How to Choose What Schools to Apply To

[Rebeki]

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I know many of you on here have already gone through the application process. How did you choose what schools to apply to?

Also, is it inappropriate to contact the admissions office before you apply to get an idea of what your chances might be at a particular school? Will the admissions office give you any advice on what to do before you apply to improve your changes?

Thank You!

 

[runnerDC]

I know many of you on here have already gone through the application process. How did you choose what schools to apply to?

Also, is it inappropriate to contact the admissions office before you apply to get an idea of what your chances might be at a particular school? Will the admissions office give you any advice on what to do before you apply to improve your changes?

Thank You!

This topics has been covered recently in a couple of places. Check out:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=388247
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=396039

 

[Rebeki]

Thanks, the links were very helpful and helped to answer the first half of my question.

If anyone has some input on how to decide what your chances are at a particular school and if it's acceptable to contact the admissions office to get a feel for your chances that would be great!

 

[RazorDoc2010]

It's definitely acceptable to contact the admissions office, and if possible, take a trip to see the school. This is a big decision, so you'll want to be as informed as possible! They may or may not give you any indication on your chances, but you could probably get them to say weak points in your app.

Go to aavmc.org and look at the school sites. Almost all of them have info on their matriculating classes, and you can see how you stack up. Just keep in mind, this whole process is kind of a crap shoot and it's not just all about the numbers you'll see.

Good luck!

 

[wivet2011]

It's definitely acceptable to contact the admissions office, and if possible, take a trip to see the school. This is a big decision, so you'll want to be as informed as possible! They may or may not give you any indication on your chances, but you could probably get them to say weak points in your app.

Go to aavmc.org and look at the school sites. Almost all of them have info on their matriculating classes, and you can see how you stack up. Just keep in mind, this whole process is kind of a crap shoot and it's not just all about the numbers you'll see.

Good luck!

I agree with RazorDoc. I obviously wouldn't call and flat out ask, what are my chances of getting in here, but you can certainly ask what types of things they look for in applicants, etc. And if you have the chance, definetly try and visit any schools you plan on applying to. I didn't have a chance to visit any school (besides instate) until the interviews and I had a completely different opinion of the schools after. I thought one in particular was WAY better than what I had imagined from the website and phonecalls.

 

[HopefulUGACVM]

I also used the aavmc. There is a nifty chart that goes through all the prereqs and which schools require which ones. Since I went to a smaller school this was very handy for the out of state schools. I went ahead and crossed off all the schools that required prereqs that I did not take.

Then I went through the remaining schools and looked at a combination of tuition/number and ratio of accepted OOS/stats etc.

None of that ended up helping me as an OOS applicant but I got into my in-state school anyway. But it did help me narrow down and apply more efficiently.

Here's the prereq chart if you need it http://www.aavmc.org/vmcas/documents/PreqChartconverted0708_000.pdf

And this chart was helpful as well http://www.aavmc.org/vmcas/documents/AAVMCMemberSchoolChartupdated2007_000.pdf

They are off of this art of the website
http://www.aavmc.org/vmcas/vmcas_downloads.htm