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Future DVMs- C/O 2021!
- Thread starter lhmhtd
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Do you have too little hours that 200 hours at a dog training facility would largely effect your application?
In all honestly, if that were me, I wouldn't list it.
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I have about 220 hours working at a sanctuary and 1100 hours as a stablehand/campcounselor/horse back riding
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No vet experience?
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I personally would not list it either if your application can do without the 200 hours. Looks like you have 1000 hours elsewhere so that is good. If you have good vet hours too that will help.
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This is why I had every section in Google docs! That way if I needed to reapply, I'd just have to copy and paste.
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Hey class of 2021! Just about 30 days 'till the VMCAS portal opens, and frankly, I'm terrified. I know that I shouldn't be, but I'm so sure that I'm going to get rejected, that I'm hesitant to apply. Anyone else feeling this way?
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In case it hasn't been posted yet, here's the latest AAVMC applicant report. It answers many of the questions that get tossed over and over and over. I'm pretty impressed with the additional data they have been releasing each year.
http://www.aavmc.org/data/files/data/2016 aavmc public data - feb2516.pdf
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http://www.aavmc.org/data/files/data/2016 aavmc public data - feb2516.pdf
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Thank you! This was awesome to read (but also terrifying to see that I'm 4 years younger than the average age for 1st year enrollees)
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Not a big deal to be younger! Averages in general are deceptive statistics, as they are swayed easily by outliers. I promise you there will be many other veterinary students similar in age to yourself and all are qualified to be there.
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And, for what it's worth, I was younger than the average when I was accepted to vet school, and by the time I finish my MPH and actually start vet school I will still be younger than the average. Don't worry about it too much. Age is just a number, maturity isn't. There are plenty of people older than me that are less mature than me and there are plenty of people younger than me that are more mature than me. Vet schools would rarely (if ever) pull an application out of consideration based on age alone - they look at a lot of things.
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Okay. Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! Yeah, I was really worried that admissions would look negatively on my age, I'm glad to know that I'll be okay. (I'm a very mature 19 year old, so I'm not worried about maturity)
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If you're insecure about it you can always wait. No need to bring it up every time the opportunity comes up (because it really does makes you seem immature when you do that). If you really are a mature 19 year old, no one will notice if you don't bring it up. There are plenty of vet students who 'look' 19. Like a lot of them. And there are plenty of people who matriculate before their 21st bday.
Think of it this way. If you get rejected and you're sad because for some reason you think it's your age, that can easily be corrected with a tincture of time. Unlike when a 50 year old gets rejected and s/he's sad, it only gets worse. And there's absolutely no shame in using time to do something really cool and amazing to gain life/work experiences if for some reason you don't get in this time around. There's way more to being a veterinarian than getting through school. The type of person you grow up to be is huge if you do clinical work. It's a mean world around you when you're a vet. You need to be able to command/earn respect. Otherwise you'll be devoured. People dish it out to you all the time, and you need to be able to handle it. Your job is to be able to handle all sorts of people. This is both with clients and staff. The more life experience you've had, the better it will be in this endeavor. Once you're a vet, it's never about YOU anymore.
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VMCAS opens in one month guys! 😍
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Why are you so sure your going to get rejected? Give yourself more credit than that.
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I'm a very cynical person. I'm super optimistic about everybody else, and I think that everyone else will make it, but I never feel like I'm good enough for anything. I think it lies deep into my roots of self loathing. *shrug*
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The first step to making it happen is believing that it's going to be your reality. Believe that you can and you will.
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I'm young too @cdoconn ! I'm 19 currently and will be graduating next spring with a Bachelor's in Animal Science (a year early than most students) at the age of 20. I'll be applying this summer as well, but I'm trying to be optimistic. If we don't get in, we have a whole year to play with as far as experience or go on to get a Master's degree! Just hope for the best, try your hardest and be at an advantage the next time around!
