Class of 2020 Applicants

[missdarjeeling]

Aww, WildZoo, get well soon!

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[Cephal0pod]

I may have jinxed myself with this post...I've had to defer for medical reasons, so looks like I'll be joining the class of 2020 after all.

So sorry to hear this, WZ! While I have known you for but a relatively short time via SDN, I think you are one cool cat, and hope you get better soon.

Many hugs!

 

[finnickthedog]

I don't have my official transcript yet so I was wondering about something...

My school has a single summer semester (sort of), so the grading period technically ends mid-August.
However, both my classes took place in May/June and were final grades were submitted back when the classes ended.

It looks like a completed semester on my unofficial transcript... is it going to be the same on my official or is it going to end up looking like an "in progress" semester until the end of the grading period?

I would think it look the same, but I feel uncertain (I'm really good at questioning everything).

 

[battie]

So, I went to the registrar today in order to find out why my grade change appeal was denied when the dean hadn't seen it. Got an immediate meeting with the associate registrar where she showed me the response that the department chair had about my appeal and that he denied it because, and I quote, "While I am sympathetic to the student's situation, it is the student's responsibility to check these matters within a short period of time after receipt of their grade. 1.5 years is long enough to consider the matter as closed."

Well, I told the registrar I needed to know who to talk to in order to override the chair's denial. She sent me to the dean's office that oversees the chemistry department. The student affairs guy was like, "What? That doesn't make sense. They're still letting people who had medical conditions that tanked their grades come in with medical records and switching them to NCs. And we haven't officially allowed NCs in current classes for three years." I was like, "Sir, to me this is like a company not being obligated to pay their employees money owed them when the company is found to have been skimming money off the top of their pay checks." He went to go talk to the associate dean that was in today for about 10 minutes. In that time, they called the interim head of the chem department (cause the guy that denied me is out on an impending death in the family), who also happened to have been my biochem I and II professor. He called the professor who I took O-chem with, who told him I got the B. So the interim head was like, "Uh, yeah, she's getting the B. It's ridiculous to not give her the B." So the associate dean signed off on it to change my C to a B. He even requested it be expedited so that the new grade is on the transcripts with the summer grades so that I can order transcripts for VMCAS and K-state. I am so happy!!!!!!

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

So, I went to the registrar today in order to find out why my grade change appeal was denied when the dean hadn't seen it. Got an immediate meeting with the associate registrar where she showed me the response that the department chair had about my appeal and that he denied it because, and I quote, "While I am sympathetic to the student's situation, it is the student's responsibility to check these matters within a short period of time after receipt of their grade. 1.5 years is long enough to consider the matter as closed."

Well, I told the registrar I needed to know who to talk to in order to override the chair's denial. She sent me to the dean's office that oversees the chemistry department. The student affairs guy was like, "What? That doesn't make sense. They're still letting people who had medical conditions that tanked their grades come in with medical records and switching them to NCs. And we haven't officially allowed NCs in current classes for three years." I was like, "Sir, to me this is like a company not being obligated to pay their employees money owed them when the company is found to have been skimming money off the top of their pay checks." He went to go talk to the associate dean that was in today for about 10 minutes. In that time, they called the interim head of the chem department (cause the guy that denied me is out on an impending death in the family), who also happened to have been my biochem I and II professor. He called the professor who I took O-chem with, who told him I got the B. So the interim head was like, "Uh, yeah, she's getting the B. It's ridiculous to not give her the B." So the associate dean signed off on it to change my C to a B. He even requested it be expedited so that the new grade is on the transcripts with the summer grades so that I can order transcripts for VMCAS and K-state. I am so happy!!!!!!

Good on you. Sometimes it's a fight with these universities to get what you rightfully deserve. Glad you didn't have to write a formal appeal, get 50 signatures, and do a special little dance.

 

[battie]

I think the look on my face when I said, "Sir, I will do what I have to do to get this fixed. Even if that means knocking on the president's door," was the big kick in the situation. I was dead serious. And I wasn't going to go through some ridiculous, fire hoops because it was their mistake. But they were super cool today, so we're all good. lol.

 

[superkelpie]

If I attended the AVMA conference and went to multiple CE lectures given by vets, would this count as vet experience? Not sure who I would list as "supervisor" in that case, or even if I should put it.

