NCSU c/o 2016 Applicants

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Hi future Wolfpackers! If you've got any questions about the application process, the supplemental essays, visiting campus, NCSU in general, please ask away! There are a few of us 2015ers who are active in this forum, and we'll try to help you out to the best of our abilities. If you just wanna chat about NCSU, that's cool, too.

I will also be a first year at NC State this fall, and would be more than happy to answer questions as well

I am working on the supplemental application currently. One question has stumped me though. They are asking roughly 'how will you contribute to practice of veterinary medicine in the state of North Carolina'? I looked over the State DVM organization website and didn't have a 'Eureka!' moment. As I am applying with my interest towards clinician/scientist I was thinking of working the abundance of biomed research in the area into my answer but didn't have a full thought developed. How would you approach this question as an out of state applicant?

To be blunt, if you don't intend to stay in NC after graduation, your only chance to contribute to the practice of medicine in NC is while you are in school.

Originally Posted by Bismarck

I am working on the supplemental application currently. One question has stumped me though. They are asking roughly 'how will you contribute to practice of veterinary medicine in the state of North Carolina'? I looked over the State DVM organization website and didn't have a 'Eureka!' moment. As I am applying with my interest towards clinician/scientist I was thinking of working the abundance of biomed research in the area into my answer but didn't have a full thought developed. How would you approach this question as an out of state applicant?

Hey Bismarck! So I just looked at my NC supplemental essays to see if we had that question for our cycle (we didn't). I think it's a great opportunity to talk about One Medicine, though, especially since you are interested in biomed research. You could talk about how you hope to add to the research happening here in the Research Triangle area, specifically bridging findings between vet and human medicine, for example. Hopefully this gets you thinking on the right track!

P.S. I wanted to add that I was also an out of state applicant (Texas), so if you have any concerns specifically about out of state stuff, don't hesitate to ask.

I am also applying to NCSU and I am stumped on that question too! I am not very interested in the research aspect of the school (I am doing research now and quite frankly can't stand being in a lab), but I am definitely planning on staying in NC to practice after vet school. I want to get that point across since I am an out-of-stater, but I feel like I need something more catchy than just "I will practice in North Carolina after school..." Any ideas?!

Problem being, there is also the one medicine question already, so it's kind of a lot on that one subject.

How do you envision yourself as a veterinarian contributing to the concept of "One Health?"

And I'm a senior at NC State applying to the vet school. If you have questions about the area I could answer from an undergrad perspective, I'd be happy to answer.

On the supplemental app, how many references did you put? I don't know who to put because the veterinarians that know me well wrote me LORs....and it says only put down vets/scientists that DIDN'T write a LOR. I don't want to put down a vet that doesn't really know me well and won't be a good reference...

Originally Posted by Rocky922

On the supplemental app, how many references did you put? I don't know who to put because the veterinarians that know me well wrote me LORs....and it says only put down vets/scientists that DIDN'T write a LOR. I don't want to put down a vet that doesn't really know me well and won't be a good reference...

I only put one vet down because there was only one that I had worked for that didn't provide a LOR. I am under the impression that they do not call the vets unless they have a question about your hours, duties, etc.

The one vet I put in that section never mentioned getting a call, so I assume they don't just contact them as a matter of course.

Just found this site through a vet student buddy of mine. I'm highly neurotic and growing ever anxious about applying and haven't finished my prereqs yet. Hopefully applying to NCSU next year.

Non-trad student, BA in liberal Arts, currently taking prereqs.

What do you feel was the strongest part of your application, that you felt helped you get into vet school. I glanced through all the success stories from another forum and am thinking that 3.7+ GPA and a 1200+ GRE are essential. I have exp hours in large and small, but could certainly pad that aspect of my resume.

Do you feel research exp is critical? Any advice would be fantastic! Thanks a million

I don't think research is critical in general. However, I do think it played a huge role in my acceptance, mostly because my stats aren't otherwise very remarkable. If I were applying again, I would probably focus on diversifying my experience.

And as always, go look up the accepted applicant stats threads from the last few years to see how you stack up against an actual person instead of just the "average" person.

Originally Posted by dressagequeen28

Just found this site through a vet student buddy of mine. I'm highly neurotic and growing ever anxious about applying and haven't finished my prereqs yet. Hopefully applying to NCSU next year.

Non-trad student, BA in liberal Arts, currently taking prereqs.

What do you feel was the strongest part of your application, that you felt helped you get into vet school. I glanced through all the success stories from another forum and am thinking that 3.7+ GPA and a 1200+ GRE are essential. I have exp hours in large and small, but could certainly pad that aspect of my resume.

