Class of 2022 Hopefuls

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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MSUCVM2021 said:
On top of working on your personal statement (or 3 questions), taking your GRE, and getting your transcripts, one thing that really helped me as I was completing my VMCAS application was to have all of my experience and awards/honors entered into a spreadsheet. This made it very easy to transpose everything (date, hours, title, description, etc.) from the spreadsheet to VMCAS. I applied last cycle and started on the spreadsheet sometime around February/March. By having everything organized in the spreadsheet it made it easy to add activities that I forgot the first, second, and even third time I added entries. This prevented me from having to delete and re-enter items in the VMCAS system.
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Hi!! I saw your username. Michigan State?!
 
tbirdd123 said:
Random question for those who applied last cycle, what are your thoughts on including academic awards from high school (ex. college book awards, math awards, etc.)?

Edit: For perspective I'm currently a junior in college, so these would be ~3-4 years old
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Include all the things!
 
I am also open to reviewing anyone's 3 questions if they need it!
 
tbirdd123 said:
Random question for those who applied last cycle, what are your thoughts on including academic awards from high school (ex. college book awards, math awards, etc.)?

Edit: For perspective I'm currently a junior in college, so these would be ~3-4 years old
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I was really involved in FFA so I put the important awards from FFA in my application! I also put my scholarships I received from my senior year of high school (they were agriculture related and one was from a veterinary association). As long as the stuff from high school is significant to you, I think it's worth it to include it in the application!
 
vetmedhead said:
Also, applying is stressful. You don't have to open the application the day it opens. If the VMCAS app goes online when you have finals DON'T YOU DARE OPEN IT UNTIL YOUR FINALS ARE FINISHED. Nobody needs app stress on top of finals stress.
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Second this!!! VMCAS is stressful! Finals are stressful! I sat with a bottle of wine when I opened VMCAS after the official opening date
(Had to re enter most of it too do also don't get drunk and fill out VMCAS)
 
tbirdd123 said:
Random question for those who applied last cycle, what are your thoughts on including academic awards from high school (ex. college book awards, math awards, etc.)?

Edit: For perspective I'm currently a junior in college, so these would be ~3-4 years old
Click to expand...

Personally, I didn't include anything from high school and I skipped some things from college. I wanted my application to contain things I felt were relevant, impressive, and/or meaningful. I've been involved in a lot over the years (I'm a non-trad so it's been a lot of years!) and I didn't want what's important to me to be lost or skipped over. Especially as a career-changer, I didn't want to give the impression that I just bounce around from one thing to the next.

If I felt adcoms were unlikely to care about something, I left it out, but I did include all veterinary and animal experience I've had, including very, very short-term ones.

Adcoms only spend so much time reading your application, so you want the best parts to stand out. I'm not saying don't include things, but be mindful of what overall impression someone will get when reading your application. You should have some idea of what kind of "big picture" you want adcoms to get from your application and do your best to put that forward.

I was careful to do this, and did very well last cycle with quite a few interview invites/acceptances to schools where my stats were below average.

If you have a lot of little things that you want to include but aren't super important, you can group them as one experience (e.g., "high school activities" or "other awards") and give a list.
 
TrashPanda said:
If you have a lot of little things that you want to include but aren't super important, you can group them as one experience (e.g., "high school activities" or "other awards") and give a list.
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That's actually a great idea, thanks! I was a lot more involved in volunteering in high school and that has gotten away from in college with shadowing, academics, and research, but I do feel like it's important to show through somewhere, so grouping for high school activities may a good idea without cluttering my experiences.
 
Definitely put all animal/ veterinary experience on it! I helped my dad's coworker kid goats for like... 8 hours, and I think it helped a little!
 
If you have any cool hobbies, include those too! I did and they came up in one of my interviews🙂

Anything that makes you a unique human being is a major plus when they are trying to short through [literally] thousands of applications.
 
mmmdreamerz said:
If you have any cool hobbies, include those too! I did and they came up in one of my interviews🙂

Anything that makes you a unique human being is a major plus when they are trying to short through [literally] thousands of applications.
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Oooh yeah! I did drum corps the summer after HS (essentially professional marching band), and I put that on my application! OkState doesn't interview OOS, but I invterviewed with the admissions panel when I was a freshman and they were happy to see that. It's something different!
 
GreytLife said:
What I would have done for this advice last year! I discovered SDN on the day of the VMCAS submission deadline... haha My experiences were out of order and the descriptions were bullet pointed.. I managed to get accepted but I'm a little embarrassed on how ameteur it must have looked!
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My descriptions were bulleted, too, for all three cycles I've applied. Got four out of six interviews and some acceptances this cycle. No regerts
 
tbirdd123 said:
Random question for those who applied last cycle, what are your thoughts on including academic awards from high school (ex. college book awards, math awards, etc.)?

Edit: For perspective I'm currently a junior in college, so these would be ~3-4 years old
Click to expand...

