Share your advice on personal statements & be featured in a veterinary podcast!

[vet_student]

Hi everyone! My friend Kaitlin and I are starting a podcast called Vetted as we enter vet school at UPenn and tOSU - we are trying to create community - focused on reaching other vet school applicants. We are starting with an episode series on how to navigate the VMCAS and then exploring other topics in the future.

If you are willing to share, we would love to hear your advice/tips on the following:

1) How did you decide what to write about? What story did you end up choosing?
2) How did you showcase your diverse experiences?
3) How did you manage to differentiate the personal statement from your supplemental essays?
4) How did you make the personal statement specific to your school of choice? If not, how did you keep it generic, yet detailed enough?
5) What was the most challenging part of writing the personal statement for you? How did you overcome it?
6) Did we forget anything? What else comes to mind?

If you'd like to share excerpts of your statement, we would love to be able to use that to help others as well.

Email us at: [email protected] or feel free to comment on this thread. You all are so awesome, and we're excited to share your story and tips!

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[DVMDream]

I'm fairly certain my personal statements are in a digital graveyard somewhere by now. 😂

 

[vet_student]

I'm fairly certain my personal statements are in a digital graveyard somewhere by now. 😂

Haha totally understand. That's okay though! We'd still love for you to share any tips/advice you may have for future applicants as they work on their personal statements this summer. Thanks in advance!! ☺️

 

[DVMDream]

Haha totally understand. That's okay though! We'd still love for you to share any tips/advice you may have for future applicants as they work on their personal statements this summer. Thanks in advance!! ☺️

The personal statement prompt isn't even the same as when I last wrote a personal statement.... 11 years ago. I've got nothing.

 

[sheltermed]

5) What was the most challenging part of writing the personal statement for you? How did you overcome it?

Getting started was the worst part for me. You have to just write. Don't worry about formatting, grammar, spelling - none of it. Just start writing your ideas and you can put them together in a logical and concise manner later. Just start typing.

 

[vet_student]

5) What was the most challenging part of writing the personal statement for you? How did you overcome it?

Getting started was the worst part for me. You have to just write. Don't worry about formatting, grammar, spelling - none of it. Just start writing your ideas and you can put them together in a logical and concise manner later. Just start typing.

Totally agree!! This was the toughest part for me as well. Thank you for sharing!

 

[that redhead]

Depending on your needs, I can offer you answers for your podcast either for an hourly or fixed rate

 

[JaynaAli]

I didn’t even write a personal statement. Early admission program for the win. Highly recommend.

 

[battie]

I didn’t even write a personal statement. Early admission program for the win. Highly recommend.

In hindsight, I honestly wished I had known this was a thing. Different application process, and then a whole 2 degrees to get an obnoxious amount of school t shirts from the same place. #doitforthetshirt

 

[JaynaAli]

In hindsight, I honestly wished I had known this was a thing. Different application process, and then a whole 2 degrees to get an obnoxious amount of school t shirts from the same place. #doitforthetshirt

If wasn’t easy…there were still lots of hoops to jump through in regards to GPA (couldn’t get below a 3.5 in any single semester) and required meetings and such but I have no regrets. The interview was tough…I ended up being friendly with the program administrator after I entered vet school and she said our interviews were actually even tougher and longer than the normal admissions ones because they were interviewing us as college freshmen (barely, it was October if my freshman year). But it took a lot of stress off during undergrad. I didn’t have to take the GRE either. Which I know isn’t required everywhere now, but back 12 years ago it was.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'd like to know how you all researched the schools, especially those not in the US but AVMA accredited. Also, anything to tell prehealth advisors?

 

[that redhead]

I'd like to know how you all researched the schools, especially those not in the US but AVMA accredited. Also, anything to tell prehealth advisors?

I can only speak for myself, but:

My application was not very competitive from a GPA standpoint. I knew I would need to apply broadly for any hope. When researching schools, AVMA accreditation was the most important thing - at the time I applied, the Caribbean schools were not yet accredited, so I didn’t apply there. I didn’t want to live overseas (family, long-term boyfriend/now husband all here) but I was willing to consider Canada. I weeded out those that didn’t take US applicants or whose primary teaching language was French, and also heard about AVC from another applicant on SDN. They actually evaluated grades a bit differently than other schools in a way that was extremely favorable to me, and I was accepted early due to how awesome I was…or something