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[Pouches Rock]

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I know the office said that the information packet probably wouldn't be sent out till the beginning of May but my inner toddler 'Wants it Now!' and so does my inner accountant and inner geek....le sigh

 

[HopefulAg]

Ditto.

Apparently the departments can't talk to one another either, as I have to send A&M my transcript....from A&M. They just want an extra 7 bucks. In addition, I have to prove to A&M's financial aid department that I was accepted by A&M. Oooh bureaucracy, you are something else.



Oh and they evidently fired the Interfolio people. Good! That was a damn pain in the ass.

Beginning with the entry year 2011 application cycle, the TMDSAS application will no longer be hosted by Interfolio.

 

[rtoddo09]

I did my file review with Yolanda and it was actually very helpful. My main area of weakness... my grades in grad school 🙁... but I totally rocked my interview and maxed out points in many categories.

So plan? Re-take the GRE to make sure I get another interview so that I can give my grades time to come up before final decisions are made for next year... c/o 2015 here I come! lol

3rd time is apparently a charm... well, hopefully!

 

[ATX00]

I did my file review with Yolanda and it was actually very helpful. My main area of weakness... my grades in grad school 🙁... but I totally rocked my interview and maxed out points in many categories.

So plan? Re-take the GRE to make sure I get another interview so that I can give my grades time to come up before final decisions are made for next year... c/o 2015 here I come! lol

3rd time is apparently a charm... well, hopefully!

Out of curiosity, could you (or anyone!) give me an example of what you did to max out points a category? I am obsessively playing the points game in my head all the time now, but I don't have the slightest clue how much/how diverse animal experience gets you full points, for example. 😕

Which reminds me of another points question!! At the Q&A at Open House, they said the pre-interview points break down like this (which is different from what's on their website):
Cum GPA -- 38
Last 45 GPA-- 38
Science GPA -- 38
Whether or not you've completed every single pre-req by Oct 1 -- 6
GRE -- 60
School's Rigor -- 12
Course Loads -- 12
Vet Exp -- 12
Animal Exp -- 12
Socioeconomic factors -- 6

So that's 234. But I thought the interview was 60, and that it was supposed to add up to 300. And then what about extracurriculars/LORs/etc? Can someone explain this to me before I go insane? 😳

.....too late!!

 

[HopefulAg]

Well this is from last year, so the numbers are a bit different but here:

Had 1000ish hours of vet exp, though I've been told that they stop counting after 500.
Experience diversity was either: small/large or small/clin path, dependent on what they counted.

Had a ridiculous number of animal exp.


Basically it goes to show:
1) Low GPA doesn't destroy your chances
2) Interview is key. That was the primary part that I could actively control and did poorly in it, thus rejected.
They thought I was "kind of quiet/shy in the interview", which I didn't think at all, but yah. So be happy, bubbly, and outgoing I reckon. And I do think I was much more...aggressive? in my interviews this year, so that may have helped.


No idea what my numbers are for this year.

And then what about extracurriculars/LORs/etc?

They don't give you points for those. They will comment on them in your postmortem though.



I wonder what's included in 'Socioeconomic factors'? Are we penalized now for not coming from a diverse background?

Whether or not you've completed every single pre-req by Oct 1 -- 6

School's Rigor -- 12
Course Loads -- 12

So wait. You get judged on the school's rigor AND your course load rigor now? And whether or not you've completed all your pre-reqs? Not sure I like how their system is shaping up.

I guess it's better than focusing all on GPA (which was the primary focus in the past), but they're picking weird categories to look at.

 

[ATX00]

Wow, I think I love you, HopefulAg. 😍 That chart answered so many questions I had.

They don't give you points for those. They will comment on them in your postmortem though.

You mean they don't award points for them, or they just don't tell you what you got? Your points on that chart don't add up to your total points, so presumably there's other stuff they're giving points for. That's the part I don't understand/like. They go through all the trouble of this points system, but in the end it seems like they're just gonna decide if they want you or not, and adjust the "mystery points" accordingly. How terrible would it be if they just told applicants exactly what they wanted from us so we could do it? 😉

I wonder what's included in 'Socioeconomic factors'? Are we penalized now for not coming from a diverse background?

I think this is stuff like if you're the first in your family to attend college, etc.

So wait. You get judged on the school's rigor AND your course load rigor now? And whether or not you've completed all your pre-reqs? Not sure I like how their system is shaping up.

