Enough Hours to apply?

[akitavet]

Ive always kinda heard the magic number for experience hours is 1000. As far as animal health/veterinary hours, I will have just over 900 when I have decided to set as my deadline (Sept 1). Every one of those hours will be directly under a veterinarian and should break down about as follows:

1.) Small Animal Emergency/Surgery ~ 150 h
2.) Small Animal Reproductive ~ 450 h
3.) Bovine ~ 150 h
4.) Equine ~ 150 h
5.) Wildlife ~ 50 h (this is yet to be arranged. I am waiting to hear from them)

Thats a total of ~900h without the wildlife and ~950 with it. Maybe I can pick up some more, but I dont know for sure. This is diverse experience, but not extensive. My animal experience will be about the same # of hours Im guessing.

Now if I wait say 3 more weeks, that number will jump up over 1000, but it seems like that's cutting it a little close no? That would put my application submission at September 22. I am a non-trad student and quit my job to take the opportunity to build these hours. What do you guys think?

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[philomycus]

I applied with WAY less than that. Got an interview at one school, and am on the alt. list for another.

You never know until you apply. Don't waste a year, go ahead and do it. Just apply though where you think you would seriously really want to move to and the places you think you have the best shot at getting in.

I think it also strengthens your app the 2nd year if you didn't get in the 1st- it shows two things:
1. persistence
2. your app grew stronger from year to year

I'm a non-trad too and thought I would not even get an interview the 1st year, and I did. I see that alone as a good accomplishment (at least that's what I tell the voices in my head ). If I waitied until this year to apply. they may have waitied one more to take me. I really feel like some schools may not take a lot of 1st year apps if they are the kind of schools that want to see growth, persistence, and are really competitive.
Good luck

 

[RazorDoc2010]

That's about how much experience I had, or maybe a little more than I did. And it looks like you've had a lot of variety so I think that's a very good start. And, September 22 would be fine...just nail down the rest of it and have it ready to submit. And, if I remember correctly, only one school does rolling admissions so it doesn't matter when you submit it (unless you're applying to Michigan State, somebody more knowledgeable correct me if I'm wrong about them and rolling admissions)

 

[ri23]

Not having it submitted until September 22nd is fine. As someone has already said, the only school that does rolling admissions is Michigan State so it doesn't matter for the rest of the schools. That is enough experience and it's very diverse so I think that area of your application will be strong enough. If you can answer the questions in an interview related to your vet experience you will be fine.

 

[Angelo84]

I agree with the above posters. If you will be continuing your wildlife experience throughout the year you can leave the "end" date blank on the VMCAS it will be marked as present. That will indicate to the schools that you are still accumulating hours but that you had the 50 hours at the time you applied. You can also send schools an update after you submit your application if you need to add experiences---ie you did something really neat over winter break you didn't know was going to happen when you submitted. Also at interviews you are always asked "is there anything else you want us to know?" which gives you a lead in for additional experiences during the months between submiting and getting the interview.

Good luck!

 

[akitavet]

I will be working 3 days a week at the repro vet, 1 day at the bovine, and 1 day at the equine throughout this time. I am going to try to pick up 1 or 2 days a month with the wildlife stuff, but we'll see if they get back to me any time soon.

 

[Nexx]

And just remember you are probably looking at things through some adult eyes. In other words, you are probably being brutally honest with the calculation of your hours. Most applicants, from what I have seen locally have a bit of embellishment (rounding up, 150hrs = 200, etc) added into it.

And frankly there isn't that much difference between 150 and 200 hours. That is one extra full-time week of work -- not much experience is necessarily gained in only a week.

Bottom line they aren't going to ask you to document each and every hour spent working and what you have done. But you need to have knowledge commensurate with your hours of experience. In other words, if you say you watched a bunch of dogs get 'spaded' they will pretty much know you were lying through your teeth about having 20,000 hours of experience.

