Experiences asked about in interviews

[smilin1590]

Here is question, when it comes to vet experience who's to say you are not lying and making up hours in different types of clinical setting i.e. surgery, dermatology,etc. when you submit your application. Obviously you have to have at least one letter of recommendation from a DVM. But this girl I go to school with (I brought her up in a previous thread forever ago) can't decide where she wants to go after undergrad vet or regular med and she found out you have to get hours shadowing and she was like "I'll just make up my hours" So my question is won't they bring up her experiences in interviews and then what will she say? She potentially could have as much diverse experience as she wants but if she doesn't have any idea about a particular are she's so screwed at an interview? Yes or No?
I just got really mad about this today so sorry if this comes off as stupid or rude, it's just I'm working hard to get where I want to go in life.

p.s. I've had a crappy day

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[twelvetigers]

You list a reference for each experience, complete with a phone number and an address.

I think adcoms would be able to tell if someone was lying about experience, anyway.

 

[cowgirla]

Here is question, when it comes to vet experience who's to say you are not lying and making up hours in different types of clinical setting i.e. surgery, dermatology,etc. when you submit your application. Obviously you have to have at least one letter of recommendation from a DVM. But this girl I go to school with (I brought her up in a previous thread forever ago) can't decide where she wants to go after undergrad vet or regular med and she found out you have to get hours shadowing and she was like "I'll just make up my hours" So my question is won't they bring up her experiences in interviews and then what will she say? She potentially could have as much diverse experience as she wants but if she doesn't have any idea about a particular are she's so screwed at an interview? Yes or No?
I just got really mad about this today so sorry if this comes off as stupid or rude, it's just I'm working hard to get where I want to go in life.

p.s. I've had a crappy day

Well, a lot of schools make you provide the contact info for all of your experiences. I doubt they check up on every body, but it's there.

If the interview is closed file, they probably wont bring up specific details to "catch" her in a lie, unfortunately.

Honestly, if she's not dedicated enough to do the work, I'm sure that will come across in some aspect of her application, the PS, or interview, and I really hope they would turn her away.

 

[smilin1590]

You list a reference for each experience, complete with a phone number and an address.

I think adcoms would be able to tell if someone was lying about experience, anyway.

Ahh, this makes me feel a lot better. I was going to say that it's nuts if people can just BS whatever they want. You always have the answers Twelvetigers

 

[lalzi22]

To be honest, I would bet they most likely do not check the references. I mean, imagine calling thousands of hospitals just to verify hours. I know they didn't call a single on of mine.

 

[clouds815]

Don't lie, and don't worry about others who try to. It will come back to haunt them.

 

[twelvetigers]

I know UGA calls because I remember LVT2DVM mentioning that she had heard from her employer that they had called. So, some places totally do check.

 

[smilin1590]

don't lie, and don't worry about others who try to. It will come back to haunt them.

agreed!

 

[Tiktaalik]

I'd guess that they probably call a few at random to be sure. If she were to lie and have a closed-file interview, the fact that she failed to mention her experience in the interview would probably still raise a red flag when they're doing the final review of the file.

And, of course, were someone caught, that person can forget about ever getting into that school any cycle. Ever. If it came out after matriculation, that'd certainly be grounds for dismissal, too, which would probably preclude the person from getting into any school.

 

[cowgirla]

Oh, and Ohio makes you have a vet sign off on a certain number hours. I think they required 80. Basically a little blurb, "I attest to the fact that this person was under my supervision for a minimum of 80 hours between these dates"

 

[GellaBella]

I guess that it is possible to scam your way through clinical experience, if you really want to go that route. I mean, since she has to get a letter from a DVM she would have to get some experience, enough to get the letter at least. But, unless she is a good, on her feet liar, it certainly could bite her during the interview.

At my Penn interview they asked me to describe a specific situation that stood out to me during my time shadowing at a veterinary hospital. They really wanted to know the details of what was going on and why it stood out to me and then one of the interviewers asked where it was that I had shadowed and who owned that veterinary practice (apparently she knew one of the owners). Obviously thats not necessarily typical but it is certainly possible and I know I definitely could not come up with a suitable lie fast enough and on the spot to deal with questions like that!

 

[DVMDream]

In my Washington interview (open-file) they asked me to describe a specific case I had seen during my experiences in vet med. So it would be really hard to come up with one interesting case if you had never really had the experience.

Then, in my Western interview (closed file, behavioral) I would think that it would be really hard to answer some of those questions without talking about experiences in vet med. Obviously, not all answers have to be about vet med but I would imagine that they are looking for you to at least answer one or two of the questions with experiences you have had in vet med.

So, I would think that it would be really hard to lie about experiences especially once you got to the interview part. The adcoms would pick up on it. Even, the schools who do not interview could get some inkling as to whether or not a person is lying. Afer all, you have to describe the tasks that you did at each experience and if that raises in questions they will have a number to call to verify those experience hours.

 

[sumstorm]

Don't forget, vet med is a very small world. If she listed a specific place, chances are some ad com knows someone who knows someone. that is even more true in boarded specialties. I have had the remarkable experience of meeting 7 vets this year (in NC) that know the vet I worked with in Louisiana AND the one I worked with in Thailand.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I guess that it is possible to scam your way through clinical experience, if you really want to go that route. I mean, since she has to get a letter from a DVM she would have to get some experience, enough to get the letter at least. But, unless she is a good, on her feet liar, it certainly could bite her during the interview.