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So true! There's nothing I can really do extra if they don't want me. I'm working this summer at a SA/ exotic vet so I won't submit my application until the end of the summer (so I can get all of those hours)
I just don't know what I would do if I didn't do vet med. I'm a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major and have never had an interest in doing anything besides vet med.
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It doesn't hurt to have a backup plan. Hopefully you get in, of course. But you want to think about what you would do if you have an inadvertent gap year.
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My gap year would probably be spent finishing up my degree (my degree will let you count your first year of vet school as your senior year of classes, and once the first year is over, then you will graduate with your bachelors). If I have an additional gap year, I'd probably move in with family in either Indiana/Illinois to be qualified as IS (better chance at getting in), and work as a vet tech at a clinic.
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Sounds like a great plan! This summer I am going to hopefully be on the necropsy floor with vet students and pathologists and I'll be working in a comparative pathobiology lab headed up by some purdue research vets. I'm taking Genetics and will shadow at a SA clinic in my free time. IF I have time I might volunteer at the local zoo to get some more exotic experience.
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Oh that's great! This summer, I'm working at my SA/ exotics clinic (I'd love to diversify it, but 3 of the staff are all going on maternity leave this summer and they need help) and taking physics over the summer. IF I have free time, I'm shadowing my dad's co-owner's mixed/ equine vet so I can get some additional experience.
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For those of you that are on the younger side of the applicant pool for this upcoming cycle, just remember, vet school isn't going anywhere! Vet med has always been the original plan, but I decided to take a more "scenic" route to get there. I'll be a first time applicant this upcoming cycle and I'm already 28. I have no shame in that, as I have quite a variety of experiences (both related and non related) that I would not have changed as it they helped me get to where I am now. If you don't get accepted this cycle, take advantage of a year off from school and travel, intern, etc. You might find that what you originally love is not what you want to do and vice versa.
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I understand how you feel. I am a perfectionist, and I do lack a lot of self confidence. I was devastated last cycle when I was rejected by all 4 school I applied to, to the point where I was depressed for over a month. Talking it out with family, friends, and my boyfriend, helped very much. One friend of mine told me to think of it as a loss to the school and to keep reminding myself that it is not me, and that the schools are really picky because they can be. Also recently, I was emailing with a retried vet from Texas A&M (who I'm also skyping with tonight) about advice for getting into vet school. When I shared with him my stats and experiences, he was impressed. I had always thought that my stats were mediocre, pathetic in comparison to the much higher grades, GPA, and GRE scores other applicants have. But in just that one sentence "this is impressive," it completely changed my outlook. It made me realize that there is hope, that I do have a chance. It gave me a large boost of self-confidence for the cycle ahead (believe me, it is not at 100% confidence, but it is definitely much higher than before)!
As, @mmmdreamerz said, it's all about our outlook on the situation. The process is much easier (including the recovery from rejections-though that is never going to be easy) when we have self confidence and a positive outlook.
We have to look beyond the negative thoughts we think about ourselves and the look beyond the negative thoughts of the rejections because if we think them too long we will believe them. When life throws us lemons, we "just keep swimming." No matter what others think of us or what we think of ourselves, we don't let those thoughts drag us down into a hole that we will never be able to climb out of. Instead, we "keep moving forward" in the direction of success. That is how our dreams come true.
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Ahh you beat me to it! I'm not in high school guys!
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Finally got my ranking for the only school I was wait listed at. So it looks like I will officially be seeking admittance for C/O 2021! Here's to improving my app this year and hoping for a better outcome!!
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Does anyone know of a thread that has a lists/descriptions how heavily certain schools weigh certain factors? For example, listing schools that would be less GPA-oriented than say, Cornell or Davis. I've tried searching for this, but the results are quite varied and not limited to veterinary schools.
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22 days from now you'll be significantly less excited when you figure out how much fun VMCAS is 😉
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TMDSAS made me even less excited than VMCAS! Well, minus the part where you get to include a head shot. That made me feel like some sort of a veterinary model.
