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How to Select a Veterinary Technician School near Norvelt Pennsylvania

Norvelt PA vet tech diagnosing puppy Achieving your long term goal of working with and helping animals by enrolling in a vet tech program near Norvelt PA may at first feel like a challenging undertaking. After all, you need to search for and enroll in a college that will furnish the proper training to ensure that you can be successful as a vet tech. But just how do you tackle analyzing and contrasting programs so that you can make the best selection? Many future students launch their due diligence process by searching for colleges that are near their residences. When they have found some area colleges, they find out which ones have the most affordable tuition and focus on those. Although cost and location are significant factors when comparing veterinary technician schools, they are not the only significant ones when making your comparisons. Factors such as accreditation and internship programs should be evaluated as well. The main idea is that there are questions you need to be asking the vet technician programs you are evaluating before you make a final selection. We have furnished several within this article in order to help get you started, but before we review them we’ll talk about the different duties of veterinary technicians and the training alternatives offered.

The Responsibilities of a Vet Tech in Norvelt PA

cat with cone after surgery in Norvelt PA Among the initial decisions that you will have to make is if you want to train as a veterinary assistant, technologist or technician. Part of your preference may be based on the amount of time and money that you have to devote to your education, but the principal determiner will most likely be which specialization appeals to you the most. What technicians and assistants have in common is that they each work under the immediate guidance of a licensed and practicing veterinarian. And although there are many functions that they can carry out within the Norvelt PA veterinary clinic or hospital, they can’t prescribe medicines, diagnose health issues, or perform surgical procedures. In those areas they may only provide support to a licensed vet. There are technicians and technologists that work outside of the standard vet practice, for instance for animal shelters, zoos or law enforcement. Let’s take a look at the duties and training prerequisites for each specialty.

Vet Assistants in most instances will have completed a structured training program, either as an apprentice or intern in a vet clinic or hospital, or by finishing a certificate program at a community college or vocational school. As the name implies, their job function is to assist the vets and vet technicians in the execution of their duties. Normally they are not associated with more involved activities, such as assisting with surgical procedures. A few of their regular functions may include working at the front desk, preparing and cleaning examination rooms and equipment, or handling animals during examinations.
Vet Technicians go through more extensive training compared with assistants and generally earn a 2 year Associate Degree, preferably from an American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) accredited program. They are in a fashion the veterinarian counterparts of medical nurses, since their basic job function is to assist vets with diagnosing and treating animal patients. Where they stand apart from vet assistants is that they are included in more complicated tasks, for example assisting with surgical procedures or administering medicine. All states currently mandate that vet technicians pass a credentialing examination for either licensing, registration or certification.
Vet Technologists are similar to vet technicians and essentially carry out the same work functions. They are required to attain a Bachelor’s Degree in veterinary technology, which generally takes 4 years to complete. Therefore the only real distinction between a vet technician and a technologist is the technologist’s higher level of education. But with an advanced degree comes more career options, higher salaries and potential management positions. They are additionally required to pass a credentialing exam for either certification, registration or licensing.

Vet techs and technologists may specialize in areas such as internal medicine, anesthesia or urgent care. Many may receive certification from the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) to work in Norvelt PA laboratories or research facilities as well.

Online Veterinary Technician Programs Offered in Norvelt

student attending online vet tech school in Norvelt PA An option that may be a solution for those with a hectic lifestyle or who are working full time while attending veterinarian school is to enroll in an online training program. Since the classes are made available via the internet, students can attend on their own timetable wherever a computer is available. The curriculum is taught using multiple methods, including videos, slide shows and live streaming webinars. And since many veterinary tech and technologist degrees require practical training, that part can normally be completed as an internship or work study program at a local Norvelt PA veterinary clinic or hospital. Distance learning, as it is also called, can in some instances reduce the cost of your education. Tuition and ancillary expenses, for example for travel and study supplies, can be lower compared to more standard classroom courses. Just confirm that the program that you enroll in is accredited, either by the AVMA or another nationally certified accrediting organization. With the online classes and the practical training, everything is furnished for a complete education. So if you are dedicated enough to learn in this more self-reliant manner, an online veterinary technician program may be the ideal choice for you.

