At its open house last month, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine students demonstrated the equine treadmill, handled birds of prey and reptiles and helped visitors put their hands inside a fistulated cow. But this experience isn’t everything students get from the Vet School — students also get a solid education at an affordable price. Statistical evidence indicates the Vet School is one of the best in the country at graduating students who successfully enter the profession. It’s also one of the most affordable schools in the Southeastern Conference.The Vet School, one of only 28 vet schools in the country and one of six in the SEC, compares favorably to other schools in the SEC and nationally, despite its low ranking in the U.S. News & World Report list of veterinary schools. The Vet School ranks 22nd out of 28 schools on the U.S. News & World Report list. Vet School Dean Peter Haynes said the ranking isn’t based on any empirical data. “What you [have to] understand is that the way the U.S. News & World Report works is that it’s an opinion poll,” he said. “There are no analytical data used.” Haynes said the U.S. News & World Report pollsters send out three questionnaires to each school: one to an administrator, one to a clinical veterinarian and one to another professor. The faculty are asked to rate their school based on opinion.  Perhaps a more telling statistic is the school’s pass rate on the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam, or NAVLE, which serves as the profession’s entrance exam. The Vet School reports a 98.6 percent pass rate for last year’s graduating class. “We are very proud of the [nearly] 99 percent pass rate of our students by the time they graduate,” Vet School associate dean for student and academic affairs Joseph Taboada said in an e-mail. “It is a reflection of the education that they get and how hard they work.” First-year vet student Anna Ozio agrees a Vet School education at LSU is a challenging program. “It’s very concentrated,” she said. “You get information poured on you. But it’s worth it.” Haynes said he thinks the U.S. News &World Report rank is largely based on the reputation of the research faculty and not of the students’ achievements. “Generally, the reputation of a school is usually more based upon the research prowess … than it is based upon … the achievements of the students,” he said. “Based upon the quality of our students and the comparative data, we should probably be considered a middle tier school.” First-year  vet student Stephanie Rutherford said the school provides students with an education that’s applicable to real-life scenarios. “It’s cool when you get out and see the practicality of what you’re learning,” she said. Another area where the Vet School compares favorably to other SEC schools is the cost of education. The Vet School charges about $12,500 per year for in-state residents and about $35,000 per year for out-of-state residents. The only other SEC school with comparable tuition rates is Auburn, which charges in-state residents $12,250 per year and out-of-state residents about $36,800 per year. “We are third lowest in the Southern Region Education Board,” Taboada said in an e-mail. “We have worked to try to balance keeping tuition affordable with maintaining adequate funding. The relatively low tuition makes a vet school somewhat more accessible to the average student, but most will still need to take out loans to finance their education.” A third area where the Vet School compares favorably to other SEC schools is the cumulative undergraduate GPA of its admitted students. The Vet School’s class of 2012 boasts an average GPA of 3.76. U.S. News &World Report leaders Florida and Georgia brought in classes with average GPAs of 3.52 and 3.56, respectively.The Vet School’s enrollment rate is about average for schools in the SEC. In the last class, LSU enrolled 84 students. Admission to the Vet School is competitive — 713 students applied for admission to the Vet School in fall 2008, giving the school an admission to application rate of only 11.78 percent.  Haynes said the school could only expand its admission rates if the school also expands its facilities and faculty.  Taboada agreed, saying the limited admission rates to schools nationally present a problem for the profession. “There is a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, and all the schools are at maximum capacity,” he said. —-Contact Matthew Barnidge at [email protected]