Future DVMs- C/O 2021!

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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cohen2000 said:
Does anyone know how we're supposed to include future experiences? I want to list that I will be a TA for a course in Spring 2017, but VMCAS will not let me enter in any date in the future.
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You should probably email the service via your application, and if it's something you're doing for course credit you may be able to list it under planned/in-progress on your college transcript.
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I don't know if you can enter more than one planned semester into VMCAS. It should show up on your school transcript if you have to bring one to your interviews, if they're after you register for spring courses.

Have you been a TA before? If you want to bring the committee's attention to it, you could mention it as something you're excited about to improve ______ skills, to explore teaching as a possible career, whatever reason applies.
 
I have been a TA before, but it doesn't say on my transcript which classes I've TA'd for or what my responsibilities were (it only shows that I've taken the TA seminar). That's why I've added them in my "experiences" section. I guess I'll just mention it during my interviews. Thanks for the replies!
 
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so, while I'm out of PS's, does anyone have a resume of CV in need of reviewing? I just had to help my mom with one and I'm looking at mine, so I'm in the mood. :) I remember a resume or CV being needed for the Ross app.
 
Question about letters of rec. I have 4 confirmed. A pathologist, research vet, and 2 professors. I have 1 more I just asked, an oncology clinician. She responded saying she could write a positive one, but it would be general Bc she doesn't know me very well. Thoughts? I wanted to ask a clinician that can write that I can handle myself in a clinic. There are two other potential clinicians that I can ask.. But they might be general too?


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cheathac said:
Question about letters of rec. I have 4 confirmed. A pathologist, research vet, and 2 professors. I have 1 more I just asked, an oncology clinician. She responded saying she could write a positive one, but it would be general Bc she doesn't know me very well. Thoughts? I wanted to ask a clinician that can write that I can handle myself in a clinic. There are two other potential clinicians that I can ask.. But they might be general too?


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Rule of thumb from my advisors and friends who have gotten into vet school is do not have someone write a LOR for you if you are not 100% sure they will write a great, positive LOR for you. If they said to you it would be general since they don't know you very well, that is something to seriously think about. You could always send her your bio, and resume and what you want to do as a vet and hwy you want to be a vet, that way they have more info. on you. However, it is always better to have 3 solid LOR's vs. 3 and 1 that is very basic and general. I got an interview last year and I only had three LOR's, but they were all rock solid. I could have asked for more, but since I'd only been at the places a short time I knew it was better not to since they didn't know me as well as I wanted.
 
rockatiel said:
so, while I'm out of PS's, does anyone have a resume of CV in need of reviewing? I just had to help my mom with one and I'm looking at mine, so I'm in the mood. :) I remember a resume or CV being needed for the Ross app.
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Hey do you mind if I send you my resume?
 
@PreVetMed Thank you! I did decide to decline the offer. I talked to the technician and she turned me to another clinician whom should be more than happy to write me one! Hopefully I'll muster up the courage to ask him in a few weeks. The reason I'm set on asking someone in Oncology is because it's more of a clinical setting. The other two vets I have are pathology and research who won't be able to attest to seeing me restrain... and such.
 
cheathac said:
@PreVetMed Thank you! I did decide to decline the offer. I talked to the technician and she turned me to another clinician whom should be more than happy to write me one! Hopefully I'll muster up the courage to ask him in a few weeks. The reason I'm set on asking someone in Oncology is because it's more of a clinical setting. The other two vets I have are pathology and research who won't be able to attest to seeing me restrain... and such.
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I would argue that this isn't quite the purpose of LORs. Any school can and will teach you how to restrain etc, so what the tend to be looking for are things they can't easily teach. Is this person passionate, can they be academically successful, do they get along well with others, are they curious - that sort of thing. I know people in veterinary school who never set foot in a veterinary clinic before entering vet school. Don't get me wrong - clinicians can attest to your understanding of clinical work and the clinical aspect of the profession. I guess my point is that you should be thinking about the skills that will be important as a veterinarian.
 
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I don't know that I 100% agree that having 3 excellent ones is better than 3 excellent and one general.

Of course excellent LORs are better, but sometimes having a LOR from a specific area is needed and having a general one is better than not having one at all. I needed a prof for one of my schools and the prof I was planning on asking and who would have written an amazing one was unable to write one due to outside circumstances. Instead, I had a prof that only somewhat knew me write one which Im sure was pretty generalized. I brought him my resume, my personal statement, and met with him ahead of time to discuss what I was looking for in a letter. I don't know what he ended up writing, but whatever it was must have either worked, or at least not hindered my application. Some areas are just necessary to have a LOR, if you can get one that's more personal, more power to you, but I don't think a general one is really that big of a disadvantage.

