Future DVMs- C/O 2021!

[finnickthedog]

Confirm with VMCAS or with the schools I'm applying to?

Your undgrad school made you pay for transcripts? That sucks. My undergrad school has always (at least as long as I've known) given us free transcripts (for normal business day delivery, if you want it to arrive faster you have to pay).

With VMCAS, since they're the ones doing the verifying.

Yeah, it definitely cost me money last year. I mean they were cheap, but I still much prefer free.

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[Devastating]

Your undgrad school made you pay for transcripts? That sucks. My undergrad school has always (at least as long as I've known) given us free transcripts (for normal business day delivery, if you want it to arrive faster you have to pay).

Same here. I have 4 different institutions for transcripts and only one of them makes you pay (a CC through which I took 2 animal sci credits in high school...) the others are all free for a certain number per day. I feel bad for the peeps who have to pay for them all or from their main institution!

 

[cheathac]

As far as transcripts, as soon as we put them in can we contact our school to have them sent to VMCAS? I am taking a summer class that's a prerequisite (Genetics). It will be finished with a grade around August 4th. Would it be ok to send the transcript then since the grade is on it? My GPA could change from a 3.77 to a 3.78 so not sure if that's a big enough change.

 

[WildZoo]

This is 100% Volunteer.

If you did not touch the animals, it was not animal experience.

Well...I didn't touch any animals at the zoo but as a keeper assistant that was definitely still animal experience

VMCAS states that if it is animal related it counts as animal experience so i would go with that

 

[WildZoo]

Does anyone know if either (or both) of the achievement and experience section will "Reorganize" into proper date order--or does it stay in the order you enter it? It seems it would be tough to follow if it were out of order.

Also--for giving dates--giving the day/month/year--have people given estimates? I have done so many things that were so long ago and feel like I am going to need to make up some dates for specific experiences/achievements!

Thanks!

Question has been answered before, but yes, it will reorganize. And giving estimates for your dates is fine.

 

[WildZoo]

After putting in all courses do we then contact our school to send directly to VMCAS? Or do we wait to submit then send transcripts?


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This may have already been addressed and I admit, I might have accidentally skipped past it without realizing, so my apologies if I'm repeating a question. Can we send our transcripts in after we have finished entering them in? I'm still not 100% decided on my list of schools yet, so I haven't started the matching of pre requisites yet. Wasn't sure if it mattered when we sent them in, as long as they were in before the deadline/submission.

As far as transcripts, as soon as we put them in can we contact our school to have them sent to VMCAS? I am taking a summer class that's a prerequisite (Genetics). It will be finished with a grade around August 4th. Would it be ok to send the transcript then since the grade is on it? My GPA could change from a 3.77 to a 3.78 so not sure if that's a big enough change.

You can send in your transcripts whenever you want. If there are particular classes that you need to have on there (especially prereqs) that you're still taking and will be done before deadline, I would wait and send transcripts then.

Rabbits are considered SA, right? I have a fever and VMCAS is jumbling my thoughts.

Technically, as far as I know, small animal is just dogs and cats. I've always seen rabbits, ferrets, pockets pets, reptiles, etc classified as exotics.

So my vet I work at does primarily small animals, but occasionally we get in the interesting wildlife (raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, etc) and exotics (we got some baby sea turtles in last summer). Can I call that wildlife/ exotic for type of experience?


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If you can only choose one category I would mark it SA and then talk about the exotics in the description. If you can choose multiple categories, even better!

FYI: Illinois does not plan on having a permanent class size of 180. That was complete accident this year and is down to 178 from the 182. They are planning on being at the 130 next year.

That sounds like a fun story...

 

[battie]

That sounds like a fun story...

It's been an interesting last month or so, let me tell ya. It sounds like they sent out the average number of OOS acceptances, but a boat load more of us accepted our acceptances this year compared to previous years.

 

[WildZoo]

It's been an interesting last month or so, let me tell ya. It sounds like they sent out the average number of OOS acceptances, but a boat load more of us accepted our acceptances this year compared to previous years.

Ouch. I've always wondered if that would happen with schools that over-accept. I hope they're equipped to handle 50 extra students in the class...

 

[Omarindigo]

Unfortunately (for your wallet's and your sanity's sake) you have to send them all. , including online classes. You send them all to VMCAS, and then (from my understanding) you send all transcripts from fall 2016 and spring 2017 directly to the individual schools.


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Okay but do I have to add those schools to my attended schools tabs?

 

[wildlifer]

You can send in your transcripts whenever you want. If there are particular classes that you need to have on there (especially prereqs) that you're still taking and will be done before deadline, I would wait and send transcripts then.


Technically, as far as I know, small animal is just dogs and cats. I've always seen rabbits, ferrets, pockets pets, reptiles, etc classified as exotics.


