Pre-Veterinary Medicine

IMPORTANT: UCCS does not have a veterinary medicine program. Pre-Veterinary Medicine Prep is not a major or minor but a listing of prerequisite courses and recommendations needed to be eligible for admission to CSU’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Biological Sciences in Ft. Collins, CO.

Students in the pre-veterinary medicine program are advised to major in general biology through the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. Well-prepared, highly motivated students may be able to complete all of the prerequisites within two years, although most successful applicants have completed four years of college.
Other programs may have different requirements. Students should check admissions requirements for all schools to which they plan to apply. Completion of requisite coursework does not guarantee acceptance into any professional degree.
Application Information for the CSU School of Veterinary Medicine, including contact information, application materials, deadlines, and testing, can be found at:https://vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu/dvm/
For more information, contact Academic Advising at (719) 255-3260 or advising@uccs.edu.

Required Courses

Genetics and Biochemistry must be taken within 3-5 years prior to admission. All other courses should be taken within the last 10 years.

BIOL 1300 - General Biology: Organismic Biology
BIOL 1310 - General Biology: Organismic Biology Laboratory
BIOL 1350 - General Biology: Introduction to the Cell
BIOL 1360 - General Biology: Introduction to the Cell Laboratory
BIOL 3020 - Cell Biology
BIOL 3830 - Genetics
CHEM 1401 - General Chemistry I
CHEM 1402 - General Chemistry Laboratory I
CHEM 1411 - General Chemistry II
CHEM 1412 - General Chemistry Laboratory II
CHEM 4211 - Biochemistry
HPNU 3050 - Human Anatomy
HPNU 3060 - Human Physiology
Complete 9 hours of upper-division biomedical science courses from the following:
BIOL 3100 - Microbiology: Bacteriology/Mycology *
BIOL 3110 - Bacteriology/Mycology Laboratory
BIOL 3140 - Microbiology: Virology *
BIOL 3220 - Animal Physiology
BIOL 3910 - Immunology *
BIOL 4000 - Current Topics in Biology
BIOL 4170 - Developmental Biology *
BIOL 4200 - Developmental Neurobiology
BIOL 4220 - Epidemiology *
BIOL 4420 - Behavioral Ecology
HPNU 3990 - Human Cadaver Dissection
*NOTE: These courses are highly recommended.
PES 1010 - Physics for Life Science I - Algebra Based
and
PES 1150 - General Physics Lab I Algebra Based
OR
PES 1110 - General Physics I - Calculus Based
and
PES 1160 - Advanced Physics Lab I - Calc Based
ENGL 1310 - Rhetoric and Writing I
ELECTIVES: Complete 12 credit hours of social science, humanities, or foreign language courses.
STATISTICS: Complete one of the following courses:
BIOL 3000 - Biostatistics or
MATH 3100 - Statistics for the Sciences or
PSY 2100 - Introduction to Psychological Statistics

Recommended Courses

Notes

Prerequisites: Many courses have prerequisites that fall outside of this list; be sure to check the catalog for course details.

Time Limits: Genetics and Biochemistry must be taken within 3-5 years prior to admission. All other courses should be taken within the last 10 years.

Grades: All courses should be completed with a grade of C-or better, but a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher is recommended for application.

Experience: While no minimum number of animal care contact hours is required, it is highly recommended to have some animal care as well as experience volunteering with a vet prior to application.

Additional Resources

UCCS Career Center: https://career.uccs.edu/

The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges: http://www.aavmc.org