Private Vet Schools and Undergrad School

[jtom]

I had a few questions about cornell and other private vet schools. First I wanted to confirm that the private schools also have preference for in-state applicants and this is universal for all vet schools. Is it easier to get into private vet schools due to the higher cost of tuition? I would tend to think there would be more applicants for public vet schools with the lower tuition rate but with the whole instate state admissions preference this might not be true.

I was wondering how much where you went to undergrad impacts how they look at your application, specifically for private schools. Does cornell, tufts, upenn have a strong preference for applicants who also went to private schools for undergrad? I have heard a notion that most applicants who apply to private vet schools also went to a private school for undergrad and that your application will not be looked at if you went to a public university for undergrad. I did see on cornell's website that they devote 5% of the their decision based on where you went to school. I dont know how cornell arrives at a grade for your school. Is there a independent organizatioin that rates schools-seems very subjective to me. Can I look up my university's grade? In addition, do vet schools favor applicants who went to undergrad in the same part of the country as their vet school (assume one applicant is in a nearby state and the other is in a different part of the country)?

Thanks!

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[cowgirla]

I have heard a notion that most applicants who apply to private vet schools also went to a private school for undergrad and that your application will not be looked at if you went to a public university for undergrad.

Thanks!

Well, seeing as Cornell's Ag school is considered a state school, I don't think that theory holds much merit. Cornell, at heart, is a state school once you get past the ivy league wrapping of the undergrad. I think of their 7 undergrad colleges, 4 of them are state.

Cornell's vet school sets aside 50 spots for NY residents, and I think 30 for out of state. I wouldn't say they have a "preference" for instate residents. There are simply differnt numbers of spots availalbe, and different levels of competition.

If anything, Penn favors out of state. I believe their class is only 30% Penn residents.

And out of state is out of state, it doesnt matter how "close" you are, distance wise. Not going to matter. IF anything, some schools prefer people from farther away since it adds diversity to their school.

It is DEFINTELY not easier to get into the pricier schools. Especially not cornell/Penn. If you want "easier," look at schools that don't have 1000 applicants every year. Some of the schools in the "middle of nowhere" only have a few hundred applicants. Odds are definitely better there.


Just because a university is public doesnt mean it isn't well rated. I went to a public ag college, and it's considered Tier 1, and I believe our rank is right around #100 (out of all the thousands of schools). You can google the tiers of different schools and find out where yours is.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Eh, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think it's true that some undergrad institutions have the reputation of being very rigorous and adcoms seem to take that into account, but I don't think it's as if they have a list of every undergrad and a grade for each, and I don't think they penalize a stellar student from an unknown school. Anyone with a 3.7+ gpa, no matter where they went will be regarded as a very good student. Anyone with below a 3.0 gpa, no matter how great a reputation their undergrad has, will have to prove to adcoms in some way that they are ready for vet school. Maybe someone with a 3.3-3.4 gpa from a well-regarded grade-deflated school may get a leg up compared to someone from generic college A, but not enough to make them stand out over someone with better experience, more mature outlook on the profession, better LORs, etc...

My personal advice is NOT to worry about what other people have that you don't (especially if you can't change it) and concentrate on how you can stand out from everyone else.

 

[sumstorm]

Yeah, I think the folks most affected by this are those that attend schools that are intentionally anti-grade inflation. I know that is a concern for students at my undergrad, and our school actually has an official letter that goes out with transcripts that talks about grade distibutions, lack of 4.0's, no extra credit, not even one point problems on an exam, and true grade curving. But we also have 98% of students pursue professional or PhD degrees and for quite a few years, 100% placement in professional programs.

 

[canis13]

our school actually has an official letter that goes out with transcripts that talks about grade distibutions, lack of 4.0's, no extra credit, not even one point problems on an exam, and true grade curving.

Wow, I hadn't heard of any other school who sends out the "letter" with transcripts to explain the lack of 4.0s, anti-grade inflation etc. besides mine. Although there's nothing about the non-existence of extra credit on the letters, but does include a description of how we don't regularly see our grades unless we make a specific request (and all of the PhD successes of our graduates), so I think we probably went to different schools. But anyway, it's good to know that maybe possibly vet schools might have encountered transcript explanatory letters before.

Do you have any idea of whether the admissions committees at the schools you applied to took much notice of "the transcript letter"? Reading the letter makes me feel a little better about my GPA (which is not bad, but not super amazing either), but I still think that some of the schools I want to apply to won't even really care that there's anything attached to my transcript.

Obviously it's difficult to find out for sure what did or did not factor into the admissions committee's decisions, but I was just curious if you had any insight, sumstorm.

 

[clouds815]

cornell says they rank schools based on a specific system, i *think* the princeton review, i remember reading or hearing that from somewhere

http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx



http://www.princetonreview.com/college/college-ratings.aspx