Eta- this is merely my experience, there may be a good number of people who disagree with me.
 
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alohacat319 said:
I don't know that I 100% agree that having 3 excellent ones is better than 3 excellent and one general.

Of course excellent LORs are better, but sometimes having a LOR from a specific area is needed and having a general one is better than not having one at all. I needed a prof for one of my schools and the prof I was planning on asking and who would have written an amazing one was unable to write one due to outside circumstances. Instead, I had a prof that only somewhat knew me write one which Im sure was pretty generalized. I brought him my resume, my personal statement, and met with him ahead of time to discuss what I was looking for in a letter. I don't know what he ended up writing, but whatever it was must have either worked, or at least not hindered my application. Some areas are just necessary to have a LOR, if you can get one that's more personal, more power to you, but I don't think a general one is really that big of a disadvantage.

Eta- this is merely my experience, there may be a good number of people who disagree with me.
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I think the fact that you met and went over everything already points to that professor having material to write you an excellent letter. People have to be smart in who they choose and do as you did. When you simply pick someone because they are in a supposed needed area but don't make sure the letter will be written well and take the time to make yourself look professional and show the qualities that you wish them to write about, well that is what I have a problem with. My prof that I chose knew me pretty well and I made excellent grades in his classes, but we still met, went over my PS, and went over my life goals. When someone is willing to put in this time with you, it is a pretty clear sign.
 
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Lupin21 said:
I think the fact that you met and went over everything already points to that professor having material to write you an excellent letter. People have to be smart in who they choose and do as you did. When you simply pick someone because they are in a supposed needed area but don't make sure the letter will be written well and take the time to make yourself look professional and show the qualities that you wish them to write about, well that is what I have a problem with. My prof that I chose knew me pretty well and I made excellent grades in his classes, but we still met, went over my PS, and went over my life goals. When someone is willing to put in this time with you, it is a pretty clear sign.
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That's true, but I think a certain part of that falls on the applicant not the writer. I think you should discuss the letter with each of your writers whether you know them super well or not and give them everything possible to write a great letter. I meant more so that I didn't know him all that well, but I took the time to work with him and realized that a generalized letter was better than not being able to apply to a school. I just worked to make that letter as unique as possible given the circumstances.

I think we are saying similar things.
 
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alohacat319 said:
That's true, but I think a certain part of that falls on the applicant not the writer. I think you should discuss the letter with each of your writers whether you know them super well or not and give them everything possible to write a great letter. I meant more so that I didn't know him all that well, but I took the time to work with him and realized that a generalized letter was better than not being able to apply to a school. I just worked to make that letter as unique as possible given the circumstances.

I think we are saying similar things.
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The one thing that I think we have a slight difference here is that a number of schools, including OKState, only read three. They read whichever ones they choose. So say they choose ones that are not as well written when you had three excellent letters in the wings along with a couple so so ones. That would not be ideal.
 
Lupin21 said:
The one thing that I think we have a slight difference here is that a number of schools, including OKState, only read three. They read whichever ones they choose. So say they choose ones that are not as well written when you had three excellent letters in the wings along with a couple so so ones. That would not be ideal.
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Yes, all of that is very true. But if a school you really care about requires a certain type, then that letter is important. It's all a matter of cost vs benefit. I definitely would not recommend having numerous so-so letters. I personally had four letters that I believe to be really great character references and then my one from my prof that may have been slightly less spectacular. For all I know though, maybe he really did write a phenomenal letter, I never saw it. But in the end I am just speaking from my personal experience, and luckily it worked out for me!:)
 
alohacat319 said:
Yes, all of that is very true. But if a school you really care about requires a certain type, then that letter is important. It's all a matter of cost vs benefit. I definitely would not recommend having numerous so-so letters. I personally had four letters that I believe to be really great character references and then my one from my prof that may have been slightly less spectacular. For all I know though, maybe he really did write a phenomenal letter, I never saw it. But in the end I am just speaking from my personal experience, and luckily it worked out for me!:)
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Haha! This is what I am mostly referring to here. I think numerous other schools are the same on their comments regarding LORs:
From OKState's site
  • Am I required to get a letter of reference from an advisor, an employer, and a veterinarian?
We require three letters of reference, one of which must be from a veterinarian with whom you have worked and who can evaluate your potential as a veterinarian. The other categories of references are only suggestions for the remaining two letters.

