Veterinary School Prerequisites
Recommended Courses for Pre-Vet
For more information on the Veterinary School Application process, please download our Pre-Vet Application Guide.
Please check the individual school of choice to verify the complete current listing/requirements, as well as quarter vs. semester units required. It has been our experience that some schools may accept Stanford’s courses, while others may not.
Additionally, the courses below reflect the 2020-2021 academic year course offerings and may not reflect any course changes that occurred within the academic year.
Additional courses that may be required or useful for admission (vet school dependent): Microbiology, physiology, cell biology, animal science, animal nutrition, immunology, and psychology.
Commonly Required Courses
- General/Inorganic Chemistry, with Lab
- Organic Chemistry, with Lab
- Biochemistry
- Physics, with Lab
- Mathematics and/or Statistics
- Principles of Biology, Gen Bio, Animal Bio, or Zoology; all with lab
- Genetics or Animal Genetics
- Physiology
- Microbiology, some require lab
- English Composition or Expository
- Humanities/Social Sciences, or English
Equivalent Stanford Courses
- Chem 31A & 31B, or Chem 31X (if you had AP Chem in HS)
- Chem 33, 35, 36 (lab), 131, 130 (lab)
- Chem 181 & 183 (2 quarter sequence); Chem 141 & 143
- Physics 21, 22 (lab), 23, 24 (lab) 25, 26 (lab)
- Math 19, 20, 21; Stats 60, Stats 141
- See new biology major for current classes or Hum Bio 2A, 3A, 4A
- Bio 82, 118
- Bio 112; At Hopkins: BioHopK 162H/262H
- CEE 274A, 274B, 274P, CEE 274S (lab)
- PWR 1 & 2 writing
- Thinking Matters approved courses
For specific prerequisite college requirements, please see the AAVMC prerequisite chart available on their website: https://www.aavmc.org/
Important Note: Your major does not matter as long as you complete the required courses.
Obtaining Veterinary Experience
Veterinary schools expect that applicants will have significant amount of experience in the veterinary field. Animal-related work experiences may not count. Some clinics have formal shadowing programs, but you may need to contact the clinic you are interested in directly. Keep an open mind and get exposure to multiple areas of veterinary medicine such as working with a veterinarian in a small animal clinic, equine practice, zoos, aquarium, or research animal facility. Learn as much as you can during your experience and ask questions.
It is recommended that you maintain a log of the experiences you have had and stay in touch with veterinarians you have worked with (and thank them after your position has ended) so that you can request a letter of evaluation for your veterinary school application.
Here are a few local organizations that Stanford pre-veterinary students have volunteered at:
Article Read: "How much experience is enough?"
Check out this article that goes over how much practical experience can benefit your application when applying to veterinary school.