 

[horsybaby]

I agree, what you have is fine. Especially the diversity. Everybody's application has strengths and weaknesses... I would apply

 

[JIKJen124]

I applied as a non-trad with about 850 hours, and was successful. My experiences were similar in nature to yours. Definately, if you are applying to Michigan State you'll want to get your application in, complete with transcripts and LORs in BEFORE Sept. 1. Then you'll get in the Oct. interviewing batch. How nice would it be to know before Thanksgiving?!?! I was in the second batch (I submitted between Sept. 1-15) and it wasn't any big deal. I interviewed in Dec and heard 2 weeks later.

 

[critterfixer]

I, too, applied as a non-traditional with less hours than that at the time of application. I just indicated that my experiences would be continuing. I was offered two interviews, and ended up accepted to UTK and an alternate at Iowa State (no interview for out of state) and Illinois.

Go for it!

 

[ShelterGirl]

If you will be continuing your wildlife experience throughout the year you can leave the "end" date blank on the VMCAS it will be marked as present.

ACK! I wish I had known that last year - I might've done better! I put them all as end dates of 10/06 (repeatedly slapping forehead now) THANKS!

 

[wivet2011]

I agree with the above posters. If you will be continuing your wildlife experience throughout the year you can leave the "end" date blank on the VMCAS it will be marked as present. That will indicate to the schools that you are still accumulating hours but that you had the 50 hours at the time you applied. You can also send schools an update after you submit your application if you need to add experiences---ie you did something really neat over winter break you didn't know was going to happen when you submitted. Also at interviews you are always asked "is there anything else you want us to know?" which gives you a lead in for additional experiences during the months between submiting and getting the interview.

Good luck!

I agree with leaving the end date as 'present'. Also, some schools have supplemental apps. that ask for updated info after the VMCAS is submitted (new experiences, additional hours, etc).

 

[ri23]

ACK! I wish I had known that last year - I might've done better! I put them all as end dates of 10/06 (repeatedly slapping forehead now) THANKS!

Honestly, that's what I did too, and I bet they know that you were continuing those experiences and that the hours you included were from the start date until October.

 

[bakaduin]

UF committee looks for a minimum of 500 hours total. You have well over that so ya should be good!

 

[pressmom]

I'm non-trad and had about 1100 hours when I applied split between small animal (most), equine, food animal, wildlife and exotic pet. I got into three schools and waitlisted at another. It's totally possible that you will get in. Definitely apply and indicate that you are continuing to accumulate hours.

 

[bubbles525]

I think thats more than enough hours to apply. Especially if other aspects of your application are strong. If it were me I'd make my personal deadline September 1st like you are planning. If you apply to Tufts they have a later deadline. Some schools, actually most I applied to two years ago, accept updated CVs anytime you add something significant. So you can always submit you VMCAS September 1st and then submit an updated CV with more hours to every school that you applied to say November 1st and them January 1st or whenever you add 200-300 hours, or whatever your decide. This lets them know you are not just waiting around for an interview or acceptance but actively improving your application. Good luck!

 

[MissBehavior]

In other words, if you say you watched a bunch of dogs get 'spaded' they will pretty much know you were lying through your teeth about having 20,000 hours of experience.

Akitavet, I'm curious as to whether you have other animal hours that are not veterinary-related. It seems like a lot of applicants have a larger amount of animal hours than vet hours. Maybe this helps to round out the app? Even if you don't, though, your experience looks quite solid.

 

[texlaevis]

It's definitely possible to get in with fewer than 1000 hours. I had <150 hours of vet clinical experience and I didn't get any flat-out rejections (two alt's, though). I think what balanced that out was that I had lots of other animal experience (research, horse stuff) and some other interesting "life experiences" to add to my app-- and what little vet experience I did have was pretty broad.

For the record, I didn't have super-amazing gre's or gpa scores. No one ever questioned my right to be at an interview with so little experience (except for other applicants-- poo!!). My situation wasn't ideal, but it worked out ok in the end.