Pre-Professional Academic Requirements (Prerequisites)
The admissions committee for the
College of Veterinary Medicine views a solid and broad
undergraduate experience to be crucial preparation for
successful completion of the veterinary curriculum.
Applicants will be expected to have
completed all the
prerequisite courses before matriculation. As such, the
committee strongly recommends completion of the
baccalaureate degree prior to applying to the DVM
program. If a baccalaureate degree has not been earned
by the time of application, the committee will still
base its decisions on the strength and breadth of the
applicant's educational background. Therefore, the
committee will look for evidence that courses from the
following categories have been satisfactorily completed:
Courses within these categories are listed under General
Education Requirements for graduation in the WSU
catalog:
http://catalog.wsu.edu/Catalog/Content/GeneralEducationProgram.pdf
Applicants must find equivalent coursework at their own
institutions. Please see the list
below for baseline course equivalency.
|
Physical & Biological Science Requirements |
|
|
Biology with lab |
8 |
|
Inorganic chemistry with lab |
8 |
|
Organic chemistry with lab |
4 |
|
Genetics
|
4 |
|
Biochemistry |
3 |
|
Physics with lab |
4 |
|
Statistics (methods) |
3 |
|
Math (pre-calculus or higher) |
3 |
|
General Education Requirements* |
|
English composition/communication** |
6 |
|
Arts & humanities/social science/history** |
21 |
|
Total SEMESTER credit hours |
64 |
|
|
*If an applicant has received or will receive a bachelor's
degree prior to matriculation, these prerequisites are
considered fulfilled regardless of credit hours.
**Course titles/classifications of these requirements may vary
slightly by institution. Please follow the institution's
graduation requirement standards for a guideline or see WSU
General Education Program (
http://catalog.wsu.edu/Catalog/Content/GeneralEducation.pdf)
course examples. Please also utilize the Transfer Equivalency
Guide (
https://webapps.wsu.edu/ais/myinfoservices/darwintce/index.aspx)
for examples of courses found in these categories at other
institutions. Not all equivalent courses will be found on the
site, so check with your academic advisor from the institution
where the credits were awarded if you cannot find your course.
If they are not sure, have them contact the CVM Office of
Student Services at 509-335-1532 or
admissions@vetmed.wsu.edu for additional assistance.
Students are encouraged to take additional upper division science
courses, including but not limited to anatomy, physiology,
embryology, microbiology, immunology, nutrition or accounting.
Pre-professional coursework in the physical and biological
sciences, outlined as prerequisites, and the GRE pertains to all
students. Ensuring that all prerequisites have been completed
by no later than the spring semester of the application year is
solely the responsibility of the applicant. A list of WSU
prerequisite courses, equivalencies of which may be met at other
institutions, can be found here. Note:
Students who participate in the Combined DVM/Honors College must
fulfill all requirements that apply to these individual
programs, such as completing the baccalaureate degree, honors
thesis, etc., prior to the awarding of the DVM degree
Advanced Placement/Running Start Credits
While Advanced Placement (AP) or Running Start credits might be
acceptable for some prerequisites, applicants are encouraged to
view such credits as an opportunity to qualify for and enroll in
upper division physical and biological science courses, rather
than simply as a means for “testing out†of prerequisites. The
goal of the applicant should be to prepare him/herself as best
they can for our rigorous, science based, veterinary curriculum.
Upper division science courses are deemed to be highly
preparatory for the DVM program.
Electives
Also, students spending more than two years in preprofessional
programs have time to take a number of elective courses. Highly
recommended, but not required, electives include mammalian
anatomy, physiology, embryology, microbiology, immunology,
computer science, physics II, and animal science courses,
including nutrition.
Course Equivalencies
The following are the WSU DVM program Physical & Biological
Science prerequisite courses, equivalencies of which must be met at
other institutions:
Biological Science: (8 semester hours w/lab) The biology of
organisms, plants, animals ecology, and evolution, including
cellular and molecular biology and genetics (WWSU Biol 106 & 107)
Inorganic Chemistry: (8 semester hours, w/lab) Stoichiometry,
structure, gases, liquids, solids, solutions, thermodynamics,
kinetics, equilibrium, volumetric and gravimetric analysis
Acid-base, ionic, molecular, solubility, oxidation/reduction
equilibriums, kinetics, electro-chemistry, systematic chemistry of
the elements, coordination compounds (WSU Chem 105 & 106)
Organic Chemistry: /strong>(4 semester hours w/lab) Structure and
function in organic chemistry; reaction mechanisms, molecular
orbital theory, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, and radicals; biological
applications (WSU Chem 345, see KEY point #2)
Biochemistry: (3 semester hours) Proteins (amino acids, protein
structure, enzyme kinetics and mechanisms); metabolism (carbohydrate
structure, glycolysis, TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation,
glycogen metabolism, and metabolic integration); molecular genetics
(Central dogma, DNA structure, packaging, replication, repair, RNA
transcription, translation, genetic code, protein targeting, gene
expression, DNA technology) (WSU MBioS 303)
Mathematics: (3 semester hours) Elementary functions; graphs,
properties, and applications of polynomial, rational, exponential,
logarithmic, and trigonometric functions (WSU Math 107 or
equivalent)
Physics: (4 semester hours) Algebra/trigonometry-based physics;
topics in mechanics, wave phenomena, temperature, and heat (WSU Phys
101)
Genetics: (4 semester hours) Basic Mendelian genetics, meiosis,
mitosis, chromosome rearrangement, DNA structure and replication,
mutations, bacterial and phage genetics, gene regulation,
transcription, translation, plasmids, transposons, cloning,
population genetics, evolution (WSU MBioS 301)
Statistics: (3 semester hours) Graphical methods, descriptive
statistics, measures of central tendency, probability distributions,
variables, estimates and sample sizes, hypothesis testing,
inferences, experimental design, and randomization (WSU Stat 212,
412 or Psych 311)
WSU Undergraduate program