Edit to add Mississippi's since they say what I am trying to here:
Who should my evaluators be?

MSU-CVM requires that at least one LOR be completed by a veterinarian. The remaining LORs can be completed by veterinarians, researchers, professors, employers or other individuals who can attest to the candidate’s qualities evaluated on the LOR form. The key is not “who” the evaluator is, but how well the evaluator knows the candidate with regard to the qualities assessed on the LOR form.

While people certainly need to follow individual school guidelines, don't get stuck in a box in what you consider necessary LOR writers and not go to people who will write a great letter actually explaining your true assets.
 
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Lupin21 said:
Haha! This is what I am mostly referring to here. I think numerous other schools are the same on their comments regarding LORs:
From OKState's site
  • Am I required to get a letter of reference from an advisor, an employer, and a veterinarian?
We require three letters of reference, one of which must be from a veterinarian with whom you have worked and who can evaluate your potential as a veterinarian. The other categories of references are only suggestions for the remaining two letters.

Edit to add Mississippi's since they say what I am trying to here:
Who should my evaluators be?

MSU-CVM requires that at least one LOR be completed by a veterinarian. The remaining LORs can be completed by veterinarians, researchers, professors, employers or other individuals who can attest to the candidate’s qualities evaluated on the LOR form. The key is not “who” the evaluator is, but how well the evaluator knows the candidate with regard to the qualities assessed on the LOR form.

While people certainly need to follow individual school guidelines, don't get stuck in a box in what you consider necessary LOR writers and not go to people who will write a great letter actually explaining your true assets.
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This is from Washington State. #2 is the one that I was referring to in requiring an academic individual, which was the reasoning to my experience and why I think that sometimes it is just a matter of meeting the requirements and doing the best you can with what you have. To me, the entire process is a balancing act game. Lose a point on one thing, gain it on something else.

At a minimum, your application must have the following three evaluations: (1) A veterinarian with whom the applicant has interacted fairly extensively; (2) A current or former academic (e.g., professor, teaching assistant, laboratory instructor, advisor from college) who can speak to the applicant’s academic ability; (3) Individuals (e.g., another DVM, another academic, employer) who can evaluate the oral and written communication skills as well as the scientific background of the applicant.


Moral of the story for all the c/o 2021 who managed to read through all of this: do the best you can to get good, personalized letters of rec while still following the guidelines/requirements of the schools you are applying to!
 
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alohacat319 said:
I don't know that I 100% agree that having 3 excellent ones is better than 3 excellent and one general.

Of course excellent LORs are better, but sometimes having a LOR from a specific area is needed and having a general one is better than not having one at all. I needed a prof for one of my schools and the prof I was planning on asking and who would have written an amazing one was unable to write one due to outside circumstances. Instead, I had a prof that only somewhat knew me write one which Im sure was pretty generalized. I brought him my resume, my personal statement, and met with him ahead of time to discuss what I was looking for in a letter. I don't know what he ended up writing, but whatever it was must have either worked, or at least not hindered my application. Some areas are just necessary to have a LOR, if you can get one that's more personal, more power to you, but I don't think a general one is really that big of a disadvantage.

Eta- this is merely my experience, there may be a good number of people who disagree with me.
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For my case, it would have just been another from a SA vet, that didn't know me long enough but I could have asked kind of thing. I already had a SA vet who I worked for for 3 years write me a great one luckily. So I felt it wasn't "necessary" or outstanding to have the other one as well. I do agree having an additional one from a specialty practice, or something unique like that would definitely be good.
 
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Lupin21 said:
The one thing that I think we have a slight difference here is that a number of schools, including OKState, only read three. They read whichever ones they choose. So say they choose ones that are not as well written when you had three excellent letters in the wings along with a couple so so ones. That would not be ideal.
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Yes, this was part of my point!
 
Question about vet technicians as references: I have my vet reference, academic and professional lined up already, however I was thinking about asking one of the vet techs from the same clinic whom has been there for over 20 years. We have a good relationship and we spend a lot of time together in the clinic so I think she would be able to write a positive LOR. How many of you have asked a tech to be one of your references?
 
