Is Davis your first choice?

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kate_g

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Since Davis seems to be among the latest schools in terms of notifying about acceptance/rejection after the interview... (and since there seems to be a boom in Davis threads recently)

If you are interviewing at Davis... Is it your first choice, hands down? If you're accepted, will you immediately turn down any other schools you're accepted to or waiting on? Or would you like the chance to think about it a little while? If it's your top choice but you got multiple acceptances, do you also have a definite hands-down second choice so that if you get a rejection from Davis on April 15th you'll still know exactly who to call?

For in-state students... Is there anything that would make you turn down Davis and go to another school?

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Since Davis seems to be among the latest schools in terms of notifying about acceptance/rejection after the interview... (and since there seems to be a boom in Davis threads recently)

If you are interviewing at Davis... Is it your first choice, hands down? If you're accepted, will you immediately turn down any other schools you're accepted to or waiting on? Or would you like the chance to think about it a little while? If it's your top choice but you got multiple acceptances, do you also have a definite hands-down second choice so that if you get a rejection from Davis on April 15th you'll still know exactly who to call?

For in-state students... Is there anything that would make you turn down Davis and go to another school?

I'm in-state and even though i visited davis and a couple of other schools, i still don't have a definite first choice. even if davis turns me down, i still wouldn't know where to go. i am extremely lucky that i have a choice but at the same time having choices makes the decision of where to go really hard, especially since i liked most of the schools i visited. i have yet to visit wisconsin and oregon but i really liked michigan, minnesota, davis, and have heard amazing things about both wisconsin and oregon so i am one confused person. :confused: but this is one type of dilemna i am happy to have. :laugh:
 
yea I really liked MN too (who also hasn't told us moo), but Davis is still my first pick. I already had my interview, sent the thank you notes... and am now back to waiting. It seems like that's all we ever do these days.
 
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if i get into davis and not csu's joint program, then davis is definitely my choice over wsu - i'm willing to pay the extra 42K in tuition for the wildlife medicine and research opportunities at davis. if i get into both davis and csu's joint program, i'm gonna have to think really hard. i would have a larger amount of debt at davis (50K) than at csu (plus at csu i'd be done with both my dvm and phd). but, i'd be perfectly happy with wsu if i don't get into csu or davis and can do a research project there. and, honestly, i feel really lucky to have gotten in this cycle at all.
 
the one thing that really appeals to me about Davis is that after a year you can establish residency and pay instate tuition... (which is still a little pricey at 22000, but better than what I would pay as out of state for CSU or even instate at Tufts)

I think it would be a tough call between CSU and Davis... Davis has the weather advantage... brand new facilities... guess I will know better after I visit/interview this week (and of course this all rests on being one of the VERY few out of staters that actually get accepted!!)
 
been thinking more (every chance i get), and, yes, davis davis davis davis!! that's where i want to go above all else... i wonder if i write it all over my notebooks i'll make it come true? :D
 
i wonder if i write it all over my notebooks i'll make it come true?
No, but if you write in lipstick on the bathroom wall it will.

Wildfocus :love: Davis

;)
 
While you're there wildfocus, write philomycus = UF :oops:
 
I'm an in-state for Davis, but I was also accepted at Penn. I really liked Penn, more than I thought I would, and I hope to do equine sports medicine, so they might have the best program to pursue that. But, I really would rather stay in CA, the weather's so nice and it would save me some money, so I'll probably go to Davis if they'll have me. If not, I'd still be thrilled to go to Penn. Still, it's hard to choose, I want to go to both of them for different reasons! Anyone else in the same boat, trying to choose between Davis and somewhere else? Any in-state students who do not have Davis as their first choice? I figure that unless you have a really unusual focus, you'll get a great education at any vet school, so don't stress too much about absolutely getting into a certain school. Most of the basic training is the same at all of them. If I do an internship or residency, then I'll definitely consider going to Penn for this more advanced training and maybe their strong equine program will be more relevant then. I've heard that a lot of schools don't like to accept their own vet school graduates for internships or residencies, so that might be something to consider. Anyway, that's my two cents.
 
Not that I am in a position to be choosy, but Davis wouldn't be my first choice. As an undergrad at Davis, I had some interaction with the vet school: an internship, knowing some students in some of my classes, took one vet med class. My impression is that they don't take great care of their students once you're in. It's sink or swim. This doesn't make for a very pleasant four years.
 
Not that I am in a position to be choosy, but Davis wouldn't be my first choice. As an undergrad at Davis, I had some interaction with the vet school: an internship, knowing some students in some of my classes, took one vet med class. My impression is that they don't take great care of their students once you're in. It's sink or swim. This doesn't make for a very pleasant four years.

Really? Everyone I've talked to said that once you're in, they try to do everything they can to make sure you graduate. Not only that, but to do otherwise would not only hurt you, but also make them look bad.
 
right, sorry I was unclear. I guess sink or swim was the wrong analogy. You're right, they don't want you to drop out at all. Their selection criteria makes it pretty unlikely that anybody would drop out! What I meant was that they have excellent academics - no doubt about that. But they also have a very competitive, nearly hostile learning environment. Everyone expects vet school to be very demanding of their time & energy, but it can be more supportive and less stressful than Davis is.
Also, from what I've seen, their very strong academics are at the expense of clinical and real world skills. Recent grads spend their first year or so picking up the hands-on skills they may not have gotten to practice much in school. This is true of any recent grad of course, but I think it's more relevant to Davis grads than some others.
Disclaimer: these are just my impressions from the students & graduates that I've known, and from my experiences there. (I'm in state, if that makes a difference)
 
But they also have a very competitive, nearly hostile learning environment.
The first-years at the recent orientation didn't seem to think so... Of course, the kind of current students who come to the interviewee orientation might be biased toward cooperative/friendly people. Somebody asked the third-year who was giving our tour whether it was very competitive, and he said that there was a *lot* of competition in his class at the beginning, but that by the end of the first quarter everyone had gotten over it and since then has been very cooperative.

I dunno, I got *very* strong impressions of non-competitive atmosphere at Penn and Minnesota, and I guess I wasn't 100% convinced by the reassurance I got at Davis.

The thing that's weird is, it's gotta be mostly the students who make it competitive or not (the third-year said the classes weren't curved or anything, so it's not like the profs are setting up competitive conditions on purpose). So if all of us here want a cooperative environment, well then... let's just all be cooperative!

EDIT: Flokemahe, what year were the students you're drawing your impression from? Were they competitive in classes, or were these people doing clinical rotations (competing for access to the "good" cases or something)? In what way did the competition/hostility manifest itself?
 
I am currently a 2nd year vet student at Davis, and I just wanted to say that I never experienced the competitiveness that you guys are talking about. :)
People in my class are very helpful and cooperative, and I am very happy to attend Davis.
Some examples: some people in the class take photos of gross specimens in labs, and post them with their personal notes on our website so everyone can study from it. Others make study guides, charts of drugs in Pharm class, study groups form and people study together. If you are not doing well in class, professors work with you to figure out what you should do differently. Nobody is left behind.
In summer, you have opportunity to do Summer Clinics when you can pick up plenty of hands-on experience in a wide variety of rotations. A lot of my classmates work at the VMTH as well, participate in treatment crews, do colic team, etc. So if you want more hands-on experience, you can get it. I also know a couple of 4th year students who are doing clinics right now, and they love it, and they say that it is an exceptional learning experience.
 
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