AVC Applicants c/o 2015

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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To those who are international applicants, do you already have your passport set up? The last time I travelled internationally was when I was about five and reading the AVC website I remembered I'd need to renew my passport. If you haven't got yours ready now, when are you planning to get it together? Just want to make sure I'm ready if/when I get an interview. Thanks :)
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You might as well just get the ball rolling on it because I think it takes about 6 weeks to get your passport and it doesn't expire for 10 years. I am not sure if you will have enough time to get one if you wait until interview notifications.
 
goldielocks137 said:
You might as well just get the ball rolling on it because I think it takes about 6 weeks to get your passport and it doesn't expire for 10 years. I am not sure if you will have enough time to get one if you wait until interview notifications.
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I definitely agree with this. Apply for the passport now because there is no worse feeling than paying $100 plus to expedite the passport application process and still find yourself waiting only days before your international excursion. I've been there and I can't imagine feeling that way leading up to a vet school interview -- talk about nerves!!
 
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I have a question about rankings!

They decide who gets an interview based on grades and GRE.

If you get an interview, do they only evaluate you on your supplemental, interview and final marks, or do they evaluate you on everything?
 
The way Jack explained it to us when he was here for his visit was that they give you a grade based on each category (pre reqs, GRE, Animal Experience, Extra curriculars, and Interview). The ones with the highest overall grade get accepted.

That's the way I understood it anyways.
 
Lab Rat83 said:
The way Jack explained it to us when he was here for his visit was that they give you a grade based on each category (pre reqs, GRE, Animal Experience, Extra curriculars, and Interview). The ones with the highest overall grade get accepted.

That's the way I understood it anyways.
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That kind of sucks... because let's say you just have the grades to get an interview. You do awesome on the interview and your extracurriculars rock. But if all those people with straight As rock their interview and have awsome extracurriculars like you, there isn't a chance of you ever getting in :p

Now I'm curious how the girl with the 77 average got in.
 
scarcelyheard said:
That kind of sucks... because let's say you just have the grades to get an interview. You do awesome on the interview and your extracurriculars rock. But if all those people with straight As rock their interview and have awsome extracurriculars like you, there isn't a chance of you ever getting in :p

Now I'm curious how the girl with the 77 average got in.
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Don't let the allocation %'s trick you though..
grades may be a big 50% of the ranking, making the 5% GRE and 5% EC and 10% VE seem much less important by comparison..
however this isn't necessarily the case at all..
what's important is not the gross %'s, but rather how the grades for each item are assigned..
for example, the experience and interview portions are marked subjectively, while the grades are an objective percentage..
This means that the variability might be much larger within the 10% vet exp portion than it is within the 50% grades portion.

So let's say the lowest realistic average somebody might have who is interviewed is 77, and the highest is 90, if we convert that at 50% to points, the person with the better average has only a margin of 6.5 pts on the person with the lower average..
Now, if vet experience and extracurr are marked subjectively and the committee marks with great variability (giving some 1/5's and 5/5's and 3/10's and 9/10's etc), then it won't take a miracle for the person with a 77 average to get ahead of the person with a 90 average, if they have significantly better experience..

It took a while before i figured this out, but it is really all to do with the variability and standard deviation within each admission element that makes one element more or less important..
the way i understand it, the variability within academic grades is realistically going to be around 2-3.5 points MAX.
The variability within each of the other admission elements is presumably much greater than that...


Therefore: Marks don't matter as much as you think. Not even close. :eek:

I wish somebody would prove me wrong about this theory, but I suspect I'm right...
 
Sounds accurate to me :) Now, I'm feeling kind of excited!

Wouldn't it be cool if we're all class mates this time next year?
 
I also think that there would be very few people with fantastic marks, a fantastic interview and fantastic extracurriculars. We all have our weak areas.
 
New Foundland said:
lol, not me..
My strength is in my academic avg, so this theory i've developed fills me with hopelessness :confused:
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Awww... don't think like that!