Well when I asked an Adcom member from Purdue he said one from a clinician would strengthen the application as opposed to already having one from a pathologist and research vet. So maybe he didn't mean that as being able to restrain? Either way there is another clinician I will ask in a few weeks that will hopefully be able to write me a strong one!


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alohacat319 said:
This is from Washington State. #2 is the one that I was referring to in requiring an academic individual, which was the reasoning to my experience and why I think that sometimes it is just a matter of meeting the requirements and doing the best you can with what you have. To me, the entire process is a balancing act game. Lose a point on one thing, gain it on something else.

At a minimum, your application must have the following three evaluations: (1) A veterinarian with whom the applicant has interacted fairly extensively; (2) A current or former academic (e.g., professor, teaching assistant, laboratory instructor, advisor from college) who can speak to the applicant’s academic ability; (3) Individuals (e.g., another DVM, another academic, employer) who can evaluate the oral and written communication skills as well as the scientific background of the applicant.


Moral of the story for all the c/o 2021 who managed to read through all of this: do the best you can to get good, personalized letters of rec while still following the guidelines/requirements of the schools you are applying to!
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Yes, we agree for sure! Do the best you can is my harping point for sure in that it is up to the applicant to get that letter to be great by taking initiative. Good stuff. Also, I found this nice overview that, granted it's from 2013 so people need to check current recommendations, but might help those still a ways out from applying to start looking at getting required relationships going before last minute applying. :thumbup:

https://www.aavmc.org/data/files/vmcas/evalreqchrt14.pdf

And here is the sample eLOR they will be filling out from aavmc.com:
http://www.aavmc.org/data/files/vmcas/vmcas2014/vmcas2014_sample_eval.pdf
 
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alohacat319 said:
I don't know if there is a way. That might be something you look to bring up in interviews. I was asked in a couple different interviews what I had done since submitting my application.
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That's kind of scary haha. What if it's like.. "uh...played video games...n stuff.."
 
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sheltermed said:
That's kind of scary haha. What if it's like.. "uh...played video games...n stuff.."
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Sounds good to me, I love participating in consistent team activities that require effective communication, dexterity, and presence of mind to reach goals and objectives
 
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Sorry if this question has already been asked, but what are you guys putting for the supervisor section of your experiences? There are some things that I didn't really have a supervisor for. For example, I have been doing obedience lessons with my dog for two years with a few different trainers. They aren't really supervisors though, so should I leave that blank? Or for photography, which I'm listing because I have put tons of time into it, but it's a hobby that no one supervises.

Edit: I've run into another problem and don't want to make another post for it, but in my current job, I worked full time for a year and a half, and in the past year have switched to part time due to taking classes to finish up pre-reqs. Should I list them separately, or together and just average my weekly hours?
 
ilikecake said:
Sorry if this question has already been asked, but what are you guys putting for the supervisor section of your experiences? There are some things that I didn't really have a supervisor for. For example, I have been doing obedience lessons with my dog for two years with a few different trainers. They aren't really supervisors though, so should I leave that blank? Or for photography, which I'm listing because I have put tons of time into it, but it's a hobby that no one supervises.

Edit: I've run into another problem and don't want to make another post for it, but in my current job, I worked full time for a year and a half, and in the past year have switched to part time due to taking classes to finish up pre-reqs. Should I list them separately, or together and just average my weekly hours?
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For your first question, I just wouldn't put a supervisor since there were several different ones. That should be fine. There were some I didn't have a supervisor listed as well. For your second question, I would just put them as one experience and average the hours. I am in the same boat as you having worked as a vet tech for a year before going back to school and working part time now. I just averaged the hours. You could always put in the description box that you worked there full time for a year, but you may want that space for describing what you do there.
 
aggievethopeful2021 said:
For your first question, I just wouldn't put a supervisor since there were several different ones. That should be fine. There were some I didn't have a supervisor listed as well. For your second question, I would just put them as one experience and average the hours. I am in the same boat as you having worked as a vet tech for a year before going back to school and working part time now. I just averaged the hours. You could always put in the description box that you worked there full time for a year, but you may want that space for describing what you do there.
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Thank you! Did you select Full Time or Part Time from the drop down menu?
 
