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Veterinary Medicine Major

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Veterinary Medicine

What Veterinary Medicine Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to veterinary medicine were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Veterinary Medicine Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in veterinary medicine should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

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  • Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
  • Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Skills for Veterinary Medicine Majors

A major in veterinary medicine prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

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  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Abilities for Veterinary Medicine Majors

Veterinary Medicine majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

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  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

What Can You Do With a Veterinary Medicine Major?

People with a veterinary medicine degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
Health Specialties Professors 25.9% $97,370
Veterinarians 18.8% $93,830

Some careers associated with veterinary medicine require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to veterinary medicine have obtained the following education levels.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) 1.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 2.2%
Bachelor’s Degree 5.8%
Master’s Degree 16.7%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession. 12.6%
Doctoral Degree 51.8%
Post-Doctoral Training 9.7%

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to veterinary medicine.

Major Number of Grads
Nursing 308,114
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 88,809
Allied Health Professions 85,413
Health & Medical Administrative Services 85,302
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services 79,189
Public Health 42,551
Health Sciences & Services 35,887
Mental & Social Health Services 31,550
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 29,934
Medicine 29,206
Dental Support Services 25,040
Communication Sciences 23,288
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science 19,017
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 18,729
Somatic Bodywork & Therapeutic Services 10,516
Health/Medical Prep Programs 9,413
Other Health Professions 7,387
Dentistry 6,961
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services 5,644
Bioethics/Medical Ethics 5,056
Alternative Medicine & Systems 3,431
Chiropractic 2,698
Medical Illustration & Informatics 2,689
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies 2,244
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences 1,845
Optometry 1,789
Medical Science 1,090
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services 760
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies 468
Alternative Medical Support Services 136
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies 116

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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