Future DVMs- C/O 2021!

[lianali]

Thanks! Yeah I originally applied to just UGA a couple years ago. Did bad in physics, withdrew my application, and took the past year off of school. Turned out to be such a blessing in disguise! So my husband will be completing his Masters in Biokogy this December and I'm really hoping to go somewhere that he can find a decent job. I'd like to only take loans for tuition and live off his income. Any employment opportunities for biologists? Obviously there's the university.

Many of my co-workers where I worked in research had their bachelor's in biology, and we were doing lab tech work. Another one of my co-workers was a research associate and she had a Master's degree in bio, so he'll definitely qualify for the better, entry-level positions. Depending on the level of experience he has, he may qualify for some decent, mid-level jobs but it really, really depends on the company, the area, what areas he's capable of saying is education is applicable to it, and his experience. Also depends on how willing y'all are on living on a $36,000-$60K salary.

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[deleted676737]

Good luck everyone! I'm glad the VMCAS will be less problematic this year....I had a really stressful time with it. My major advice with the VMCAS is to not NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT purchase the professional transcript entry. Order an official transcript for yourself and manually type everything in. I paid for the expensive service and they did not do it in a timely manner and made 5 mistakes that were not corrected until a month after my complaint. The worst.

Anyways, good luck! Hope this cycle goes well for everyone!

I would heed this piece of advice. You'd just have to peek at the c/o 2020 applicants thread to see how much of a nightmare the PTE was. It's not worth the money, in my opinion, unless you have multiple transcripts and/or a very complicated educational history. And even then...

 

[geologist]

Pretty sure I'm knocking out 3 of my 5 prereqs that I need to take over the summer. Genetics, Animal Nutrition, and Chem 2. Also hoping to volunteer with the LA vet I currently volunteer with and possibly a lab vet I met on Saturday. Luckily I get paid over the summer because I'm a teacher and take a 12 month salary as opposed to 10 month, so I happily offer to slave myself out.

 

[jcc3sa]

Good luck everyone! I'm glad the VMCAS will be less problematic this year....I had a really stressful time with it. My major advice with the VMCAS is to not NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT purchase the professional transcript entry. Order an official transcript for yourself and manually type everything in. I paid for the expensive service and they did not do it in a timely manner and made 5 mistakes that were not corrected until a month after my complaint. The worst.

Anyways, good luck! Hope this cycle goes well for everyone!

I can second that. They shouldnt be allowed to call it "professional" transcript entry. It took longer for me to track down and correct their 7 mistakes than it would have taken to just enter it myself, and it took them 5 weeks to enter my coursework and then approve my corrections. Absolute **** in terms of service and $55 down the drain. Aside from that, I honestly thought their system had a nice interface and generally worked well.

 

[Osudairy]

I can second that. They shouldnt be allowed to call it "professional" transcript entry. It took longer for me to track down and correct their 7 mistakes than it would have taken to just enter it myself, and it took them 5 weeks to enter my coursework and then approve my corrections. Absolute **** in terms of service and $55 down the drain. Aside from that, I honestly thought their system had a nice interface and generally worked well.

Wow, that is crazy that you all had problems with PTE. I used the service and had no problems or errors. Maybe I am just the odd one out lol.

 

[deleted676737]

Wow, that is crazy that you all had problems with PTE. I used the service and had no problems or errors. Maybe I am just the odd one out lol.

I personally didn't use it, but virtually everything I've heard about it from other applicants (both on SDN and elsewhere) has been really negative.

 

[finnickthedog]

Wow, that is crazy that you all had problems with PTE. I used the service and had no problems or errors. Maybe I am just the odd one out lol.

I sure PTE went fine for plenty of people... but manually entering the transcript wasn't too much of a hassle so I wouldn't recommend anyone risk it after seeing the problems that the unlucky folk had.

 

[missdarjeeling]

Good luck, 21-ers!

One more piece of VMCAS advice - follow up with your letter writers after you send the request. One of my writers never got his email, and I didn't realize it until I sent a reminder about 2 weeks before the deadline to see if everything was okay. VMCAS is such a cluster that it's extra important to be organized and keep an eye on things.

