c/o 2018 applicants

[iheartdogs]

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so last cycle, i only asked 3 evaluators for recommendation letters and was freaking out because my boss didn't submit his until the day before the vmcas was due...this year I asked 3 vets and 2 professors...I already have the minimum required submitted...THE 2nd Professor said he has already written his but said he hasn't submitted it yet and goes "the deadline is October 6th right?" and I said no the deadline is October 2nd at 1 pm but september 1st would be better he still hasn't answered me back and that was 2 weeks ago....my question is because i already have enough letters if I submit my application and he doesn't get it in on time will i still get penalized? will my application still be considered complete?

 

[dalmatiandoc17]

As long as you have 3 eLORS in by the Oct 2nd deadline your application is completed. But of course it looks very bad if someone didn't submit theirs, schools will still see that.

I understand your concern, I have a bit of a flaky vet doing mine. I know it's going to be an amazing recc, but he has to get it on time so I plan on hounding him until he does.

 

[iheartdogs]

I'm going to call him tomorrow....hopefuly he will be at school even tho its summer break...i would just delete his reference on the app but he has already written a letter so if i delete him it might burn a bridge i might need in the future

 

[epivetlove]

I'm going to call him tomorrow....hopefuly he will be at school even tho its summer break...i would just delete his reference on the app but he has already written a letter so if i delete him it might burn a bridge i might need in the future

Maybe's there a nice way to explain that you were really like to have his input, recommendation-wise, but that there is a deadline and it will hurt you if he doesn't get it in on time. I was almost in a similar boat...tough rope to walk. Good luck!

As an aside...I keep looking at all the fees that are due for this cycle, then at my bank account, then back at my list of fees. My heart just sinks a little lower each time. If I could win the lottery right now (or find a better paying job), I would be so happy.

 

[WulfpackChica]

I need to get on at least one of my eLORs to submit their letter by Sept 1st, so they can start reviewing my application. Which reminds me, I need to get my transcripts sent out.

Take the GRE next week and I am freaking out. I had been studying off and on since the summer started... I took a practice test over the weekend and it was not pretty. Just got home from work and I am off to study some more... I use to love algebra, geometry, problem solving... but these damn triangles are haunting me >.<

NEED TO STAY FOCUSED.

 

[wildchild210]

I need to get on at least one of my eLORs to submit their letter by Sept 1st, so they can start reviewing my application. Which reminds me, I need to get my transcripts sent out.

Take the GRE next week and I am freaking out. I had been studying off and on since the summer started... I took a practice test over the weekend and it was not pretty. Just got home from work and I am off to study some more... I use to love algebra, geometry, problem solving... but these damn triangles are haunting me >.<

NEED TO STAY FOCUSED.

You can do it!!! 👍

 

[ChittyBang]

Take the GRE next week and I am freaking out.

NEED TO STAY FOCUSED.

Same here. Hopefully my 2nd time's a charm 😛 Good luck!

 

[iheartdogs]

also i have my vmcas essay done...now I'm trying to work on my supplemental essay for florida which wants to know how your background, life experiences, interests and perspectives will help you contribute to the diversity of the entering class..my background is that i have grown up on the dog show circuit..from age 11-16 i was dragged around all over the state of florida for dog shows and i have also seen my fair share of agility shows...the hospital i have worked at for 7 years is owned by the people who used to show my dogs sometimes and at this hospital i have seen everything show and breeding related from surgical inseminations, artificial inseminations, c-sections, ear cropping, tail docking, declaw removal, debarking....in the past year i have been volunteering at a different hospital which is the opposite end of the spectrum...they do spot spays and neuters which are run by the county a program allows you to fix your animal for $10 and its mostly family pets...both of these have influenced my perspectives and shaped me as an individual..how do i incorporate this without offending somebody on the admissions committee?

 

[ChittyBang]

How would that offend?

 

[Jess Monster]

How would that offend?

I'm not sure how it would be offensive either? Is it because some people look down on showing and breeding?

If that's the implication, I feel that more people than not in the veterinary profession are less "judgy" about that topic (over the average "animal rescuer"). Show dogs tend to be very well cared for and committed, serious breed fanciers usually take exceptional care of both the pregnant dog and her pups - including finding responsible owners to purchase those animals. Actually, I don't know many vets who don't have a purebred dog, horse, rabbit, etc. that was purchased from a breeder.

 

[that redhead]

It's a delicate subject as surgical cosmetic alterations are controversial. I wouldn't consider those who are against them (such as myself) to be "judgey", just of a differing opinion. I would just talk about your experiences showing dogs and working at clinics without going into all of the procedures you saw (you can say "surgical procedures" as an umbrella term).

