Personal Statement - how to include science side

[heylodeb]

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OK - putting myself out on the line here to sound pretty stupid but please forgive me. 🙂

After speaking to several adcoms, they all stressed that it was important that I included the connection of vet med to science in my personal statement. I have no idea how to do that...

Are they getting at the fact that science it what allows us to practice? (understanding physiology, anatomy, pathology, virology, bacteriology, etc is necessary) or are they trying to see that we understand the connections of the advancement of the field through current scientific research?

AND after all that - how do you blend that in?

My Personal Statement: "I learned blah blah blah from blah blah blah. Oh and did I mention that vet med is connected to science? Yeah, it is. So then this happened in my life which blah blah blah blah...."

 

[HopefulAg]

Hmm...I guess it depends on how your PS was written on how to blend it in. I'm not really sure how I blended it in myself. As far as relation to science goes, I just gave my philosophy on pet care, put in that the vet had neat machines to play with, and that vet med combined my love of science and animals (explicitly said that, though it had some stuff leading up to it).

 

[gilch]

I never heard this, so it wasn't a goal of my PS. I would guess they meant connecting veterinary medicine w/scientific advancements. I did that a bit and definitely wrote about the research I had been involved in. I also wrote about the areas of vet med I was most interested in and why--one of those being more straight science and the other, a practice type.

Some adcoms will give you a pre app file review; there are also people here who would read your PS and give advice (me included!).

 

[heylodeb]

Hmm...I guess it depends on how your PS was written on how to blend it in. I'm not really sure how I blended it in myself. As far as relation to science goes, I just gave my philosophy on pet care, put in that the vet had neat machines to play with, and that vet med combined my love of science and animals (explicitly said that, though it had some stuff leading up to it).

I said almost that exact thing (connects love of animals to science) and apparently that didn't cut it. Or maybe it was just general PS advice that was said in passing and I'm reading into it as a weakness in mine. thus the confusions, lol! 🙂

I never heard this, so it wasn't a goal of my PS. I would guess they meant connecting veterinary medicine w/scientific advancements.

there are also people here who would read your PS and give advice (me included!).

I'm thinking of going this direction this time since my research lab was located in a vet school so I can make it personal.

I feel like I'm prepared to enter vet school - and not understanding how to include this makes me doubt myself.... let's fast forward to December so we're all done with this "stuff" and everyone is starting to hear back from their schools! 🙂 🙂

thanks for offering to look at it....obviously it's nowhere near that point now but I'll keep it in mind for later!

 

[Morganator]

From talking to admissions staff my understanding is that they want to see a true passion for science and medicine and how vet med is the right field for a person with those interests. Everyone who applies to vet school wants to help animals and has a story about how they became interested in becoming a veterinarian, but a strong passion for science and medicine can help you stand out and can lead to becoming a successful veterinarian.

As this is my opinion, take it for what it's worth. For me though, my passion for medicine was the first thing that led me to vet med. Wanting to work with animals was actually secondary, but happened to be a good fit.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Wow, that's news to me.

I didn't mention the word science once in my personal statement. I did mention how some of my life experiences had skills that would help in vet med. I really thought the key was to show an understanding of vet med, but maybe I just got lucky and was good at distracting the readers of my PS.

I wonder if that kind of feedback comes from the type of PS that says 'I love animals, I'll make a great vet'?

 

[sunshinevet]

I think what they mean is more how science is integrated into the practice of veterinary medicine. Like, here in Aus, we're trained as "veterinary scientists" and we are constantly talked to about what that means. I think instead of just being like, I like science, its good, leads to more advancements or whatever, include that because you love science, as a vet you are always going to strive to practice evidence based medicine, be objective, constantly re-evaluate your practice with the science, you know, practice scientifically. As opposed to just saying that you love animals and you love "science". Because there are lots of vets out there who practice veterinary medicine, but not really veterinary science.

(Not even really sure what loving science actually means, when it boils down to it...).

 

[luplodw]

I know someone who is super high up in administration at a vet school, and he said that most people talk about how they love animals....how they've always wanted to be a vet because when they were a kid their pet fifi got sick or whatever. They obviously know you like animals if you want to be a vet. They don't know why you like medicine. I was told that you need to be able to express the differences in a veterinarian and any other person that works with animals. Saying "I love animals and want to help people make a connection with them like I have" doesn't cut it since someone working at a shelter could do the same thing!

 

[heylodeb]

Wow, that's news to me.


I wonder if that kind of feedback comes from the type of PS that says 'I love animals, I'll make a great vet'?

Yes - I think that is the mistake I made. Thank god I only sent it to one school, right?? haha!

 

[BlacKAT33]

I talked about research a lot. Here is a snippet from my PS

"I understand the veterinary field can include lesser-known specialties like anesthesiology, nutrition, pathology, or toxicology. I have grown out of the elementary "I love animal phase" and into a desire to scientifically understand them."

Then i went into a full paragraph about it. I mean, for my PS it flowed well because I have research so i talked a lot about science. If you had no research experience and didn't plan on going into it, i can totally see how it would be hard to work it in smoothly. But I think something general like what i posted is good. And you can talk about how each field of vet contributes to science, especially zoonotic diseases are really easy to talk about. Maybe just 3-4 sentences in your PS so that they know...you know lol

 

[Minnerbelle]

On top of the "I love animals so i would make a great vet," another thing to avoid would be to write a PS that is very narrowly about SA practice. I was told on more than one occasion from people in admissions that they like to see that applicants have a global view of vet med, and that they don't like it so much when all you present to them is vet = doctor who treats fluffy and sparky.