If you can only choose one category I would mark it SA and then talk about the exotics in the description. If you can choose multiple categories, even better!


That sounds like a fun story...

Thanks WildZoo.

 

[battie]

Ouch. I've always wondered if that would happen with schools that over-accept. I hope they're equipped to handle 50 extra students in the class...

It sounds like they're working out how to get it to work out..... Some people brought up that other schools give OOS students IS tuition if they defer for a year, but sounds like that won't be happening. We're still waiting to hear from the school officially about this.

Okay but do I have to add those schools to my attended schools tabs?

You have to have every single higher education school you attended.

 

[WildZoo]

It sounds like they're working out how to get it to work out..... Some people brought up that other schools give OOS students IS tuition if they defer for a year, but sounds like that won't be happening. We're still waiting to hear from the school officially about this.

Yeah I was thinking that might be a way to handle it, offer decreased tuition to people if they would be willing to defer. Maybe even somewhere between IS and OOS tuition if they couldn't swing giving that many people IS tuition. Idk though. Sounds like a cluster****.

 

[wildlifer]

It sounds like they're working out how to get it to work out..... Some people brought up that other schools give OOS students IS tuition if they defer for a year, but sounds like that won't be happening. We're still waiting to hear from the school officially about this.



You have to have every single higher education school you attended.

I would definitely be willing to defer for a year if it meant I could be considered IS....as I'm OOS everywhere. Do you happen to know what schools actually granted that??

 

[WildZoo]

I would definitely be willing to defer for a year if it meant I could be considered IS....as I'm OOS everywhere. Do you happen to know what schools actually granted that??

Penn does on a case by case basis, if you defer and live in PA for that year. I don't know of any others that do that off the top of my head.

 

[TrashPanda]

It's been an interesting last month or so, let me tell ya. It sounds like they sent out the average number of OOS acceptances, but a boat load more of us accepted our acceptances this year compared to previous years.

So the extra 50 or so are OOS? I'll be applying there IS, and I'm wondering if that will affect admissions at all this year (besides, obviously, that they'll be sending out fewer initial offers than last year).

Part of me worries that they'll want a smaller class of 2021 to balance...

 

[WildZoo]

So the extra 50 or so are OOS? I'll be applying there IS, and I'm wondering if that will affect admissions at all this year (besides, obviously, that they'll be sending out fewer initial offers than last year).

Part of me worries that they'll want a smaller class of 2021 to balance...

I doubt they'll go below their usual number for 2021. Obviously they can do whatever they want, but as far as the school's resources go, I don't think that would really balance things. The things I'm thinking about (the size of the classrooms, labs, how many students the teaching hospital can handle at a time in their various departments) are all affected by the larger class because all those students will be needing those resources at the same time. Having the class below them be smaller won't change any of that.

 

[mmmdreamerz]

Wow can't believe I missed this. I was chair of a similar program, did work similar to what you described, and I listed this as animal experince.

Haha small world!!

 

[bombai]

Question has been answered before, but yes, it will reorganize. And giving estimates for your dates is fine.

Thanks so much! I looked at the PDF and they did not organize so I didn't know how they would reorganize if it doesn't reorganize when you make the PDF.

 

[brownswissfanatic]

Same here. I have 4 different institutions for transcripts and only one of them makes you pay (a CC through which I took 2 animal sci credits in high school...) the others are all free for a certain number per day. I feel bad for the peeps who have to pay for them all or from their main institution!

Yea I feel bad for those people too. After all the hard work done to complete college degrees and after all the money spent, all transcripts should be given out for free!

 

[cdo96]

Yea I feel bad for those people too. After all the hard work done to complete college degrees and after all the money spent, all transcripts should be given out for free!

I completely agree!! What's weird is that Oklahoma state send free paper transcripts via mail, but the electronic transcript is like $8. I don't get it.


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[brownswissfanatic]

FYI, to anyone else applying for either Texas A&M or Tufts, I just created 2 new threads for those schools for this application cycle.

 

[wildlifer]

Penn does on a case by case basis, if you defer and live in PA for that year. I don't know of any others that do that off the top of my head.

Thanks for the info!

I completely agree!! What's weird is that Oklahoma state send free paper transcripts via mail, but the electronic transcript is like $8. I don't get it.


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Well that doesn't make any sense...I understand why there's a charge for paper transcripts (although I do agree that we should get them for free considering the cost of education)...but charging for something that you email?.. well that's just silly.

 

[rockatiel]

Thanks for the info!



Well that doesn't make any sense...I understand why there's a charge for paper transcripts (although I do agree that we should get them for free considering the cost of education)...but charging for something that you email?.. well that's just silly.

I just paid 10 dollars to email two transcripts. Lol

 

[1doggeek]

One of my undergrads doesn't charge, but I paid $9 last night for the other to email me a transcript PDF...
Included is a $1.75 "shipping and handling fee". For an email.

