Training Collar Blog

With the number of online universities growing, it is important to ensure that the veterinary school of choice is truly an accredited veterinary school. This is true whether a student is pursuing a veterinary technician degree or is trying to become a full veterinarian. It would be very disheartening to get done with an eight year program in veterinary school only to get to the end of it and find that the school is not an accredited veterinary school and not be granted the degree or license to practice veterinary medicine.

AVMA

A school becomes an accredited veterinary school by gaining licensure through the American Veterinary Medical Association. This organization checks to see whether that school meets the agreed upon guidelines in teaching their courses in veterinary medicine. The AVMA has a Council on Education that performs these checks periodically.

During an accreditation year, the school will be asked to provide documentation of the courses being offered, show the officers the textbooks and other supplies being used in the classes, and take the officers from the Council into laboratories and classrooms on campus to do evaluations of the instruction and classroom conditions. Schools will also have to provide a plan for fixing any weaknesses in their program within a certain amount of time. At the end of that time, the officers will come back to check and see if progress has been made.

Courses and Specialties

An accredited veterinary school can offer its students a DVM degree. This degree will take the student four years to complete. Some of the courses that a student will be required to take during this time include animal medical technology, animal husbandry and diseases, animal anatomy and physiology, surgical principals, hematology and anesthesia.

It is after the degree is obtained that the student must then go on to decide what specialty to take, for which he must then go through a two year internship. Some of the possible specialties in veterinary medicine are internal medicine, oncology, surgery, ophthalmology, pathology, radiology, laboratory medicine and preventative medicine.

After a successful internship, the veterinarian then must complete a three to four year residency before taking the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam (NAVLE.) Once these requirements are met, then the veterinarian will usually be able to practice veterinary medicine, unless the state also requires an exam. At this point the veterinarian may practice under his own license and is free to open his own practice or to join one already in existence.