 

[Soon2bedogtor]

The section where you put your personal statement, what types of things did you guys put for the explanation statement? I'm a bit confused/lost.

 

[Innerspeaker]

The section where you put your personal statement, what types of things did you guys put for the explanation statement? I'm a bit confused/lost.

I think the general consensus is to only fill in the explanation statement to talk about 1) disciplinary actions you received in college or 2) major gaps in your education (like taking a whole semester off) or many failing or W grades as a result of illness or other major life circumstance (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong or missing something there).

If you don't have to address either of those things, you can pretty much leave that section entirely blank.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

If I attended the AVMA conference and went to multiple CE lectures given by vets, would this count as vet experience? Not sure who I would list as "supervisor" in that case, or even if I should put it.

Nope. That's a big, biiiig stretch.

 

[missdarjeeling]

I attended a shelter med conference that included a CPR training session and was going to just put it under extracurriculars. Vet experience is a huge stretch, and it doesn't really fit any other category.

Emailed my advisor this weekend to ask for a letter. I live 400 miles from campus now so couldn't do it in person like I wanted. She hasn't responded yet.

 

[fredandcessna]

I have a potentially dumb question. If I wait until September 15th to submit my application, and something happens where my application isn't verified, do they let me fix it, or is that it, I'm screwed? Thanks.

It's considered your responsibility, so you likely wouldn't be able to fix it. Submitting one month before is recommended so you have time to fix things! My app was sent back to me because I forgot some transcript details, but luckily I had submitted it so early I had time to fix it and re-submit!

 

[pomeranian]

I understand that VMCAS will not accept letters through Interfolio and that they won't save letters for future cycles. However, does anyone know if I can use Interfolio (or any letter-saving service) anyways and ask my letter writers to upload my letters onto there so that I can save/send them in again next cycle just in case I don't get in this cycle? Or does anyone have any suggestions on how to save them so that my letter writers don't have to rewrite my letters?

 

[WildZoo]

I understand that VMCAS will not accept letters through Interfolio and that they won't save letters for future cycles. However, does anyone know if I can use Interfolio (or any letter-saving service) anyways and ask my letter writers to upload my letters onto there so that I can save/send them in again next cycle just in case I don't get in this cycle? Or does anyone have any suggestions on how to save them so that my letter writers don't have to rewrite my letters?

As far as I know you can't send them yourself at all. Your letter writers can save them and resubmit next cycle if needed, though.

 

[wigglebutt]

When entering courses on VMCAS, after entering the course code and number, and choosing the subject from the pull-down menu, should the subject match the course code? For example, my transcript lists BIOL 317 - Ecology. But the VMCAS pull down menu has options for both "Biology" and "Ecology". Thoughts? Other than that I'm overthinking this?

 

[Gwenevre]

When entering courses on VMCAS, after entering the course code and number, and choosing the subject from the pull-down menu, should the subject match the course code? For example, my transcript lists BIOL 317 - Ecology. But the VMCAS pull down menu has options for both "Biology" and "Ecology". Thoughts? Other than that I'm overthinking this?

List it as Biology

 

[WildZoo]

When entering courses on VMCAS, after entering the course code and number, and choosing the subject from the pull-down menu, should the subject match the course code? For example, my transcript lists BIOL 317 - Ecology. But the VMCAS pull down menu has options for both "Biology" and "Ecology". Thoughts? Other than that I'm overthinking this?

From the instruction pages: "Select the course subject for the class using the drop-down menu which bests describes the course you took. If you cannot determine the correct subject based on your course’s title, please default to the department the course was offered through."

This seems to imply that you should go by title first, so I would list it as Ecology.

https://vmcas.helpgizmo.com/help/article/link/entering-a-course

 

[pomeranian]

Does anyone know what to put under "organization" if I want to list playing the cello as one of my experiences? I was in an orchestra in elementary/middle school and a city orchestra in high school, but my involvement in playing the cello extends beyond that as I took private lessons and participated in the Certificate of Merit program as well.