Do you feel research exp is critical? Any advice would be fantastic! Thanks a million

I got accepted to NCSU (and several out of state schools) this past cycle and had no research experience. However, I also had a good GPA and GRE, and was interested/had experience in a field that not too many people are interested in, which I think helped diversify my application. To be honest, I think my career interest is what helped me get in, and my GPA and GRE just helped me make the "cutoff."

I don't know if I missed it or not, but a critical piece of info is IS or OS status. If IS, I would say that the acceptance range is rather wide open. My GPA sucked thanks to a rather ambitious grad school plan that failed during the execution phase. My GRE score was decent though, so that probably showed that I had something going for me. Best advice is to have a diverse experience log, both in the animal/vet world and the real world. So far, I'm enjoying things. Granted, we've had 2 days of orientation, but I get a positive vibe from everyone. Going to be an @ss load of work - so far I've calculated about 60 pages of material to study Tues night. It's a different environment than undergrad though - closer to a working environment.

Good point Armymutt. For this year, I think all of the OOS had GPA's of 3.9 or greater. IS has a lot more leeway statistics wise.

Originally Posted by dressagequeen28

Just found this site through a vet student buddy of mine. I'm highly neurotic and growing ever anxious about applying and haven't finished my prereqs yet. Hopefully applying to NCSU next year.

Non-trad student, BA in liberal Arts, currently taking prereqs.

What do you feel was the strongest part of your application, that you felt helped you get into vet school. I glanced through all the success stories from another forum and am thinking that 3.7+ GPA and a 1200+ GRE are essential. I have exp hours in large and small, but could certainly pad that aspect of my resume.

Do you feel research exp is critical? Any advice would be fantastic! Thanks a million

I got in (OOS...not sure if you are OOS or IS) with a BA in Linguistics. Like hunterjumper said, my GPA and GRE helped me make the "cutoff", so to speak, but it's your other stuff that helps them pick you once you get past that point, usually. I don't think research is absolutely critical, though I do feel like a unique point of my application was my rabies public health research. Honestly, I feel like they just use our GRE/GPAs as the first cutoff point, to make sure we can handle the rigor, and then see what we have learned about the profession from there. You don't have research, but you have lots of small and large animal experience? That's good. I think successful applicants may have some overlap in experiences, but that what helped each of us get in was the combination of what we had to offer, if that makes sense.

As a completely unrelated aside, I have to say that is so...weird (and exciting) actually knowing the people behind the avatars and seeing our status as "veterinary students".

Originally Posted by Pelagia

As a completely unrelated aside, I have to say that is so...weird (and exciting) actually knowing the people behind the avatars and seeing our status as "veterinary students".

Haha, I agree! Everytime I go to type a reply, I will accidently type your or Armymutt's name, and then I'll have to be like, wait, no, backspace LOL

Can anyone shed some light on how NCSU has historically calculated cumulative GPA, particularly for non-trads? I have a long and not-quite-illustrious list of academics, some from over a decade ago, and was wondering if they look at *everything* everything or your "primary" school or if there's a date range cutoff or what.

I know that NC State takes all grades from all college work for the cumulative. Iknow because I got my BA 20 years ago and they even included my Bio , Chem and OChem grades from then. There is no date cutoff. I even took a college course while in HS at the local community college and they made me get that transcript and included that in my overall gpa.

Originally Posted by Psorophoraferox

Can anyone shed some light on how NCSU has historically calculated cumulative GPA, particularly for non-trads? I have a long and not-quite-illustrious list of academics, some from over a decade ago, and was wondering if they look at *everything* everything or your "primary" school or if there's a date range cutoff or what.

Anyone else having fun with Irene approaching? It's forecasted to hit land about half an hour from my house, oi.

Still hating the "How will you contribute to practice of veterinary medicine in the state of North Carolina" question.

Originally Posted by catlover247

I know that NC State takes all grades from all college work for the cumulative. Iknow because I got my BA 20 years ago and they even included my Bio , Chem and OChem grades from then. There is no date cutoff. I even took a college course while in HS at the local community college and they made me get that transcript and included that in my overall gpa.

Drat. I was hoping that wasn't the case. Without my grades from when I was 18-20, I have somewhere around a 3.8. With them... more like a 2.5. If that!

Giving this a quick bump to clarify that if all fields filled + supp app paid = "submitted" automatically come 10/3?

I believe that is correct, there wasn't actually a way to submit it yourself.

I figured as much.

Gracias.

Please Note:

There isn't a "submit" button to indicate the completion of the application. Just complete the application and submit payment by the deadline.
The deadline for submitting the application is October 3, 2011 at 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Time.


