I'm applying for vet school for the first time and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. The activities or jobs I listed for my veterinary supervised experience would be the same as what I listed in employment as well as what I listed in my healthcare-related activities or community service. I invested a considerable amount of hours in these activities with the purpose that it fulfilled more than one requirement for vet school. Does it look bad if it seems redundant or do the vet schools see this alot? I would appreciate any opinions or suggestions, thanks!
Redundancy in an application
- Thread starter BQ2009
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2009
- Messages
- 2,381
- Reaction score
- 5
No need to put the same thing down in different categories. Just put it in vet experience if it qualifies. A lot of people may have the animal experience or work experience empty because it is all listed in vet experience. That doesn't mean it isnt also employment , but you shouldnt repeat the same thing. The adcoms will know if it belongs to multiple areas. Just write down in there that it was a paid position (as opposed to volunteer).
So you say this also fits into your community service though, does that mean you were paid and also volunteered? If it is at the exact same place, same duties, I would just write in the vet description that it was paid and volunteer.
Do you mind being more specific with your experience? I can understand something being able to go in vet/animal/employment, but usually the community service is something different. If you volunteered at a clinic i would still put that in vet experience not community service. Things i put down in my community activities were sports, clubs, volunteering for non-vet/animal things, etc
So you say this also fits into your community service though, does that mean you were paid and also volunteered? If it is at the exact same place, same duties, I would just write in the vet description that it was paid and volunteer.
Do you mind being more specific with your experience? I can understand something being able to go in vet/animal/employment, but usually the community service is something different. If you volunteered at a clinic i would still put that in vet experience not community service. Things i put down in my community activities were sports, clubs, volunteering for non-vet/animal things, etc
Well the sections in question are:
Employment
Healthcare Activities
Veterinary Supervised Experience
Animal Experience
Community Service
So what I meant was my employment IS my veterinary supervised experience (I've only worked at vet clinics and vet schools). But at the same time its also my animal experience. I've volunteered at animal shelters so thats community service and animal experience. Its all very confusing and I hope that clarified. I guess ultimately I'm worried that if I leave any section blank they will assume I have no community service or no vet experience, etc but at the same time I don't want to seem like I'm overusing the experience and jobs I had.
Employment
Healthcare Activities
Veterinary Supervised Experience
Animal Experience
Community Service
So what I meant was my employment IS my veterinary supervised experience (I've only worked at vet clinics and vet schools). But at the same time its also my animal experience. I've volunteered at animal shelters so thats community service and animal experience. Its all very confusing and I hope that clarified. I guess ultimately I'm worried that if I leave any section blank they will assume I have no community service or no vet experience, etc but at the same time I don't want to seem like I'm overusing the experience and jobs I had.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Messages
- 24,120
- Reaction score
- 8,865
Read the instructions carefully. If I recall, you classify an experience in only 1 way.
Veterinary: under supervision of vet.
Animal: any animal experience NOT under supervision of a vet.
community service: non animal unpaid
employment: non- animal paid
You only get to pick one category. Lots of people have lots of blanks. Can't do it all.
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2009
- Messages
- 2,381
- Reaction score
- 5
put this at vet experience, write that it was paid so they know you were employed
leave this blank unless you have something that is only animal (no vet or PhD in charge) if you only have vet experience, that is fine! adcoms know you were exposed to animals while working in a clinic.
Other things that may be here is if you have lab animal experience or large animal experience from a course you have taken. If you were exposed to them and were hands on in a class write it down because that is better than nothing. Just make sure to explain it was for a class and dont exaggerate the experience
Did the shelter have a vet there? If not, then yes it is animal experience. You can write down in the description that you volunteered. There is really no reason to list it again because it is clear you volunteered. I'm not sure about other people, but I didn't list my volunteer work at clinics in my community service. You could if you want, but I really dont think listing the same thing twice will make a difference.
they won't think the section is literally blank. The top things looked at are vet and animal experience. They know if you put paid or volunteer that it is also employment or community service. Honestly, i really dont think you should list your shelter service twice, Id just put it in one. Can you think of any other community service? In high school we were forced to do some lol so maybe you can remember what you did then? Were you involved in clubs or organizations? I think it would be nice if you listed something that didnt involve animals here because it shows you are well rounded. Almost every applicant will be able to put animal volunteer work as community service.