 

[WildZoo]

Does anyone know what to put under "organization" if I want to list playing the cello as one of my experiences? I was in an orchestra in elementary/middle school and a city orchestra in high school, but my involvement in playing the cello extends beyond that as I took private lessons and participated in the Certificate of Merit program as well.

Can you put "Not Applicable" or "Multiple" or something and then just put down the various things you were involved with in the description?

 

[ck76]

When entering courses on VMCAS, after entering the course code and number, and choosing the subject from the pull-down menu, should the subject match the course code? For example, my transcript lists BIOL 317 - Ecology. But the VMCAS pull down menu has options for both "Biology" and "Ecology". Thoughts? Other than that I'm overthinking this?

Last year I had this same issue with a bunch of my animal science classes (i.e. took molecular genetics in the ansci department, is it ansci because that's in the course number or bio because VMCAS says molecula genetics is bio?) and when you submit your application to be verified, VMCAS will switch any of the subjects you did wrong automatically

 

[Chordata25]

Does anyone know what to put under "organization" if I want to list playing the cello as one of my experiences? I was in an orchestra in elementary/middle school and a city orchestra in high school, but my involvement in playing the cello extends beyond that as I took private lessons and participated in the Certificate of Merit program as well.

For my orchestra involvement, I just put the name of my school as the organization. Like "Jones High School Orchestra" for the organization and "Orchestra member" for the title with a description of what I played, did, achieved, etc. I was in my high school orchestra and a county-wide orchestra so I made those in separate experiences.

For your private lessons you can put something like "Private Cello Lessons" as your organization. This year was screwy with VMCAS and requiring all these different non-applicable sections to experience. Just try to be as descriptive as possible and you'll be fine.

 

[twelvetigers]

For unofficial sorts of things like hobbies and extracurriculars, just do what you think works best. Explain as much as you need and down't worry too much about how you 'categorize' it - as long as it makes sense, it will be fine. Not everyone will choose to do it the same way, anyway. As long as it makes sense.

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

Does anyone know what to put under "organization" if I want to list playing the cello as one of my experiences? I was in an orchestra in elementary/middle school and a city orchestra in high school, but my involvement in playing the cello extends beyond that as I took private lessons and participated in the Certificate of Merit program as well.

I'm a musician as well. For organization I put "Self" and listed the instruments I've been playing my entire life as one experience. Then, for other more specific experiences, like my high-school rock band, I listed my high school as the organization and described the specific experience, since it was school credit. Instead of a marching band at my high school, the music department created a rock band. It was a group of really talented musicians (drummers, keyboardists, violinists, bassists, guitarists, singers) that would play at the various sporting events. So instead of the marching band playing marching band stuff, we'd play Thunderstruck and other awesome rock songs when the teams would come out of the locker room, between plays, at half time, etc. We got credit for that, it was one of my more memorable musical experiences.

 

[Innerspeaker]

Just saying @wheelin2vetmed, that's freakin' awesome!

 

[heyyimhayley]

It's considered your responsibility, so you likely wouldn't be able to fix it. Submitting one month before is recommended so you have time to fix things! My app was sent back to me because I forgot some transcript details, but luckily I had submitted it so early I had time to fix it and re-submit!

Thanks for the response. I talked to VMCAS and you are allowed to fix it assuming it's a typo. You can't fix it if you're missing a transcript, but if you have typos in your transcript entry, you can fix it. Just and FYI if anyone else was fretting about it too

 

[thecatastrophist]

Grr. I know I keep whining about this, but editing my personal statement is seriously irritating me.

So I started writing the thing several months ago, well before VMCAS opened, and I thought that it was okay. Nothing stellar, although my reviewers seemed to enjoy it. The issue was that it was ~8000 characters long; I figured that I would just trim it down as I got closer to application time.

Fast forward to now... I find out that VMCAS lowered the character limit to 4500. Cue panicked truncation of extraneous material and changing words. I am now at just over 5000 but I feel like I've run out of unnecessary adverbs/adjectives to cut and that I now have to get rid of actual material. I almost feel like the prompt asks for too much to be fit into a mere 4500 characters. Granted, I'm not the best at writing concisely anyway (as evidenced by this post), but I'm very quickly becoming frustrated with this.

Not to mention that I'm a naturally very modest person in real life and am having a heck of a time trying to sell myself... I've just never been good at it.

