Veterinary Medicine is a pre-professional program. The purpose of pre-professional programs is to provide students with the intellectual and academic backgrounds they will need before continuing their education in degrees not offered at Minnesota State Mankato. Acceptance to professional educational institutions is contingent upon academic performance, so students enrolling in pre-professional programs should be highly motivated and realize they are expected to maintain standards of excellence. Advisors play an important role in guiding the students enrolled in such programs so students are urged to contact the advisor before enrolling. Students are strongly encouraged to declare a major and work toward a Bachelor's degree while completing the pre-veterinary coursework. Because of the extensive overlap of required courses with major's courses, student commonly major in one of the biology or chemistry options