My strength right now is in my extra curriculars and experience... but I'm slowly crawling out of the ooze that is my academic record. I'm positive I pulled 90+ on my invertebrate zoology lab midterm and a 90+ on my lecture midterm which is a FIRST in three years.
 
I feel pretty on the fence. While my cGPA is awful, I'm at a 3.4-3.5 for the required courses. Problem is, my genetics was taken during a semester where I only took two total courses (6 credits) instead of the 9 credit hours they want. Need to write my letter of explanation for that one.. Other issue is that I'm international, so I feel like I'm competing for far fewer spots, even than in the States :\
 
My GPA/GRE is my strong point. After my post-mortem last year, they told me:

1) Marks and GRE are great.
2) Interview was acceptable.
3) ECs were below average.

And I was told that I was fairly close to the cut off.

So hoping I'll score an interview again this year, my marks are slightly better than when I applied last year. If I get an interview, I'm going to do a lot more preparing. Another SDNer accepted to AVC last year told me that my university will do pre-vet interviews prep as long as you give them questions (they're usually geared more to pre-med and pre-dental). And I've got more ECs on my application this year. So fingers crossed!
 
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Another SDNer accepted to AVC last year told me that my university will do pre-vet interviews prep as long as you give them questions (they're usually geared more to pre-med and pre-dental). And I've got more ECs on my application this year. So fingers crossed!
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I think your university is my university too! (Dal?) I'd be interested in finding out more about this.
 
Officially in freak out mode!! My supplemental app is currently going through its last rounds of re checks/edits so I'm sending everything out tomorrow. I just can't believe I'm finally going to be making this application process final!
 
Lab Rat83 said:
I think your university is my university too! (Dal?) I'd be interested in finding out more about this.
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:D Dal!

Yeah, head over to CSC. I need to look into it too, but don't want to count my chickens before they hatch in terms of interview invites. But yeah, a fellow SDNer told me last year that Dal CSC will do prep for behavioural interviews as long as you give them a list of possible questions, and those are pretty easy to get off the internet.
 
Coquette22 said:
My GPA/GRE is my strong point. After my post-mortem last year, they told me:

1) Marks and GRE are great.
2) Interview was acceptable.
3) ECs were below average.

And I was told that I was fairly close to the cut off.
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so i presume they never gave you much in detail, for example how many pts out of 10 you scored on the animal/vet experience part etc?
 
Got the email from Jack saying he received all my app materials :xf:

Now in the meantime, to write the GRE and prepare for next year's app cycle by volunteering at more places :idea: :cool:

What's everybody else up to, if you're not in school until spring?
 
Hi!

Nova Scotia Resident
21 Years Old
4th Year SMU
Major Chemistry and Minor Biology

A friend told me about this forum and I have read all of your posts and wish I would have seen this before. I sent off my application on the 26th and I am not sure what happens from here... When do you hear if you are considered for an interview? I wonder how many people applied this year and what my chances are. What would be a good enough GRE score?
My only concern is on my related experience, I was only able to fill in 7/10 slots and this has been a big source of stress to me.
 
AnimalHouse said:
When do you hear if you are considered for an interview?
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Welcome to the forum!

March 10th. That's the date they gave last year and this year and last year, they were very exact about it. A letter arrived in my mailbox EXACTLY March 10th. ;) As to GRE score, it really depends on what your GPA is like. Obviously, it's best to have the best scores in both, but there really isn't a cut off for "good enough". I was told that you get 1/5 for 0-20%, 2/5 for 20-40%, etc. Since it goes by percentiles, I would think (and this is a guess) that a score of 500V and 660Q would get you a 4/5 since those are both around the 60% range. A 580V and 740Q would get you a 5/5 since those are above the 80% mark. :oops: This is just me guessing though.
 
