Class of 2020 Applicants

[LetItSnow]

You could just set it up then sell it to a tech company you trust to run it but keep a share of the profits.

I'd love to hear from the med students if MCAS (or whatever they use) is this poorly managed.

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[DVMDream]

I'd love to hear from the med students if MCAS (or whatever they use) is this poorly managed.

You'd have to go over to the pre-allo forums and ask them... .

 

[wigglebutt]

I had a bunch of credits from IB, I just put "IB" in for the grade and VMCAS accepted it.

 

[Daelite]

I think asking them to work on the letter together would be a good idea. There were two vets at one of the places I interned, and what they did was have one (the more senior vet) actually do the evaluation, while the other vets and the techs gave her comments to help with the letter and to fill in the blanks of the evaluation where it was asking about things that she hasn't personally observed.

There's a sample evaluation here, so as you can see you won't really have to worry about telling them how to do the evaluation and letter, since there are instructions.

As for the language aspect, I'm not sure. If you ask the vet who is better at english to actually do the evaluation and write the letter, with the other vet proving extra comments and thoughts, that might solve that issue. Though it depends on how good at english you think he is.

Thank you! I think I will do as you say, and ask both of them to write one eLOR for me. Just double checking, but this would be considered a committee letter if I request both of them to sign it, right?

 

[WildZoo]

Thank you! I think I will do as you say, and ask both of them to write one eLOR for me. Just double checking, but this would be considered a committee letter if I request both of them to sign it, right?

If you asked both of them to sign then yes, I believe so. Though what happened with mine was that one vet actually signed it and did all the VMCAS stuff, while the other vet and the techs gave her input to help her with it.

 

[missdarjeeling]

Our AP credits aren't designated as anything. They list the AP credit (AP BIO, AP CHEM, etc) and then the courses that are awarded for that credit.

I had the same issue, and my transcript only said something like "Granted [X] units of Advanced Placement in [whatsitcalled]." I emailed VMCAS, and this is what they said:

For AP exam credits, you will list them as courses under the institution which first awarded you the credit. You should enter them under the first term of your freshman year as they appear on your official transcript. For your grade, you should select "Credit" and if no course prefix or number are issued, you may put “N/A” for “Not Applicable.” During the "transcript review" phase of the application, you would mark these courses as "Advanced Placement."

 

[battie]

I had the same issue, and my transcript only said something like "Granted [X] units of Advanced Placement in [whatsitcalled]." I emailed VMCAS, and this is what they said:

Then I am solid. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Daelite]

If you asked both of them to sign then yes, I believe so. Though what happened with mine was that one vet actually signed it and did all the VMCAS stuff, while the other vet and the techs gave her input to help her with it.

Thank you! I will definitely keep this in mind when explaining everything to them!

 

[kelanbec]

Is anyone having a hard time downloading and opening the transcript request form? When I download it, it just loads as gibberish in all my apps. What app are you guys using to download it properly?

 

[missdarjeeling]

Are you using a mobile device? If so, I'd use a laptop or desktop to do that part.

If you can't get it to work, you can skip the transcript request form altogether. The VMCAS instructions say to include "VMCAS ID#[your ID number]" in the recipient address so that it ends up being printed with your transcript, and they can match it up with your file. I had to order all of my transcripts online and couldn't add attachments for them to include, so that's what I did when I ordered mine. I already got emails back from VMCAS saying they've processed each of my transcripts, so it seems to have worked.

 

[kelanbec]

Yeah, that was my plan B. I live the Murphy's Law lifestyle and was trying to leave as little to chance of going wrong as possible. But I still have plenty of time to fix any prospective issues so that is what I will do too.

 

[heyyimhayley]

Agreed. I know that VMCAS 3.0 is new and a lot of the kinks are still being worked out, I'm sure, but the experiences section is seriously frustrating. I've now had to go through and delete everything twice and redo it all because I have new experiences to add, and they're absolutely adamant on everything being chronological... I really wish that there was an option to move experiences around and reorder them as need be. Was that a thing on the old VMCAS?