What to Ask Norvelt PA Vet Tech Schools

Questions to ask Norvelt PA vet tech schools By now you should have decided on which veterinary credential that you wish to earn, and if you prefer to study online or attend a college on campus. Since there are a large number of vet community colleges, trade and vocational schools in the Norvelt PA area as well as across the United States, you need to ask some important questions to help fine tune your list of options. As we mentioned in our introduction, many prospective students start by focusing on location and tuition expense. But we have previously pointed out other essential qualifiers, which include internship programs and accreditation. And obviously you need to enroll in a program that offers the specialty and degree that you are interested in. These and other factors are addressed in the checklist of questions that you should ask the veterinary technician schools that you are looking at.

Is the Vet Program Accredited? It’s essential that you make sure that the vet tech program you enroll in is accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency. As earlier mentioned, one of the most highly regarded is the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Vocational schools and colleges that are accredited by the AVMA have gone through a demanding screening process that ensures you will obtain a superior education. Also, accreditation is essential if you are requesting a student loan or financial aid, since a large number of programs are not obtainable for non-accredited schools. Last, having a degree or certificate from an accredited school is frequently a precondition for employment for a number of Norvelt PA area veterinary clinics and hospitals.

What is the College’s Reputation? The veterinary college or trade school and program you choose should have an excellent reputation within the veterinary community. You can begin your due diligence by asking the colleges you are reviewing for endorsements from the employers in their job assistance network. Other tips include looking on internet school ranking websites and checking with the school’s accrediting organizations as well. You can ask the Pennsylvania school licensing department if there have been any complaints or infractions regarding your targeted schools. As a final suggestion, call some Norvelt PA veterinary clinics that you may want to work for after you get your training. Find out what they think about your school selections. They might even recommend some colleges not on your list.

Are there Internship Programs? The best approach to obtain clinical hands on experience as a vet tech is to work in a clinical environment. Find out if the colleges you are looking at have internship programs established with Norvelt PA veterinarians, vet practices or hospitals. The majority of veterinary medicine programs require practical training and a large number furnish it through internships. Not only will the experience be valuable regarding the clinical training, but an internship may also help develop associations in the local veterinarian community and assist in the search for employment after graduation.

Is there a Job Placement Program? Getting a job after graduating from a veterinary technician school may be difficult without the assistance of a job placement program. To start with, ask what the graduation rates are for the programs you are evaluating. A low rate might suggest that the teachers were ineffective at teaching the curriculum or that a number of students were unhappy with the program and dropped out. Next, confirm that the colleges have a job placement program and ask what their placement rates are. A high placement rate may signify that the program has an outstanding reputation within the Norvelt PA vet community and has a significant network of contacts for student placements. A low rate could indicate that the training is not highly regarded by employers or that the job assistance program is ineffective at placing students.

How Big are the Classes? If the classes are larger, you probably will receive little or no individualized instruction from the teachers. Find out from the Norvelt PA programs you are looking at what their class teacher to student ratios are. You may also decide to sit in on a few classes (if practical) to monitor the interaction between teachers and students. Get feedback from students relating to the quality of instruction. Also, talk with the instructors and find out what their backgrounds are as well as their methods of teaching.

Where is the College Located? Of course, we already talked about location, but there are a few more points to consider on the topic. If you are going to commute to your veterinary technician classes from your Norvelt PA home, you need to make sure that the commuting time fits into your schedule. For example, driving during the weekend to investigate the route won’t be the same as the drive during rush hour traffic, particularly if the school is located near or in a larger city. In addition, if you do opt to enroll in a school in another state or even outside of your County of residence, there may be increased tuition fees particularly for community and state colleges. Of course taking classes online might be an option that will provide you with more flexibility and reduce the necessity for travel.

