Minority Student Perceptions of the Veterinary Profession: Factors Influencing Choices of Health Careers

The lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the profession of veterinary medicine is widely recognized. Despite this recognition, minority representation in veterinary colleges remains very low. No demographic data shows exactly how many minority veterinarians exist; however, Elmore (2003) extrapolated numbers from recent graduates and suggested that about 91% of all veterinarians in the United States were white, 5% were Hispanic, 2% were African American, 1% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% were American Indian/Alaskan Native. For minority groups, these percentages are significantly lower than the racial distribution in the population of the United States. Limited progress has been made toward achieving diversity in the veterinary profession.

Previous research (qualitative interviews) has identified several reasons for the lack of proportionate minority representation in animal-oriented fields including veterinary medicine (Brown, 2005): 1. Economic disparities 2. On-going civil rights struggle 3. Moral obligation to serve people 4. Unattractive career incentives 5. Inadequate career exposure and recruitment 6. Non-supportive environments 7. Negative images of the field 8. Little or no positive animal experience 9. Racial discrimination and prejudice

About 10% of veterinary students in United States colleges of veterinary medicine today are minorities. More quantitative research is necessary to understand the reasons for this lack of proportionate representation. The current study is the first large scale project to survey a group of high achieving underrepresented college-bound and undergraduate students that are in pursuit of mathematics and science-based careers in order to understand the reasons they are less likely to choose veterinary medicine than other health fields as a profession.

Results indicated that the following two factors were the most important in the decision to pursue a career in the field of veterinary medicine: 1. Acquaintance with a practicing veterinarian 2. The availability of shadowing or internship opportunities

Based on the findings of the survey, recommendations and strategies for increasing minority representation in the veterinary profession are presented.