Didn't get accepted...

[aelet17]

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Honestly... I think I blew the interview but I'm unsure.

I applied to two schools. Colorado State and Royal Veterinary College.

Colorado rejected me Dec. 17th. I was hopeful but not surprised.

I was invited to interview in San Francisco with RVC on thanksgiving and interview end last month...

I didn't quite know how to prepare but they did tell me six things they wanted to know or was going to assess. So, I tried to refresh myself in those certain areas and think of how I would answer certain questions. Then, the week before, my advisor gave me a very short mock interview. Also, a very intelligent friend interviewed me about 3 times and gave me critiques which were concerning my fluency or making sure I was aware of my facial expressions.

The interview was not nerve racking but one area of the interview I went blank. I was not expecting it at all.
Then, when I was asked why I wanted to be a large animal vet rather than a small animal vet I knew why but I couldn't articulate it.
In the other areas of the interview, I felt I did OK but I didn't knock it out of the park.
I'm the person who works well under pressure but when tested or assessed verbally or by standardized tests, I don't present myself fully.

I received the rejection email yesterday and I'm not crushed. I've always knew what I would do to better prepare for next application season but throughout the day I have moments where I'm kicking myself for my interview because at the interview the hosts where very flattering. Basically saying, since we were there, we are deserving of being enrolled and the interview is just to get to know us better. To see if we match up with the school. Also, when we went to interview we were told to just talk and not to worry about answering questions. Not to worry too much if we didn't do too great on a certain section... I just got the overall feeling like they were very forgiving and they really wanted us.

Thus, I'm kicking myself, wondering how bad did really I do.

I know I'm lacking in Veterinary experience and GRE scores but I thought that since I was invited, I didn't have to worry about that playing a factor further on but now I'm in limbo.
The rejection email said I didn't score high enough in the interview but after the interview discussed the interview with different people they said my worries were unfounded.

Was it my lack of GRE score and experience or was is really the interview?

They gave us a document with some statistics at the interview and the fact that I got a interview kind of boosted my hopes of getting in.
I'm feeling unsettled.

Also, my GPA has risen from when I handed in my transcripts, 3.6 to 3.7, and I'm retaking a class that I had a low grade in.

GPA 3.7
I've struggled getting experience, no Vet hospital has been hiring, offering internships or volunteering. Although, I did shadow at a veterinary hospital for about 40hrs.
GRE 149, 136, 3.0. ( I didn't manage studying for my courses and the GRE well)

I have a good amount of extracurriculars

Sorry this is so long.

 

[Kyoht]

Your GRE is low and your vet hrs are really low in my opinion. I'm not familiar with how RVC chooses candidates. So I cant really say that getting an interview means that those two scores didn't count in your final decision or not. Maybe one factor was that you didn't articulate well your reasons why you wanted to be a large animal vet. Then they took that and saw that you had almost no vet hours and thought that you didn't really know the profession well? Just guessing here.

 

[that redhead]

It sounds as though you need to work on your interview skills for next cycle. It's great that you did a couple of mock interviews, but I would work on getting more - through your school's career center, for example.

I'm not sure if your GRE and vet experience would be considered after an interview invite for this particular school, but it's possible that a less than stellar interview combined with such low experience (which probably contributed to your struggle in articulating why you want to do this as your career) was enough to give them pause. I'd work on your experience hours and practice interviewing for next cycle.

 

[LetItSnow]

it's possible that a less than stellar interview combined with such low experience (which probably contributed to your struggle in articulating why you want to do this as your career) was enough to give them pause.

qft - get more experience and practice interviewing more. Some mock interviewers have a tendency to be too supportive and not helpfully critical.

 

[Cyndia]

Also keep in mind, applications are all relative. You may not have done as terribly as you think you did on the interview, but what matters is how you compare to the rest of the applicant pool. But as others have said, I think the lack of experience is definitely something that you should work on. I understand that it is hard to find places to shadow at sometimes, but the key is persistence. I contacted a TON of vets before I found a few that would let me shadow, going in person to ask will also help your chances and show that you're really interested.

Another important thing you should do is an application review. I don't know if RVC offers them, but CSU probably does, contact their admissions officers and try to set up a phone call to go over the weak points in your application. That way you'll know exactly why they chose not to offer you an acceptance, and you can specifically work on those weak points. I've heard from someone that they were asked in an interview (not at CSU but at another school) if they had done a review and what they had improved on during the year between reapplication, so you want to be able to back up that you were trying hard to improve the right things.

 

[bbeventer]

More experience and diversify your application pool. The two schools you applied to are vastly different. Why did you apply to one US school and one international school?
Request an exit interview from CSU, they provide good critiques, and go from there.

 

[battie]

CSU does a good application review. I went through it last summer with the dean and she was very forth coming about explanations. She also showed me exactly what my application looked like to the admissions committee so that I saw what they saw and could get an idea of how I looked to them as an applicant. I highly recommend doing a file review. Schedule it as soon as they let you to make sure you can do it.