While the pass rate number is important, Meyer-Paterson also feels that at Pensacola State College, her students are more than just a number. “It’s a real, legitimate medical degree and it’s harder than anything you’ll ever have to do on the human side because you have so many different types of animals that you have to work with.” “Be prepared to really put in some serious studying,” said Gaskill. She credits her Pensacola State instructors with challenging her to be her best. Katherine Gaskill, a 2018 Pensacola State Veterinary Technology graduate, passed the VTNE in July and is now employed as an intensive care unit nurse at Oklahoma State University’s Boren Veterinary Medical Hospital. She pointed out that out of a total of 64 total Pensacola State Veterinary Technology program graduates since 2013, there are only four who are not employed in the career field. “The advising doesn’t end with graduation,” added Meyer-Paterson. Employment of veterinary technologists and technicians is projected to grow 20 percent from 2016 to 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations. “Our graduates have above-average wages – they are very excited to tell me what they make,” she said.Īccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for veterinary technologists and technicians was $33,400 in May 2017. Keeping up with her students after they graduate is also very important to Meyer-Paterson. “Our pass rate, our curriculum, our faculty, our smaller class-size, the way we treat our students … there could be a lot of reasons that people chose to come to Pensacola State.” She added, “We are not only more affordable, I think that we graduate a high caliber of students.” Meyer-Patterson said that she utilizes feedback from students, faculty and her students’ employers to gauge the program’s success and to continually look for ways to improve. “Interested parties that want to see what caliber of curriculum and what caliber of a program we have can take a look and say, ‘Wow! That is the program that I’m interested in.’” “The pass rate is required by our accrediting body to be updated and reported every year,” said Meyer-Paterson. The high VTNE pass rate is one reason that they chose the College, which shares the updated pass rate on its website. It is the only program of its kind in Northwest Florida, but she said there are also students who chose Pensacola State despite having programs closer to them. Meyer-Paterson said that Pensacola State’s Veterinary Technology program draws students not only locally, but from around the region. “We’ve never been below national average – we’ve always exceeded that.” “There are 11 standards of accreditation through AVMA and we must maintain a VTNE pass rate above 54% in order to maintain our accreditation before they will even start to look at the other standards,” explained Program Director Sarah Meyer-Paterson, CVT. The Veterinary Technology program at Pensacola State is accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Committee on Veterinary Technical Education and Activities. The mean three-year national pass rate as of April 2018 for the VTNE has been 70.31 percent for first-time takers, according to the American Association of Veterinary State Boards, which proctors the examination. The VTNE evaluates the competency of entry-level veterinary technicians and requires a passing score for a veterinary technician to be credentialed. More than 77 percent of Pensacola State College Veterinary Technology students who graduated during the period from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2018, earned a passing score on the Veterinary Technical National Exam (VTNE).
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