Working with animals has always been something I'm passionate about, so when I got accepted to Penn State, I knew that I would be an animal science major. Like any other student I am often asked what my major is, but recently I've noticed that I receive the same five questions over and over:
1. "Is there any money in that degree?"
Thank you for caring about my future income and thinking that there is not a lot of money to be earned, but there actually is. Whether I want to become a veterinarian, a geneticist, or an agriculture teacher, there is an huge market for agriculture related fields.
2. "So you want to become a vet?"
Yes, many animal science majors do want to become veterinarians (whether they are food science veterinarians or small animal veterinarians), but not all animal science majors want to go into veterinary medicine. There's actually a huge range of careers that an animal science major can pick from, I just so happen to be passionate about animal reproduction, more so pertaining to dairy cattle reproduction and genetics along with teaching agriculture.
3. "So you're spending thousands of dollars on a degree just to go back and farm?"
Yes, a lot of animal science do return to their family farms to help, but not all animal science majors want to return to the family farm. I personally want to get a degree and attend graduate school to eventually work in the insemination and reproductive side of the agriculture industry.
4. "Your course load has to be easier than any other major; I mean, you're learning about dogs."
Actually, animal science majors have to take high level organic chemistry, microbiologies, physics, biochemistries, on top of all of our animal science classes. Sometimes the course load of an animal science major is harder than that of a typical biology or pre-med major.
5. "So do you just learn about dogs and cats all day?"
No, I learn about the biological, agricultural and environmental aspects of animal science; you know, how cows, horses, pigs, cats, dogs, and really most animals digest their foods or how they reproduce, and so much more.