Anyone else in the same boat?

I had a similar problem last year, and what I ended up doing was making an outline of the paper I had at the time including only topics I liked/felt were relevant. Then, I rewrote the paper completely with an eye on the character count as I went and removed superfluous points as necessary. I also avoided unnecessary adjectives and filler statements as I wrote. The process of rewriting is painful, but I found that it was easier than trimming down a statement that was already structured to be several thousand characters longer than the limit. But I'm also a pretty fast writer once I have my outline so it depends on your style and level of comfort with essay writing.

 

[LuckySpartan]

Anyone else in the same boat?

Indeed, I am to struggling to cut back. I am currently at 4,700 characters, coming down from 11,000 lol.

What I am finding the most struggle with is realizing that what is necessarily important to me, may not be to them. I think we want them to know so much about us as applicants, we want them to know our whole story that we lose sight of it being solely a marketing piece.

Wishing you the best of luck! If you haven't worked with a SDN PS reader I would consider it. It has been very helpful to me.

 

[Caiter92]

One of the most prevalent tips I have seen people post is to demonstrate knowledge and skills with examples from experiences. But I have had to severely cut those experiences down, almost to the point where there is, like, one sentence of explanation of how or why I think I have that quality. And, honestly, it just comes off as unconvincing to me because there's almost no actual substance beyond "So this is how I changed from my original career plans to vet med, here are a couple important qualities vets should have and how I have developed them, and here's an idea of what I'd like to do in the future."
.

This is something I've seen advice either way with. Some people say to talk about skills you have in your PS, others are saying to leave those in the experience section. What I ended up doing, which helped me keep under the character limit in my third draft, is just talk about what I think the veterinarian's role is/how the true role is a bit different than what an outside observer would think. I had some examples, though they could come across as hypothetical even though they are real experiences I could expand upon if asked about in an interview.

I feel like everyone's personal statement will be different based on their preferences and style, so as long as you answer the prompt and sell yourself (I had such a hard time with that as well), and a reader can tell you do have a depth of understanding of the profession, you're probably fine.

 

[finnickthedog]

Grr. I know I keep whining about this, but editing my personal statement is seriously irritating me.

So I started writing the thing several months ago, well before VMCAS opened, and I thought that it was okay. Nothing stellar, although my reviewers seemed to enjoy it. The issue was that it was ~8000 characters long; I figured that I would just trim it down as I got closer to application time.

Fast forward to now... I find out that VMCAS lowered the character limit to 4500. Cue panicked truncation of extraneous material and changing words. I am now at just over 5000 but I feel like I've run out of unnecessary adverbs/adjectives to cut and that I now have to get rid of actual material. I almost feel like the prompt asks for too much to be fit into a mere 4500 characters. Granted, I'm not the best at writing concisely anyway (as evidenced by this post), but I'm very quickly becoming frustrated with this.

Not to mention that I'm a naturally very modest person in real life and am having a heck of a time trying to sell myself... I've just never been good at it.

Anyone else in the same boat?

I'm not in the same boat really but I am struggling a bit with the limit in a different way...

I never went over the character limit because I didn't let myself do that. See, I though 4500 characters was a lot less than it actually is so I went into super concise writing mode and ended up with something was like ~2000 characters (but not very good of course and very incomplete). After that I was checking the word count after pretty much every paragraph I wrote so I wouldn't topple over. At this point I'm fairly close to the limit but still not over.

So why am I whining?

My problem is that I feel like there is more that needs to be said but I don't have the characters available to work it in. It's like, my PS is probably what yours will be after you cut out that material and I'm so frustrated with that. Is it fine? Sure. But I don't want "fine".

Urghhhh

 

[Minnerbelle]

What I am finding the most struggle with is realizing that what is necessarily important to me, may not be to them. I think we want them to know so much about us as applicants, we want them to know our whole story that we lose sight of it being solely a marketing piece.

+1000

It's all about what adcoms want to know about you, not what you want to say about yourself.

 

[TonyThor]

Hi everyone, I know this information is out there somewhere, but I can't seem to find the answer. Can you submit secondary applications and GRE scores before you submit/pay for the VMCAS application?
Also once you pay for the VMCAS application you can't change it??