 

[vetmedhead]

For anyone having to reapply this year, I recommend getting on VMCAS now and printing your application so you can reference it this cycle. That's what I did and it helped a lot. Unless they changed it this year and your information doesn't disappear. Plus if you print it now you can add your new experiences and everything to it and have a visual of how you have improved and see areas that might still be lacking. Sometimes, if you are like me, you're biggest problem in your application is how you describe your experiences. They told me my first year that I didn't show in depth experiences and I was too modest in how I wrote about them. So basically brag yourself up, don't lie though, but show the unique in-depth hands on experiences you got. So maybe improvement this round is even rewriting how you describe each experience.

Something I will add to this is that you can also save your application as a PDF on your computer before you print it.

 

[Osudairy]

I sure PTE went fine for plenty of people... but manually entering the transcript wasn't too much of a hassle so I wouldn't recommend anyone risk it after seeing the problems that the unlucky folk had.

I would agree that if you have transcripts from 1 school or even a couple schools to enter them manually. I did it this way the first time I applied and it was pretty easy, but took up some time. The only reason I used it this time was because I did not have a lot of extra time in grad school to enter everything in again. From hearing about the many bad experiences with it, I consider myself lucky that the entries were correct, although it did take forever to get them added to my VMCAS application.

 

[rockatiel]

Choosing to not do PTE was the one time in my life where it really paid to be a cheapskate! Lol

 

[rockatiel]

Something I will add to this is that you can also save your application as a PDF on your computer before you print it.

Yes yes yes don't rewrite your entire personal statement for a capstone class like I did!

 

[battie]

Good luck! We'll see some of you at U of I in a year and a half.

 

[lhmhtd]

Many of my co-workers where I worked in research had their bachelor's in biology, and we were doing lab tech work. Another one of my co-workers was a research associate and she had a Master's degree in bio, so he'll definitely qualify for the better, entry-level positions. Depending on the level of experience he has, he may qualify for some decent, mid-level jobs but it really, really depends on the company, the area, what areas he's capable of saying is education is applicable to it, and his experience. Also depends on how willing y'all are on living on a $36,000-$60K salary.

Thanks!

 

[Cephal0pod]

I opted out of doing PTE and am tremendously thankful based on what I was seeing on the 2020 thread... Seriously, just enter your own stuff - it's a bit of a hassle but doesn't take all that long. It will save you $50 and approximately 147 headaches.

 

[xTineTH]

Also a bit of a warning, regardless of whether you enter it in yourself, make sure you include every single transcript of every single college class that you ever took.

I didn't think that I needed to include a single Spanish course taken at a community college while I was in high school, until it bounced my entire VMCAS application back to me saying that I was missing a transcript. I sent in the transcript with barely enough time to make the deadline but it got lost somewhere along the way and my entire application sat there unverified. I spent a week frantically calling schools to see if they would still look at my application but mostly got the "We only look at the verified applications that VMCAS sends us." I had accepted my fate and loss of application fees, and prepared myself to apply again next year when VMCAS miraculously finds the transcript and verifies my application a month after the deadline.

TL;DR: Send all transcripts from all colleges/universities you ever took a class in ASAP.

 

[jcc3sa]

Also a bit of a warning, regardless of whether you enter it in yourself, make sure you include every single transcript of every single college class that you ever took.

I didn't think that I needed to include a single Spanish course taken at a community college while I was in high school, until it bounced my entire VMCAS application back to me saying that I was missing a transcript. I sent in the transcript with barely enough time to make the deadline but it got lost somewhere along the way and my entire application sat there unverified. I spent a week frantically calling schools to see if they would still look at my application but mostly got the "We only look at the verified applications that VMCAS sends us." I had accepted my fate and loss of application fees, and prepared myself to apply again next year when VMCAS miraculously finds the transcript and verifies my application a month after the deadline.

TL;DR: Send all transcripts from all colleges/universities you ever took a class in ASAP.

