OOS Interview scheduling

[mulletsarelove]

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So I know this is jumping the gun quite a bit, but I was wondering if anyone knew if OOS interviews are usually on Saturdays, or if they make you fly out in the middle of the week. I know a lot of medical schools have a Friday intro/dinner type thing and then interviews/tours on Saturday...do most vet schools do a similar thing, or is it a shorter event? My undergrad has an attendance policy and since I applied to several schools, I'm concerned that it may negatively affect my courses. Of course, there are worse fates than having too many interviews and I really don't think I'll have that problem, but since many profs have the policy of 'if you miss x classes, excused or unexcused, your grade drops by x percent' or 'if you miss x classes, you fail' so it's a bit worrisome.

 

[cowgirla]

Depends on the school, but I seem to remember most of mine being weekdays. I think one was a Tuesday/Wednesday, one was a Monday, and the rest were Fridays, but I might be remembering that wrong. I did have take time off from work for most of them.

ETA: Okay, I lied. At least one interview was on a Saturday, but I ended up traveling Friday morning to be there for a pizza party thing that evening.

 

[LetItSnow]

do most vet schools do a similar thing, or is it a shorter event?

I don't know about 'most', but I know my school did OOS interviews on Fri/Sat last year (with IS interviews on Thu).

As far as profs .... even if they have a policy like that in the syllabus, I suspect that if you're a good student and come to them in advance many of them will work something out with you.

 

[Chinola]

The schools that I interviewed at had the following dates. Only Mississippi had legit weekday interviews. Minnesota did too but it at least fell next to a weekend.

University of Florida - Saturday
University of Minnesota - Friday/Saturday
Kansas State University - Saturday/Sunday
Mississippi State University - Monday night/Tuesday


At my undergrad university even in classes (like lab) where you simply weren't allowed to be absent ever, if you were absent because of a grad school interview and showed proof they were okay with it.

Good luck!

 

[heylodeb]

If you approach your professor's at the beginning of the semester, explain the situation, and explain to them that you will let them know well in advance they might waive the absence. Either way, don't get sick 'cuz you might end up missing class for interviews! 🙂

2 of mine were weekdays and one was a weekend but I traveled on a weekday to get there.

 

[hunterjumper12]

I interviewed at 5 OOS schools last cycle and 3 of them (Kansas, Iowa, and Louisiana) did their interviews on a Saturday or Sunday. I also interviewed at Mississippi, which was on a Wednesday, and my interview at Auburn was on a Thursday. I know Auburn had a 2 week block set aside for interviews, and you had to call to schedule yours, so you could kind of pick what day you wanted it on (but they didn't offer Saturday and Sunday interviews).

I too was worried about missing so much school for interviews. I actually missed the first day of classes that semester because I was flying out to my Iowa interview. I talked to all my professors, and they were very understanding and very excited for me. Several of them asked me how I did when I got back, and were very excited when I got in. Having had other classmates who were applying to med school, I think most professors are very understanding of missing class for interviews, especially if you talk to them ahead of time. Good luck!

 

[StartingoverVet]

University of Florida - Saturday
University of Minnesota - Friday/Saturday
Kansas State University - Saturday/Sunday
Mississippi State University - Monday night/Tuesday/Wed
University of Pennsylvania - Friday
UC - Davis - you schedule yourself.... weekdays only
Tufts - random weekdays
Iowa - weekend
Louisiana - weekend
Auburn - you schedule yourself ... weekdays only

 

[Minnerbelle]

These attendance policies are like the stupidest things in the world. I mean, I understand for small seminar type courses that pretty much grade based on discussion and all, but even then, something's gotta give. I found most professors really accommodating for this type of thing, but I had one really annoying one my senior year, for psych stats no less. I let her know beforehand and all, and they were on non-exam/lab days. I also had an A in the class, so it wasn't like I was struggling either. But when I let her know about an upcoming job interview she got irate and told me it was against her attendance policy since I'd already missed 2 classes (1 for interview, 1 because I had the flu) and it wouldn't be fair to the other students.

My jaws literally dropped, and I felt incredulous that I had to explain how my future employment (I was graduating in a month) was much more important to me since I value not being unemployed/homeless more than credit for this class, that I'm sure the other students would understand, that in fact I felt it was unfair to me since the class only had 3 seniors. I ended up telling her that I'd be more than happy to involve the dean to find a resolution that was mutually fair, and she dropped it. I knew she had it out for me from the beginning since she didn't like non-psych majors taking the class to simply fulfill "pre-reqs" but talk about being vindictive and unprofessional.

