u/Budget_Tumbleweed_82

I’m sure this question has been asked plenty of times, but how in the world do you get veterinary assistant experience, especially as a college student.

I’ve applied to SOO many clinics and even applied to jobs an hour away just to not even get selected. They say “you need experience” but how am I supposed to get experience if I can’t get hired? They also seem to prefer high school students for selection which makes finding a job harder as a college student.

Some people say just to start off as a kennel assistant, but I’ve worked as a kennel assistant and it’s genuinely draining to clean up dog poop and pee everyday just to not progress anywhere in a vet clinic even after expressing my interest.

Any advice?

I'm a rising senior studying animal science and my in-state school would be VMCVM. I think I might need to take a gap year to boost my vet hours since they're super low right now, but i'm just not sure.

I do plan to apply to Ross and SGU given my low GPA, but I really hope those would be my last options. 

Current in-major GPA: 3.44 (only 3 C's and two W's) - withdrew and retook Chem and Econ, scoring an A in both. Note that my GPA would actually be around a 3.5 if I factored in the courses I took at community college and received an A in. (Chem 1 & 2, physics 1 & 2, and econ.) I plan on taking orgo 1 & 2 and public speaking at cc as well, which I think I can score an A in.
science GPA: ~ 3.4

high school: 

• took a 2-year veterinary science program course, where I had the opportunity to groom/bathe dogs
• was a student ambassador for the vet science program
• Volunteered at a cat shelter for 3 months, ~100 hours
• worked as a kennel assistant for nearly 4 years (600+ hours)

college:

• student ambassador for 3 years (ongoing), where I host university tours, attend college events as a guest speaker for prospective students, etc
• TA for an animal science course for one semester
• Volunteered 100+ hours handling heifers
• participated in 3 livestock showing events dealing with cows, horses, and pigs (over 80+ hours)
• Volunteered 100+ hours at a local horse barn
• Rode for 2 equestrian teams competitively for 2 full semesters
• part of an animal shelter club for one semester
• part of an equestrian club for 2 semesters
• worked as a vet assistant for 200+ hours
• shadowed at 3 different vet practices (2 small animal and one large animal) for 60+ hours
• Interned as a bird wildlife rehabilitator for 3 months (100+ hours)
• Interned as a research assistant dealing with rodents and laboratory procedures(~100+ hours)
• Volunteered as a research assistant with horses in determining lameness and other related injuries (~20+ hours)
• volunteered at an intercollegiate horse show (~10 hours)

upcoming:

• will spend the entire summer interning as a ranch hand, where I will work 6 days out of the week, averaging nearly 60 hours in total a week for 3 months (will gain some large animal vet hours over the summer at my internship)
• will participate next semester in research where I will be studying birds and their behavior for 10+ hours a week
• will continue riding horses competitively and be in an equestrian club

Does anyone know of great programs that offer courses such as animal nutrition and animal reproduction? I took both those courses in undergrad (which I'm still currently in) and received C's in them, but I feel like if I retake them, I might have a better chance of improving my overall VMCAs GPA. I only have 3 C's on my transcript, but I already feel like a weaker applicant due to the B's I have. I don't have time to retake them at my university, as I am about to be a senior, and my last 2 semesters have put me at the maximum number of credits an undergrad can have. My GPA was originally a 3.5, but unfortunately, animal reproduction and nutrition lowered it to a 3.4.

I'm hoping to find an online program that's affordable. Purdue's program seems good, but does anyone know of any better ones before I look into it? Does anyone have experience with the Purdue program? I only need to retake repro and nutrition, so I don't want to waste my time with other unnecessary courses I don't need if some programs only come with a packaged deal. I know that VMCAs averages out grades when it comes to retakes, so if I end up receiving an A in the course, my averaged out score would be a B, right?