Another user on here (can't remember who, sorry!) suggested leaving a few blank experience slots when filling the section out as a precaution. That way you can fill them out at a later time if you decide to add something new or just delete them before submitting the application if they're not needed. I'll personally be doing it that way from now on.

But, yeah, I really hope that VMCAS fixes this problem in particular, be it for this cycle or the future. It's aggravating to keep having to re-enter experiences over and over again, to say the least.

I started my experiences on a word document to copy/paste to avoid this... Just to clarify, we add it from MOST RECENT to LEAST RECENT and there's no way to re-order once added?

 

[heyyimhayley]

At my undergrad, AP credits are designated on our transcripts with a grade of "CR", which VMCAS accepted. Does your transcript have something like that? If not, I'd go with putting "none", personally.

I had the same issue, and my transcript only said something like "Granted [X] units of Advanced Placement in [whatsitcalled]." I emailed VMCAS, and this is what they said:

The VMCAS directions say to put CR. But my transcript says "none." What do you guys think?

 

[Cephal0pod]

I started my experiences on a word document to copy/paste to avoid this... Just to clarify, we add it from MOST RECENT to LEAST RECENT and there's no way to re-order once added?

That's my understanding!

 

[finnickthedog]

Yeah, I stopped putting my experiences in and am keeping them in a document for now while I edit them. Once I am about ready for submission all I will need to do is data entry and copy/paste the responsibilities. Tedious... but not as tedious as redoing the whole thing.

I did use blank spaces at the top for future experiences but that won't help me if I find out I missed an experience somewhere in the middle. So I'm putting it off.

The fact that it doesn't automatically order them by date is absurd. *sigh*

 

[deleted676737]

I started my experiences on a word document to copy/paste to avoid this... Just to clarify, we add it from MOST RECENT to LEAST RECENT and there's no way to re-order once added?

Correct, as far as I'm aware. And if there is a way to reorder experiences, then we haven't found it yet.

 

[Red Eyes]

Hi guys! I'm applying this cycle too, about 10 schools, planning on working on my PS and supplemental essays after this exhausting quarter finishes in two days. good luck to you all!

 

[heyyimhayley]

Question everyone! I'm a member of Tri-Beta, the Biological Honors Society at my University. Anyone with a 3.5 + GPA who has taken more than 3 Biology choruses, and is at least a Junior in standing can join. Is this an activity or an award?

I might add that we don't really do anything. It's a new organization, we've had speakers come a couple times. That's about it.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Question everyone! I'm a member of Tri-Beta, the Biological Honors Society at my University. Anyone with a 3.5 + GPA who has taken more than 3 Biology choruses, and is at least a Junior in standing can join. Is this an activity or an award?

I might add that we don't really do anything. It's a new organization, we've had speakers come a couple times. That's about it.

Award

 

[Caiter92]

Question everyone! I'm a member of Tri-Beta, the Biological Honors Society at my University. Anyone with a 3.5 + GPA who has taken more than 3 Biology choruses, and is at least a Junior in standing can join. Is this an activity or an award?

I might add that we don't really do anything. It's a new organization, we've had speakers come a couple times. That's about it.

I'd say that's an activity. Awards would be more like making Dean's list, graduating with honors, or merit scholarships.

Edit: wait, that's an award? Does that mean Honor Society in high school would be an award too?

We have Tribeta at my school as well and all they do is have occasional speakers and pizza days.

 

[heyyimhayley]

I'd say that's an activity. Awards would be more like making Dean's list, graduating with honors, or merit scholarships.

Edit: wait, that's an award? Does that mean Honor Society in high school would be an award too?

We have Tribeta at my school as well and all they do is have occasional speakers and pizza days.