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2009
- Messages
- 2,381
- Reaction score
- 5
This is only for vet, animal, and employment. Community service isn't in that chart thing. Look at the chart in the instructions to see what SOV is talking about.
The community service instructions just says "List and describe extracurricular or community activities in which you were engaged, including those during high school, beginning with the most important. You may include sports and hobbies. " But like i said before, i wouldn't repeat what you put in another category. Think back to high school! I'm sure you have other stuff to put down here
I'm applying through TMDSAS for Texas A&M which I'm guessing is different than the VMCAS(?) I see everyone refer to. The instructions for the employment section does not specify that it must be non-animal, just that you were paid. Same with the healthcare activities-it does not specify whether it was animal or not. So technically one could put a volunteer activity in that section as well as animal experience.
But I think what I needed to hear was that it was ok to have blanks on the application. Thank y'all for your help! Its much appreciated!
But I think what I needed to hear was that it was ok to have blanks on the application. Thank y'all for your help! Its much appreciated!
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2008
- Messages
- 1,118
- Reaction score
- 189
I put down anything that involved a veterinarian or PhD as veterinary experience. Some of that experience was paid (research) but I only put it down as veterinary. As BlacKat said, vet experience is the most important. Put as much there as possible.
I had no animal experience besides owning my own pets, so I left that blank (shock! horror!)
Employment experience I put down whatever I did during college...worked at the pub on campus, worked retail over the summer etc etc. Even though many semesters/summers I did research, that was already in the vet experience section so I did not repeat it.
Volunteer/Community service I again put down stuff during college or grad school...Habitat for Humanity etc etc.
Even though some situations might technically count as both you dont want to force adcoms to read a bunch of the same stuff over and over again. I think that's a quick way to 1) annoy the heck out of them (and you never want to make an adcom mad), and 2) make them think you are padding your application...another no no.
So just put it in the most important categories. Fit as much into Vet Experience as possible, if it fits the bill. Then animal experience, etc etc
I had no animal experience besides owning my own pets, so I left that blank (shock! horror!)
Employment experience I put down whatever I did during college...worked at the pub on campus, worked retail over the summer etc etc. Even though many semesters/summers I did research, that was already in the vet experience section so I did not repeat it.
Volunteer/Community service I again put down stuff during college or grad school...Habitat for Humanity etc etc.
Even though some situations might technically count as both you dont want to force adcoms to read a bunch of the same stuff over and over again. I think that's a quick way to 1) annoy the heck out of them (and you never want to make an adcom mad), and 2) make them think you are padding your application...another no no.
So just put it in the most important categories. Fit as much into Vet Experience as possible, if it fits the bill. Then animal experience, etc etc
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Messages
- 24,120
- Reaction score
- 8,865
Maybe you can PM HopefulAg. He is the expert on all things Texas!
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2010
- Messages
- 447
- Reaction score
- 100
I'd contact the school. I had contacted the admissions officer at AVC about my volunteer work as a foster home for two different dog rescues. I wasn't sure if it fell under community service or animal related (since I also participated in fundraisers). I was told that I can either include it as animal related experience or both and the admissions crew (when reviewing my application) would decide which category it fits in if not both.
I emailed TMDSAS your exact question a few weeks ago, and they told me to absolutely list things multiple times if it fits.
If you just put paid vet experience under Vet, when you go to the employment section it asks something like "Have you been employed in the last X years?" -- to which the answer is of course yes. So my understanding is put it both places.
Their exact words were "Yes, by all means you should cross reference where needed."
Hope that helps! 🙂
If you just put paid vet experience under Vet, when you go to the employment section it asks something like "Have you been employed in the last X years?" -- to which the answer is of course yes. So my understanding is put it both places.
Their exact words were "Yes, by all means you should cross reference where needed."
Hope that helps! 🙂