Do the Classes Fit Your Schedule? And last, it’s essential that you ascertain if the veterinary colleges you are considering offer class times flexible enough to accommodate your schedule. For instance, many students continue to work full time and can only attend classes on the weekends or at night near Norvelt PA. Some may only be able to go to class in the morning or later in the afternoon. Make certain that the class times you need are available before enrolling. In addition, find out if you can make-up classes that you might miss because of sickness, work or family responsibilities. You might find that an online school is the best solution to fit your vet education into your active life.

Enrolling in a Vet Tech School near Norvelt PA?

If you have decided to attend a Veterinary Technician Program in the Norvelt Pennsylvania area, then you may find the following information about the location of your school campus interesting and informing.

Norvelt, Pennsylvania

Norvelt is a census-designated place in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community was part of the Calumet-Norvelt CDP for the 2000 census, but was split into the two separate communities of Calumet and Norvelt for the 2010 census. Calumet was a typical company town, locally referred to as a "patch" or "patch town", built by a single company to house coal miners as cheaply as possible. On the other hand, Norvelt was created during the depression by the federal government of the United States as a model community, intended to increase the standard of living of laid-off coal miners. Award winning writer Jack Gantos was born in the village and wrote a book about it [2]

As part of the sweeping National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA), Congress allocated $25 million for the creation of "subsistence homesteads" for dislocated industrial workers. Over the course of the program's eleven-year history, the federal government seeded nearly 100 planned, cooperative communities. Norvelt, in southwestern Pennsylvania, was the fourth. The idea for the program was a throwback to the Jeffersonian ideal of a back-to-the-land movement, popularized by Americans who promoted small-scale subsistence farming as an antidote to economic exploitation and the alienation of modern life.[3] The idea gained strength in the 1920s among a wide variety of progressive organizations, including church-related groups such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) which was the social services arm of the Quakers.[2] During the 1920s, the AFSC had become deeply concerned with the violence that resulted from labor strife, particularly in the bituminous coal fields of Appalachia. So AFSC volunteers traveled to the bituminous-coal regions in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to help the families of striking and unemployed coal miners. The AFSC also believed in the necessity of economic and social justice as a means of insuring lasting peace in this section of the United States. To that end, it clothed and fed the families of unemployed miners during strikes, and later launched subsistence gardening and vocational retraining programs. After the onset of the Great Depression, these experiences placed the AFSC in the forefront of the movement for cooperative communities, so much so that the United States Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes recruited AFSC staff to guide its subsistence homesteads program.[4]

The Great Depression was an opportunity to put these ideals into action. Supporters lobbied for the creation of a government-sponsored resettlement program that would place unemployed industrial workers in farmstead communities. Promoted as a relief measure, it quickly became weighted with the much more ambitious goal of cooperative living.[2] In 1934, Interior Secretary Ickes named Milburn Wilson to head the newly created "Division of Subsistence Homesteads". Wilson, in turn, selected the AFSC's Clarence Pickett to help administer the program. As the AFSC's executive secretary, Pickett already had overseen vocational reeducation and cooperative farm programs for unemployed coal miners in West Virginia. The AFSC's work supplied the prototype for the federal program. In the years that followed, AFSC lent its support to the federal program and later sponsored its own cooperative community, Penn-Craft in Fayette County.

Pick the Best Vet Tech Program near Norvelt PA

Norvelt PA vet tech holding dog Picking the ideal vet tech college is a crucial first step to beginning a fulfilling career providing care and treatment for pets and livestock. Students thinking about veterinary technician programs must make their determination based on multiple key factors. Veterinary technicians and technologists work in vet clinics, animal hospitals and animal shelters. They typically take on administrative responsibilities and assist the veterinarian with the animal patients as needed. As we have covered, it’s very important that you enroll in a veterinary medicine program that is both accredited and has an outstanding reputation within the field. This applies to online vet tech programs as well. By asking the questions included in our checklist for evaluating schools, you will be able to reduce your choices so that you can make your final decision. And by choosing the right program, you can achieve your goal of becoming a vet tech in Norvelt PA.