If you are interested in a career as a veterinarian, start with your veterinary assistant certificate! To receive your veterinary assistant certificate through Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Veterinary Medicine, you must complete 100 lessons and 500 hours of apprenticeship. Graduates of this program are eligible to take the exam for certification through the Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA).

This is an intensive, five-year curriculum designed for students in Jr. High and High School that are interested in a career in veterinary sciences, with the goal of qualifying as a Certified Veterinary Assistant when the program is completed. The program can be accomplished in less time, if the student is already in high school and wishes to complete it faster. Following completion of the Certified Veterinary Assistant qualifications, students can go into a Veterinary Tech program, such as the one at Lone Star College in Tomball, and from there have a better chance of getting accepted into the A&M Veterinary School program, due to the vast experience you will receive prior to applying.

Students are more than welcome to come if you just think you might be interested, but are not sure. This particular curriculum was developed by 4-H and Texas A&M to prepare students to be competitive when you apply for veterinary school. During this five-year program, you will accumulate around 1500 hours of volunteer service in the veterinary field, and A&M just raised their acceptance requirement to 200 hours, so will definitely have an edge over others that apply, but didn’t go through this program.

A few things you will learn and do in this project are:

• Animal nutrition
• Handling and restraining animals
• Helping with animal examinations and treatments
• Infectious diseases of animals
• Non-infectious diseases
• Aiding with surgery