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

I drafted and re-worked my personal statement over the course of this entire summer. I enjoy writing but yes, 4,500 characters is quite the limit and a true test of writing succinctly. I wrote what I wanted at first, without an eye for the character limit, and then slowly but surely cut it down draft, after draft, after draft. Keep in mind the spacing between paragraphs is a character as well, so you'll need to aim for ~4,490 mark. There's a minor discrepancy between Word's character count and the VMCAS; I actually think it's less than 4,500 on the VMCAS.

Regarding vet experiences, I just BRIEFLY touched upon them in the personal statement for a few reasons:

1. I can't really compare myself to 21 year olds who've wanted to be vets their whole lives, volunteered 5,000,000 hours, and have gone straight from high school, to college, to vet application. Rekindling my childhood dream of becoming a vet was recent, and with my life experiences, I wanted to highlight those as fulfilling the "preparedness" the committees are looking for.
2. The experiences section is there to elaborate on everything I've done in vet med, so I felt there was no need to waste precious personal statement space for that.

If anyone wants some critiquing or thoughts about their personal statement, I'm here to help. I'll gladly send mine over if you want to gauge my writing style prior to letting me critique yours.

 

[WildZoo]

I may look into finding a PS reader soon.

One of the most prevalent tips I have seen people post is to demonstrate knowledge and skills with examples from experiences. But I have had to severely cut those experiences down, almost to the point where there is, like, one sentence of explanation of how or why I think I have that quality. And, honestly, it just comes off as unconvincing to me because there's almost no actual substance beyond "So this is how I changed from my original career plans to vet med, here are a couple important qualities vets should have and how I have developed them, and here's an idea of what I'd like to do in the future."

I managed to get it down to the old limit of 5000 characters, but now I have to delete another 500 to get it under the new one. Gah.

If you (and this goes for everyone here) want some help feel free shoot me a PM. I'm pretty much writing full time right now so I'm in a good state of mind for PS reading and such.

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

If you (and this goes for everyone here) want some help feel free shoot me a PM. I'm pretty much writing full time right now so I'm in a good state of mind for PS reading and such.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let WildZoo read your PS

 

[WildZoo]

Whatever you do, DO NOT let WildZoo read your PS

 

[Minnerbelle]

Honestly, I wonder what the logic behind lowering the character limit was. 5000, while still short, was at least doable without sacrificing too much. But cutting down those final few hundred characters does hurt. I'm glad that it seems that I will be able to get it down to the length it needs to be, but I really, really worry that I'm losing too much actual content as I have run out of "fluff" and extraneous words/sentences to remove.

Honestly, in the end it really really doesn't matter, I promise you. You could like cut out half of your PS and it probably wouldn't make a difference. The adcom who is reading the final draft will never know what was in the previous version or "what they're missing out on" (which usually to them is just extra blah blah blah). I realized this when I was applying 6 years ago and the VMCAS character limit was 5000, while Tufts' was a 500 word limit which was more like 3000 characters. So I hacked away to get there, and while it hurt me to do so, the same exact message got across in the end with both versions and I don't think Tufts was missing much of anything about me as an applicant after 40% of my essay was cut out. Overall, I bet Tufts got better essays all around because people were forced to be concise. Bad essays are easier to read through when they're shorter, and good essays will still be good if not stellar when they have to be concise.

I actually dug up the long and short versions. Is the short version that much worse that someone's view of me as an applicant would change all that much?

"Possible parvo pups arriving soon," Dr. ______ announced. Goosebumps ran up my arms due to the stinging tension pervading the usually chipper shelter clinic. Six beautiful puppies came in a crate, excitedly squirming on top of each other. To minimize contact, only one was tested - positive. Within 20 minutes, I assisted in the euthanasia of all 6 pups. The bodies were quickly disposed of, anything they touched went straight to the dumpster, the room was bleached, and it was over. I grasped the gravity of the situation and remained calm, but it was a lot for me to process as a teen. I had the utmost respect for my mentor veterinarians and knew they were truly compassionate, but I could not help but wonder why we couldn't give those puppies a chance.