Well I got a 710Q and 500V, I wasn't sure if I should retake the test; if those scores would be good enough. I was told at the info session this year that they accept GRE results until the end of January, I forget the exact date. My cGPA is 3.91 on the 4.3 scale but my pre-req course GPA will be higher. It is all of those silly Arts electives I took as a joke that got me in the end.
 
GRE results are accepted until February 28, 2011.
 
I did respond, but my lab computer has decided it wouldn't let me reply if it wasn't quick reply.

Out of curiousity, does anyone know how diverse your animal experience should be and how many hours you should have to be considered competative?

AnimalHouse, if animal experience is what you were talking about, I only filled up 6 slots. I only have about ~400 hours, but my experience is very diverse. Because it's so diverse, I'm not worried. If admissions thinks I have too few hours, then they'll have to come down here and pull a few strings for me because I spent 3 years BEGGING for a shadowing or volunteer position and I only racked up about ~90 hours. Then I blew $3000 to get another 60 and I cannot afford to do that again :p
 
scarcelyheard said:
If admissions thinks I have too few hours, then they'll have to come down here and pull a few strings for me because I spent 3 years BEGGING for a shadowing or volunteer position and I only racked up about ~90 hours. Then I blew $3000 to get another 60 and I cannot afford to do that again :p
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I found the same thing. It's just hard to find anything that's not SA around here. Most clinics don't handle LA at all, and if they do, it's the odd farm call, so not something you can plan for. Weekends aren't possible because most clinics are only open until noon on Saturdays.

That said, my vet/animal hours skyrocketed this year because for the first time, they're allowing you to put educational vet experience under vet experience, rather than just under academic history. I did a 10 month vet assistant course taught by a veterinarian. So that push my numbers way up this year.
 
Hypothetical situation:

You are accepted! yayy and now you are Charlottetown-bound... where do AVC students generally live? Residence? Or find an apartment around school?
 
AnimalHouse said:
Hypothetical situation:

You are accepted! yayy and now you are Charlottetown-bound... where do AVC students generally live? Residence? Or find an apartment around school?
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No idea what most avc students do..
But personally I wouldn't stay in Res unless I had a real good reason to.
That's just my preference, without knowing anything about what UPEI res is like (aside from Fees, which i do know)
 
I'm really not a residence person. I did it once ("Oh you'll LOVE it once you get used to it!" my mother said. "You'll make so many friends!" my mother said. :rolleyes:) and I'm never doing it again. Not to mention it's always the most expensive option. My plan is to find an apartment or a house with some other incoming vet students, preferably SDNers.
 
The two years I spent in residence were HELL because it was full of party animals who didn't care if you had exams/class or work/volunteering early in the morning.

I'd be most comfortable living with other vet students, preferrably in my year so we could study together :oops:.

If my gerbils are still around and kicking, they're coming with me and I don't think residence would allow them. Plus, if I had to confine them in a room with me, I'd go insane :p They're noisy little buggers.

My mom still refuses to believe that they're going wherever I go... she's convinced I'm going to dump them on her :confused:
 
Hey guys!

I'm in first year at the AVC. I wouldn't recommend living with other students in your year... we all see eachother A LOT and it's nice to have a break from talking about school and to see different people. A few vet students live with upper year vet students or other post grad students and I think that would be an ideal situation, besides living on your own.

Vet students don't normally move into residence because it's filled with undergrad students, but it's up to you. There's some housing close to school and a lot downtown if you have a car or don't mind taking the bus. Some live in stratford as well.

Hope this helps!
 
Sent my supplemental today so should be post-marked with today's date and therefore in time! Animalhouse, I wasn't able to fill every slot, either, but I have really diverse experiences and thousands of hours, so I can't see them frowning on it -too- much. I'm sure diverse/qualities experiences can outweigh limited/not quality hours filling all 10 slots.
 
On my application, I only filled five slots in the animal section. So don't worry about that, AnimalHouse! I remember being nervous about it when I applied, but it worked out just fine.
 