I had the same job from the ages of 10-22. You can bet your bucket I included every single hour. I didn't spend my summers in middle school scrubbing and dusting file nothing.
 
Suddenly feeling overwhelmed....... Finals are tomorrow, but I lucked out with my classes. Two are open book. My only stress is Orgo 2 and that is only because I"m on the grade bubble.
 
GreytLife said:
What I would have done for this advice last year! I discovered SDN on the day of the VMCAS submission deadline... haha My experiences were out of order and the descriptions were bullet pointed.. I managed to get accepted but I'm a little embarrassed on how ameteur it must have looked!
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I don't think most schools care if your experience descriptions are in bullet points or paragraph form, as long as you're consistent! I think I've heard some schools even prefer bullet points because it's more concise, but don't quote me on that.
 
LyraGardenia said:
I don't think most schools care if your experience descriptions are in bullet points or paragraph form, as long as you're consistent! I think I've heard some schools even prefer bullet points because it's more concise, but don't quote me on that.
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Illinois has a strong preference for complete sentences, but that's the only one I know of. I doubt it matters at most other schools.
 
LyraGardenia said:
I don't think most schools care if your experience descriptions are in bullet points or paragraph form, as long as you're consistent! I think I've heard some schools even prefer bullet points because it's more concise, but don't quote me on that.
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Does anyone have links to info on writing the description sections? I'm not exactly sure how to go about writing them
 
ziggyandjazzy said:
Does anyone have links to info on writing the description sections? I'm not exactly sure how to go about writing them
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Here are the instructions I found from VMCAS, although I don't know if anything will be changing about that section this year: http://help.unicas.com:8888/vmcasHe...supporting-information/experiences/index.html
Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of guidance given on how to write the descriptions, you might be better off asking the schools you'll be applying to what they prefer.
 
Also, does anyone have info on what, if anything, I should provide to people who are writing letters of rec? For instance, my prof told me to let him know of anything I thought I would like for him to include (but that it was up to his discretion whether he would include it or not). I was surprised that the DVM who will be writing mine has written a couple before. 2, in like 30 years lol. Could I provide her with sort of a direction on what they are looking for? For instance, ask her to focus on my ability to handle animals, my drive to be a vet, my dedication, etc? I'm not sure what they are looking for in the letters to make someone "stand out". For instance, if they really want x, I could tell her "the vet schools are specifically looking for x in the letter". Does that make sense?
 
LyraGardenia said:
Here are the instructions I found from VMCAS, although I don't know if anything will be changing about that section this year: http://help.unicas.com:8888/vmcasHe...supporting-information/experiences/index.html
Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of guidance given on how to write the descriptions, you might be better off asking the schools you'll be applying to what they prefer.
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Ok so we then basically get a few sentences (600 characters) to sum up our responsibilities?
 
ziggyandjazzy said:
Also, does anyone have info on what, if anything, I should provide to people who are writing letters of rec? For instance, my prof told me to let him know of anything I thought I would like for him to include (but that it was up to his discretion whether he would include it or not). I was surprised that the DVM who will be writing mine has written a couple before. 2, in like 30 years lol. Could I provide her with sort of a direction on what they are looking for? For instance, ask her to focus on my ability to handle animals, my drive to be a vet, my dedication, etc? I'm not sure what they are looking for in the letters to make someone "stand out". For instance, if they really want x, I could tell her "the vet schools are specifically looking for x in the letter". Does that make sense?
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For 3/4 of my writers (the fourth knew me REALLY well), I gave them a really detailed CV that I basically wrote specifically for that purpose. I included a paragraph at the end about future goals, etc. I have no idea what any of them said about me, but they all knew me and had the info and it worked out. Just choose people who want you to succeed and don't over think it🙂
 
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mmmdreamerz said:
For 3/4 of my writers (the fourth knew me REALLY well), I gave them a really detailed CV that I basically wrote specifically for that purpose. I included a paragraph at the end about future goals, etc. I have no idea what any of them said about me, but they all knew me and had the info and it worked out. Just choose who want you to succeed and don't over think it🙂
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I guess I mean that there must be a specific reason they require letters of rec from DVMs. Do they want someone to speak on their perceptions on your ability to be a vet or succeed at vet school?

I was planning to give them both CVs!
 
ziggyandjazzy said:
Also, does anyone have info on what, if anything, I should provide to people who are writing letters of rec? For instance, my prof told me to let him know of anything I thought I would like for him to include (but that it was up to his discretion whether he would include it or not). I was surprised that the DVM who will be writing mine has written a couple before. 2, in like 30 years lol. Could I provide her with sort of a direction on what they are looking for? For instance, ask her to focus on my ability to handle animals, my drive to be a vet, my dedication, etc? I'm not sure what they are looking for in the letters to make someone "stand out". For instance, if they really want x, I could tell her "the vet schools are specifically looking for x in the letter". Does that make sense?
Click to expand...

