DVM and VMD are the same veterinary degree under two different names.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) is awarded by every AVMA-accredited veterinary school in the United States except one: the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, which has used the Latin Veterinariae Medicinae Doctoris (VMD) since its founding.
Both degrees carry identical AVMA accreditation, lead to the same NAVLE licensing exam, and grant the same legal authority to practice in every state.
What DVM and VMD actually stand for
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) is the degree awarded by every AVMA-accredited veterinary school in the United States except one.
Veterinariae Medicinae Doctoris (VMD) is the Latin name for the identical degree, and it is awarded exclusively by the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, which has used the Latin designation since its founding.
The letters describe where someone studied — not what they're licensed to do, how they were trained, or any difference in scope of practice.
A veterinarian holding a VMD and one holding a DVM completed the same kind of professional degree program; only the name printed on the diploma differs.
Why does one school use different letters?
The distinction is historical, not academic.
Penn's veterinary school has awarded the VMD under that Latin name since its founding, while every other US school accredited by the AVMA Council on Education uses the English DVM.
No other US veterinary school currently awards a VMD.
Because Penn is the only source of the credential, a VMD on a résumé or diploma tells you specifically that the holder graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
It doesn't tell you anything else — not seniority, not a specialization, and not a more advanced credential than a DVM.
Is a DVM a veterinarian? (DVM vs veterinarian)
A DVM is a degree.
A veterinarian is a person.
When a name is followed by "DVM" — or "VMD" — the letters name the degree behind that person's license, the way "MD" names a physician's degree.
They aren't two jobs or two ranks: the letters describe where the holder studied, and "veterinarian" is what the state calls them once they're licensed.
The training is the same program under either name.
BLS describes a DVM (or VMD) program as generally taking four years — usually three years of classroom, laboratory and clinical work followed by a final year of clinical rotations.
After that, becoming a veterinarian is a licensing step, not a degree step: all states require graduation from an accredited veterinary program and a qualifying exam, and most also require a state exam on state law, according to the BLS.
So a DVM or VMD diploma is the entry ticket, and the state license is what turns it into the legal right to practice.
How state licensure works — and the full path from prerequisites to license — is identical whether the diploma says DVM or VMD.
What's actually identical between the two
Both degrees require graduation from a college accredited by the AVMA Council on Education, and that accreditation must be held at the time of graduation — the same eligibility bar for every accredited program, Penn included.
From there, DVM and VMD graduates alike sit the same NAVLE, developed and managed by the International Council for Veterinary Assessment (ICVA).
The full path from prerequisite coursework through state licensure doesn't change a step based on which letters the diploma carries.
Licensure itself is granted by the state, not by the degree or the exam, and most states layer their own jurisprudence requirement on top of the NAVLE.
Once licensed, a DVM and a VMD hold exactly the same legal authority to practice veterinary medicine in every US state — including the same four reserved acts (diagnosing, prognosing, prescribing, and performing surgery) that belong to a licensed veterinarian regardless of which degree they hold.
General information, not licensing advice
Does it matter to employers or when you're job-hunting?
For hiring purposes, no. A practice evaluating a candidate is evaluating a licensed veterinarian, and it's the state license — not the degree letters — that confers legal authority to treat patients, prescribe medication, and perform surgery.
A VMD from Penn and a DVM from any other AVMA-accredited school clear the identical bar to get there.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) treats the two as one credential: on USAJOBS, the basic qualification for its GS-11 veterinarian roles is a DVM/VMD from an AVMA COE-accredited school, with separate routes for foreign graduates — one slash, two names for the same degree.
The letters occasionally cause confusion on a résumé or in a veterinarian job posting simply because only one school awards them.
A veterinarian job seeker with a VMD may want to note in a cover letter that it's Penn's name for the DVM, just to head off the question — not because the degree needs defending.