I'm a little sad that there aren't very many SDNers applying this year compared to last year.

cowhugger... how's school going?
 
School's going great! Survived midterms but they were tough.. 7 midterms in 2 and a half weeks :S We just finished them on friday and finals start in 4 weeks.. insane! It's all going by so fast. I love AVC; the school, the profs, the other students! It's all amazing.

Good luck this application cycle! If you have any questions at all, let me know!
 
Does anyone know anything about deferment? I know it's premature to think about it, but I'm very close to finishing my degree at Dal, and I'm wondering what the restrictions on deferring are.
 
I know you can only have the option of deferring if you're one of the first candidates chosen, and not if you've been wait-listed.
 
Coquette22, when I first applied, I called the admissions office to check if they would let me defer to finish my undergrad, and was told that it would be no problem and that they do that pretty often.

Jack told me that the admissions committee makes a decision based on the reasons for deferral of every student requesting a deferral.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about restrictions on it, though.
 
roughleggedhawk said:
Coquette22, when I first applied, I called the admissions office to check if they would let me defer to finish my undergrad, and was told that it would be no problem and that they do that pretty often.
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Good to know. It wasn't an issue last year, because I still had another two years before graduation, but now that I'm much closer, I like the idea of finishing my undergrad first. Especially after StartingOverVet's post about taking upper year science courses since my courseload to finish my degree requires upper year biochem, bacteriology, virology, immunology and I think it would give me a good leg up on vet school.
 
Probably a good idea. I know I'm glad to be taking anatomy and physiology courses this year so I at least have a grounding in it before vet school.
 
Coquette22 said:
Okay, AVC has confirmed that yes, students can defer to finish a program. Awesome! :D
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I hope nobody has deferred a newfoundland seat from last year..
That'd be so disheartening, to know that my chances are cut by a third :eek:
:xf:
 
New Foundland said:
I hope nobody has deferred a newfoundland seat from last year..
That'd be so disheartening, to know that my chances are cut by a third :eek:
:xf:
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I doubt it. We have 3 from Newfoundland in our class.
 
New Foundland said:
I hope nobody has deferred a newfoundland seat from last year..
That'd be so disheartening, to know that my chances are cut by a third :eek:
:xf:
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One of the students from newfoundland in our class got in off the wait-list, which makes me think that someone did defer... but they could also have declined.
 
cowhugger said:
One of the students from newfoundland in our class got in off the wait-list, which makes me think that someone did defer... but they could also have declined.
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****..

I am now competing for one of two seats this year :mad:
 
Aren't the odds of getting in from NS worse? :p
I was told that a couple years ago, Newfoundland had only 3 applicants.
I don't think that has happened lately in NS.
 
I've definitely heard that Newfoundland doesn't have a lot of applicants.. I find that odd. Out of the maritimes NS is the hardest to get in out of, but it depends on the year.
 
scarcelyheard said:
Aren't the odds of getting in from NS worse? :p
I was told that a couple years ago, Newfoundland had only 3 applicants.
I don't think that has happened lately in NS.
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Yeah but it's quite well known how competitive the NS pool is.
You know what you've gotten in to ;)

I decided that i'm gonna devote all my focus to becoming one of the 3 NL applicants, and now all of a sudden my chances this year are about 33% worse :(

And yeah, there were 3 NF applicants two years ago, but i know of 3 personally for this year.. it's more likely there'll be anywhere between 8-13

Oh well. Now I guess I have more motivation to keep buffing my application for next year, and also have an excuse in case I don't get in this cycle :laugh:
 
How competitive for NS are we talking here? How many people generally apply from NS per year? I have no clue what I'm getting myself into...:thumbdown:
 
I've heard it's been around 50 the past couple of years, for 16-18? spots. I'm not aware when it was any less. And at least one person deffered from last year, which means less.
 
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