Why Choose Penn Vet?

There are many reasons to choose Penn Vet, including our history, our people, our location, our commitment to diversity, and our vision of what veterinary medicine can do for our world. Here are some of the most important reasons our students and faculty choose Penn Vet. 

• We Are What We Believe

  The School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, known as Penn Vet, exists to improve the health and welfare of both animals and humans. We are leaders in innovation, committed to raising veterinary medicine to a new level of cutting-edge research and clinical care.

  We train veterinarians and biomedical scientists to work in a world characterized by globalization, population growth, and rapid technological advances. Our curriculum encompasses both traditional clinical practice and emerging career pathways. We are committed to the principle of One Health as a critical tool for tackling such daunting global challenges as disease, biosecurity, food security, biodiversity, climate change, and antimicrobial stewardship.

  And we have a bedrock commitment to diversity. We’re constantly working towards making veterinary medicine more inclusive. For our profession to thrive, our student body must accurately reflect the wonderfully multicultural world in which we live.

• Our Commitment to Diversity

  At Penn Vet we are committed to diversity and inclusivity. In our admissions policy we seek to create a population that is diverse in every imaginable way — gender, ethnicity, race, culture, religion, class, background, age — one that reflects the populations we serve.

  Understanding and appreciating diversity is a priority, both at our school and in the veterinary profession itself. It is fundamental to success in today's world. We seek to increase awareness, respect, and sensitivity to all differences among individuals.

  Diversity is our mission as educators, too. True learning comes, in part, from learning to be different together. Students arrive at Penn Vet from numerous, diverse regions. After they graduate, they head off to different communities. All need to thrive in an inclusive environment.

  Besides providing our students with a first-class veterinary education, we at Penn Vet have an obligation to educate them in issues pertaining to a diverse society. Our approach is to lead by example, providing students with tools to overcome diversity issues in the veterinary profession. Just as we, as educators, are invested in the principle of One Health, we also believe in one world. One that contains all of us. Different together.

• Our History Matters

  Founded in 1884, Penn Vet is the only veterinary school in the nation that originated within a medical school. Today, our two schools – Penn Vet and Penn Medicine – continue to have close ties in clinical service, research, and curricular design. 
  
  A pioneer since its inception, Penn Vet has led the way in such areas as infectious disease research, germ cell biology, animal transgenesis, comparative oncology, and comparative medical genetics. Learn more about Penn Vet's history...

• Our Greater Campus

  Our research initiatives and clinical services span two campuses. The Philadelphia campus is home to numerous research labs, centers, and initiatives, as well as Ryan Veterinary Hospital for Companion Animals. At New Bolton Center, our 700-acre campus in bucolic Kennett Square, students learn about equine, food animal, and ruminant species, both in the research setting and at our renowned New Bolton Center Hospital.

  Beyond the two campuses of Penn Vet lies our greater campus – the University of Pennsylvania.

  Today, the University of Pennsylvania is one of the most powerful research and teaching institutions in the world, with over 4,000 active faculty members and an annual research budget of nearly $1 billion. Penn Medicine is one of the top recipients of NIH funding in the United States.

  • The University is renowned, too, for the interdisciplinary character of its research and teaching.
  • Students at Penn have unique opportunities for collaboration with peer practitioners and researchers and innovative, cross-disciplinary research.
  • Located in a dense, urban campus, in close proximity to Penn Medicine, Abramson Cancer Center, and other powerhouse schools and institutes, Penn Vet is ideally situated for fostering One Health. In this integrated biomedical approach to research, clinicians and scientists from various disciplines work together towards global public health, the wellbeing of humans and animals and environmental sustainability and resilience.
• Philadelphia – A Unique Urban Setting

  Interconnectedness also characterizes our school’s relationship with the surrounding community. Penn Vet’s location in Philadelphia — a hub of technological innovation and growth — offers potential for collaboration. Our students benefit from interactions with the thriving biomedical establishment of the city and surrounding Delaware Valley area. 

• Our Commitment to Your Future
  • Veterinary medicine is changing, becoming broader. As the rise of the One Health movement demonstrates, its relevance to human health is being recognized as never before. 
  • Our dual degree programs — VMD-PhD, VMD-MBA, and VMD-MPH — expand the very notion of what it means to be a veterinarian. Each one, with its multidisciplinary approach, points to how veterinarians will work in the future, collaborating with others to address pressing global concerns. The potential of our profession feels limitless.  
  • Yours does, too. At Penn Vet we collaborate with our students to help them reach their full potential. Your future can be as fulfilling as you imagine it to be. We’re here to help you build a career to fit our changing profession and world.

   

Five Great Reasons to Choose Penn Vet