 

[Lupin21]

It's a delicate subject as surgical cosmetic alterations are controversial. I wouldn't consider those who are against them (such as myself) to be "judgey", just of a differing opinion. I would just talk about your experiences showing dogs and working at clinics without going into all of the procedures you saw (you can say "surgical procedures" as an umbrella term).

On the other hand, it gets into ethics and interviewers love to test your abilities to intelligently discuss your position and how you deal with those types of situations. I don't believe that their own personal feelings would affect the possibilities of being accepted or not.

 

[ChittyBang]

I would just talk about your experiences showing dogs and working at clinics without going into all of the procedures you saw (you can say "surgical procedures" as an umbrella term).

Agreed. I wouldn't even consider going into detail (I just assumed you wouldn't) cause that would just be a bit weird. I mean, witnessing procedures doesn't necessarily "diversify" (we've all witnessed at least one) and if we all listed every single one we'd bore the hell out of the adcoms. Choose one, if it's truly relevant to making you stand out in the crowd, and make it shine.

But what I think they're probably looking for is what makes YOU special and different. Why should they choose YOU?

 

[Iluvlabs90]

How long are your personal statements? Just curious 🙂

 

[ChittyBang]

My first few drafts have been about 4,000 characters. My final will probably be the same. You?

 

[that redhead]

On the other hand, it gets into ethics and interviewers love to test your abilities to intelligently discuss your position and how you deal with those types of situations. I don't believe that their own personal feelings would affect the possibilities of being accepted or not.

I see your point, but I'd rather discuss it in person if it were to come up in an interview (it's reasonable that you could be asked about cosmetic surgery if they see you're big into purebred dogs) instead of a one-sided statement. I would hope that people's feelings wouldn't affect acceptance, but it may fit into the tattoo/piercing/hair color discussions where you just don't know the adcom's position. I personally would play it safe in my statement but be fully prepared to talk about it in an interview 👍

 

[Iluvlabs90]

My first few drafts have been about 4,000 characters. My final will probably be the same. You?

Sigh it's close to the 5000 mark

 

[Jess Monster]

Sigh it's close to the 5000 mark

As long as it's within the characters allotted, that's fine.

Mine is 4900-ish, about a page and a quarter single spaced. Really not very long. I'm pretty sure my grad school PS was roughly the same length.

 

[Iluvlabs90]

As long as it's within the characters allotted, that's fine.

Mine is 4900-ish, about a page and a quarter single spaced. Really not very long. I'm pretty sure my grad school PS was roughly the same length.

Alrighty!!!

 

[catlady816]

I see your point, but I'd rather discuss it in person if it were to come up in an interview (it's reasonable that you could be asked about cosmetic surgery if they see you're big into purebred dogs) instead of a one-sided statement. I would hope that people's feelings wouldn't affect acceptance, but it may fit into the tattoo/piercing/hair color discussions where you just don't know the adcom's position. I personally would play it safe in my statement but be fully prepared to talk about it in an interview 👍

A girl I interviewed with said that they asked her about her experience working at horse racing tracks. That could be controversial, but they gave her the benefit of the doubt and gave her an interview and let her discuss it. I wouldn't fret about putting in your PS. As long as you can have a good discussion about it in the interview, the adcom's position shouldn't matter.

 

[cadisestrama]

-

 

[gugoodoll]

I'm a little over 5000 characters. Not too worried though, I'd rather cut down characters than have to add!

 

[WulfpackChica]

I have not even really character counted it yet. Doing final editing next weekend after I take the GRE and classes have started.

Two of my eLORs submitted their stuff today, which is a load off of my mind! I was beginning to stress out about it, so I sent a nice email letting them know that VMCAs changed they were doing things this year and politely sooner would be better than later. Now just to bother my adviser for his and all 3 will be done...

Got to send transcripts... waiting for my paycheck to come in this week so I can do this...

Starting to feel a little freaked out

 

[cloverbug]

I have not even really character counted it yet. Doing final editing next weekend after I take the GRE and classes have started.

Two of my eLORs submitted their stuff today, which is a load off of my mind! I was beginning to stress out about it, so I sent a nice email letting them know that VMCAs changed they were doing things this year and politely sooner would be better than later. Now just to bother my adviser for his and all 3 will be done...

Got to send transcripts... waiting for my paycheck to come in this week so I can do this...

Starting to feel a little freaked out

You can do it! But yea, definitely get your transcripts sent out soon. Good luck with the GRE and I feel you all on the PS. I had one for Iowa that didn't want any animal, academic, or veterinary experiences listed in my background on what I would contribute to the class. I kinda went uuuuhhh.... for a while lol. Eventually I went with talking about being a military brat, working in fast food, and dealing with my stage fright in the 6 years of orchestra. Good luck everyone!