Yep, all we do too. So I got 2 different answers here... not sure who to contact... VMCAS never gives me good answers, so maybe the schools directly? But then if I get multiple answers again, not sure what I'll do....

 

[heyyimhayley]

While I'm at it asking questions here, should Deans list be listed as one thing if I got it every semester or individual awards?

 

[Caiter92]

I put Dean's List as the award title in that section, and in the description just wrote, "Made Dean's List for *insert whatever your schools requirement is* for the terms of" and then wrote the terms and years I made it.

 

[heyyimhayley]

I put Dean's List as the award title in that section, and in the description just wrote, "Made Dean's List for *insert whatever your schools requirement is* for the terms of" and then wrote the terms and years I made it.

Okay, that sounds good, thanks! Iowa's supplement is a little different for listing awards, not sure if you've seen it, they just have you list up to 5 awards and the years, so I'll just put "2012-2015" and assume they read my VMCAS and know what I mean, I guess.

 

[Minnerbelle]

While I'm at it asking questions here, should Deans list be listed as one thing if I got it every semester or individual awards?

I think it would be obnoxious if you listed every semester. This isn't a receipt at a grocery store... Is there a way to note that, either in the dates, or in the name of the award?

But yanno, what do I know?

 

[Caiter92]

No problem! Also, putting Tribeta either place probably doesn't really matter. Either way they'll see it, and if they consider it an award and it's in activities or vice versa, they'll still know you were involved.

 

[heyyimhayley]

I think it would be obnoxious if you listed every semester. This isn't a receipt at a grocery store... Is there a way to note that, either in the dates, or in the name of the award?

But yanno, what do I know?

My problem is that you have to list one "issued date"

EDIT: That section is optional, so I could just list them all in the description, is that what you did @Caiter92?

 

[Minnerbelle]

My problem is that you have to list one "issued date"

EDIT: That section is optional, so I could just list them all in the description, is that what you did @Caiter92?

If I were you I'd just pick the first date or the most recent one if you can't put a range of dates. And then in the name of the award somehow note how many times you've gotten it. Deans list is a pretty generic award for a good gpa, so it should be pretty easily evident based on your transcript and overall gpa anyway, and I'm sure it won't be hard for anyone seeing your application to get it.

I would err on the side of less obnoxious

 

[Koala1010]

Hey everyone! I just joined sdn today although I've been peeking at forums for the past 6 months or so. I was wondering if I could get some insight on a question I had about ELORs. I have 6 people writing and most of them should be very strong (esp. from my professors). However, the vet I asked is VERY scatterbrained. He said he would write one and has written me one in the past for an internship, but he has not answered the past 3 e-mails I sent him. I also worked for him two summers ago and am worried it won't be as strong as my other letters. I am working for an exotics vet this summer but I figure it will be too late to ask by the end of the summer (also, I only shadow the vet... I more directly and actively work with the tech). I also have experience in a small animal hospital but have really shuffled among the different veterinarians I work around and so I didn't really know if I had enough experience with any one of them to ask.

Thanks and sorry for the length of the post! Look forward to chatting (and freaking out) with everyone in the future!

 

[Caiter92]

My problem is that you have to list one "issued date"

EDIT: That section is optional, so I could just list them all in the description, is that what you did @Caiter92?

Yep! I just listed the terms in the description and left the issue date blank

 

[DVMDream]

Hey everyone! I just joined sdn today although I've been peeking at forums for the past 6 months or so. I was wondering if I could get some insight on a question I had about ELORs. I have 6 people writing and most of them should be very strong (esp. from my professors). However, the vet I asked is VERY scatterbrained. He said he would write one and has written me one in the past for an internship, but he has not answered the past 3 e-mails I sent him. I also worked for him two summers ago and am worried it won't be as strong as my other letters. I am working for an exotics vet this summer but I figure it will be too late to ask by the end of the summer (also, I only shadow the vet... I more directly and actively work with the tech). I also have experience in a small animal hospital but have really shuffled among the different veterinarians I work around and so I didn't really know if I had enough experience with any one of them to ask.