Here's what they said at the Q&A... Rigor and course loads are separate. Rigor is "objective" -- this Barron's guide to colleges ranks schools on selectivity/rigor on a scale of 1-6, and they multiply this by two for 12 points max. Rice students get 12 points. A&M and UT Austin get 10 points. I looked into the book, and it looks like all other schools (and other UT/A&M campuses) are lower. Texas State and Texas Tech get 8 points, I believe, and it goes down from there.
Course loads are a separate 12 points.
They said the 6 points for course completion is a new thing. You either get it or you don't based on whether or not you have every pre-req completed by October 1st. They said it's meant to reward students who are further along in their academic careers, or who are applying for the second/third/etc time.

Can you tell I took a lot of notes at the Admissions Q&A at the Open House? 🙄

Edit: Ok, now that I've been staring at your chart for a while, I am totally baffled by your GPA points. Where are these numbers coming from? 😕

 

[HopefulAg]

You mean they don't award points for them, or they just don't tell you what you got? Your points on that chart don't add up to your total points, so presumably there's other stuff they're giving points for.

Oh, good point. For all the time spent obsessing over my stats and wondering what to improve upon, I never took my 'Subtotal - Academic' points and added it to my Interview points.

Then yes, I suppose the answer would be that you are graded on your ECs and what not, they just don't give you the point values.

How terrible would it be if they just told applicants exactly what they wanted from us so we could do it? 😉

Well they will in the postmortem. For instance, my recommendations from last year were:

1) Get more large animal experience
2) Work on overcoming shyness
3) Diversify experience and clinical environment


I assume that if they wanted you to have more ECs or some such, they'd tell you. They just said that I "had quite a few activities as well as leadership roles", so I assume they were satisfied.

I think this is stuff like if you're the first in your family to attend college, etc.

Yah, I just don't think it's right. You get a leg up for being the first in your family to go to college? It's commendable, but really this isn't something one can control. There's no way you can make yourself more socioeconomically diverse so you'll always have a 6 point deficit that you can't improve if you were born as just an average white kid.

Edit: Ok, now that I've been staring at your chart for a while, I am totally baffled by your GPA points. Where are these numbers coming from? 😕

Not sure what you mean. Which numbers? The 'value' is what I have, the 'points' is where on the continuum that value puts me, and 'possible' is the max you could get. So a 3.4 GPA gives me 20 points, where as a 4.0 would've given me 32.

And 'values this year' is what I applied with this year.

 

[ATX00]

Not sure what you mean. Which numbers? The 'value' is what I have, the 'points' is where on the continuum that value puts me, and 'possible' is the max you could get. So a 3.4 GPA gives me 20 points, where as a 4.0 would've given me 32.

And 'values this year' is what I applied with this year.

Okay, I figured it out. I was confused by how your GPA's were worth those point values.

I understood the 3.4 but not the others.
4 - 3.4 = 0.6
0.6 x 20 = 12
32 possible - 12 = 20

But for the others, it goes a step further
4.0 - 3.43 = 0.57
0.57 x 20 = 11.4
32 - 11.4 = 20.6 (I figured they would use 34 instead of 32 and stop here, but nooo...)
( 20.6 / 32 ) x 34 = 21.89

Could they make this any more complicated? It's certainly not helping my sanity.

 

[ATX00]

Well, I don't understand how they're determining points awarded for GRE scores at all. A 660/800 is somehow worth 15.34/23. It doesn't appear to be directly converted from score or from percentile, so I must be ******ed.

I should probably not care because I've already taken the GRE and I'm not taking it again, but now I'm obsessed with deciphering this point system. Thanks a lot, HopefulAg!! I'm never going to get anything done ever again. 😉

 

[Vet Engineer]

Ditto.

Apparently the departments can't talk to one another either, as I have to send A&M my transcript....from A&M. They just want an extra 7 bucks. In addition, I have to prove to A&M's financial aid department that I was accepted by A&M. Oooh bureaucracy, you are something else.

I got the same letter! I thought I had made an error on my fafsa or something. I called to ask about it and they said that they are currently awarding grad students their financial aid packages so we should hear back within 3-4 days (call was on Tuesday). So hopefully we will have our financial aid by the end of this week. However, the guy I talked to wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[HopefulAg]

Yah well my sister has to mail me my acceptance letter back so I can make a copy and send it to financial aid lol. I guess I get to be accepted twice!