 

[that redhead]

They obviously know you like animals if you want to be a vet. They don't know why you like medicine. I was told that you need to be able to express the differences in a veterinarian and any other person that works with animals. Saying "I love animals and want to help people make a connection with them like I have" doesn't cut it since someone working at a shelter could do the same thing!

This is a really good way of putting it. It seems like a lot of people need to make the distinction between veterinarian and another profession that works with and directly cares for animals. To be honest, I think a lot of people that like animals don't really explore the world of animal jobs and think "I love animals and want to work with them, so the only thing that makes sense is veterinarian!" I know a lot of pre-vet students in my class that switched to something else (even within animal science) because they realized they could be farm/barn managers, researchers, trainers, etc.

 

[StartingoverVet]

On top of the "I love animals so i would make a great vet," another thing to avoid would be to write a PS that is very narrowly about SA practice. I was told on more than one occasion from people in admissions that they like to see that applicants have a global view of vet med, and that they don't like it so much when all you present to them is vet = doctor who treats fluffy and sparky.

Don't think I did that right either. LOL, how did I get in? I think the only non-SA thing I said is, "ideally I would have liked to have had more diverse experience." Kind of feel like an idiot savant now.

 

[twelvetigers]

Dude, you got into UPenn and UCD, for starters. You must have done something right!

 

[StartingoverVet]

Dude, you got into UPenn and UCD, for starters. You must have done something right!

Yeah, but it is not exactly advice I can pass on to SDNers. Umm, let's see, get old .... yeah.... and be a success in a completely different field for a couple of decades.

In the end it was really just the tie!

 

[Minnerbelle]

Don't think I did that right either. LOL, how did I get in? I think the only non-SA thing I said is, "ideally I would have liked to have had more diverse experience." Kind of feel like an idiot savant now.

Well clearly a single drop of the term "hedgefund" is an instant winner 😛

 

[cowgirla]

On top of the "I love animals so i would make a great vet," another thing to avoid would be to write a PS that is very narrowly about SA practice. I was told on more than one occasion from people in admissions that they like to see that applicants have a global view of vet med, and that they don't like it so much when all you present to them is vet = doctor who treats fluffy and sparky.

My opening line was "Roosters don't really go cock-a-doodle-do."

Seriously, don't steal it. It apparently works

 

[HopefulAg]

My opening line was "Roosters don't really go cock-a-doodle-do."

Seriously, don't steal it. It apparently works

...Ok what came after that? You have me intrigued.

Which is what they're supposed to do lol.




My opening line was merely the first name of my first dog lol. Probably not as catchy.

 

[StartingoverVet]

My opening line was "Roosters don't really go cock-a-doodle-do."

Seriously, don't steal it. It apparently works

Of course not! My wife taught me that they really say "kokke kokko" ---in Japan anyway.

Don't even start on "woof-woof, or meow-meow"!

Completely OT: Try talking to pets in a new foreign language. It confuses the hell out of them. Mine are ok with English, Japanese, and Spanish (I am in LA after all), but they are freaked out by French and German.

 

[MIZMARLEY]

I think it is also prudent to show that you understand the importance of good communication and working with people. I tried to stress that I just didn't want to help Fluffy, but I also wanted to help people. When I was asked in my interview "Why vet med?", I simply stated that it combined my interests of animals and science.

 

[turnbackhelly]

I think this is the closest thing I had to a direct science reference in my PS... this is the second half of my second paragraph, in which I'm describing my transition from a social work grad student to a pre-vet.

"...This fascination [with the human-animal bond] prompted me to complete an internship in equine-facilitated psychotherapy and later pursue a Master of Social Work degree at the [University I dropped out of 😀] with hopes to practice in the emerging field of animal-assisted therapy. However, my increasing exposure to veterinary medicine at the [veterinary referral hospital I work at] during graduate school showed me that social work would not provide me with the skills and opportunities I hoped it would. My desire to be part of a profession where knowledge and practice are more empirically grounded ultimately led me to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, which satisfies both my passion for science and my desire to serve my community."

Not too extensive or profound a reference, really. I think you just need to convey an understanding that being a veterinarian does not equal playing with puppies and kittens, and that it's actually intellectually hard work (and physically and emotionally etc 🙂). I think they want to know that you realize that a huge part of being a veterinarian (or any medical professional) is being able to collect information and analyze, assemble, and question it in a way that will hopefully lead to a meaningful conclusion (in the case of clinical practice, a diagnosis) - which is strikingly similar to the good old scientific method that somehow manages to get written into chapter 1 of EVERY SINGLE high school and college level science text book. Does that make any sense?

 

[VeganSoprano]

I'd also make sure to avoid talking too much about nursing care. Direct patient care is technically the responsibility of a tech, not a vet. If you have experience providing nursing care, it's probably going to be important to talk about your understanding of the differences between the role of a tech (or other support role) and a vet and what about these differences makes you want to be a vet.

 

[sunnyshine]

Different schools look for different things in personal statements. When Colo State did my file review they said my personal statement was very well written - then during a file review with Penn they said that it wasn't "scientific" enough.

 

[Armymutt25A]

Some good ideas here. Personally, I'm trying to avoid writing how love of scuba diving is related to vet medicine. Just the other day, during my "participation in a partnered surgical operation with the Iraqi Police Canine Unit veterinarian" I realized just how much the anesthesia machine resembles a closed circuit rebreather, and upon further inspection, essentially functions the same. Yes, I'm a freak and a geek. Try squeezing "diluent" and "isoflurane" into the same paragraph.

 

[crittergal]

I realized just how much the anesthesia machine resembles a closed circuit rebreather, and upon further inspection, essentially functions the same. Yes, I'm a freak and a geek. Try squeezing "diluent" and "isoflurane" into the same paragraph.

You're amongst fellow freak geeks. That made me LOL. Now my cat thinks I'm ******ed.