 

[dalmatiandoc17]

Quick question, is it a big deal if I don't list phone numbers for my community experiences? Most of mine are band things or clubs...and I wouldn't know whose number to list for those.

 

[gugoodoll]

I didn't leave a phone # for most of my experiences. I don't think it's a huge deal. I've heard somewhere on this forum they don't even call.

 

[Jess Monster]

Quick question, is it a big deal if I don't list phone numbers for my community experiences? Most of mine are band things or clubs...and I wouldn't know whose number to list for those.

I agree that it's not a big deal.

No one can realistically expect that you've saved the contact information for every little activity done over the years - including high school. That would be near impossible for many people to do.

 

[Jess Monster]

How are others listing study abroads offered through home institutions?

Right now, because they were credit based experiences, I only have them represented in my coursework section. Should they be listed in another section, say "Animal Experience" or "Honors/Awards" (if they were competitively selected), and described in some detail?

 

[ChittyBang]

Personal Statement done! After some crazy editing it went up a bit to 4,900ish characters, but I'm happy with it 😎 Phew! So glad that's over...stressful!!!

 

[WulfpackChica]

Taking the GRE tomorrow. Have been taking practice tests and I think that I stressing myself out with the scores. I have been consistently getting the same scores in math (despite studying what I have been missing), but not consistently great.

 

[ChittyBang]

Taking the GRE tomorrow. Have been taking practice tests and I think that I stressing myself out with the scores. I have been consistently getting the same scores in math (despite studying what I have been missing), but not consistently great.

Best of luck!

I'm retaking it Saturday and took a different approach to studying this time: I decided to intensely brush-up on basic math concepts - master them, if you will - because for my first time around I really only learned and practiced all of those "tricks" the study guides teach you (won't work too well if you haven't seen this kind of math in over 20 years!). I guess because I aced Calc, Stats and Physics I was overly-confident in the math department...NOT!

 

[WulfpackChica]

Best of luck!

I'm retaking it Saturday and took a different approach to studying this time: I decided to intensely brush-up on basic math concepts - master them, if you will - because for my first time around I really only learned and practiced all of those "tricks" the study guides teach you (won't work too well if you haven't seen this kind of math in over 20 years!). I guess because I aced Calc, Stats and Physics I was overly-confident in the math department...NOT!

Thanks Chitty!

I hear you on the basic math front. I even had to go back and brush up on basic geometry stuff. It really did suck! For the practice tests, I am running close to the time allowed so when I notice time ticking down I start freaking out. I think that is part of my problem!

 

[deleted498041]

A girl I interviewed with said that they asked her about her experience working at horse racing tracks. That could be controversial, but they gave her the benefit of the doubt and gave her an interview and let her discuss it. I wouldn't fret about putting in your PS. As long as you can have a good discussion about it in the interview, the adcom's position shouldn't matter.

I wouldn't put anything controversial in my PS. I would definitely mention the experience but I wouldn't go into detail about the controversy of it. I brought up terminal surgeries during my interview which was a big topic at the time but it was nowhere in my application.

 

[Equus18]

Quick question, I was going to submit my VMCAS but when I viewed what my application was going to look like to the schools all my experiences were not in order. They are in order when I'm on the vmcas page though. Did Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Lab Vet]

Quick question, I was going to submit my VMCAS but when I viewed what my application was going to look like to the schools all my experiences were not in order. They are in order when I'm on the vmcas page though. Did Anyone else have this problem?

Yes. I called VMCAS about this very issue. According to VMCAS, the PDF that you receive when you click 'preview' (right before you provide your payment info) is not the actual document that vet schools with receive. This is, in fact, a truncated and incomplete version of what designated vet schools will receive. In the preview document, some information will be out of order. Some information (i.e. name of specific institutions where research was conducted) will not be listed on the preview document, but are listed on the VMCAS online form. VMCAS assured me that all information listed within the VMCAS online form will be included in the doc sent to designated vet schools, and all information contained therein will be in chronological order.

Why the preview document doesn't match the actual doc sent to vet schools- I'm still unclear about that. VMCAS told me (all information was relayed by a supervisor, as apparently this was a 'challenging' question), that the 'preview' doc is just meant to give prospective applicants an idea as to what document contains 😕

Hope that this is helpful! I, too, was greatly confused by the preview document.

 

[Equus18]

Thank you so much! I was so worried!

 

[TheComfyCat]

Well, at this point it doesn't seem like I'll be able to submit my application by September 1st. I'm still having trouble contacting the vet I'd like to write me a LOR, and I don't really have a backup. I shadowed an exotics vet a couple times over the summer, but it would be a bit odd to ask him for a letter since I've only spent ~16 hours with him. At this point I guess I may have to ask him anyway... awkward.

