If you don't see your question here, please contact us atvetadmissions@purdue.edu.
Deadline to apply for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle isSeptember 16, 2024, 11:59 p.m.Eastern Time.
Applicants wishing to apply to the College of Veterinary Medicine must apply through theVeterinary Medical College Application Service(VMCAS). The application service will not be available to applicants to apply after this deadline date.
Yes. International applicants meet the same requirements as all other applicants with the exception of the standardized test. If you are from a non-English speaking country, you will need to complete the TOEFL exam.
We will waive the English Proficiency testing requirements for applicants who have received a baccalaureate degree or graduate or professional degree, within the last 36 months prior to the time of recommendation for admission, from a school where English is the primary language of instruction in a country/location where English is the native language.
Academic transcripts from international schools must be submitted to one of the organizations that evaluate international transcripts for equivalency. Information on these organizations can be found in the information for the VMCAS application.
If you hold or will hold a bachelor’s degree at the time of your entrance into Vet School, we will assume that you have fulfilled your campus’s communication requirement thus fulfilling our communication requirement. If you do not, you will need to complete a communication course as outlined in the course descriptions provided on this website. If your campus does not offer a course that closely matches our requirement, then you will need to provide official documentation from your campus indicating how you have fulfilled this requirement.
If you are wishing to use your bachelor's degree to meet this requirement, when filling out the application in VMCAS, you will simply select, "I Am Not Matching Any Course to this Prerequisite."
No. The faculty of our college has approved the courses they believe to be the basic foundation courses needed in order for a student to be successful in our curriculum.
NOTE: Completion of required courses for one veterinary school/college does not guarantee compliance for another. You must complete the prerequisite courses for each veterinary college to which you wish to apply.
Online/distant learning lecture-only courses are accepted by the Admissions Committee.
Online/distant learninglabs do notmeet our pre-requisite course requirements.Labs must be completed onsite at an institution.*
*Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many higher education institutions around the country are opting for a Pass/Not Pass grading option and online lecture and labs, therefore, the following changes are in effect:
View our complete information on pre-requisite course requirements.
Yes. You may have the last of your required coursework in progress when you apply. In other words, your required coursework must be completed by the end of the spring semester prior to fall matriculation. Courses may not be taken during the summer. Our Admissions Committee has determined that summer session is too late for course completion and receipt of summer grades for finalization of admission for fall semester.
In addition you need to report on the VMCAS application in the appropriate section, the courses you have in progress for fall semester and those you plan to complete during the spring semester. This section must be completed thoroughly in order to avoid having a required course marked as deficient and your application denied for lack of prerequisites.
Tracking is a characteristic of our curriculum that gives students the option of focusing their studies in the latter part of the curriculum on a particular group of species to gain more in-depth training. Students who do not want to focus their studies can pursue the Mixed Animal Track which is the traditional broad-based approach. All Purdue DVM students receive a broad education that will prepare them for careers in diverse fields of veterinary medicine.
The first two and a half years of our DVM program provide a broad education in the basic and clinical sciences for the major domestic species (dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs). During semester 5, all students take core courses covering the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in these major species. That same semester each student must select a track which will help them in choosing elective courses for semester 6 and will determine their required and elective courses in the fourth year. There are seven tracks: 1) equine; 2) food animal; 3) small animal; 4) companion animal (equine and small animal); 5) large animal (equine and food animal); 6) mixed animal (all species); 7) non-practice (preparation for careers in research or industry). Tracking allows students to obtain more in-depth training for the species with which they expect to work when they graduate. The two most frequently chosen tracks have been small animal (35-45% of each class) and mixed animal (35-40% of each class).
Because our curriculum provides broad training in the major domestic species, graduates are prepared to change their career direction if they choose. PVM implemented clinical tracking in 1990 and extended tracking to the third year of the program in 1999 so we have many years of experience with this flexible curriculum.
Basic surgical skills are taught to all DVM students using models, cadavers, and dogs and cats from humane societies that undergo neutering procedures (semesters 5 and 6 of curriculum). Humane society animals that are spayed and castrated are returned to the humane society for adoption. More advanced surgical skills in small animals are taught during semester 6 electives using cadavers, cadaver parts and models. Additional neutering procedures are also performed. We no longer conduct terminal surgical laboratories in small animals.
Large animal surgery elective laboratories in semester 6 are taught using cadaver parts (e.g. limbs, skulls) and live sheep that are recovered following some procedures and then euthanized after more invasive procedures.Students provide care for their sheep throughout the course. A limited number of horses are used for a terminal surgical laboratory. The large animal surgery laboratory courses are elective courses.
Applicants to veterinary school often report that they have seen average salaries of $50,000-$55,000 for entry-level veterinarians. Some sources average the salaries in private practice with those for post-graduate training positions, such as internships, to come up with these figures. Combining these two types of positions does not accurately represent the employment market. For Purdue veterinary graduates, the average private practice salary for new graduates is approximately $120,000.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) surveys graduating veterinary students each year regarding employment statistics and indebtedness and publishes the findings. Below are the mean figures that have been reported for the graduates in 2023.
| DVM Class | Purdue Mean Starting Salary for Private Practice | National Mean Starting Salary for Private Practice |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $118,782 | $125,449 |
| 2022 | $114,884 | $114,266 |
| 2021 | $100,617 | $97,879 |
| 2020 | $94,053 | $92,796 |
| 2019 | $88,909 | $86,245 |
Approximately 32% of US graduates pursue internships and other postgraduate training immediately following graduation. Earning potential increases significantly for practice owners and board-certified veterinary specialists.
| DVM Class | Purdue Mean Total Educational Debt | National Mean Total Educational Debt |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $145,914 | $195,385 |
| 2022 | $155,795 | $194,725 |
| 2021 | $144,083 | $201,863 |
| 2020 | $145,336 | $204,675 |
| 2019 | $163,897 | $199,148 |
