"Minor detail" questions

[futurevet3000]

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Hey everyone,
As I work on and finish my app, I am running to some nitty gritty details that I wanted to get advice on from those who have been through this or are working on it as well! My undergrad university was based on a 1.00 credit per course system. Therefore, a semester of four courses consisted of a total of 4.0 credits; I realize that this is not the norm, and a majority of schools are based on a 16.00 credit semester (each course being 4.00 credits). Additionally, my science courses listed on my transcript do not reflect the lab section associated with the course. For instance, a 1.00 Physics course consisted of a lecture, problem session, as well as a weekly lab. I was wondering where and how I should go about explaining this... I assume the explanation statement would be a good place and I have done so, but wanted to clarify that I should be listing my courses as 1.00 credits, as it appears on my transcript that way.

I am also concerned about my GRE exam I initially took in July. My scores were not what I was anticipating, and as a result, opted not to have them sent to any schools from the test center (I panicked), with the notion that I would take the exam again and prepare a bit more for it. I am realizing though that I made a mistake there, and that all scores need to be sent to the schools I am applying to. Do I contact the GRE center directly and have them mail those scores to the schools I am applying to? There is this option on the GRE site to do this, so I am thinking this is the route to take. I am planning on choosing schools on my next test date, Sept 3rd, regardless of the results...
If anyone could help with any of these matters, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks and good luck to all applying this year, we're almost done!

ps. this is a thread for all to post their minor questions that they were not sure where to go to first to get them answered, or if the AAVMC hotline is too slow!

 

[Armymutt25A]

So, all of your courses have the same weight? Seems odd that a course requiring 4 hours of class a week would have the same weight as a course requiring 1 hour.

 

[futurevet3000]

one of those "strange but true" situations. I wish it were different... I swear my school enjoys being different, and difficult. But yes, my Organic Chemistry was weighted the same as my Art History

 

[LittleWiz]

As for the GRE scores, go to the GRE website and make an account. Once you do this, you can choose to 'Order additional score reports'. They require payment for each institution you send scores to.
It sucks doing it this way because I felt that if I picked the schools before I took the test, I would not of had to pay for it. But I took the GRE some months before the application cycle started, and I figured the vet schools weren't interested in scores of someone who still has a couple years of undergrad to complete! Haha.
Hope this helps.

 

[parietal]

I am also concerned about my GRE exam I initially took in July. My scores were not what I was anticipating, and as a result, opted not to have them sent to any schools from the test center (I panicked), with the notion that I would take the exam again and prepare a bit more for it. I am realizing though that I made a mistake there, and that all scores need to be sent to the schools I am applying to. Do I contact the GRE center directly and have them mail those scores to the schools I am applying to? There is this option on the GRE site to do this, so I am thinking this is the route to take. I am planning on choosing schools on my next test date, Sept 3rd, regardless of the results...

As long as you are retaking your GRE and sending the score report from that, there should be no need to send your other scores separately.

When ETS sends scores, they send your scores from all your tests taken in the last five years, not just the most recent one. Sending your scores separately would be expensive and pointless.

Do send them on the day of your next test, though: it is much cheaper that way than ordering them separately.

 

[quantized]

Did you go to Dartmouth? I didn't know any other schools did that crap with their class hours being equal to 1. In any case, it should be explained on the back of your transcript how the hours translate. I had a little blurb explaining it as well on my explanation statement. I think iirc my 1 hour Dartmouth classes translated to 3.33 "regular" credit hours on the quarter system. I'd assume that if you were on semesters, you can probably just say they were worth 4. I never had any classes that were not all the same credit until I was in grad school - At Dartmouth they're all 1 and at Mount Holyoke they're all 4. It always seemed to be more of a thing seen at bigger schools to me, but maybe that's how I rationalized it. /shrug

 

[StartingoverVet]

I had same situation at my undergrad institution (not sure if they still use that system anymore). I just put the 1 credit down for each class and put a brief explanation in the explanation section of the system. Don't stress too much about it, the adcoms are sure to have seen students from your school before.

When figuring out pre-reqs your advisor should help you figure out the equivalents, or send a message to the particular school for advice. They are usually pretty understanding, and helpful (but not necessarily speedy) If you require 1 yr physics w/lab for example, then your two 1 credit physics classes with a lab should be fine.

Just because other people on this forum think it is strange, does not make it so unusual.

 

[futurevet3000]

As long as you are retaking your GRE and sending the score report from that, there should be no need to send your other scores separately.

When ETS sends scores, they send your scores from all your tests taken in the last five years, not just the most recent one. Sending your scores separately would be expensive and pointless.

Do send them on the day of your next test, though: it is much cheaper that way than ordering them separately.

This is very helpful... I did not realize they would clump the scores, and I even was on that site, but I guess was so panic stricken that I needed to resend old scores I jumped right to the part where you can opt to send additional scores. Thank you for pointing that out!

And thanks for the other advice too... I did no go to Darthmoth, I did go to Bucknell... which is also small private university so I attribute that to their weirdness.

 

[sumstorm]

I put 1 credit, put an explanation in, and my schools sends a letter with the transcripts. I also noted, in my explanation statement, that the equivalence for organice chem was 6.6 credit hours (based on the 3.3 approximation) but that it was the complete organic chem series offered at my school. Only one school (Illinois perhaps? Don't really remember) kicked my app out regarding pre-reqs.

 

[parietal]

This is very helpful... I did not realize they would clump the scores, and I even was on that site, but I guess was so panic stricken that I needed to resend old scores I jumped right to the part where you can opt to send additional scores. Thank you for pointing that out!

No problem. Happy to help. 🙂