Hi I will second the comments just made. I know who made them, heck I t/a'd her class a few hours ago and almost dragged her off to the bar on campus between classes, until she decided to go rescue her boyfriend from his lab instead. Nice blue scrubs you were wearing today!
Anyhow, I will vouch for all the comments made, especially about trying to get into CSU. It is tough, real tough. If you have the option to establish residency in another state that has a vet school I would recommend it, seriously. CSU is really difficult to get into, as it should be as the #2 vet school in the country. The plan B will not make or break you here in Fort Collins.
That said, the Masters program here is great. While it may or may not make or break you in terms of getting in here at CSU, it will be a major boon for you where ever you do get in. It will also probably help get you in
somewhere to have done this program. Both of us were accepted, out of state, but accepted this year, and I am quite sure that having done this program, and done well in it, were a factor in our success. In my case I was told so directly, off the record of course. A MS from CSU does carry some influence in the veterinary world. The classes if anything are more in depth than you will get in vet school, so once you get there you will have an easier first year if you have done the MS-B program here. Plus, graduate level courses are considered a direct reflection as to how you might do in vet school, and that is what admissions committees really want to see --
how will this applicant be able to do in our program, with our class level and course load.
The original construct of the program was built around that idea, to give wanna-be med and vet students a taste of what it is really like, and an opportunity to prove to admissions committees how they can do in a very rigorous, competitive graduate level program. Now things have evolved a bit from that original intent, and the program is used almost as much by people transitioning into PhD level work, or desiring to have a step up when applying for jobs in the biomedical field/industry, but it still also serves well for the previously mentioned purpose. I feel it has more than prepared me for vet school next year; academically, emotionally and personally. I would not trade this last year for anything. Doing the plan B was the best decision I have made in a long time, and I am ever so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it.
As for the admissions deadline, I think there may be a little wiggle room to get every last piece in by April 1. There is still plenty of time to fill out your application, and I am sure that they will give you a few extra days for the LORs and transcripts to get there if need be. In my case I had to have one of my letters e-mailed in because the professor was on sabbatical in Thailand. That said, you do need to get it in gear, and at least let Erin know what you are doing and that things are comming, soon.
Also, if you want to have CO residency for vet school, I'd say you should fly out here and get your driver's license changed before August so you can show that you have indeed been here for a year before Aug 13, 2010.
On a personal note, I have to say that the head of the program, Mark Frasier, is probably the best (anatomy) professor I have ever met. Not so much because he knows every last branch off of the Ophthalic branch of Cranial Nerve V in any given species, but rather because he is the best TEACHER and mentor to those of us in the professional fields I have ever heard of. Do not be disillusioned because he does not possess a PhD, he did the research, and the publications, he simply decided in the end he did not want to be a researcher, and therefore never submitted his thesis. He has been voted favorite professor at CSU more times than any of us care to count, and a better mentor and advisor I can not imagine. There is a reason he writes over 200 LORs a year for us, we all love him and want him to be a part of our future success. It is the least we can do for him.