Totally sidetracked in telling you that unless things have changed, Ohio lets you choose your interview date. They are one of the first invites to come in so be watchful of your email if you applied there. The weekends get filled up like really fast after getting that initial email!

 

[that redhead]

If you approach your professor's at the beginning of the semester, explain the situation, and explain to them that you will let them know well in advance they might waive the absence.

This! I told my biochemistry professor on the first day of class that I had an interview on the second or whatever. He said it would be an excused absence because (at least at my school) interviews are considered "furthering your education" and they didn't want to penalize people for missing class for important stuff like that. HOWEVER, I had to miss an exam day (he had rescheduled it to be on the day of my interview, haha) and he said that since I had told him early about my interview he would break his "no reschedule" policy and let me take it early. So I think it's important to get that out there to your teachers at the start.

 

[jtom]

I have a related question, how much is the notice schools give you? Last year I went on one interview and I had less than a weeks notice.

 

[hunterjumper12]

I have a related question, how much is the notice schools give you? Last year I went on one interview and I had less than a weeks notice.

It depends on the school. I think I had a 2 1/2 month notice with Kansas, a 3 week notice with Iowa, and probably 1 1/2 - 2 month notice with Louisiana, Auburn, and Mississippi.

 

[orca2011]

I interviewed at two OOS state schools and both were during the week. My one for Tufts was originally on a Thursday (I think) but I had to reschedule for the following Monday because it was during the huge snow storm last year and I thought my flight was going to get cancelled. The other one was for Glasgow which was a Tuesday and I think there were only like 4 or 5 days which you could interview. Luckily, it was in Boston, so I just did that one and Tufts back to back. My one with Penn (IS) was on a Friday.

My professors were all very understanding. I emailed them before the semester started to give them a heads up. I was a little concerned because I was originally going to have to miss a Biochem lab for the Tufts one, but it ended working out in the end. Even if I had ended up missing it, my professor was willing to find a way to make it work.

 

[heylodeb]

This! I told my biochemistry professor on the first day of class that I had an interview on the second or whatever. He said it would be an excused absence because (at least at my school) interviews are considered "furthering your education" and they didn't want to penalize people for missing class for important stuff like that. HOWEVER, I had to miss an exam day (he had rescheduled it to be on the day of my interview, haha) and he said that since I had told him early about my interview he would break his "no reschedule" policy and let me take it early. So I think it's important to get that out there to your teachers at the start.

Yeah - generally professors are understanding if it's something as big as a med/vet school interview.

 

[mulletsarelove]

These attendance policies are like the stupidest things in the world. I mean, I understand for small seminar type courses that pretty much grade based on discussion and all, but even then, something's gotta give. I found most professors really accommodating for this type of thing, but I had one really annoying one my senior year, for psych stats no less.

Yup. This is what I'm more worried about...I feel like I should be able to make things up/take tests early/etc, but the if you miss more than x classes than you fail is a university policy, so a lot of profs (and probably the dean) will hold you to it even if it's for interviews, especially if they are not in the bio/sci department. It's unlikely that I'll have to miss that many, but not impossible. I didn't realize that this was a policy even if they were excused until this year when my friend who applied to 20 med schools was saying that she probably won't be able to go to all of them because otherwise she'd end up failing some classes due to attendance...worst policy ever.

But, it does look like a fair number of the ones that I applied to on Fri/Sat/Sun which is good...and thanks for the advice, I did apply to Ohio so I'll make sure to be speedy. 🙂

 

[310509]

I have a related question, how much is the notice schools give you? Last year I went on one interview and I had less than a weeks notice.

Virginia Tech (IS): Interviewed Friday in late January, notified in late December

Mississippi State (OOS): Interviewed mid-February on a Wednesday, notified in mid-December

Kansas State (OOS): Interviewed Saturday in late January, notified 2 weeks in advance.

I don't know if they do this at other schools, but at K-State if they don't have space to interview you, but they don't want to decline you, they'll put you on a waitlist for interviews. I was notified of this about the same time everyone was notified for interviews (December, I think). And then I was pulled off of the interview waitlist and chose to go. That was a scramble!

On the taking time off note:
At school, I never had a problem. If I was able, I told them on the first day of class about my conflict. The most I had to do was show proof of the interview with the date. I just printed out the interview invitation and that was that.

At work, I had gone into the job being perfectly honest that early in the year I might be going to interviews, and too bad for them - LOL.

But in all the cases, being upfront and honest, and telling people as early as possible has always worked out for me!