At my Penn interview they asked me to describe a specific situation that stood out to me during my time shadowing at a veterinary hospital. They really wanted to know the details of what was going on and why it stood out to me and then one of the interviewers asked where it was that I had shadowed and who owned that veterinary practice (apparently she knew one of the owners). Obviously thats not necessarily typical but it is certainly possible and I know I definitely could not come up with a suitable lie fast enough and on the spot to deal with questions like that!

The interview was stressful enough - can you imagine having to maintain a consistent lie, too? I would have fainted right there.

 

[twelvetigers]

I'm a TERRIBLE liar. With me, it's brutal honesty or nothing. Makes some things difficult.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Sorry to be a killjoy but I suspect that lying goes on, and except in extraordinary cases it is not caught. It is just naive to think otherwise. Can someone bluff their way without any clinical experience? Probably not, but they can certainly add fictitious experiences and exaggerate how much they had. I have found out some whoppers people have claimed on their resumes, but not until well after the fact. Liars are just too good.

Does it really concern us? I think not. I agree with Clouds815 not to worry about it (although I cynically disbelieve that it will come back them... karma is not so efficient in my experience).

Maybe this is why Cornell wants a letter from every vet experience listed? Not going to stop all the fraudulent claims, but certainly going to cut out some of it!

To end on a happy thought: I suspect there is lot more lying going on with those pre-med types!

 

[luplodw]

What happens if you get caught lying? Do they tell all the schools or what?

 

[Tiktaalik]

Sorry to be a killjoy but I suspect that lying goes on, and except in extraordinary cases it is not caught. It is just naive to think otherwise. Can someone bluff their way without any clinical experience? Probably not, but they can certainly add fictitious experiences and exaggerate how much they had. I have found out some whoppers people have claimed on their resumes, but not until well after the fact. Liars are just too good.

Oh, I'm sure plain old padding happens all the time, but out-and-out lying just seems too risky and difficult. I would think you'd need at least some experience to construct a convincing lie - I wouldn't know what my responsibilities at my experiences would be if I were trying to make them up.

I agree, though, none of our business. And besides, why warn liars when the adcoms are in such desperate need of reasons to reject people?

 

[DVMDream]

I agree, though, none of our business. And besides, why warn liars when the adcoms are in such desperate need of reasons to reject people?

I agree.

 

[Tiktaalik]

What happens if you get caught lying? Do they tell all the schools or what?

Too bad we don't have an adcom member to tell us that anymore, huh?

 

[smilin1590]

I agree, though, none of our business. And besides, why warn liars when the adcoms are in such desperate need of reasons to reject people?

good point, good point

 

[StartingoverVet]

I must have a devious mind because now I am trying to think up with low-risk schemes to make up vet experiences....

I think I have some real winners, but of course, I mustn't divulge my secrets with all you impressionable applicants reading out there.

He he he he he (evil laugh) He He he he he...

(Cue to startingovervet being carried off in a white straight-jacket still laughing evilly. Fade off with pictures of adcom reading his VMCAS application....)

Yes folks, I have been in L.A. way too long.

 

[sumstorm]

Oh, I'm sure plain old padding happens all the time, but out-and-out lying just seems too risky and difficult. I would think you'd need at least some experience to construct a convincing lie - I wouldn't know what my responsibilities at my experiences would be if I were trying to make them up.

I agree, though, none of our business. And besides, why warn liars when the adcoms are in such desperate need of reasons to reject people?

I was advised, a lot, to cut back hours, especially in animal experience. mostly becuse I grew up on a farm showing livestock. I still had a ton. I know in elementary to HS I did all weekend shows 2-4 times a month. I think I listed 100+ (just like that) hours.

I think it is just too risky. I do know they checked one of my vet experiences; the zoo I was at in 1999. The vet had moved on. There wasn't a record, but one keeper remembered the student that drove 3h round trip 2x/wk for a year to help the vet.

 

[HoneySmucks]

If someone decides to lie on their application, they are probably not very moral/ethical overall. They probably have also cheated on exams and lied their way through life. They might get through the application process and interview by virtue of their incredible lying skills (which I can't understand because I usually start laughing whenever I try to lie... makes it really obvious ), but if they've been used to always lying and cheating, one would hope they'll at least be caught cheating in vet school and then kicked out. But I think someone could definitely get through the application process lying if they really really wanted to. Animal planet has shows about vets, the internet has information, somehow they would lie their way through fabricated experience, and maybe they don't get caught by the random audits of some schools, and if somehow the interviewers don't notice the lie---statistically the liar would be taking a big risk, but it probably happens sometimes. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

I hope for this girl's sake she realizes lying is actually more work than just going out and getting the experience.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I hope for this girl's sake she realizes lying is actually more work than just going out and getting the experience.

I was reading your post and had exactly the same thought, then I got to the end and *boom* you read my mind.

...

...stop doin' that.

 

[HoneySmucks]

I was reading your post and had exactly the same thought, then I got to the end and *boom* you read my mind.

...

...stop doin' that.

Have I read your mind before?