Pre-Veterinary Medicine
Your Path to Veterinary Medicine Starts Here
A career in veterinary medicine begins with a strong understanding of animal health, science and care. Through Cal Poly's Animal Science pre-veterinary pathway, you'll gain hands-on experience with diverse animal species, learn alongside veterinarians and develop the scientific knowledge and practical skills needed to prepare for veterinary school.
Our Program
As a pre-veterinary student at Cal Poly, you'll have unique opportunities to learn directly from university veterinarians and gain hands-on experience in a campus veterinary clinic.
You'll gain exposure to veterinary care on campus, even before pursuing volunteer opportunities or internships. Cal Poly's veterinarians serve as teachers and advisors while providing health care for the university's animals. These include more than 100 horses, 250 Angus cow-calf pairs, 180 lactating dairy cows, heifers and calves, 100 ewes, 35 sows, a tortoise colony and a poultry operation with broilers and layers.
The campus veterinary clinic is veterinarian-supervised and student-managed. Working in the clinic, you'll develop clinical, business and management skills relevant to the veterinary profession.
You'll also gain practical experience working with animals through enterprise courses, which offer opportunities to apply classroom knowledge and strengthen your veterinary school application.
Whatever discipline in pre-veterinary medicine students choose to work in, Cal Poly’s program marries education with application so students have insight into the realities of working in the animal health field. Because of this, more than 40 Cal Poly students are accepted to veterinary colleges across North America and Europe each year.