 

[Iluvlabs90]

Well, at this point it doesn't seem like I'll be able to submit my application by September 1st. I'm still having trouble contacting the vet I'd like to write me a LOR, and I don't really have a backup. I shadowed an exotics vet a couple times over the summer, but it would be a bit odd to ask him for a letter since I've only spent ~16 hours with him. At this point I guess I may have to ask him anyway... awkward.

You only have to have one LOR submitted by September 1. The rest are due by the Oct 2 deadline. Hope that helps!

 

[onisteverina]

I'm pretty sure that every question to VMCAS is a challenging one... It seems that every time I call about ANYTHING, I get put on hold so that they can ask their supervisor.. more than a little frustrated with them right now.

 

[epivetlove]

Obsessively checking VMCAS to see if my transcripts have come in. All ordered on 8/11...only one (of the three) have arrived so far. I didn't attach the transcript request form...and now I'm worried. I guess I'll contact the other two schools to see if they have even been mailed yet or not.

 

[Jess Monster]

Well, at this point it doesn't seem like I'll be able to submit my application by September 1st. I'm still having trouble contacting the vet I'd like to write me a LOR, and I don't really have a backup. I shadowed an exotics vet a couple times over the summer, but it would be a bit odd to ask him for a letter since I've only spent ~16 hours with him. At this point I guess I may have to ask him anyway... awkward.

It might be awkward, but if he's willing to provide you with a more "work" oriented recommendation, it's something to consider, even if he doesn't have a huge personal history with you. You can give him your PS or draft a narrative about yourself and your interests and what you learned shadowing him.

He probably has an impression about you and your abilities that he can comment on.

 

[Scooter157]

epivetlove- I know how you feel. I constantly checked until all were marked as received too!!

I am a revision or two of my personal statement away from hitting the 'submit' button! Half of me is anticipating the relief that will come after it's done...the other half is waiting to cringe at the price tag.

 

[WulfpackChica]

Obsessively checking VMCAS to see if my transcripts have come in. All ordered on 8/11...only one (of the three) have arrived so far. I didn't attach the transcript request form...and now I'm worried. I guess I'll contact the other two schools to see if they have even been mailed yet or not.

I have been checking every day also! According the services that my schools use they were sent out the day after I ordered them. I am paranoid that I put in the wrong address, even though I checked it about 12 times!

 

[cloverbug]

Well, at this point it doesn't seem like I'll be able to submit my application by September 1st. I'm still having trouble contacting the vet I'd like to write me a LOR, and I don't really have a backup. I shadowed an exotics vet a couple times over the summer, but it would be a bit odd to ask him for a letter since I've only spent ~16 hours with him. At this point I guess I may have to ask him anyway... awkward.

It might be worth asking him if you can't contact the other vet. It's better than being left in the wind right? And I know how you feel. I wanted to apply to Tufts but they require 2 professor letters and for the life of me I couldn't get a second professor to write one for me. Moral of the story though is it never hurts to ask.

 

[gugoodoll]

I am a revision or two of my personal statement away from hitting the 'submit' button! Half of me is anticipating the relief that will come after it's done...the other half is waiting to cringe at the price tag.

Me too! I'm almost afraid to submit it in case my PS could be just a wee bit better 🙄

 

[ChittyBang]

Me too! I'm almost afraid to submit it in case my PS could be just a wee bit better 🙄

Same here 😛 haha I'm afraid I'll hit "submit" and then have some kind of transcendental vision of the perfect personal statement!

 

[remi4301]

Obsessively checking VMCAS to see if my transcripts have come in. All ordered on 8/11...only one (of the three) have arrived so far. I didn't attach the transcript request form...and now I'm worried. I guess I'll contact the other two schools to see if they have even been mailed yet or not.

I ordered mine 8/7 and the school processed the request the same day. It didn't show up on VMCAS until 8/20. When I called they said it takes 7-10 business days to post. I was about ready to order another, pick it up from school and overnight it. 😛

 

[WulfpackChica]

I ordered mine 8/7 and the school processed the request the same day. It didn't show up on VMCAS until 8/20. When I called they said it takes 7-10 business days to post. I was about ready to order another, pick it up from school and overnight it. 😛

Good to know! Thanks Remi!

Checked again and one has been noted as received 🙂

 

[vkajko]

Does anyone know if Glasgow requires you to also send them an official transcript?

Thanks!

 

[epivetlove]

I ordered mine 8/7 and the school processed the request the same day. It didn't show up on VMCAS until 8/20. When I called they said it takes 7-10 business days to post. I was about ready to order another, pick it up from school and overnight it. 😛

Good to know! Still nothing updated on mine. I haven't had a chance to call the other two schools yet...did you include the transcript request form that you download from VMCAS though? I just straight up ordered my transcripts through the school's websites without attaching any forms...that's what I'm worried about. 🙁