Thanks and sorry for the length of the post! Look forward to chatting (and freaking out) with everyone in the future!

What exactly is the question here?

 

[Innerspeaker]

If you can't reach them by email, I don't see why a direct phone call would hurt. If they've evaluated you before, they are probably the best candidate out of all your options.

 

[finnickthedog]

GRE in 10 days! I'm nervous. I can retake if it doesn't go the way I want... but I don't want to blow $200.

I shall keep on studyin'. I'm mostly just taking practice exams. Expanding my vocabulary a bit and doing some math review.

 

[Cephal0pod]

One of my internships was primarily veterinary experience, but also involved a research component as they had me do a retrospective study. I know it has been said in other places not to stress too much about categorization, but would make the most sense to list it collectively under vet hours and then mention the research in the description, or list as two separate entries?

 

[cheathac]

OK so I was told to put this question about research experience here. I went onto the AVMA website and the definition was "Research should include any experience in a research environment." I was told by a coworker to confirm if my job currently counts as research for vet school. I tried to contact my school admissions but didn't receive a response back. I work in a Histopathology lab, the focus of the lab isn't research though some is done for pathologists/grad students. The section head of my lab has a DVM/PhD, but I don't work directly with him like I do with the lab supervisor on a daily basis. Occasionally he will come to the lab to pick up some slides, etc. The primary focus is diagnostics. We get samples of tissues in from vet clinics, etc and make slides of them. Then we send to the pathologist to determine what the animal has. We also do several IHC for pathologists that consists of special stains that bring out specific cells in the tissue. It's very useful information, especially since the vet students do their necropsy/histo rotations here attachFull193047. I hope to build a relationship with the pathologists as well who work upstairs from the lab. Just let me know if I'm right in thinking that this would be considered research experience. Thanks.

 

[WildZoo]

One of my internships was primarily veterinary experience, but also involved a research component as they had me do a retrospective study. I know it has been said in other places not to stress too much about categorization, but would make the most sense to list it collectively under vet hours and then mention the research in the description, or list as two separate entries?

I would do two separate entries, one for the vet things you did and another for the study. Just try to split up the hours as best as you can.

 

[Meowmix1712]

Anyone know if only certain schools require you to pick prerequisites in the program section? I've "reviewed and finalized" my transcript entries and all of my schools still say "you have opted out" etc. I'm applying to Oregon, Washington, Wisc, Western, CSU, Ross and SGU.

 

[Skimble]

Sp I'm not sure if anyone else has had experience with this, but I have a quick question...

I came back to VMCAS today after not working on it for a week or so, and I noticed that we are now required to input a phone number for every experience. I have an international animal experience from almost six years ago that was admittedly short-lived (like 4 hours at most), but I thought it would still be worth putting down. Now, at the time, I had no idea that I would even be applying to vet school down the road, and I have absolutely no contact information for the person who supervised it... so I don't know how I should go about entering it into the application. I guess I could put down ny high school Spanish teacher, since she was also there, but that doesn't seem like the best solution.

I have contact numbers for pretty much everything else but this one thing except for notable hobbies where... frankly, I don't know what I'll do for those. Put my own number, maybe?

Bleh.

Can you input all 0's? I think I had to do that for one work experience since the company went out of business.

 

[finnickthedog]

Sp I'm not sure if anyone else has had experience with this, but I have a quick question...

I came back to VMCAS today after not working on it for a week or so, and I noticed that we are now required to input a phone number for every experience. I have an international animal experience from almost six years ago that was admittedly short-lived (like 4 hours at most), but I thought it would still be worth putting down. Now, at the time, I had no idea that I would even be applying to vet school down the road, and I have absolutely no contact information for the person who supervised it... so I don't know how I should go about entering it into the application. I guess I could put down ny high school Spanish teacher, since she was also there, but that doesn't seem like the best solution.