The supplemental instructions on the website say the above so I don't think there is a submit button.

I went ahead and applied anyway, GPA concerns be damned. Even if I don't get in, I'm hoping I'll get some feedback on my application to improve it for the next cycle.

Originally Posted by Psorophoraferox

I went ahead and applied anyway, GPA concerns be damned. Even if I don't get in, I'm hoping I'll get some feedback on my application to improve it for the next cycle.

Unless they change it, in the past NCSU hasn't done individual file reviews. :c

Originally Posted by Trilt

Unless they change it, in the past NCSU hasn't done individual file reviews. :c

Dang. Even if you request it? I was under the impression that all schools did. Though I don't know how I got that impression, because if I've learned nothing else from applying this cycle, it's that every school is completely different and the devil's in the details...

Originally Posted by Psorophoraferox

Dang. Even if you request it? I was under the impression that all schools did. Though I don't know how I got that impression, because if I've learned nothing else from applying this cycle, it's that every school is completely different and the devil's in the details...

From this thread, it seems like their official policy is no, but maybe if you bug them a bit they'll talk to you. ;p http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=714212

I feel like at some point there was something about it on their website, but I can't seem to find it now. It's also 3am though, so...

About the closest thing I got was sitting down with Jeff the previous February and getting a feel for my situation. Given that I had been out of the game for 12 years might have played a role in him agreeing to see me, but I don't know, and never asked. Bottom line, I wouldn't count on anything other than finding out the statistics, making contacts with those accepted and seeing if you can improve anything. I really didn't get any inside information - just a simple make sure your experience is both broad and deep, and make yourself stand out. Helpful when you're 36 and have added a lot of life experience. Probably less so if you're early 20s. This year, one trend is being a male named Matthew. Accounts for about a quarter of the male population.

Question for current NCSU applicants:

Hi all. I'll be applying to NCSU as an OOS (Utah resident) next application cycle (2012 for 2013 matriculation, should I be accepted). Do any of you happen to know the character limit for each of the supplemental questions? 480 sticks out in my mind for some reason, but that seems like such an odd/random figure- I can't recall if that's correct. I've logged onto the NCSU supplemental site (already started working on my VMCAS for next year, so was able to access the supp), but can't recall the character limits for the life of me. Any help would be appreciated. Also, just to confirm, the character limit for the VMCAS personal statement is 5,000, correct? Thanks for all of your help. Best of success to folks applying this cycle! I look forward to sharing in your jubilation once acceptances are released.

Originally Posted by Lab Vet

Question for current NCSU applicants:

Hi all. I'll be applying to NCSU as an OOS (Utah resident) next application cycle (2012 for 2013 matriculation, should I be accepted). Do any of you happen to know the character limit for each of the supplemental questions? 480 sticks out in my mind for some reason, but that seems like such an odd/random figure- I can't recall if that's correct. I've logged onto the NCSU supplemental site (already started working on my VMCAS for next year, so was able to access the supp), but can't recall the character limits for the life of me. Any help would be appreciated. Also, just to confirm, the character limit for the VMCAS personal statement is 5,000, correct? Thanks for all of your help. Best of success to folks applying this cycle! I look forward to sharing in your jubilation once acceptances are released.

Yes for 5000 for the personal statements - supplemental limits were 250 words.

Got my official rejection today! Not a surprise at all. My app was disqualified for two reasons: had one fewer than the minimum number of pre-reqs completed (have to have all but two already finished), and my way-under-the-minimum cumulative GPA for OOS.

Because of the latter, I probably won't reapply until I have residency (which is something I've been considering anyway, because I <3 North Carolina), and will seek Alternative Eligibility admission.

Haha I love the avatar, Trilt

Originally Posted by Psorophoraferox

Got my official rejection today! Not a surprise at all. My app was disqualified for two reasons: had one fewer than the minimum number of pre-reqs completed (have to have all but two already finished), and my way-under-the-minimum cumulative GPA for OOS.

Because of the latter, I probably won't reapply until I have residency (which is something I've been considering anyway, because I <3 North Carolina), and will seek Alternative Eligibility admission.

I'm sorry to hear that. We had three AE people in our class, including Armymutt. Best of luck!

Originally Posted by Psorophoraferox

Got my official rejection today! Not a surprise at all. My app was disqualified for two reasons: had one fewer than the minimum number of pre-reqs completed (have to have all but two already finished), and my way-under-the-minimum cumulative GPA for OOS.

Because of the latter, I probably won't reapply until I have residency (which is something I've been considering anyway, because I <3 North Carolina), and will seek Alternative Eligibility admission.