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Does anyone know when the latest date to take the GRE is? I wont be back in the US until the beginning of August, and I plan to retake the GRE as soon as I return. Do you think that will be fine since the application isn't due until September 15th?
Also, is it beneficial to send multiple GRE scores (from each GRE test taken) to the schools? I read somewhere about some vet school taking the higher score for each section so if you do better in qualitative section the second try, they will take that second qualitative score. I don't remember which school that is, but I am wondering if any of you know of other schools that do that as well. Do Tufts, Texas A&M, Georgia, Washington, Purdue, and Kansas do this?
Also, is it beneficial to send multiple GRE scores (from each GRE test taken) to the schools? I read somewhere about some vet school taking the higher score for each section so if you do better in qualitative section the second try, they will take that second qualitative score. I don't remember which school that is, but I am wondering if any of you know of other schools that do that as well. Do Tufts, Texas A&M, Georgia, Washington, Purdue, and Kansas do this?
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Most schools aren't going to mix and match your scores from different tests. There are some schools that will just look at your best overall score if you send multiple ones (I believe this is how Purdue does it, don't know anything about your other schools of interest)
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Yes the date is fine. Earlier is usually better in case you decide you want to retake, but if this is already your retake, just make sure you are super prepared this time! I think there's a new thing with VMCAS taking GRE scores this year, so I'm not sure how that will work, but sending it to individual schools only took about 2 days.
In terms of super scoring. This varies by school! The majority in my experience will either "super score" (best of each section from every attempt) or take your best composite. But you should check the schools' websites or email them for the individual programs you're interested in. I can answer that Tufts does superscore, but I didn't apply to any of the others so I can't answer for them. This is again an easy thing to send a quick email about and get a correct answer. They know more than us Internet folk.
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Texas A&M does not superscore. They will take the one test that gives you the most points in their system. So whichever one has the highest quantitative and analytical score. I wish they did superscore though! That would be awesome!
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Experience Help - for any objective soul to answer really 🙂 I would appreciate any advice greatly!
I've recently been offered a lot of awesome opportunities, but I'm having trouble deciding/prioritizing. I have 323 hours of veterinary experience and 98 hours of general animal experience. I'm bulking up as much as feasibly possible before I send off my VMCAS application come August (I figured this would give me enough time to optimize my experience hours), but I am trying to choose a suitable opportunity that would likely result in a great LOR from a veterinarian as well. Lastly a quick note: I also volunteer at a local animal shelter regularly so my general animal experience hours will increase greatly as well. I would stick with said opportunities past the VMCAS cycle of course 🙂 I greatly enjoy these animal escapades!
haha
The Dilemma:
1. I currently shadow/observe at a veterinary hospital (that I love very much), but I unfortunately am not allowed to gain direct hands-on experience here. I also know in my heart of hearts that if I stayed here to observe I wouldn't get that great or strong of a LOR.........after all I'm just watching and asking questions. :/
2. I'm about to start an opportunity with a lab veterinarian where I can eventually assist with bloodwork and medical exams......but I'm not sure how frequent this will be. (I'm waiting on a response, but I'm getting the vibe this would be sparse).
3. I was offered an interview at a veterinary clinic as a part-time tech assistant where I would definitely gain great hands-on experience. However, I'm a Biology graduate student (Masters)......so I don't want to step on any toes by working at another job. My graduate advisor is supportive, but would prefer me to do #2 instead of #3.
I'm trying to decide if I should just do 1 and 2 (and ask 2 eventually for a LOR) or 2 and 3..... (and ask eventually 2 and 3 for LORs).
Thank you for anyone that read all of this and thank you in advance for helping me out with this decision!