Four years later, I learned firsthand why it is unfeasible to treat and contain deadly infections in a crowded facility. I interned for 2 baby seasons with wildlife, and parvo hit our native mammals both times. Having never seen animals treated for the virus, I was intrigued when told that euthanasia was a last resort. Despite our efforts, it spread like wildfire. Within weeks, 67 of our 70 raccoons had died. I will never forget how the usually rambunctious juveniles grimaced in a fetal position with their paws grasping their heads. This confirmed for me that vet care was complex and not always about treating every animal. While family pets who contract parvovirus and panleukopenia often survive with proper care, it's a different story in high volume facilities with limited resources – prevention is everything.

Though it stung initially, I internalized the meaning of "herd health" in shelters. Seeing the agony in affected animals made euthanasia easier in parvo cases, but euthanizing seemingly healthy animals with terminal conditions was difficult at first. I was holding an FIV+ cat for euthanasia one day, and she surprisingly began purring during the IP injection. For the next few minutes until she went limp in my arms, she was the happiest cat in the world! I realized then that animals only see the present and not "what could be." For the first time, I walked out from that euthanasia room with a smile and looked up at the blue California sky.

My experience with disease control helped greatly when I was appointed the Facility Director of _________, a new animal rescue organization in _________. As the one responsible for the animals' well-being and daily operations, I stressed the importance of prevention. At one point, however, the founder decided that the need for emergency intake superseded the risk of disease exposure, and brought several cats into the facility without first seeking veterinary care. Our game of Russian roulette came to an end with a ringworm outbreak. Though overwhelmed by the challenges ahead, especially with my full-time job as a research technician, I executed a treatment plan with the guidance of a local veterinarian. We quarantined and treated the affected kittens 4 times with lime sulfur over the next 2 weeks. The 11 remaining cats were also treated, and the entire facility was bleached. I knew that communication with volunteers was the key to success, since they were the daily animal caretakers, and maintained almost daily contact to provide information, progress updates, and procedural changes. Due to the collaborative effort of our dedicated volunteers, fungal cultures have confirmed that ringworm is now history!

Though I initially went into research simply to test out a PhD career path, my job has broadened my horizons in ways I didn't expect. When trusted to design a reliable method for determining the transgene copy number for our new transgenic mice using real-time qPCR, I became enthralled with the practical problem-solving aspect of lab science. While rejoicing in my success on this project, I realized that molecular biology and the scientific method have broad applications beyond cancer research. Since then, I began to wonder how my knowledge from the laboratory can be integrated with veterinary training so that I can make practical advances in shelter medicine.

I am excited to embark on the path towards answering this question. Not only is shelter medicine a discipline that is close to my heart, it is a multifaceted field with challenges in ethics, public health, epidemiology, public relations, and small animal medicine. The greatest appeal for me is that progress in this field directly impacts the number of animals that are saved from euthanasia. Given my considerable training in scientific research, I feel I have a lot to offer. Whether through clinical data collection, the development of vaccines and diagnostic tools, or simply through the re-evaluation of standard protocols, I look forward to making innovative changes in shelter medicine given realistic constraints. My hope is that within my lifetime, shelters will not need to euthanize animals for treatable conditions such as kennel cough and ringworm.

Prompt was a little different for Tufts. I think it was something like "If only 300 students could get accepted to vet school instead of 3000, why should you still make the cut?"

"Possible parvo pups arriving soon," Dr. _____ announced. Goosebumps ran up my arms due to the stinging tension pervading the usually chipper shelter clinic. Six puppies came in a crate, excitedly squirming on top of each other. To minimize contact, only one was tested - positive. Within 20 minutes, I assisted in the euthanasia of each pup. The bodies were disposed of, anything they touched went straight to the dumpster, the room was bleached, and it was over. I grasped the gravity of the situation and remained calm, but it was a lot for me to process as a teen.

After observing the devastation of over 100 raccoons during futile attempts to cure parvo at a wildlife center, I internalized the importance of “herd health” in shelters – prevention is everything. Seeing the agony in affected animals made euthanasia easier in parvo cases; however, euthanizing seemingly healthy animals with terminal conditions was difficult at first. I was pleasantly surprised when an FIV+ cat began purring during her Fatal Plus injection. For the next few minutes until she died in my arms, she was the happiest cat in the world! I realized then that animals only see the present and not "what could be," and walked out of that euthanasia room with a smile.