 

[floridajl]

I just paid 10 dollars to email two transcripts. Lol

Wow. My undergrad charges $15 per transcript now (and they no longer do unofficial transcripts), whether they're mailed or emailed. I never realized other schools did it cheaper or free and now I feel like I'm being ripped off.

 

[wildlifer]

Geez....paying for something that is emailed just baffles me. I have paper copies of my transcripts that I keep on hand and I have scanned them onto my computer in case I need to email a copy for a job, scholarships, etc.

 

[floridajl]

Do I have to include contact information for all my of extracurriculars? I'm including some from high school and I don't even remember who was in charge let alone how to contact them. Also, some of the undergrad clubs I was involved in didn't really have a supervisor, since they were student run. I'm sure the students in charge have graduated by now. Will it look bad if I leave those blank?

 

[aggievethopeful2021]

Do I have to include contact information for all my of extracurriculars? I'm including some from high school and I don't even remember who was in charge let alone how to contact them. Also, some of the undergrad clubs I was involved in didn't really have a supervisor, since they were student run. I'm sure the students in charge have graduated by now. Will it look bad if I leave those blank?

I'm not including contact info on a lot of mine. Mainly because some of them were over 5-6 years ago and I don't have their numbers anymore. I don't think it will look bad. Just be sure you include contact info for the ones you still have it for and it should be fine.

 

[wildlifer]

Speaking of extracurriculars.... are most people just focusing on what they did at their college(s)? I was an ambassador for 2 years in high school that I'm wondering if it will be worth putting on there, despite the fact that was like 12 years ago. (that makes me feel old >.<)

 

[battie]

Yeah I was thinking that might be a way to handle it, offer decreased tuition to people if they would be willing to defer. Maybe even somewhere between IS and OOS tuition if they couldn't swing giving that many people IS tuition. Idk though. Sounds like a cluster****.

My only problem is that the school hasn't contacted us directly about the problem. We've gotten everything from the c/o 2019 as they've gone to the ISCAVMA meetings and such. Apparently they don't want to scare off students. They're causing more panic by not contacting us directly.

I would definitely be willing to defer for a year if it meant I could be considered IS....as I'm OOS everywhere. Do you happen to know what schools actually granted that??

I would do it in a heartbeat. I'd go back home, live with my parents again, and work for that year to get more money saved up. I would stay in my current job, but they replaced me the day we heard about all this shenanigans. People were saying the Colorado has given IS tuition for deferrals if they over fill their class by too much. But I don't know for sure.

So the extra 50 or so are OOS? I'll be applying there IS, and I'm wondering if that will affect admissions at all this year (besides, obviously, that they'll be sending out fewer initial offers than last year).

Part of me worries that they'll want a smaller class of 2021 to balance...

There are 112 OOS out of the 178 of us. The "extra" did come OOS acceptances though. "To fill the class size historically look at acceptance rates. In state acceptance (for number of offers sent out) was ~81%. Out of state acceptance was ~26%. Then send out acceptance letters keeping in mind that we’ll get those % of acceptances. This year the in state acceptance was around 80% as expected (~70 students) but the out of state acceptance was 60%." That's from the May 2 meeting for ISCAVMA. I personally think it was a fluke and that many of us OOS decided to go to UIUC because 1) we didn't get accepted anywhere else; 2) this was our cheapest OOS option. There are probably people who had other options that were cheaper, but just liked the school, but I don't see that being a significant part of that extra 34% of OOS students. I doubt they'll send out significantly fewer acceptances, particularly for IS as the IS kids weren't the problem. I would go for it if I were you.

 

[LuckySpartan]

Ohio State replaces old grades with new ones, though I'd double check about failed courses. It'll still be on your transcripts, and you may be asked about it in an interview, but improvement does count for something.

I thought I read on the OSU website somewhere that if you repeat a course they factor in both grades but I just went back to look again and I can't find it! I am assuming I must have misread it somewhere but are you certain this is in fact the policy? If so that makes me very happy!

 

[mht2k3]

Does anyone know exactly how to determine if a class was an "honors" course or not? I know some schools have specific courses that are honors versions, but for my major, there was only an honors program and they had a specific list of courses the honors program could take:

https://www.lsa.umich.edu/math/undergrad/majorandminorprograms/infinmajorprograms/honorsmathematics

I took some of those courses (including some grad level courses), but I wasn't in the honors program. Should I list those classes as honors classes?

 

[Caiter92]

Does anyone know exactly how to determine if a class was an "honors" course or not? I know some schools have specific courses that are honors versions, but for my major, there was only an honors program and they had a specific list of courses the honors program could take:

https://www.lsa.umich.edu/math/undergrad/majorandminorprograms/infinmajorprograms/honorsmathematics

I took some of those courses (including some grad level courses), but I wasn't in the honors program. Should I list those classes as honors classes?

