Scores Of Louisiana Veterinarians Received Their D.V.M. Education At Texas A&M
The Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is one of only 31 colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States and Canada.
Prior to LSU beginning its own veterinary medicine program, several future veterinarians in Louisiana each year received their D.V.M. education at Texas A&M through a cooperative agreement between the two institutions and their respective states.
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine accepted its first students on Jan. 4, 1974 with its first class graduating in the spring of 1977. Up until that time, and dating back more than two decades, a designated number of slots were reserved for Louisiana students in the entering class of what is now formally known as the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. As early as the mid-fifties, five or six Louisiana students enrolled at Texas A&M. That number increased to about 10-12 Louisiana residents in the 1970s.
The cooperative arrangement between Texas A&M and Louisiana State was faithfully carried out even though competition was exceptionally keen during that period for all students aspiring to become veterinarians. First-year classes then were much smaller than today, when 132 new D.V.M. students are now accepted at Texas A&M each year.
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Media contact: Lane Stephenson, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4662
Interesting story re Louisiana students getting vet degrees at A&M in the 1970′s. When I was Vice Chancellor and Provost at LSU in the early 90′s, we did the same with Arkansas. Out of curiousity, I ran some numbers on the program. The state of Arkansas had its vets educated at LSU at a price well below our own Louisiana students! Not a bad deal–if you were from Arkansas. Hopefully LSU was tougher on its next rounds of negotiation when renewal was due.