My experience with disease control helped greatly when I was appointed the Facility Director of an animal rescue organization in ________. As the one responsible for the animals' well-being and daily operations, I stressed the importance of prevention. However, the founder decided that the need for emergency intake superseded the risk of disease exposure, and several cats entered the facility before receiving veterinary care. Our game of Russian roulette came to an end with a ringworm outbreak. Though overwhelmed by the challenges ahead, I executed a treatment plan under the guidance of a veterinarian. I knew that communication with the animal care volunteers was critical, and maintained daily contact to provide information, progress updates, and procedural changes. Due to the collaborative effort of our dedicated volunteers, ringworm was rapidly eradicated from the facility.

Though I initially went into research simply to test out a PhD career path, my job has broadened my horizons in unexpected ways. When trusted to design a method for determining the transgene copy number in mice using real-time qPCR, I became enthralled with the practical problem-solving aspect of lab science. During this endeavor, I realized that biology and the scientific method have broad applications beyond cancer research. Since then, I began to wonder how my knowledge from the laboratory can be integrated with veterinary training so that I can make practical advances in shelter medicine.

I am excited to embark on the path towards answering this question, and believe that I have the motivation and training necessary to flourish through further veterinary training. With my passion, leadership skills, intellect, and understanding of the profession combined, I am confident that I am a worthy candidate for veterinary school no matter how selective the profession becomes.

 

[lilylilac]

Little late to the party, but first time applicant here! I'm also a non-traditional student, 26, graduating with a PhD in a couple months. I'm applying to Penn, VMRCVM, Ohio State, Michigan State, Auburn, and NCSU, with a main interest in pathology. Definitely freaking out, but I'm so excited to get this process underway!

 

[Koala1010]

I have five people lined up to write me ELors and three have submitted so far. Will my application begin the verification because I have the minimum of three submitted already or do all five need to be in before that begins?

 

[WildZoo]

I have five people lined up to write me ELors and three have submitted so far. Will my application begin the verification because I have the minimum of three submitted already or do all five need to be in before that begins?

According to the website, you application is placed in line for verification once you have all of your stuff submitted, have paid, transcripts have been received, and 3 eLORs have been submitted.

 

[Koala1010]

According to the website, you application is placed in line for verification once you have all of your stuff submitted, have paid, transcripts have been received, and 3 eLORs have been submitted.

Okay thanks! I saw that and didn't know if it was just referring to the minimum of 3 eLORs requirement, but would still only verify if all requested eLORs were submitted as long as that number was at least 3 (if that makes any sense whatsoever). I think I just think too much.

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

Do you guys and gals think an eLOR from a doctor who runs a neuro-rehabilitation program be okay, or would that be too unrelated? I spent my first year post-injury dedicated to recovery and developed a good relationship with him.

2 of my letters are from academics, and one is from a vet. This dude's letter would solely encompass my attitude and his experiences dealing with me as a person, outside an academic setting.

 

[WildZoo]

Do you guys and gals think an eLOR from a doctor who runs a neuro-rehabilitation program be okay, or would that be too unrelated? I spent my first year post-injury dedicated to recovery and developed a good relationship with him.

2 of my letters are from academics, and one is from a vet. This dude's letter would solely encompass my attitude and his experiences dealing with me as a person, outside an academic setting.

As long as your other letters cover the requirements for the schools you're applying to, I think that kind of letter would be great. More of a personal reference than a professional one, but it's still useful.

 

[LuckySpartan]

How do we feel about using bullet points for the employment experiences and paragraphs for everything else? I know when I asked about format previously everyone said be consistent. This just works for me. You all think its ok?

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

How do we feel about using bullet points for the employment experiences and paragraphs for everything else? I know when I asked about format previously everyone said be consistent. This just works for me. You all think its ok?

Presentation-wise, I think it's fine, and they probably won't care. Aesthetically, I probably wouldn't do it because I'm OCD like that and it'd look different next to everything else

 

[femmedusiecle]

Who else is applying to SGU? I applied for Jan 16, interviewed 2 weeks ago and haven't yet heard back. They said 2-3 weeks after interview but I lack patience!!!

