Veterinarian Bachelor Degrees

Bachelor Degree Programs for Veterinary Students

If you are an animal lover and want to spend of your time working to help the different species of the animal kingdom, then you have probably already pondered going into veterinary medicine.  There are various levels of education you can receive, depending on what type of career you want to pursue.  A veterinary diploma program will teach you all the basic stuff about animal biology, but it will focus more on laboratory procedures, as with a diploma, you will be more of a lab technician than anything else.  You can also work towards earning an associate degree. 

To earn this degree you will take many of the same classes that a veterinarian would take, and will be doing a lot of the same work as them, but with an associate degree, you will be more of an assistant.  You will help the vet with whatever they need, whether it’s examining an animal in the clinic or running lab tests.  The veterinary doctor is the one calling the shots however.  To become the actual vet however, you will need either 4 years or 8 years of education, depending on where you are located.  Some countries require only the equivalent of bachelor degree, while others will require the equivalent of a doctorate degree to become a doctor of veterinary medicine.

But What Will I Learn With a Bachelor Degree?

If you decide to earn a bachelor degree in veterinary medicine, it will typically take 4 to 5 years to complete.  Depending on where you are located at in the world, a bachelor degree will either allow you to be a veterinary technician, which essentially means an assistant, or in some other countries, having a bachelor degree will let you become a full fledged veterinarian.  In terms of courses, you will be required to take on a curriculum consisting of classes like:

-Animal Science

-Basic Biology

-Animal Nutrition

-Animal Breeding

-Animal Physiology

-Animal Disease

-Biochemistry

Whether or not you are a doctor of veterinary medicine or a veterinary assistant, you will be dealing directly with animals in clinics, and doing other things like:

-Diagnosing health problems in animals

-Administering vaccinations

-Give animals medication

-Treat wounds

-Perform minor or more complex surgery

-Give pet owners advice about feeding and caring for their animal

-Euthanize when applicable

-Test for diseases

What Kind of Career Can I Find?

Earning a bachelor degree in veterinary medicine can have a drastically different meaning from place to place.  In places like India, you can simply earn a bachelor degree in veterinary medicine after only 4 or 5 years of study.  In the US, you need 8 years and need to earn a doctorate degree.  If you earn a bachelor degree in India, or somewhere else where you will be considered a doctor of veterinary medicine, you can earn somewhere between the median yearly salaries of $70,000 to $91,000, and some can earn an average of $55,000 to $151,000 if they own their own veterinary practice. 

If you are somewhere like the US, where earning a 4 year bachelor degree will only get you a job as a veterinary technician, then the median pay rate is $12.66 per hour.  Of course, the pay rate for both jobs will vary depending on location and who you are working for exactly.  And both jobs are not only very much in demand now, but will continue as time goes on.  It has been said that by 2014, the need for veterinary doctors and technicians will outgrow supply as more and more people take on owning a pet.