Does Harvard offer a veterinary medicine program?
I'm a rising senior who is really passionate about animals, and I've always dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. I'm super interested in Harvard for college, but when I was researching their programs, I couldn't find much about pre-vet or veterinary medicine.
Does Harvard have an actual vet school or maybe any kind of undergraduate pre-vet track? Has anyone been able to prepare for vet school there successfully? I know some other Ivies don't have vet programs, so I'm just trying to figure my options out.
If Harvard doesn't, could someone suggest how a student interested in vet medicine fits in there? I really love the school but I’m worried it’s not a good path for what I want to do.
Does Harvard have an actual vet school or maybe any kind of undergraduate pre-vet track? Has anyone been able to prepare for vet school there successfully? I know some other Ivies don't have vet programs, so I'm just trying to figure my options out.
If Harvard doesn't, could someone suggest how a student interested in vet medicine fits in there? I really love the school but I’m worried it’s not a good path for what I want to do.
3 weeks ago
•
42 views
Luis Nario-Malberg
• 3 weeks ago
Advisor
Harvard does not have a veterinary medicine school, so if you're thinking about applying directly into a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) program after undergrad, you would need to look elsewhere for the veterinary degree itself. Currently, there are only about 30 accredited vet schools in the U.S., and Harvard is not one of them.
However, you can still prepare for vet school as an undergraduate at Harvard. There's no official 'pre-vet' track, but you can major in a life science such as Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, or even Molecular and Cellular Biology. These majors typically offer most of the prerequisites needed for vet school, like biology, chemistry (general and organic), physics, and math. You’d just need to plan your coursework carefully and possibly add classes that fulfill specific vet school requirements (for example, animal nutrition, which not all colleges offer).
Students interested in becoming veterinarians at Harvard usually get involved in animal-related volunteer work, internships, or research while they’re there. For instance, some have done research with labs on animal behavior or biology, or gained experience with animals through internships in the Boston area. One undergrad example: a student majoring in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology volunteered at the Franklin Park Zoo and shadowed veterinarians during summers—this not only built up her resume for vet school but also helped her get real experience in the field.
If your heart is set on veterinary medicine, you could consider applying to schools that offer both strong biology programs and direct or affiliated opportunities with veterinary schools. That said, going to Harvard won't prevent you from applying to vet school afterward, but it does mean you'll need to seek out animal-related experiences on your own. Pre-vet advising isn’t as established there as pre-med advising, but you can build your own network through professors, research mentors, and local animal organizations.
So, while Harvard is certainly an option to prepare for vet school (if you make use of its resources and proactively plan your experiences), it’s not designed with veterinary medicine foremost in mind. If being surrounded by other pre-vet students and having direct ties to a vet program is important to you, it might be helpful to add other colleges to your list that meet those criteria.
However, you can still prepare for vet school as an undergraduate at Harvard. There's no official 'pre-vet' track, but you can major in a life science such as Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, or even Molecular and Cellular Biology. These majors typically offer most of the prerequisites needed for vet school, like biology, chemistry (general and organic), physics, and math. You’d just need to plan your coursework carefully and possibly add classes that fulfill specific vet school requirements (for example, animal nutrition, which not all colleges offer).
Students interested in becoming veterinarians at Harvard usually get involved in animal-related volunteer work, internships, or research while they’re there. For instance, some have done research with labs on animal behavior or biology, or gained experience with animals through internships in the Boston area. One undergrad example: a student majoring in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology volunteered at the Franklin Park Zoo and shadowed veterinarians during summers—this not only built up her resume for vet school but also helped her get real experience in the field.
If your heart is set on veterinary medicine, you could consider applying to schools that offer both strong biology programs and direct or affiliated opportunities with veterinary schools. That said, going to Harvard won't prevent you from applying to vet school afterward, but it does mean you'll need to seek out animal-related experiences on your own. Pre-vet advising isn’t as established there as pre-med advising, but you can build your own network through professors, research mentors, and local animal organizations.
So, while Harvard is certainly an option to prepare for vet school (if you make use of its resources and proactively plan your experiences), it’s not designed with veterinary medicine foremost in mind. If being surrounded by other pre-vet students and having direct ties to a vet program is important to you, it might be helpful to add other colleges to your list that meet those criteria.
Luis Nario-Malberg
Mooresville, North Carolina
Harvard College, Class of 2018, A.B. in Philosophy
Experience
5 years