UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Beginning in 2015, students in the Department of Animal Science at Penn State will have the unique opportunity to enroll in the University of Glasgow’s School of Veterinary Medicine for their final year of college.
That will put them on the road to automatic acceptance into the four-year program at the University of Glasgow.
After successfully completing their senior year, they will receive a bachelor’s degree from Penn State while continuing to pursue their veterinary degree at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine.
“This is the first time something of this nature has been done at Penn State,” said Dr. Terry Etherton, head of the Department of Animal Science.
Etherton said the University of Glasgow approached Penn State with this idea “after seeing the caliber of several of our students who had graduated from their traditional veterinary degree program.”
3+1+4 system
The program, known as the 3+1+4 system, was offered for the first time to universities in the United States in 2014.
In essence, the first year of veterinary school at University of Glasgow will count as completion of the fourth year of the Penn State animal science/science option curriculum.
Students must satisfactorily complete the first year, and will also be eligible to apply to schools in the United States.
The University of Glasgow has approved status from the American Veterinary Medical Association, so the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (BVMS) is the equivalent to the DVM.
Officially, the program is called the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine FEEPASS Programme (Facilitated Early Entry Programme for Animal Science Students).
Timeline
Robert Mikesell, program coordinator and senior instructor in the Department of Animal Science, said that realistically, most students will be looking to enroll in the program in the fall of 2016.
Students must have completed all required general education and animal science core courses to be considered for the Glasgow program.
Students interested in the program can contact Mikesell, 324 Henning Building, University Park, PA, 16802, or rem9@psu.edu or Jana Peters, animal science advising coordinator, jp9@psu.edu.
Other universities with agreements for the University of Glasgow’s veterinary medicine include California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Purdue University, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois and University of Vermont.