I either sent them a link to a page of "Information for Reference Writers" which I believe was on NCSU's website or I basically gave them a verbal version of it. I wasn't actually applying to that school but I felt it was generally helpful. Basically, I tried to give general examples of the type of things they could talk about without asking them to focus on any particular one. I think it's fine to give them an idea of what you want them to say, but for me personally I didn't want to give them too much direction because I wanted them to write about my strengths as they saw them and I felt that might not necessarily align with what I might ask them to focus on.
 
ziggyandjazzy said:
Ok so we then basically get a few sentences (600 characters) to sum up our responsibilities?
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And remember, returns count! Make sure to not put things to the last minute if you are working in a document on your computer because the counting program in VMCAS is not necessarily consistent with other programs.
 
finnickthedog said:
I either sent them a link to a page of "Information for Reference Writers" which I believe was on NCSU's website or I basically gave them a verbal version of it. I wasn't actually applying to that school but I felt it was generally helpful. Basically, I tried to give general examples of the type of things they could talk about without asking them to focus on any particular one. I think it's fine to give them an idea of what you want them to say, but for me personally I didn't want to give them too much direction because I wanted them to write about my strengths as they saw them and I felt that might not necessarily align with what I might ask them to focus on.
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I've looked at that and I think that will be helpful! I also think it would be best for them to focus on what they believe are my strengths. The prof has a lot of experience writing letters, I think mostly for med school. However, the vet could probably use a little more direction. I think the point about "the candidate’s qualifications for success in the veterinary curriculum and as a future veterinarian" might be key.
 
ziggyandjazzy said:
Does anyone have links to info on writing the description sections? I'm not exactly sure how to go about writing them
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I don't know of any guides, but I got some helpful advice on here last cycle. I'm going on vacation until May 15 :banana:, but feel free to remind me after that point and I'll do my best to help you out.

For LORs, I did something similar to @mmmdreamerz- basically a resume with my VMCAS descriptions. At the top, I put some bullet points about my experience with whoever was writing the LOR (like how long I'd known them, and highlights of my experience with them). One wanted my PS so I sent it. As for what adcoms want, whenever possible, they want specific examples (i.e., they want LOR writers to show, not tell).

Have you asked the vet what info she wants? She might know what would be most useful to her.
 
TrashPanda said:
Have you asked the vet what info she wants? She might know what would be most useful to her.
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I just asked her if she would write it and so I haven't. She wrote one for me this summer in order to apply for research positions. I asked then if she wanted a resume and she didn't. However, this time I might insist lol.
 
So...what is the consensus on paragraph or bullet points for experience descriptions? I know U of I prefers paragraphs but who cares what 1 school wants when I have 9 more I'm applying to 😛
 
GreytLife said:
I think bullet points are fine as long as you still give some detail. It gives you a chance to highlight pretty clearly what you think were the most important aspects of the experience ( I put the most important ones first) However, paragraphs definetly flow better!

For what it's worth, I bulleted everything and was accepted to UofI. I think as long as the content is there you should be fine!
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Thanks! I just bullet pointed this past application and it clearly wasn't successful 🙁 So trying to decide of I need to change it up in that aspect!
 
greeneyegal92 said:
So...what is the consensus on paragraph or bullet points for experience descriptions? I know U of I prefers paragraphs but who cares what 1 school wants when I have 9 more I'm applying to 😛
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The first time I applied I used normal paragraphs. The second time around I was advised to cut words like "I" so did that. It was kind of like bullet points without the bullets or returns. I doubt the school cared about my format so much as that I was able to squeeze more information in, especially for experiences that had a lot to them, the way I did it the second time around.
 
All interesting ideas! Anyone have time/kindness in their hearts to read over mine whenever I get done revising? :help:
 
finnickthedog said:
The first time I applied I used normal paragraphs. The second time around I was advised to cut words like "I" so did that. It was kind of like bullet points without the bullets or returns. I doubt the school cared about my format so much as that I was able to squeeze more information in, especially for experiences that had a lot to them, the way I did it the second time around.
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This is how I've done mine. I think of it as "resume-style" or efficient paragraphs.
 
This may already be common knowledge, but I just wanted to mention that I heard from the Cornell director of admissions that VMCAS is doing away with the 4500-character essay this year. Instead, they will have short answer questions. It sounds like there will be three 200-word questions. Has anyone else heard about the changes VMCAS is making for the upcoming cycle?
 
sheltermed said:
This may already be common knowledge, but I just wanted to mention that I heard from the Cornell director of admissions that VMCAS is doing away with the 4500-character essay this year. Instead, they will have short answer questions. It sounds like there will be three 200-word questions. Has anyone else heard about the changes VMCAS is making for the upcoming cycle?
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Yes, the same was said at my Minnesota file review. Guess they wanted guided responses instead of 1 long essay! I heard it'd be 3 mini essays
 
Bottle of Bear said:
I like your doggo
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