Hey All,

Hopefully someone can clear this up for me. So from my reading of the instructions the transcript entry should try to match your transcript exactly. I've read elsewhere (maybe a facebook group? maybe here? I forget) that the Subject values should as specific as possible. For example, for my Organic Chemistry course, I put "Chemistry" because on my transcript it says Chemistry, or should I put Organic Chemistry because that is more specific? I kind of always thought that the Subject dropdown should match the department the course was taken but am I wrong here?
 
mht2k3 said:
Hey All,

Hopefully someone can clear this up for me. So from my reading of the instructions the transcript entry should try to match your transcript exactly. I've read elsewhere (maybe a facebook group? maybe here? I forget) that the Subject values should as specific as possible. For example, for my Organic Chemistry course, I put "Chemistry" because on my transcript it says Chemistry, or should I put Organic Chemistry because that is more specific? I kind of always thought that the Subject dropdown should match the department the course was taken but am I wrong here?
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I would put it as Organic Chemistry if that's the class you took. It'll organize at the end, and I'm figuring the less guess work/ work at all the school's need when looking at the application, the better.


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cdoconn said:
I would put it as Organic Chemistry if that's the class you took. It'll organize at the end, and I'm figuring the less guess work/ work at all the school's need when looking at the application, the better.


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what are people putting for the subject for their gen chem courses? just chemistry or inorganic chemistry?
 
I put whatever I could to label the prereq. So if it was a genetics prereq, I put genetics. If it was animal nutrition, I put nutrition, not animal sciences. For Ochem I put Ochem and gen Chem as chemistry. I figure it's easier for the schools and safer that they won't think something was missing from my prerequisites. Even if you label them on supplemental applications, better safe than sorry.
 
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When you are entering the title of somebody, does that mean Mrs., Ms., Dr. etc. or like Owner, Manager, Lead Tech, etc. ? I've been doing the latter but now I'm not sure.

Just sent my last eval request! Woohoo. I will feel better to see all those suckers green though.
 
Finally submitted my transcripts to VMCAS. Another check off the list!:)
 
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Emily Faith said:
Feel ready?
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I've already taken it without studying anything. This time around I've gotten a private tutor and have done a lot more work, so I do feel a whole lot more ready than I did last time. Not totally ready, but I still have time. What about you?
 
So I asked this question earlier, but I didn't really receive a response so I hope no one minds if I ask again. What should I do about a major project from my school that was entirely research and a paper? Should I count this as research experience? It was only a school project, and it didn't get published or anything, but it was a professional paper that was submitted to the school in order for me to graduate. The abstract is on my transcript. I was wondering if this could be considered research experience or if you have to do research under a PhD for it to count?

Thanks for the advice!
 
sheltermed said:
I've already taken it without studying anything. This time around I've gotten a private tutor and have done a lot more work, so I do feel a whole lot more ready than I did last time. Not totally ready, but I still have time. What about you?
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I'm getting there. I've been using Magoosh and an extra book for vocabulary, but get a little overwhelmed with all the information. Between working, interning, and family, I struggle finding a lot of time study. But I'm determined to be ready come test day!
 
Coopah said:
So I asked this question earlier, but I didn't really receive a response so I hope no one minds if I ask again. What should I do about a major project from my school that was entirely research and a paper? Should I count this as research experience? It was only a school project, and it didn't get published or anything, but it was a professional paper that was submitted to the school in order for me to graduate. The abstract is on my transcript. I was wondering if this could be considered research experience or if you have to do research under a PhD for it to count?

Thanks for the advice!
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I actually had a similar experience and called it research. The only difference is that my project had nothing to do with my transcript. Are you getting a distinction in research or anything on your diploma?
 
sheltermed said:
I actually had a similar experience and called it research. The only difference is that my project had nothing to do with my transcript. Are you getting a distinction in research or anything on your diploma?
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Nope it was something everyone had to do, but it was an engineering school so a lot of people built things for their final project. I did research with three other undergraduates on living insurance, which is basically paying people for staying alive after they reach a certain age. It could potentially solve the crisis of people outliving their money that they saved all their life for.
 
Coopah said:
So I asked this question earlier, but I didn't really receive a response so I hope no one minds if I ask again. What should I do about a major project from my school that was entirely research and a paper? Should I count this as research experience? It was only a school project, and it didn't get published or anything, but it was a professional paper that was submitted to the school in order for me to graduate. The abstract is on my transcript. I was wondering if this could be considered research experience or if you have to do research under a PhD for it to count?

Thanks for the advice!
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Was it actual research where you collected data and analyzed it or was it more of a literature review where you consolidated a lot of information that you read?
 
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