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Questions for the Dean?!
- Thread starter kRose1121
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Maybe try this recent SDN article http://www.studentdoctor.net/2014/1...ing-your-medical-school-admissions-interview/ Part 3 gives some overall questions you could ask a medical school, and I think all of these translate to a veterinary school. Maybe try asking for some more details on the aspects that make it your choice school?
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If you can't come up with questions for the dean of your #1 choice school, you should probably research the school a little more. There is a reason that it is your #1 choice right? Is there a residency position you're interested in? A specific clerkship you're looking forward to?
Whatever you do, don't be a smarmy brown-noser. He will see right through that. Be genuine!
Whatever you do, don't be a smarmy brown-noser. He will see right through that. Be genuine!
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Don't you have ANY questions about the school?
I mean, you should wonder <something>. How often do they do curriculum reviews/changes? Do they have plans for capital improvements? What are they doing to manage tuition and reduce loan debt and what do they foresee as far as changes in the next four years? What makes this school better than your other choices? How much access do students in the didactic portion have to the teaching hospital (if they have one)? Do you have specific opportunities for networking that will help with job placement after graduation? What percentage of your graduating class that doesn't go on to internship/residency has a job by the time they graduate?
I dunno. I could go on forever. Aren't you curious about anything?
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To be honest, these are all easy things to think of now that I am in school and have seen some of the inner workings and stuff. But back as a pre-vet I wasn't thinking about a lot of these. I should have been and the job thing was definitely something I was thinking about, but the rest, not as much.
I have plenty of questions, but I guess my question for you guys is what are appropriate questions to ask a dean. I've always thought that deans play more of a business/monetary role at universities.. but I could be wrong. I don't want to ask him a bunch of questions that he would have no idea about.
Or course I'm curious, or I wouldn't have booked one of the individual time slots after his presentation. I just don't want to look like a ******* when I ask him a bunch of questions about things he has nothing to do with, or that don't go with a dean's job description.
Geez, most of the replies on this thread seem judgey and hostile.
Thanks for your input. That's why I was asking, because I really don't know what perspective to take when 1-on-1 with a dean. I've never even seen the dean at my school, and if I were to run into him at some point i'd be clueless as to what his job actually entails.
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You're welcome for the 7 questions that I threw out there as material for you to consider. Next time I guess I won't waste my time. It's not up to you to know his job description; if you ask a question he doesn't know the answer to, he'll just say "I don't know that."
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Sensitive pre-vet syndrome strikes again!If you think that is judgey and hostile you have a long way to go. Knock out the sensitivity factor when on the internet, it won't do you any favors. You can't hear tone so best bet is to not become automatically defensive when people respond, especially on the internet. The people here are very good people who will help, but our job isn't to help while holding your hand, feeding you cookies and patting you on the back when you finally understand. Some people are very blunt and straightforward and don't sugar coat. I am typically one of those people. I can guarantee I will probably offend you at some point even though I don't mean to. LIS tends to be rather blunt as well and I am currently waiting for him to call me an idiot for not thinking of those things as a pre-vet. 😉
LIS is right in his response and actually gave you a good number of ideas of things to think about and ask. You need to actually take his advice to heart instead of knee-jerk going "geez, people are so hostile". Think about what they said first, decide if it was good advice, then either listen to it or don't (you don't have to take everyone's advice on here), but no one will help you if you complain that the advice offered to you wasn't done so nicely and placed on a silver platter with cookies and a glass of wine. But seriously, consider what LIS told you. And even when I was a pre-vet I still had questions of the school, just none the same as LIS.
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That is wrong. Deans really do a lot more than that and there are many types of deans in a vet school. There's the Dean of the school and usually an Academic dean in addition to others. I guess you have to do your homework and find out who you are talking to and what their role is.
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Nope, because I figure you have a whole set of completely different questions both as someone who went to an overseas school and then someone who did a mid-vet-school transfer.
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A little, but I still interviewed at schools in the US during all those application cycles.
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No offense, but honestly....if you can't think of ANYTHING to ask the dean of your "#1 school" then you must not have any particular reason why it is your #1. Hence why you need to figure that out, especially if tuition is your sole factor (which is fine, but the dean isn't going to take note of that). I have my top 3 schools, each of which have excellent wildlife/zoo opportunities and residency programs. I'd ask about those if I were in your shoes. Isn't there something about the school you want to know more about?
About the hostility thing: Yes, sometimes a simple question will get some eye-roll responses. Sometimes your question really is kind of ridiculous and warrants some sassy answers. To me, your question comes off as you not having any actual reasoning behind why you want this school so badly. Like LIS said, you HAVE to have a question about something. Like I said, if you truly don't, you need to get to know the school better. LIS just did work FOR you. Best not to consider that "hostile."
If you don't know what the dean does, why not go to the school's website and search his name? You can see what articles/news updates he pops up in.