I've recently been offered a lot of awesome opportunities, but I'm having trouble deciding/prioritizing. I have 323 hours of veterinary experience and 98 hours of general animal experience. I'm bulking up as much as feasibly possible before I send off my VMCAS application come August (I figured this would give me enough time to optimize my experience hours), but I am trying to choose a suitable opportunity that would likely result in a great LOR from a veterinarian as well. Lastly a quick note: I also volunteer at a local animal shelter regularly so my general animal experience hours will increase greatly as well. I would stick with said opportunities past the VMCAS cycle of course 🙂 I greatly enjoy these animal escapades!
hahaThe Dilemma:
1. I currently shadow/observe at a veterinary hospital (that I love very much), but I unfortunately am not allowed to gain direct hands-on experience here. I also know in my heart of hearts that if I stayed here to observe I wouldn't get that great or strong of a LOR.........after all I'm just watching and asking questions. :/
2. I'm about to start an opportunity with a lab veterinarian where I can eventually assist with bloodwork and medical exams......but I'm not sure how frequent this will be. (I'm waiting on a response, but I'm getting the vibe this would be sparse).
3. I was offered an interview at a veterinary clinic as a part-time tech assistant where I would definitely gain great hands-on experience. However, I'm a Biology graduate student (Masters)......so I don't want to step on any toes by working at another job. My graduate advisor is supportive, but would prefer me to do #2 instead of #3.
I'm trying to decide if I should just do 1 and 2 (and ask 2 eventually for a LOR) or 2 and 3..... (and ask eventually 2 and 3 for LORs).
Thank you for anyone that read all of this and thank you in advance for helping me out with this decision!
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Experience Help - for any objective soul to answer really 🙂 I would appreciate any advice greatly!
I've recently been offered a lot of awesome opportunities, but I'm having trouble deciding/prioritizing. I have 323 hours of veterinary experience and 98 hours of general animal experience. I'm bulking up as much as feasibly possible before I send off my VMCAS application come August (I figured this would give me enough time to optimize my experience hours), but I am trying to choose a suitable opportunity that would likely result in a great LOR from a veterinarian as well. Lastly a quick note: I also volunteer at a local animal shelter regularly so my general animal experience hours will increase greatly as well. I would stick with said opportunities past the VMCAS cycle of course 🙂 I greatly enjoy these animal escapades!
The Dilemma:
1. I currently shadow/observe at a veterinary hospital (that I love very much), but I unfortunately am not allowed to gain direct hands-on experience here. I also know in my heart of hearts that if I stayed here to observe I wouldn't get that great or strong of a LOR.........after all I'm just watching and asking questions. :/
2. I'm about to start an opportunity with a lab veterinarian where I can eventually assist with bloodwork and medical exams......but I'm not sure how frequent this will be. (I'm waiting on a response, but I'm getting the vibe this would be sparse).
3. I was offered an interview at a veterinary clinic as a part-time tech assistant where I would definitely gain great hands-on experience. However, I'm a Biology graduate student (Masters)......so I don't want to step on any toes by working at another job. My graduate advisor is supportive, but would prefer me to do #2 instead of #3.
I'm trying to decide if I should just do 1 and 2 (and ask 2 eventually for a LOR) or 2 and 3..... (and ask eventually 2 and 3 for LORs).
Thank you for anyone that read all of this and thank you in advance for helping me out with this decision!
You need to remember that it is going to take some time for your person to write a recommendation. I personally wouldn't spring it on them in August. What I did when determining who would write about me was I asked all my people beforehand if they felt confident giving me a good recommendation. I have received enthusiast yes's and I've also been told that they didn't know me well enough. Just be upfront and ask. As far as which would be better I'm not sure, but it sounds as though you've mostly made up your mind about what you would like to do.
Another thing to consider is that not all schools count tech experience as vet experience because you are supposed to be under the direct supervision of a veterinarian, and some tech jobs might work with vets, but are supervised by others. I know for my vet experience it started out as shadowing, and as they got more comfortable with me and what I could do, they started to let me help out more.
Best of luck for whatever you choose.
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Experience Help - for any objective soul to answer really 🙂 I would appreciate any advice greatly!