I have contact numbers for pretty much everything else but this one thing except for notable hobbies where... frankly, I don't know what I'll do for those. Put my own number, maybe?

Bleh.

Well, what on earth is this nonsense?

I'll be in the same predicament as you for a number of my experiences. Some of them I didn't think to get contact information, some of them don't actually even have a phone number.

It even wants you to put phone numbers in for extracurriculars. Someone did not think this through. Bad VMCAS. Bad.

Should I contact VMCAS and ask them? I feel like inputting a bunch of 0's is going to look stupid. (But I mean, that's what I'll do if need be)

 

[deleted676737]

Well, what on earth is this nonsense?

I'll be in the same predicament as you for a number of my experiences. Some of them I didn't think to get contact information, some of them don't actually even have a phone number.

It even wants you to put phone numbers in for extracurriculars. Someone did not think this through. Bad VMCAS. Bad.

Should I contact VMCAS and ask them? I feel like inputting a bunch of 0's is going to look stupid. (But I mean, that's what I'll do if need be)

From what I understand (someone feel free to correct me on this!), VMCAS did not use to outright require phone numbers for experiences/extracurriculars/whatever, so this seems to be new for VMCAS 3.0. It does feel like they really didn't think this particular point through very well at all. I can understand that if you have, say, 200+ hours somewhere within the past 4-5 years, then, yeah, it's probably expected to have some sort of contact information. But for very short, very old experiences or hobbies and extracirriculars...? Even if I've already put in an email address...? Too bad that I didn't always want to be a vet and didn't think to collect that information at the time, I guess.

 

[finnickthedog]

From what I understand (someone feel free to correct me on this!), VMCAS did not use to outright require phone numbers for experiences/extracurriculars/whatever, so this seems to be new for VMCAS 3.0. It does feel like they really didn't think this particular point through very well at all. I can understand that if you have, say, 200+ hours somewhere within the past 4-5 years, then, yeah, it's probably expected to have some sort of contact information. But for very short, very old experiences or hobbies and extracirriculars...? Even if I've already put in an email address...? Too bad that I didn't always want to be a vet and didn't think to collect that information at the time, I guess.

Well they didn't even require it until recently because I had input several experiences without including a phone number (or any contact information really).

Also being that you can check of "No" for "May we contact this organization?" I don't where they got the brilliant idea that a phone number should be mandatory. Somebody did not think. At the very least they should not be requiring it for anything marked extracurricular. Sorry, dog show handling doesn't come with a phone number. Neither does horseback riding when you do it at multiple stables. And my sheep herding instructors? Yeah they prefer email and didn't give me a phone number with which to contact them.

I'm so irritated. I don't know why they changed it.
Maybe if a bunch of us ask what the heck we're supposed to do they'll change it back. Wishful thinking.

 

[deleted676737]

Well they didn't even require it until recently because I had input several experiences without including a phone number (or any contact information really).

Also being that you can check of "No" for "May we contact this organization?" I don't where they got the brilliant idea that a phone number should be mandatory. Somebody did not think. At the very least they should not be requiring it for anything marked extracurricular. Sorry, dog show handling doesn't come with a phone number. Neither does horseback riding when you do it at multiple stables. And my sheep herding instructors? Yeah they prefer email and didn't give me a phone number with which to contact them.

I'm so irritated. I don't know why they changed it.
Maybe if a bunch of us ask what the heck we're supposed to do they'll change it back. Wishful thinking.

Yeah, I know. I suddenly got a bunch of errors while editing my experiences for this very reason. I really don't understand the thought process going into this "update". Is it to try to discourage people from padding out hours or lying about experiences...? They'll find a way regardless and most schools don't contact these places anyway because, frankly, who has the time to call 10+ locations/people for each individual applicant unless they've got an outrageous number of hours or something? And, as you said, you can check No for the Contact disclaimer. Really, there just doesn't seem to be any point to this, and it is frustrating.