How on earth did vmcas even find out you took the class? That's kind of creepy, to be honest.

 

[WildZoo]

How on earth did vmcas even find out you took the class? That's kind of creepy, to be honest.

Social security number. I mean, it's kind of their job to verify that you are sending in all of your coursework.

 

[xTineTH]

How on earth did vmcas even find out you took the class? That's kind of creepy, to be honest.

Apparently it shows up on my undergrad transcript, even though I don't remember ever seeing it on the transcript. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.

 

[heyyimhayley]

I was so paranoid about this happening to me. In high school I took a 1 credit summer course at SGU. I would have sent the transcript easily except that VMCAS wouldn't take it without a conversion service that cost 400$ since it was overseas. For a 1 credit non-graded high school course that didn't show up on any other transcripts, I thought that sounded ridiculous.

So I called every school I applied to individually and asked if they want that transcript, and they all said no. They said as long as it doesn't show up on any other coursework they don't care about it and suggested I save my money. So I didn't submit it, and I still got verified, but I was fretting over it for awhile!!

 

[xTineTH]

So I didn't submit it, and I still got verified, but I was fretting over it for awhile!!

I think the schools could care less about the class, but if VMCAS decides to not verify the application, then there's nothing the schools can do about it. Only 2 schools out of the ones I applied to were willing to review my application without official verification.
I'm glad it worked out for you though! I wouldn't wish that type of stress on anyone. I went from wanting to cry/thinking my life was ruined/not wanting to tell anyone, to accepting the fact that I'll apply next year and thinking that this was a very expensive practice VMCAS trial run, to being relieved and kind of pissed that I went through all that for no reason.

 

[mmmdreamerz]

What awesome plans does everyone have for their last summer before applying?

 

[lhmhtd]

What awesome plans does everyone have for their last summer before applying?

I'll work as usual this summer. Now if I get into vet school, I'll definitely take the summer of 2017 off to do absolutely nothing since there won't be much of that for the following 4 years. Maybe the hubs and I will do some traveling?

 

[VetMedVetMed]

Good luck everyone! I'm glad the VMCAS will be less problematic this year....I had a really stressful time with it. My major advice with the VMCAS is to not NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT purchase the professional transcript entry. Order an official transcript for yourself and manually type everything in. I paid for the expensive service and they did not do it in a timely manner and made 5 mistakes that were not corrected until a month after my complaint. The worst.

Anyways, good luck! Hope this cycle goes well for everyone!

I actually believe they are not doing that this year. My guess is because they had so many problems with it..

 

[VetMedVetMed]

Good luck, 21-ers!

One more piece of VMCAS advice - follow up with your letter writers after you send the request. One of my writers never got his email, and I didn't realize it until I sent a reminder about 2 weeks before the deadline to see if everything was okay. VMCAS is such a cluster that it's extra important to be organized and keep an eye on things.

Yup and some vets you need to physically be there with them in order for them to actually DO it. They really will wait until the last minute......

 

[vetmedhead]

I'm glad the VMCAS will be less problematic this year

Sorry, I've just never heard good things about VMCAS and they improve it every year. It will definitely be less problematic this year - but it will also still be VMCAS.

 

[VetMedVetMed]

By the way, to everyone applying to Purdue, they NO LoNGER are requiring Calculus!!!!!! This is starting for the class of 2021 )))

 

[Osudairy]

By the way, to everyone applying to Purdue, they NO LoNGER are requiring Calculus!!!!!! This is starting for the class of 2021 )))

Lucky

 

[VetMedVetMed]

Lucky

Ya! I just wish no school required calculus!!

 

[finnickthedog]

Ya! I just wish no school required calculus!!

Well hey, I'd be pretty bummed if Michigan suddenly no longer wanted calculus and I took it (twice) for nothing.

(Although I will note: Michigan does accept algebra and trig or pre-calc instead but I wanted to take one math class not two and calc also counted toward my major whereas the others didn't).

 

[lhmhtd]

Is anyone else a "non traditional" applicant? I.e. Not straight out of undergrad?