Hopefully you'll just get in somewhere else and it won't matter, right? ;p But if not, make sure you look and see the changes to the alternative eligibility that are starting next year... I have a couple friends who I'm not sure will be able to apply.

They obviously have gotten really sick of AE applicants in the last couple years, because they've cut the program from OOS to only IS, then IS to IS with only one GPA too low.

Haha I love the avatar, Trilt

Thanks! My Little Pony

Originally Posted by Trilt

Hopefully you'll just get in somewhere else and it won't matter, right? ;p But if not, make sure you look and see the changes to the alternative eligibility that are starting next year... I have a couple friends who I'm not sure will be able to apply.

They obviously have gotten really sick of AE applicants in the last couple years, because they've cut the program from OOS to only IS, then IS to IS with only one GPA too low.

Yeah, I'm still waiting on my official rejections from LSU and UTK, so no firm plans until then! Haha.

Thankfully both my last 45 and pre-req GPAs are good. Amazing how much my grades improved when I became healthy enough to go to classes regularly... Now I just have to hope that NCSU doesn't, like, do away with AE altogether.

If anyone ever asks me about AE, I will have to say I fully support it. Otherwise, there is no vehicle for people who have straightened themselves up later in life. It would be really hard to go back and make up for 4 years of immaturity. Unfortunately, I don't know who makes those policies.

Originally Posted by Psorophoraferox

Now I just have to hope that NCSU doesn't, like, do away with AE altogether.

Originally Posted by Trilt

They obviously have gotten really sick of AE applicants in the last couple years, because they've cut the program from OOS to only IS, then IS to IS with only one GPA too low.

I was kind of wondering about this so I talked to Johanna Donovan in student services. According to her, they dropped the OOS AE because the OOS pool is already so super-competitive that people applying under AE very rarely got accepted, so NCSU would just end up with a swarm of applications from people who didn't really have a shot. Likewise, IS AE people who don't meet more than one GPA requirement almost never get in, so the goal isn't to reduce the number of AE acceptances, but to filter out people that will never get through the admissions committee anyway. So AE should still be there if you reapply, Psorophoraferox. Here's to hoping you get in elsewhere this cycle and don't have to, though

Originally Posted by Trilt

Thanks! My Little Pony

YES

Originally Posted by Alhazred

Likewise, IS AE people who don't meet more than one GPA requirement almost never get in.

Wow, I'm even more of an anomaly. Beating the odds since 1975! Ok, back to evidence based med. Stupid Princess.

Originally Posted by Armymutt25A

Wow, I'm even more of an anomaly. Beating the odds since 1975! Ok, back to evidence based med. Stupid Princess.

Hey, hey, now I thought Princess was a very nice dog.

Better than Angel the cat.

Hey guys just wanted to say hello to everyone applying this year! This will be my third year applying to NCSU and I hope it will be my last! Just wanted to see if anyone had any more information about the increasing class size. I know it is going from 80 to 100 and it states on the website that the exact slot allocation has not been decided yet..maybe someone that is currently a student would have more info?? thanks and good luck to everyone!

Just from what I've heard around school (which is hearsay, nothing official!) and my understanding is that the extra 20 spots are going to be for in-state students (NC residents). But like I said, that is just hearsay and I don't think anything official has been decided yet. Good luck applying!

Thanks for the info hunterjumper...I am hoping this is true so that my chances of getting in are better =)

OOS people get acceptances in December, right? So I assume the spots have already been allocated and they just haven't updated the website.

Originally Posted by Alhazred

OOS people get acceptances in December, right? So I assume the spots have already been allocated and they just haven't updated the website.

I thought they said late January for OOS?? That's what I have written down at least.

Maybe they changed it, but last year it was in mid to late December. I would assume what you wrote down is right, don't mind me.

Originally Posted by Alhazred

Maybe they changed it, but last year it was in mid to late December. I would assume what you wrote down is right, don't mind me.

It was really hard to find on their website if I recall. I made a spreadsheet so I can be even more OCD and panicky than I already am lol... but who knows, vet schools have minds of their own. Good luck to everyone!

Originally Posted by Emiloo4

It was really hard to find on their website if I recall. I made a spreadsheet so I can be even more OCD and panicky than I already am lol... but who knows, vet schools have minds of their own. Good luck to everyone!

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/studentservices/timeline.html? In any case, I'm pretty sure they've said every year that they'd send IS decisions in mid March and they've definitely gone in the mail before then - quite possibly the same sort of situation of OOS apps. I really would like them to come sooner rather than later, haha...