I did make a test experience to see if all 0s for a phone number would be accepted, and it did work, so that can at least work as a stop gap measure for the time being.

 

[LetItSnow]

Somebody did not think.

What?! VMCAS not implement something smoothly or think it through? Say it isn't so!!!! I'm shocked! Aghast!

This is why monopolies are a bad thing.

 

[finnickthedog]

What?! VMCAS not implement something smoothly or think it through? Say it isn't so!!!! I'm shocked! Aghast!

This is why monopolies are a bad thing.

Well now, this is my first go with VMCAS so I guess I expected better.

Silly me. My expectations are adjusted now.

 

[missdarjeeling]

What?! VMCAS not implement something smoothly or think it through? Say it isn't so!!!! I'm shocked! Aghast!

This is why monopolies are a bad thing.

And now let's all take a moment to think about every single dollar we have to fork over for the privilege!

 

[deleted676737]

Not really a question... just a rant... apparently the Personal Statement now has a maximum length of 4500 characters. I've been working on mine for months operating on the original 5000 character limit; that was difficult enough to stay under! And now they truncate it by over 10%?!

So... first, experiences don't automatically order themselves by date AND there's no way to reorder them manually without deleting them all and starting over, yet they make it clear in the FAQ (not in the actual instructions, mind) that they must be in chronological order.

Then, they make phone numbers mandatory for literally everything no matter how old some of those experiences/extracirriculars may be or if they prefer to be contacted by email or if it even makes sense to in the first place. This is despite the fact that we are free to check a 'No' box when asked if it is okay for VMCAS/schools to contact each individual supervisor/organization for the experiences, in which case, the pertinent information does not matter. There is literally zero point to having phone number be a required field.

And now, this (which, admittedly, probably seems petty, but it's just another straw on the camel's back that is my sanity).
Ugh. I am not a fan of this new VMCAS. Not at all.

 

[missdarjeeling]

Not really a question... just a rant... apparently the Personal Statement now has a maximum length of 4500 characters. I've been working on mine for months operating on the original 5000 character limit; that was difficult enough to stay under! And now they truncate it by over 10%?!

Wait, what? I could've sworn it was still 5000 characters a month ago. Great. Awesome. Super. YAY.

 

[deleted676737]

Wait, what? I could've sworn it was still 5000 characters a month ago. Great. Awesome. Super. YAY.

I believe that it was, too. But no more!

http://i.imgur.com/3JpxIeF.png

VMCAS, what are you doing...?! It's like they take three steps backward for every one forward.

 

[DVMDream]

every one forward.

They haven't made any steps forward, they just keeping making steps backwards. They had made one step forward at one point by allowing you to transfer your info from the previous cycle, but that lasted for all of one year and then they got rid of it again. After spending years and years trying to set that up and mentioning every year that it would come "next year", they get it up and running and then instantly remove it.

I just can't. I am super glad that I am not having to deal with their non-sense anymore.

 

[finnickthedog]

And now I'm just going to rant for a moment here...

Ugh, I'm so bummed out right now. I got my final grades for the summer and I thought they were both going to be A's. Nope, apparently I get a B+ in herps and I can only assume it's due to participation since that the only significant grade left to come in. Of course, if I got docked participation I don't know what the heck else this professor wants from me. Maybe I should have been more excited and enthused about the whole, sticking-my-handing-in-a-pile-of-biting-snakes thing? I don't know. Whatever. Kinda crushed and all the more determined to kick butt on this stupid GRE on Tuesday. Buuuttt I keep making stupid math errors on my practice tests and it's driving me up a wall. Urgh. I will feel so much better after all this testing and academic crap is done with. I need to make sure it at least meets the standard for my IS so I know that I'm not wasting my time and money applying this cycle.