 

[wildlifer]

Is anyone else a "non traditional" applicant? I.e. Not straight out of undergrad?

I will be. I'm 28, have two bachelor degrees.

 

[lhmhtd]

I will be. I'm 28, have two bachelor degrees.

Yay! Good for you! I'll be 26 in a couple months. I have only 1 bachelors lol but I'm hoping my experience will help me stand out. How are you angling your Personal Statement? Using your non trad status as an advantage?

 

[geologist]

Is anyone else a "non traditional" applicant? I.e. Not straight out of undergrad?

I've been a geologist and currently a teacher. Graduated in 2013 and I'll be 25 this year.

 

[Osudairy]

I will be. I'm 28, have two bachelor degrees.

I will be going into vet school with a MS in Dairy Nutrition.

 

[wildlifer]

Yay! Good for you! I'll be 26 in a couple months. I have only 1 bachelors lol but I'm hoping my experience will help me stand out. How are you angling your Personal Statement? Using your non trad status as an advantage?

I'm definitely going to use my non trad status and my somewhat unique journey to my advantage in my personal statement.

 

[emlady09]

Is anyone else a "non traditional" applicant? I.e. Not straight out of undergrad?

I'll be 28 this year. Finished undergrad in 2013 and completing my Masters in Public Health in this spring along with some pre-reqs I never did in undergrad.

 

[Lucy410]

Is anyone else a "non traditional" applicant? I.e. Not straight out of undergrad?

Yes! I'm 27. I graduated from college in 2010 with a degree in social sciences and went on to get a master's in a field totally unrelated to vet med. A few years later I decided it was now or never, and enrolled in a post-bacc program to do my pre-reqs.

I'm nervous about making it all work but I'm also pretty psyched to be this close to finally applying. I think my background will make me a somewhat unique candidate and I feel much better prepared to handle vet school than I would have been at 21 (that's just me personally, I know plenty of others who come straight out of college ready to kick butt).

Where are you other non-trads applying? I'm thinking Davis (my IS), Penn, and Tufts, and if I strike out this year I'll be expanding my list and reapplying.

 

[wildlifer]

I'll be 28 this year. Finished undergrad in 2013 and completing my Masters in Public Health in this spring along with some pre-reqs I never did in undergrad.

Nice to see others my age applying this round. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for even bothering.

[QUOTE="Lucy410, post: 17548614, member: 621386" I feel much better prepared to handle vet school than I would have been at 21 (that's just me personally, I know plenty of others who come straight out of college ready to kick butt).

Where are you other non-trads applying? I'm thinking Davis (my IS), Penn, and Tufts, and if I strike out this year I'll be expanding my list and reapplying.[/QUOTE]

That is exactly how I felt at 21 when I graduated with my first bachelors degree. Vet school was always the goal, but I knew back then I just couldn't handle it at that time. So I took 3 years off and gained a variety of experiences-some vet/animal related, some not. Went back to school full time in 2012 and graduated in 2014 with my second bachelors degree. Now just working full time in a clinic while finishing up the last of the prereqs that I never ended up taking before-Biochemistry (almost done!), then Physics I&II.

As far as where I'm applying, I haven't fully committed to these schools but as of now I'm thinking Tufts, Illinois, and SGU. Maybe 1 0r 2 others, but budget is strict and I can't afford to apply much more than that. I unfortunately do not have an IS school.

 

[cheathac]

I will be applying this cycle, can't believe it. My IS is Purdue, I love that school. Also thinking about Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois, and Florida. I'll be meeting with my advisor to make sure I'm still on track. I'm not sure how these schools look at pre reqs left.. I know Florida requires 80% completed.. I have 4 left so not sure if I'll be able to apply there or not. I'm a sophomore getting my bachelors next year.


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[finnickthedog]

I knew I was going to second guess my decision to only apply IS this cycle. I'm already doing it.

I'm kicking around the idea of Washington and/or Wisconsin now. I really would prefer to go to my IS so I'm not sure if it's worth waiting another year before I cast a wider net. Blah, decisions decisions.

