Most veterinary schools require students to have a bachelor's degree, or at least 45 to 90 credit hours at an undergraduate level, before entering their program. Some colleges offer a pre-veterinary program or a bachelor of science degree in pre-veterinary studies. Others can give you guidelines on which courses would be required and which majors, such as animal science or biology, you'd need. Your focus should be on science-related coursework including organic and inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, animal biology, zoology, systemic physiology, animal nutrition and microbiology.
To be eligible for veterinary school, you not only need credits in the right prerequisite courses, you must score well on the Graduate Record Exam, the Veterinary College Admission Test, or the Medical College Admission Test, depending on which school you wish to enter. You should be able to pass these tests if you studied the right undergraduate classes.
To earn your doctor of veterinary medicine degree from vet school, you must complete four years of courses in biological sciences, clinical skills, radiology, bacteriology, reproductive biology, pharmacology, and parasitology. Some schools also now require classes in business management and career development that will help graduates practice veterinary medicine.
Veterinary students who wish to specialize in areas such as cardiology, neurology, pathology, oncology, anesthesiology, or even nutrition must do a three- to four-year residency in an approved office, hospital, or clinic setting. There they learn the skills and knowledge to become board-certified in that specialization.
Within eight months of graduation from veterinary school, a new veterinarian must take the licensing exam in his state. The North American Veterinary Licensing Exam has nearly 400 multiple choice questions that cover all aspects of veterinary medicine. The test usually takes about eight hours. A veterinarian becomes licensed once he passes the exam, but he must renew this license on a regular basis, and most states require some form of continuing education before a license can be renewed. These classes can be on clinical skills competency, new laws and procedures for veterinary offices, or specialized treatments. The requirements differ between states.