The Association of American Veterinary Colleges has issued a report detailing the demographics of the application pool, student bodies, and faculties of its member institutions. The report found that African Americans made up just 4.4 percent of all applicants to schools of veterinary medicine in 2016.
In 2017, there were 12,768 students enrolled in veterinary medicine schools. Blacks were only 2.5 percent of all students enrolled in these schools. The percentage of Hispanic students at veterinary schools is more than double that of Blacks. Students from all underrepresented groups accounted for 17.4 percent of all entering students in 2017. This is an increase from 11.9 percent in 2010.
The only school of veterinary medicine at a historically Black college or university is at Tuskegee University in Alabama. There, 79 percent of all students are from underrepresented groups.
In 2016, there were 4,356 faculty members at U.S. veterinary schools. Of these, 656 were from underrepresented groups. There is no data on the number of percentage of Black faculty at these institutions. The percentage of faculty members from underrepresented groups actually declined from 2011 to 2016.
