Visit a Few Vet Tech Schools
There’s more to a School than a Brochure or Website
Colleges always send out the message to come visit. You High school counselors will tell you the same thing and, in many cases, organize groups of students from one school to go together for a college visit. But, if you have not visited any campuses yet, you might be wondering why a visit can be so important. Anyone considering pursuing a career as a veterinary technician should consider visiting a college campus that offers this course of study. It could be a very big deal since this is going to be the most important step in your young adult life.
Never Rely on Brochure Words and Images
Although many colleges spare no expense designing, creating and producing fabulous full color brochures telling you how wonderful the school is supplying great photos that make you excited about the possibility participating in all the school has to offer, you should not be judging this school solely by this particular “cover.” You can only glom so much from a brochure, catalogue or even a website. There’s always something missing when you can’t use all your senses to “view” something. In order to get a true feel for the vet tech labs and other facilities including living spaces such as dorms or off-campus housing you need to sort of “touch it” up close and in person through a college campus visit. This is the best way to get at true feel for the college, its places and people.
Talk to Everyone You Meet
A visit to a prospective college allows any potential vet tech student to meet and greet with the people who are already participating including faculty, students, plus admissions and financial aid personnel. You can write a list of questions you’d like answers and present these during your visit that would include:
• How big is an average size vet tech course lecture? Who teaches the course – a professor or a grad assistant? What are their veterinary medicine credentials? What is the average student-to-teacher class ratio?
• What’s the campus food like? What are the meal plan options?
• Is the student body fairly diverse?
• What types of non-academic activities are available on campus? Is there an active social scene?
• What is housing like? Are their school-sponsored/approved off campus housing opportunities?
• Are there many commuter students? How large is the on-campus residency.
Firsthand Info Pickup
A personal visit to a prospective college allows you as a potential vet tech student to visit with your peers who can grant you a bit more “real-world” insight about life as a student. Typically, you should be visiting when there are students on campus so you can take advantage of “sitting-in” on a normal vet tech class while getting introduced to students from who you can get the real information about the challenges, joys, stresses and rewards received in everyday vet tech student life. Additionally, you will be able to grab some student-produced material in the form of event flyers or possibly the college has a student-produced newspaper you can obtain. While walking around through student access areas, read all the bulletin boards where you can taste a great deal of campus flavor.
School Choice is Ultimately Yours
What a school visit allows you as a potential student is to walk about the campus envisioning yourself as part of all the dynamic activity you see as a visitor. Spending an appropriate amount of time checking the college out will help you determine if this is going to be a good fit for you as both a student and person.