Monday, February 24, 2003
Topic of the day: Since the early 1990s, more women than men have been entering veterinary schools and thus the veterinary profession. Why do
articles that discuss this trend always talk about a woman's willingness to take a lower salary, or compare the increase in women with the increase in "small animal" pratice (since women supposedly can't handle large animal medicine as well as men) or the appeal of flexible hours for women who want to be moms? The same articles forget to mention that the trend parallels the steadily rising standards for veterinary school admission.
Maybe I'm being sexist bringing this up, but since the early 1990s the GPA, GRE, extracurricular involvement and animal experince requirements have become tougher to meet. Perhaps women are more versatile or ambitious than their male counterparts. How many more men would be entering the proffession if admission standards were closer to what they were back in the 1970s and 1980s?
