Texas Tech plans to have a focus on large animal and livestock veterinary practices in the future veterinary school. (By: Emily Boyes)
By: Emily Boyes
Thousands of applicants are turned down each year from Texas’ first and only college of veterinary medicine, which was established over one hundred years ago. To address the disparity between demand for vets and vet school acceptance rates, Texas Tech University is making a new option available for applicants.
In 1916, Texas’ only veterinary school was established at Texas A&M University in College Station, and it has stayed the only school in the state until Texas Tech was approved to add one more veterinary school to the roster, Professor Michael Orth, the chairman of the animal and food science program at Texas Tech, said. Orth said this new program will fill a need in West Texas and the veterinary field.
“Fifteen years from now, people will look back and go, ‘Man, I’m really glad we did this because we now have 50 more vets in West Texas,'” Orth said. “We really came up with a way to address this specific need.”
Texas Tech was granted an estimated $17.4 million in funding and the authority to establish a new school of veterinary medicine in Amarillo as part of House Bill 1, or the General Appropriations Act, during the 86th Texas Legislative Session.
The letter of the bill reads:
“Texas Tech University is authorized to use funds appropriated in Strategy C.1.2, Veterinary Medicine, to initiate curriculum design and development, basic science faculty recruitment, and commencement of organization and other processes necessary to attain accreditation of the four-year veterinary medicine program.”
Furthermore, the funding listed in strategy c.1.2 is listed as $7.5 million and the second sum as $9.85 million.
Dr. Blaine Oden, a Lubbock native who received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A&M, runs Oden Veterinary Hospital in Lubbock located at 5820 66th St.
“I think that this is going to be a boom for Amarillo and the Panhandle because it’s going to bring students in with a new avenue of economy in this area,” Oden said.
Oden has volunteered his veterinary hospital to be a Texas Tech extern site for clinicals for fourth-year students. With resistance from Texas A&M to build a second veterinary school, Oden addressed how it will affect the veterinary field overall.
“I can say there is a shortage of veterinarians for the rural community,” Oden said. “There is room for another veterinary school in Texas, and I don’t think it will drive down the numbers that A&M has.”
With only approximately 3,400 seats available in the nation for students and 30 veterinary schools total, according to the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, Texas Tech will open the gate for more individuals earning a doctorate in veterinary medicine per year.
Michael Orth, Ph.D. has had the title of chairman of the animal and food sciences department since 2013 and said he hopes to prepare the students in the program for the new future veterinary school. (By: Emily Boyes)
“We have a lot of students that would do really well in vet school that just can’t get in, just because of the sheer number of spots,” Orth said. “There’s just not enough spots.”
Warren Billard, a senior animal science major from Houston, said he believes the new school will provide pre-vet students with more hope in the process of applying to veterinary school.
“For there to be another vet school present inside of Texas, it opens more opportunities not just for Tech students,” Billard said. “But students from any other college that want to go to vet school.”
According to veterinarianedu.org, the average acceptance rate for veterinary schools in the U.S. is 10 percent to 15 percent.
Texas Tech acquired “Bulls” in 2005, a sculpture by American sculptor Peter Woytuk, weighing approximately 1,5000 pounds each. (By: Emily Boyes)
“It’s easier for Tech to give us what they want in their students because they’re the people who want it, but it’s harder for Tech to tell me what another school wants,” Billard said. “For us to have another vet school in Texas means there’s more admittance to vet school.”
Orth said he believes the animal and food science program will provide a great backdrop and training ground preparing students for the new vet school, which should lead to more veterinarians in the rural community
“This a need that West Texas and Texas Tech really is equipped to help. Now, it’s a matter of executing and delivering,” Orth said. “Texas Tech has a history of delivering on promises.”
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