 

[rockatiel]

I knew I was going to second guess my decision to only apply IS this cycle. I'm already doing it.

I'm kicking around the idea of Washington and/or Wisconsin now. I really would prefer to go to my IS so I'm not sure if it's worth waiting another year before I cast a wider net. Blah, decisions decisions.

Honestly I never thought I'd even get interviewed at an OOS because I knew I had a better chance IS, and here I am. I'm also waitlisted IS. Each cycle, each school is going to pick a different type of class. I say if the OOS school calculates things or looks at your folder differently and may be cheaper than your IS, it couldn't hurt.

 

[BrownSwissCows]

I knew I was going to second guess my decision to only apply IS this cycle. I'm already doing it.

I'm kicking around the idea of Washington and/or Wisconsin now. I really would prefer to go to my IS so I'm not sure if it's worth waiting another year before I cast a wider net. Blah, decisions decisions.

You might still be second guessing yourself anyways. I'm second guessing my decision to apply to OOS schools this cycle. Not sure I'm ready to give up on IS tuition yet.

 

[battie]

Nice to see others my age applying this round. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for even bothering.

I will be applying this cycle, can't believe it. My IS is Purdue, I love that school. Also thinking about Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois, and Florida. I'll be meeting with my advisor to make sure I'm still on track. I'm not sure how these schools look at pre reqs left.. I know Florida requires 80% completed.. I have 4 left so not sure if I'll be able to apply there or not. I'm a sophomore getting my bachelors next year.

I highly recommend Illinois. Though they are not my number 1 OOS choice, I am definitely happy I will be attending there in the fall. I like how their application process works and I really do like the school.

You might still be second guessing yourself anyways. I'm second guessing my decision to apply to OOS schools this cycle. Not sure I'm ready to give up on IS tuition yet.

With three cycles under my belt, I wasn't going to turn away an acceptance. I applied only to OOS schools I was 100% willing to go to if I wasn't accepted IS.

 

[cheathac]

@batsenecal the only thing is the OOS tuition. Have you been able to receive many scholarships?


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[battie]

@batsenecal the only thing is the OOS tuition. Have you been able to receive many scholarships?

I sent my deposit in about a week ago, so I haven't gotten any financial stuff back yet. I'm not holding out for hope for first year as far as scholarships go. I didn't really see much about first year scholarships when I did some poking around. But later years sound like more likely.

 

[finnickthedog]

Honestly I never thought I'd even get interviewed at an OOS because I knew I had a better chance IS, and here I am. I'm also waitlisted IS. Each cycle, each school is going to pick a different type of class. I say if the OOS school calculates things or looks at your folder differently and may be cheaper than your IS, it couldn't hurt.

Well what holds me back is the very same reason that only applied IS this year... I really would prefer to go to my IS and I would rather apply a second time (as I am now doing) than accept an OOS offer. So what I'm trying to decide now is whether I'd rather apply a third time than accept an OOS offer or if I just really want to up my chances of getting in now.

It's a difficult decision and I'm very back and forth about it clearly. Haha.

You might still be second guessing yourself anyways. I'm second guessing my decision to apply to OOS schools this cycle. Not sure I'm ready to give up on IS tuition yet.

This is true. I felt like this decision was much easier last cycle (and I still second guessed toward the end) and this time it's even tougher.

 

[PrincessButterCup]

I knew I was going to second guess my decision to only apply IS this cycle. I'm already doing it.

I'm kicking around the idea of Washington and/or Wisconsin now. I really would prefer to go to my IS so I'm not sure if it's worth waiting another year before I cast a wider net. Blah, decisions decisions.

Washington gives you instate tuition after the first year . . .

 

[wildlifer]

Washington gives you instate tuition after the first year . . .

This is an option I'm considering but from my understanding it's not guaranteed that you will get instate tuition. Has anyone be able to successfully do this at Washington (and the other schools that allow for this, NC, Ohio, Missouri)?

 

[WildZoo]

From what I hear it's a simple process and close to everyone who applies gets it at NCSU and Mizzou. I don't know about the others though.