equipment at clinic?
o Not an emergency clinic so can’t have overnight animals; complex surgeries
required better resources

How do you know researchers are actually following protocol?
o Set of people that review protocols and communicate with labs; “post approval
monitoring” to check up on people; need very specific information on procedures
What made you decide to initially choose small animal med?
o Easiest path to take

Did you have problems treating animals that were illegal in California?
o Ferret ban in CA; she had no problem with it

Can you talk about your externship in San Diego?
o A 6 week externship to get hands on shadowing exposure in zoo and
aquatic animal med; a lot of behavioral research on animals in captivity;
necropsy=autopsy for animals—performed on a sea lion that died; did research
projects on animals such as dolphin hormones

Did you ever think about working at Sea World? And are there specialists there?
o Most who work there are zoo animal vets; didn’t think it fit her interests. Vets
do every kind of animal there, which is hard; mostly deal with birds. A lot of
pressure because you get published for what goes wrong; a lot of people to
communicate with and politics

Why did you choose to be in Berkeley?
o Can bring a fair amount of expertise and fulfill greater good interest; important to
get a year or two of general practice to make sure you like it

What experience did you have before vet school?
o Worked in small animal clinic, worked on research in college; tracked manatees
in college

How was transition from vet school to general practice
o Advised to take a break between to get you more prepared; didn’t make too much
money coming out of vet school but had salary; when looking for a job, interview
them when they’re interviewing youask a lot of questions; felt like she was ready
but still had a lot to learn

Do you have any insights on how to handle undergrad years before vet school?
o Make sure you complete prereqs but don’t have to major in sciences; major in
English or anything you want, doesn’t have to be science

Tell us more about vet acupuncture . . .
o Based on traditional Chinese medicine; disfunction=imbalance; hot vs. cold
elements and beliefs; choosing points to bring what’s out of balance back in
balance; teaches you to look at whole animals not just one area like the ear in an
ear infection (typical of western med)

How do you balance family life and your job?
o Never a good time to have kids (joke). Why this specialty appealed to her; small
animal med is not regular; lab animal med is not as spontaneous; balancing with
family is a real challenge in job interviews, ask about vacations, maternity leave,
what if kids are sick, etc; interview the interviewer. Worked part-time for a little
bit; learn time management skills

Do you have any other hobbies?
o Goes running and spends time with family.

A speaker from the Royal Veterinary College of the University of London gave a presentation about the school. The presentation can be seen here and a guide for international students can be viewed here.

I. Announcements

a. Committees (fundraising and social) were supposed to meet after Tuesday’s meeting, but we ran out of time so committees should be meeting next week

b. Bowling Night! Next, Thursday Sept. 22nd @ 9:30pm we will carpool over to the Albany bowling alley and have some fun getting to know our fellow members.

i. It will be $4 for each member and pizza will be provided

ii. Keep an eye out for a carpooling Googledoc

c. T-Shirt designs are due Oct. 25th. This gives those that are interested a little bit over a month to come up with a design; all designs must have “Cal Pre-Vet Club” somewhere on it.

d. 2 Vet experience 101 handouts passed around: one was on the local vet clinics and the other was a list of specialties in vet med

II. Vet Experience 101

a. Speaker #1: Our very own club member Calla talked about her experience with OLAC (Office of Laboratory Animal Care)

i. This is offered through the URAP program (Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program), which you can apply for online

ii. Offered once a semester and is a great opportunity for lab animal experience, especially if you’ve only worked with large animals. The office looks at health reports for lab animals on campus such as Rhesus monkeys, mice, rats, moles, hyenas, and reptiles

iii. Through the program you also create your own research project, such as the effects of anesthesia on Rhesus monkeys; the goal of the office is to make sure all of the animals are taken care of and that they are handled properly

b. Speaker #2: Sharon Liu, CAL alumni with a LOT of experience in various fields: research, an internship at the Oakland Zoo and Berkeley Humane Society, works at PETS Referral Center, volunteered at Marine World, and traveled abroad doing research.

i. Research-she worked in the Bentley lab while at Berkeley, which studied neuroendocrinology; to get started on research contact professors and peers

ii. Internships-went abroad to Taiwan and Costa Rica

1. Went abroad through the EAP program to Costa Rica-a tropical biology and conservation program; offers classes such as Spanish and ecology, do a new research project every 2 weeks (i.e. visual signaling in fireflies); a quarter program, not a semester. It was cheaper to go there than to stay in Berkeley because only a quarter program

2. Oakland Zoo internship: doesn’t pay, big time commitment but gets you connections to other internships

a. Program is over the summer (2-3 days/wk); pretty much act as the zookeeperàcleaning, feeding, learn about the diets and care of animals; heighten observational skills

iii. Marine Mammal Center volunteer (Marin, CA)- a rescue/rehabilitation center for marine life; a lot of zoo keeping work; however there are many requirements in order to start working thereàmust take classes on marine mammals, talk to kids on education, work retail, and work in animal crew before doing zookeeping work. As a volunteer, you can take blood samples, rotate with doctors, and see surgeries

iv. Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue Center volunteer (Oakland)

1. A very grassroots, nonprofit program that rescues urban creatures such as raccoons, squirrels, wild birds, etc. Not nearly as many “hoops” to jump through to work there unlike Marine Mammal Center

v. 3 Ring-Ranch (Hawaii)- a month long internship; pay for airfare but room and board paid for

1. An exotic animal sanctuary; connection to UC Berkeley; they take pre-vets from Berkeley and vet students from Davis and pair them upàllamas, zebras, cockatoos, swans, tortoises, etc. All rescued species; offers a lot of hands on experience (i.e. participating in bat wing surgery)

Important PVC Dates:
Sept. 13th: Vet Experience 101-meeting will be focused on how/where to get a wide
variety of experience and exposure in Berkeley, not just small animal.
Sept. 27th: A speaker from the Royal Vet College will come talk to the club
Oct. 11th: Small Animal Vet 101-pros & cons of small animal medicine
Oct. 25th: TBA
November: Poultry veterinarian will speak to the club; poultry medicine and food
medicine are in high demand for vets!
*Speaker: UC Davis Vet School board of admissions Yasmin Williams will go into
detail on the application process

Fall Semester Field Trips
Lindsay Wildlife (Walnut Creek)-live museum of animals/injured wildlife
Golden Gate Fields tour-equine medicine (early October)
**Also, starting this semester, there will be 2 committees: the Social committee and
the Fundraising committee. Each committee will be led by a PVC officer and every
member may join one of the committees.

• Social: 1 social event per semester

• Fundraising: 1 fundraising event per semester

Outreach: Let’s go out and share with others what our club is about!

• Youth Impact (volunteer group): discuss animal rights and proper animal care

1st Social Event: Bowling night in mid-September (keep an eye out for the date)
Active Membership:
Benefits: Preference in field trips; ability to vote/run for officer positions at the
end of the year.
*To be active you must come to 2 meetings and attend 1 fundraiser per
semester.
T-Shirt Contest: For those of you with an artistic side, please feel free to submit a t-
shirt design for our club! If you would like to see last year’s club shirt, we will have it at
the next meeting as an example.