 

[LetItSnow]

How do we feel about using bullet points for the employment experiences and paragraphs for everything else? I know when I asked about format previously everyone said be consistent. This just works for me. You all think its ok?

Yes, it is ok.

Seriously, what matters is that it is easily readable, conveys the info you want, and is professional in appearance (i.e. spelling is good, punctuation is appropriate for the style, etc.).

Don't lose sleep over whether you use bullet points or don't.

I personally do like consistency .... but it's not going to matter if you do one section one way and another section differently.

 

[missdarjeeling]

Going through the fine details of my experiences section to make sure I haven't missed anything obvious. The admissions director for one of my schools explicitly said to include research experiences that were part of coursework (if the research was significant, like a semester-long project) even if it wasn't related to vet med. But I feel weird putting my research experiences on there because with the exception of one bio project, they're weird, obscure humanities stuff. The one school said to do it, but I hope the other schools don't think it's obnoxious and just resume padding. Like, what the hell do they care that I wrote a long, boring paper on the development of accent patterns in whatever language no one cares about? But it was grad level "grown up" research aimed at getting us into the publication mindset. Bah. I hate worrying about stupid little things like this. Anyone else in a similar boat?

 

[wheelin2vetmed]

Going through the fine details of my experiences section to make sure I haven't missed anything obvious. The admissions director for one of my schools explicitly said to include research experiences that were part of coursework (if the research was significant, like a semester-long project) even if it wasn't related to vet med. But I feel weird putting my research experiences on there because with the exception of one bio project, they're weird, obscure humanities stuff. The one school said to do it, but I hope the other schools don't think it's obnoxious and just resume padding. Like, what the hell do they care that I wrote a long, boring paper on the development of accent patterns in whatever language no one cares about? But it was grad level "grown up" research aimed at getting us into the publication mindset. Bah. I hate worrying about stupid little things like this. Anyone else in a similar boat?

Ya, I don't really know what to say about that. If it was my application, I wouldn't put that down. A lot of my undergrad schooling required semi-substantial research, but I lump that all in as classwork because at the end of the day (just being a realist here), we're doing that work to achieve a grade and not necessarily to progress science and conduct research.

I was fortunately able get in at one of my professor's cancer biology labs (not vet related either), so I've been exposed to a badass research environment. It's COMPLETELY different than stuff you do in class.

Not steering you in any direction, just offering my 2 cents.

 

[Cephal0pod]

Going through the fine details of my experiences section to make sure I haven't missed anything obvious. The admissions director for one of my schools explicitly said to include research experiences that were part of coursework (if the research was significant, like a semester-long project) even if it wasn't related to vet med. But I feel weird putting my research experiences on there because with the exception of one bio project, they're weird, obscure humanities stuff. The one school said to do it, but I hope the other schools don't think it's obnoxious and just resume padding. Like, what the hell do they care that I wrote a long, boring paper on the development of accent patterns in whatever language no one cares about? But it was grad level "grown up" research aimed at getting us into the publication mindset. Bah. I hate worrying about stupid little things like this. Anyone else in a similar boat?

Glad to hear you say this, I was having this debate with myself just a couple of hours ago actually regarding some research in coursework

I think my vote, whatever little it may be worth, would be to put them on there though they are humanities. It would show some well-rounded-ness, ya know? I have no doubt those experiences have contributed to your academic/scholarly development, and I think that deserves mention on your application.

 

[LetItSnow]

Going through the fine details of my experiences section to make sure I haven't missed anything obvious. The admissions director for one of my schools explicitly said to include research experiences that were part of coursework (if the research was significant, like a semester-long project) even if it wasn't related to vet med. But I feel weird putting my research experiences on there because with the exception of one bio project, they're weird, obscure humanities stuff. The one school said to do it, but I hope the other schools don't think it's obnoxious and just resume padding. Like, what the hell do they care that I wrote a long, boring paper on the development of accent patterns in whatever language no one cares about? But it was grad level "grown up" research aimed at getting us into the publication mindset. Bah. I hate worrying about stupid little things like this. Anyone else in a similar boat?

In my mind there is no question that you should include it.