I've recently been offered a lot of awesome opportunities, but I'm having trouble deciding/prioritizing. I have 323 hours of veterinary experience and 98 hours of general animal experience. I'm bulking up as much as feasibly possible before I send off my VMCAS application come August (I figured this would give me enough time to optimize my experience hours), but I am trying to choose a suitable opportunity that would likely result in a great LOR from a veterinarian as well. Lastly a quick note: I also volunteer at a local animal shelter regularly so my general animal experience hours will increase greatly as well. I would stick with said opportunities past the VMCAS cycle of course 🙂 I greatly enjoy these animal escapades!
The Dilemma:
1. I currently shadow/observe at a veterinary hospital (that I love very much), but I unfortunately am not allowed to gain direct hands-on experience here. I also know in my heart of hearts that if I stayed here to observe I wouldn't get that great or strong of a LOR.........after all I'm just watching and asking questions. :/
2. I'm about to start an opportunity with a lab veterinarian where I can eventually assist with bloodwork and medical exams......but I'm not sure how frequent this will be. (I'm waiting on a response, but I'm getting the vibe this would be sparse).
3. I was offered an interview at a veterinary clinic as a part-time tech assistant where I would definitely gain great hands-on experience. However, I'm a Biology graduate student (Masters)......so I don't want to step on any toes by working at another job. My graduate advisor is supportive, but would prefer me to do #2 instead of #3.
I'm trying to decide if I should just do 1 and 2 (and ask 2 eventually for a LOR) or 2 and 3..... (and ask eventually 2 and 3 for LORs).
Thank you for anyone that read all of this and thank you in advance for helping me out with this decision!
If I were you, I would go with #3. I dont really see how you would be stepping on any toes by having a job. Many grad students work jobs while going to school. You will want to get as many hands on vet hours as you can and hopefully someone to write you a great LOR. Sounds like #3 is the best bet for this (although #2 might as well if you can figure out how often that would be).
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Also anxiously awaiting the opening of the VMCAS application! First time application (but a lot older than pretty much everyone here). Would love to hear more about VMCAS accepting GRE scores, as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. It would be great if we could just send it to them and not have to worry (and pay) to send it to all the schools individually.
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Experience Help - for any objective soul to answer really 🙂 I would appreciate any advice greatly!
I've recently been offered a lot of awesome opportunities, but I'm having trouble deciding/prioritizing. I have 323 hours of veterinary experience and 98 hours of general animal experience. I'm bulking up as much as feasibly possible before I send off my VMCAS application come August (I figured this would give me enough time to optimize my experience hours), but I am trying to choose a suitable opportunity that would likely result in a great LOR from a veterinarian as well. Lastly a quick note: I also volunteer at a local animal shelter regularly so my general animal experience hours will increase greatly as well. I would stick with said opportunities past the VMCAS cycle of course 🙂 I greatly enjoy these animal escapades!
The Dilemma:
1. I currently shadow/observe at a veterinary hospital (that I love very much), but I unfortunately am not allowed to gain direct hands-on experience here. I also know in my heart of hearts that if I stayed here to observe I wouldn't get that great or strong of a LOR.........after all I'm just watching and asking questions. :/
2. I'm about to start an opportunity with a lab veterinarian where I can eventually assist with bloodwork and medical exams......but I'm not sure how frequent this will be. (I'm waiting on a response, but I'm getting the vibe this would be sparse).
3. I was offered an interview at a veterinary clinic as a part-time tech assistant where I would definitely gain great hands-on experience. However, I'm a Biology graduate student (Masters)......so I don't want to step on any toes by working at another job. My graduate advisor is supportive, but would prefer me to do #2 instead of #3.
I'm trying to decide if I should just do 1 and 2 (and ask 2 eventually for a LOR) or 2 and 3..... (and ask eventually 2 and 3 for LORs).
Thank you for anyone that read all of this and thank you in advance for helping me out with this decision!
