American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS): How to Become Board-Certified

In American usage, calling a veterinarian a veterinary surgeon signals board certification: a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons — the ACVS Constitution states that members of the ACVS will be known as “Diplomates.”

AVMA lists two specialties under the college, small animal surgery and large animal surgery, and counted 2,588 active ACVS diplomates as of December 31, 2025 — 1,167 under small animal and 530 under large animal.

Those two figures do not add up to the college total, so read the split exactly as AVMA prints it rather than as a complete breakdown.

The split matters early, because ACVS residents train in a curriculum: the Small Animal Curriculum, or the Large Animal–Equine Emphasis and Large Animal–General Curricula, each with its own procedure minimums.

Where diplomates go afterward is mapped in the related link on where veterinary specialists work, and what they make is the separate article “How Much Does a Veterinary Surgeon Make?” — this page stays on the credential itself.

ACVS's own standards define the route.

First, an internship of 12 months' duration, or its equivalent, is the prerequisite to enter a residency training program.

Then the residency: a minimum of three years, which ACVS counts as 156 weeks of supervised training, postgraduate education and clinical experience in the science and practice of veterinary surgery.

Then certification itself — the logged procedures, the publication and the two examination phases covered below.

Read together, plan on the internship year plus three residency years at minimum before the exam phases, with a hard outer bound: all resident training requirements must be met within six consecutive years of the start of the residency.

The steps before the internship are the general pipeline, across colleges, covered step by step in the related link on how veterinary specialization works — this page starts where ACVS's own standards start.

Not by skipping the residency.

ACVS allows an alternative residency that must meet the same criteria as the traditional program but may run longer than the consecutive 156 weeks, up to twice the typical time, which the standards describe as allowing a significant degree of flexibility.

It is not a shortcut around the internship prerequisite, and it does not change what has to be met — the same criteria, over a longer schedule.

Anyone weighing it should check the six-year limit on meeting all resident training requirements against the schedule they have in mind, because a longer program still has to fit inside it.

During the residency, surgical procedures are logged in the Resident Training Log: at least 400 in the Small Animal Curriculum, or 300 in the large animal curricula, with minimums in each core category.

Certification also needs a scientific manuscript accepted in an approved journal, under the Publication Requirement.

The credentials application gathers the log, proof of passing Phase I, the publication and letters of reference, against an annual August 1 deadline, within five consecutive credentialing cycles after the residency.

Phase I Surgical Knowledge can be taken at any time during the residency, optimally in year two, and must be passed within six years of the residency's start.

Phase II Surgical Competency comes after the residency and accepted credentials, with a case-based section and a practical section graded separately.

The credentialing-path table above carries each of these in the college's own wording.

Diplomates certified by ACVS in 2016 or later hold time-limited certificates.

The first one runs until the sixth December 31 after the examination, and each successful round of maintenance of certification brings a revised certificate for five years.

Maintenance of certification follows ACVS's own policies and procedures, so check them before the first certificate's end date.