Gap year

[wheez]

Hi!

I am soon going to be a junior in college and am planning on taking a gap year the year after I graduate to get more experience and work on my application. I read that applications must be in the fall before you would attend Vet school, so my question is: would this mean I only have the summer to work on my application? Would the experience I gain after the application due date in the fall not count towards that application?

Thank you!

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[KCgophervet]

Hi!

I am soon going to be a junior in college and am planning on taking a gap year the year after I graduate to get more experience and work on my application. I read that applications must be in the fall before you would attend Vet school, so my question is: would this mean I only have the summer to work on my application? Would the experience I gain after the application due date in the fall not count towards that application?

Thank you!

That is correct, however you have all of junior and senior year to also gain experiences! Shadowing at a vet clinic can be pretty hours-light depending on where you go and devoting just a few hours a week over a few years can add up. That and using your time during the summer to also gain experience should leave you enough time to gain a decent amount of experience. Once the applications are submitted, it's up to the schools whether or not they'll consider experiences completed after that time, but I wouldn't bank on it.

 

[britzen]

You can try adding a little blurb on your app in the additional info section to the effect of "I am taking a gap year to gain a better sense of the field and expect to have X number of hours in Y area by next year.

They may ignore it. But I dont think it would hurt and it may be helpful.

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[wheez]

That is correct, however you have all of junior and senior year to also gain experiences! Shadowing at a vet clinic can be pretty hours-light depending on where you go and devoting just a few hours a week over a few years can add up. That and using your time during the summer to also gain experience should leave you enough time to gain a decent amount of experience. Once the applications are submitted, it's up to the schools whether or not they'll consider experiences completed after that time, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Great, thank you! That is what I thought. I will do my best to pack as much experience in to my little time

 

[Conure13]

Most places will ask you in your interview if there is anything you want to add and that is when I mentioned that I had worked ____ hours between the application cycle and my interview just to let them know I am still building hours.

 

[SkiOtter]

Most places will ask you in your interview if there is anything you want to add and that is when I mentioned that I had worked ____ hours between the application cycle and my interview just to let them know I am still building hours.

Unless it’s closed file or mmi. They don’t know your experience and I doubt anything can be added to your app at that point.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Hi!

I am soon going to be a junior in college and am planning on taking a gap year the year after I graduate to get more experience and work on my application. I read that applications must be in the fall before you would attend Vet school, so my question is: would this mean I only have the summer to work on my application? Would the experience I gain after the application due date in the fall not count towards that application?

Thank you!

It really depends on the school whether or not you can let them know you've upped your experience by ___ hours since the app was submitted. Also up to each school whether they establish a hard cutoff upon application submission or will look at your app and say 'Oh, they're still working here, so they've got more hours' when they actually start going through applications.

If you have a job/shadowing/etc and list it as your current position on VMCAS (so no end date), the school will know that means you are still building those hours. If that is the case, I think it's unnecessary to explain any further.

When it comes to working on your application, you can always start your personal statement ahead of time and update it as you go. I found that to be the most time consuming part of the app process. Ignoring the PS, you could easily sit down and fill out your entire VMCAS in one day if you had to, it would just take a few hours.

 

[Cujo18]

Not sure where you are planning on applying but I know Wisconsin doesn’t send out their supplemental until November, and there is a section on there asking about hours/experience earned since submitting the VMCAS app! Some other schools might have that too.