Correlations between Pre-Veterinary Course Requirements and Academic Performance in the Veterinary Curriculum: Implications for Admissions

Abstract

This study addressed how students' undergraduate science courses influence their academic performance in a veterinary program, and examined what implications this may have for the veterinary admissions process. The undergraduate transcripts and veterinary school rankings of current third-year veterinary students at Colorado State University were coded and analyzed. Because the study found no statistically meaningful relationships between the pre-veterinary coursework parameters and class rank, it could be concluded that veterinary schools may be unnecessarily restricting access to the profession by requiring long and complicated lists of prerequisite courses that have a questionable predictive value on performance in veterinary school. If a goal of veterinary schools is to use the admissions process to enhance recruitment and provide the flexibility necessary to admit applicants who have the potential to fill the current and emerging needs of the profession, schools may want to re-evaluate how they view pre-veterinary course requirements. One of the recommendations generated from the results of this study is to create a list of veterinary prerequisite courses common to all schools accredited by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. It is suggested that this might simplify pre-veterinary advising, enhance recruitment, and provide flexibility for admitting nontraditional but desirable applicants, without impacting the quality of admitted veterinary students.

An Anatomy Pre-Course Predicts Student Performance in a Professional Veterinary Anatomy Curriculum

“…This can explain why undergraduate coursework rarely correlates with performance within professional veterinary curricula (5)(6)(7)(8). This precourse follows a format that closely mimics what the students will experience within their professional anatomy coursework, and thereby gives them an opportunity to determine whether their established study techniques will be applicable and effective in the new learning environment.…”

“…Often measures relied on in this stage include appraisal of the applicants' prior coursework. Previous research, including work by the co-authors, found minimal, if any, direct correlation between prior undergraduate coursework and performance within a professional veterinary curriculum (5)(6)(7)(8). Studies of professional human medical curricula, however, have identified that students with previous classroom experience in anatomy, histology, or other basic science courses are likely to have improved performance within the professional human medical curriculum (9,10).…”

An anatomy precourse enhances student learning in veterinary anatomy

“…The reason for this lack of correlation may be due to several factors, including large differences between colleges and universities (Rush et al, 2005;Kogan et al, 2009), and content of courses offered at each institution. Other studies have found that students who had prior experience in histology, pathology, or anatomy selfreported more success in professional medical histology or anatomy courses (Tedman et al, 2011;Selvig et al, 2015).…”

Success at Veterinary School: Evaluating the Influence of Intake Variables on Year-1 Examination Performance

“…4 Research from the USA has shown that in the veterinary course, academic difficulty experienced by veterinary students was associated with a low pre-requisite Grade Point Average (GPA) achieved prior to admission. 5 Kogan et al 6 also showed that a higher incoming GPA was linked with better performance on course.…”