Reapplicant advice (c/o 2030 hopefuls)

[littlebalto]

I wanted to make a thread for reapplicants so we can share advice, discuss our shortcomings, and celebrate our successes!



I’m a 2nd time applicant (1st time was last year), and I have some questions about how to go about preparing the written portion of my application. I applied to a number of schools and I was offered an interview at VMCVM (IS) and I made it to the second round of reviews at Tufts. Given that, I’m pretty confident with my essays and letters.
Beyond a few tweaks to make my writing better reflect who I am now instead of who I was a year ago, what do y'all think can stay the same and what needs to be changed? Can I keep the general theme of my personal statement the same (I’m really proud of what I wrote and frankly my “why” hasn’t changed much)? Can I ask my recommenders to resend the same letters? I plan to get a few new ones, but I haven’t spoken to the DVM who wrote for me in over a year and I’d like a fall back if I can’t get a new letter from another one in time.


I’m sure a lot of people are wondering about the same things so I thought it would be nice to help one another out!

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[juggling-zebra0831]

Hi there! Totally can relate to this having just gone through 2nd cycle and will now be attending this fall; for context 1st round: 5 schools, waitlisted at one; 2nd cycle: 6 schools, accepted outright 1, waitlisted/pulled 1). Many of your thoughts were the same running through my mind when going to put together my application again. I kept my personal statement the same and even reused some of my supplemental essay material too. While I can't confirm it since I signed a release, I am pretty positive most of my references sent the same eLOR. I actually lost contact with the doctor who supported me in my first round so ended up going with 2 others that I worked with closely in that same time frame.

Few things about essays:

Your personal statement is your chance (and sometimes only one depending on program you apply to and whether or not they offer interviews) for admissions to get to know "who you are". It's a little different than the rest of your application that focuses on "what you have done" (i.e., grades, hours, achievements). Think about your values, beliefs, interests, ambitions etc. in context of your experiences that have guided you to this point and that will help you get you to your "why".

If you feel that your "why" and reasons behind it still fit, then I don't really see a reason to throw the "baby out with the bath water" so to speak. Do bear in mind that some schools will ask you to explain what you have done to actively improve your application this round. My advice is to get creative with the space you have. Don't feel like you have to include every major experience in your personal statement as sometimes it can be woven into other areas that are better served.

Some Classic Red Flags:

Will say too many people make the mistake of saying they want to go into "xyz" area of veterinary medicine but don't have the actual experience to back that up. Along the same lines, make sure you stay authentic; your end goal doesn't have to be grand-world altering contribution. Try to stay away from using personal statement as space to explain why things didn't go as planned (i.e., failed a class, etc.) and instead dedicate that to space they give you as part of explanation statement.

Few things about eLOR:
Please make sure you are choosing people who will support you and know you well enough to write both a "good" and "positive" eLOR. Think about "good" in the manner of "what they are writing about" and "positive" in the manner of "how they are writing about you". It is generally better to have someone who you have worked closely with and have stayed in close contact with. Make sure you are intentional with who you end up choosing. As I am sure you are already familiar, you can select up to 6 people to support you. Do you need that many? Maybe maybe not. I went with 4 and that seemed to work well for me. But the 4 I ended up going with all could speak about me from different point of view (research, veterinary experience, student) that tied back directly into my essays and rest of application.

Ideally, your application should be like a "quilt" where admissions can piece together your grades, all the things you have done, your passion/purpose which makes you stand out uniquely as YOU.

Hope this helps! Wishing you all the best this cycle! You got this! 🙂