I wouldn't. Generally classes taken for departmental honors credit are marked in some way (at my undergrad there was an "H" that was added to your transcript next to the course if you had taken it for honors credit) and you have to petition for the class to count for honors credit.

From that link, it seems like those classes listed weren't necessarily honors classes, just classes that were approved to be taken to fulfill the major requirements in order to graduate with honors if you were in the honors program for your major.

I wouldn't worry about not having honors classes on your transcript though. I ended up having to drop out of the departmental honors program in order to graduate early for family reasons, and it definitely didn't cause any issues for me

 

[cheathac]

I also noticed there wasn't an option for dual credit. I had some of these classes, I didn't test out of them so they weren't AP. I just received credit for them on my transcript. Will they be able to recognize this?

 

[Devastating]

I also noticed there wasn't an option for dual credit. I had some of these classes, I didn't test out of them so they weren't AP. I just received credit for them on my transcript. Will they be able to recognize this?

Dual credit as in college credits taken during high school, then transferred to your undergrad? They should count the same as any other college credit, and if taken through a community college and then you would also have to provide that school's transcript. I have several dual credit courses on my transcripts. Does your transcript say where the credits are from?

 

[missdarjeeling]

Do I have to include contact information for all my of extracurriculars? I'm including some from high school and I don't even remember who was in charge let alone how to contact them. Also, some of the undergrad clubs I was involved in didn't really have a supervisor, since they were student run. I'm sure the students in charge have graduated by now. Will it look bad if I leave those blank?

I left a lot of those blank. I feel like if you have partial information, you should include that, but I don't think it raises any red flags if you have no contact information for your year long stint as treasurer of Philosophy Club in high school. I definitely had no contact info for some (like a student dance group I was in) and a teacher advisor's name only for a few others. No one ever said anything. I doubt they really look at contact information for the extracurriculars unless maybe they directly relate to vet med.

 

[cheathac]

@Devastating Yes, I have dual credits from two other colleges so I'll have to submit those transcriptions. They show up on my Purdue one as TR. The weird thing is though on one of those two colleges, some of the classes I had Bs in when I know for a fact that I got As in high school for those classes. If I don't select them for any of the prerequisites, will my GPA from Purdue be the same or will VMCAS calculate those Bs into the GPA too? I'm going to contact the school tomorrow to try and get it changed.

 

[LyraGardenia]

Speaking of extracurriculars.... are most people just focusing on what they did at their college(s)? I was an ambassador for 2 years in high school that I'm wondering if it will be worth putting on there, despite the fact that was like 12 years ago. (that makes me feel old >.<)

I'd say include things from high school, just make sure you can talk about it a bit if it comes up in an interview! It probably wouldn't hurt you if you left it off, but it can only help to include it since it shows a history of involvement/leadership.

 

[cdo96]

I'm back at my parent's house and I'm cleaning out my closet, and I found a page from kindergarten (I was 5 years old) that said "when I grow up I want to be a veterinarian so I can help animals when they're sick".


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[finnickthedog]

I'm back at my parent's house and I'm cleaning out my closet, and I found a page from kindergarten (I was 5 years old) that said "when I grow up I want to be a veterinarian so I can help animals when they're sick".


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Personal Statement: Done

 

[lhmhtd]

Personal Statement: Done

Hell yeah!! That's awesome such a relief I'm sure.
I'm *almost* there.

 

[cdo96]

Personal Statement: Done

Right??? That's essentially my personal statement: I love animals and I want to help them make them better.


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[finnickthedog]

Hell yeah!! That's awesome such a relief I'm sure.
I'm *almost* there.

You may have missed the joke. I can't tell.

Although in reality my PS actually is pretty much done but only because I had to write it last year and not much has changed. I'm still going to stare at it all summer.

 

[lhmhtd]

You may have missed the joke. I can't tell.

Although in reality my PS actually is pretty much done but only because I had to write it last year and not much has changed. I'm still going to stare at it all summer.

Oh, didn't read the previous part of that convo haha. I just saw the "PS: done" post and got excited. Haha

 

[lhmhtd]

If there's a joke to be missed, count on me...

 

[finnickthedog]

If there's a joke to be missed, count on me...

That's usually my job.

 

[cdo96]

That's usually my job.

False: as the mostly deaf one who doesn't understand sarcasm, that's my job


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[alpaperart]

I haven't started the application yet but reading all of these posts - it really seems like they want every minute detail o.o May get started on this soon!

 

[lhmhtd]

gosh I'd love to see what the 3 of us in one room would be like. Probably entertaining.

 

[rockatiel]

You may have missed the joke. I can't tell.

Although in reality my PS actually is pretty much done but only because I had to write it last year and not much has changed. I'm still going to stare at it all summer.

I'm going to stare at it too