Animals are the focus of veterinary medicine, which is the branch of health care that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease as well as disease prevention in animals. Veterinary patients include family pets (small animal), livestock (large animal) and exotic/zoo animals. Veterinarians also contribute to human public health by preventing zoonotic diseases which pass from non-human animals to humans.

It takes four years of veterinary school to attain a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. Approximately 79% of all veterinarians work in veterinary services, and 71% are in small animal veterinary. Within veterinary medicine the American Veterinary Medicine Association recognizes numerous specializations that focus on specific systems, illnesses or species.

Prerequisites: The academic requirements for admission to veterinary school typically include courses in biology, microbiology, genetics, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, statistics, physics, technical writing, and psychology. One required course is animal nutrition, which MSU does not offer but some universities do offer online (check the Texas A&M prerequisites page for information). Veterinary schools may vary in their policies regarding prerequisites, so be sure to check prerequisites by veterinary school. As of Fall 2021 there will be two veterinary schools in Texas:  Texas A&M University at College Station and Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Major: Students who are interested in going to veterinary school typically will pursue Biology Option C-2 Pre-Veterinary or Chemistry Option C, Biochemistry as their undergraduate major.

 Admission to veterinary school may require the GRE, depending on the university.

Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University use the Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service (TMDSAS). Schools outside of Texas use the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS).

The selection and scoring process for veterinary school admission at Texas A&M University is based on academic ability and other skills and abilities. Academic ability is comprised of GPA, last 45 hours GPA, and science GPA. Other skills include veterinary and animal experience (16% of score), mini interviews (25% of score), and other achievements, activities and evaluations (21%). The minimum GPA for students to be competitive is 3.5 out of 4.0, but average scores are normally above 3.8.

MSU has a Health Professions Advisory Committee that assists students with letters of recommendation and mock interviews to prepare for veterinary school application.