Xie says she’s always felt pressure to either go into finance or become a doctor, but has recently dealt with nagging reservations.

“If I were to become a doctor, I feel like it would be for superficial reasons like high pay or respect in society,” she says. “But being a vet is compelling for me because vets need to find alternative ways of communicating with their patients. If vets didn’t stand up for the animals, who would?”

Xie is exploring her interest in animals by taking courses such as “Dogs and How We Know Them,” a class taught by Pre-Vet Society advisor and History of Science Professor Sarah Jansen.

Cazer, the aspiring large-animal vet, grew up on a farm in upstate New York and as a child, she presented rabbits, llamas, and cows at competitions. She says that as soon as she grew out of “that phase where all little kids want to be rich and famous,” she knew she wanted to be a vet.

After years of working at animal shelters and on farms, Cazer says she knows large animal medicine is “a dangerous profession.”

“But the most difficult part, in my experience, is the pet owners,” she says. “They’re something else.”

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

After opening its horseshoe-shaped doors in 1882, the Harvard School of Veterinary Medicine transformed from an “academically lax” academy to the most rigorous veterinary institution of its time, according to the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin. But financial woes forced the School to close only 19 years after its founding.

For Cazer, the failure of the vet school seems to have foreshadowed the relative unpopularity of veterinary medicine at Harvard.

“It’s been really discouraging being a pre-vet here,” she said. “I actually considered transferring last year because of the lack of available support.”

The United States has 131 medical schools but only 28 vet schools, making the admissions process uniquely competitive. Last year, the average applicant to Cornell—Cazer’s first choice vet school—had accumulated 1,335 hours of animal experience, according to the spring 2008 Veterinary School Admissions Guide.

But because Harvard is not an agricultural school, it is hard for students to get experience working with large animals, Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Advisor Ann Georgi wrote in an e-mailed statement.

And because Harvard has no vet school, none of the House pre-med tutors have a background in veterinary medicine, Office of Career Services pre-health advisor Jeffrey J. Glenn wrote in an e-mail.

In addition to typical pre-med requirements, pre-vets must also take microbiology, biochemistry, and zoology. But since Harvard doesn’t offer a pure microbiology course, students must take classes at MIT and the Medical School or make other arrangements with vet schools.

“We work closely with our pre-vet students around requirements issues and this often means a lot of communication with individual veterinary schools as they all have their own policies,” Glenn wrote.