What type of experience are the hours you currently have from? If they're all small animal you're definetely going to want to do #2 to show breadth of experience. If this is infrequent, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to add both. I know if it were me I would've figured out a way to do them all (I've worked 3 different jobs at a time before), so I think you can do it.
In terms of the recommendation issue, you're dangerously approaching the time when you'd need to start asking for one to get ample time. Why do you think the current place wouldn't give you a good letter? Do you know that another veterinarian who knew you for 2 months would? The hands-on opportunity sounds better than what you have currently, but you need that vet letter no matter what. Just some things to think about!
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I'm definitely looking forward to this too. Last year I took the GRE early in the year, so I didn't know what schools I was going to be applying to yet. Right after you complete the exam you can choose 4(?) schools to send scores to for free, so I made my best guesses. Once VMCAS opened I unfortunately ended up switching to a different set of schools than I'd anticipated, so I had to spend like 80 bucks just to have scores sent to those schools...would be nice to avoid that.
D
deleted676737
Yep! If you guys are planning to take the GRE sometime during the summer part of the cycle, I would try to have an idea of what schools you're applying to so that you can take advantage of the four free GRE score reports. You have to use them at the testing center; otherwise, it's... what, $15-$20 per school when you order them online? I don't remember the exact price. 👍
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Thank you and most definitely! I was going to ask for a LOR sooner rather than later to give said person a decent amount of time to right it, so ideally after a month that I've begun said opportunity. (For my other letters, i.e. my graduate advisor, my supervisor at the shelter - since I've been working with them for much longer I will give them a much earlier warning) For the part-time job it would be working under said vet's supervision........for the current experience of me shadowing at a different vet hospital - good point.....I've done little things, but they won't let me do "bigger" things, i.e. preforming a heart worm exam, holding the pet during an apt, etc, due to liability issues. I've volunteered at hospitals that let me do both even though I wasn't an employee, but the current one I shadow at is more protective over preventing liability issues. :/ I suppose.
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Thanks for your response! My veterinary hours are all companion animal (although my research hours all concern my work with fish). Noted about breadth, and I am tempted......I just am trying to keep my plate balanced since I'm also a National Science Foundation and Smithsonian Fellow, therefore, my thesis is and has to be my #1 priority.
Regarding the LOR question I definitely realize this and appreciate you for bringing this up! My past veterinary internships/experiences were back in 2012.....so I don't really feel confident/comfortable to ask a veterinarian from back then to write a recommendation on my behalf....that's why I'm focusing more on the present. In retrospect re-jumping into the vet medicine swing of things earlier would have been more ideal, but I was preparing for my thesis trip to Panama (which consumed my life) - and just got back in March - hence the tardiness :/ However, I'm still confident I can retrieve great LORs by the time I submit my VMCAS this summer. (I'm a chipper soul who definitely remembers when to remind LOR writers 😉
Lastly, here is a question to answer your question (which may be silly......), have there been cases of students who have shadowed (solely observed) at a veterinary hospital and have had top-notch LORs generated from this? I was leaning towards the "yes, but very few" territory due to my current situation. I am standing around politely and injecting my questions when I can, but I was thinking something more hands-on (i.e. a job) would generate a better LOR and would increase my chances of acceptance? Or is there equal value in a LOR from a veterinarian period? (Of course if the letter is compelling enough and of superior quality as well).
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Yeah I ran into that problem as well :/ I found that most schools offer liability insurance that satisfy this requirement, you might want to look into that. Good luck, maybe we'll be classmates
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Me. All 2,500 or so of my veterinary experience hours were shadowing; I was never able to find a paid position in a vet-related setting, so I settled for shadowing on the side while working unrelated jobs. As far as I'm aware, it was a perfectly fine letter (or at least good enough to get me accepted, clearly!). I had about 970 hours with the veterinarian who wrote it, however, so she knew me quite well. YMMV.