 

[TexasTiger]

I got the same letter! I thought I had made an error on my fafsa or something. I called to ask about it and they said that they are currently awarding grad students their financial aid packages so we should hear back within 3-4 days (call was on Tuesday). So hopefully we will have our financial aid by the end of this week. However, the guy I talked to wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

^ Did not get this letter...not sure what that means, tho 😕 Totally paranoid about A&M making a mistake on my acceptance now, haha

And the part about the chart that baffles me is the 23 points for the Analytical and Quant. but only 8 for Verbal? I suppose the writing covers a lot of the same general knowledge and in a more practical format, but it seems like a huge difference.

And after seeing that breakdown, I totally want to know how I did and how I managed to rack up enough points for acceptance...you'd think I'd be able to just say, "Yay! I got in!" and be done with it, but no. I guess I'm just weird like that 😀

 

[HopefulAg]

Naw I'd like to see my breakdown from this year as well, but I don't really want to waste their time. Just kinda wanted to see what they liked this year vs the others.

And the part about the chart that baffles me is the 23 points for the Analytical and Quant. but only 8 for Verbal?

Dis is Texas, we dun' hafta speke gud! Jes knead dem rithmatics.

 

[Vet Engineer]

Dis is Texas, we dun' hafta speke gud! Jes knead dem rithmatics.

Nice! hahaha Oh how I love Texas.


I don't want to see my score breakdown because I just have this picture in my head that they will start looking back over it and realize they did the math wrong...

 

[TexasTiger]

Dis is Texas, we dun' hafta speke gud! Jes knead dem rithmatics.

Hahaha, that's awesome, although when I read it, I couldn't peg the accent until about five minutes ago. His name is Ray, and he's a cajun firefly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moajABK-kg4

I know, I'm a total nerd

 

[HopefulAg]

Ok so evidently the CVM is sending over a list of all accepted people to financial aid here in a few days; so the letter financial aid sent us? Totally irrelevant.

Sometimes, TAMU just makes me *head desk* something fierce. Primarily during football season but they like to catch me in the off-season as well when they can.

 

[Vet Engineer]

Few days?!? I'm too impatient for TAMU's shenanigans! I want my info now! Actually, I'll bypass all of that and fast forward to August please.

 

[HopefulAg]

No joke. This is almost comparable to waiting to hear back from schools for interviews/acceptances. But, all the other vet students on the forum say to enjoy your last summer so I guess I'll work on that. I've waited 3 years, so I reckon I can wait a bit longer.

 

[libster06]

Oh and they evidently fired the Interfolio people. Good! That was a damn pain in the ass.

👍

LOL! I am not going to A&M but I did apply and get accepted there and I just had to laugh when I got an email the other day about Interfolio being "fired"... because they freaking LOST one of my recommendation letters! Literally lost it... for several months... I can't tell you how many tears I shed over that one! Good riddance to them!

 

[Vet Engineer]

I got ANOTHER letter from A&M today requesting a copy of my official acceptance letter. This is after I talked to them on the phone and faxed them a copy on April 27th. This is getting kind of ridiculous...

 

[HopefulAg]

Got my information packet today. Not a whole lotta useful stuff in it, but it does have the book and supplies list, as well as how to login to our e-mail and what not.

The Parking website still says I'm ineligible though and Financial Aid still doesn't believe I'm a student.

 

[Vet Engineer]

Hopefully I'll get mine on Monday or Tuesday then. Some information is better than none!


I called the financial aid office again and they said I had to write my UIN (or some other acronym) number on my acceptance letter, otherwise it wouldn't be processed. So they looked up the number for me since I had no idea what it was and I faxed it again. Hopefully it will work this time. I don't get it though. If they could look up my id number by using my name, couldn't they figure out who the letter belonged to since my name is already on it? Oh how I love bureaucratic shenanigans!

 

[Pouches Rock]

I got my packet on Saturday. I thought it could have more information as well but that may be because I had built up my expectations that this mondo package would somehow have all the answers😀.

Some interesting things I thought were in the packet:

the health insurance information-I haven't ever had to pick between insurances before so that will take some research

the survey-I haven't taken it yet but supposedly our answers will help them place us in groups; I am not sure if that is for individual lab groups for dissection or the two main groups which determine if you take lab directly after class or have a break and take it in the afternoon I think those two groups are called A and B

The pet food store discount- means I will need to switch my guys over to science diet

 

[HopefulAg]

the survey-I haven't taken it yet but supposedly our answers will help them place us in groups; I am not sure if that is for individual lab groups for dissection or the two main groups which determine if you take lab directly after class or have a break and take it in the afternoon I think those two groups are called A and B

Oh...uh, really? I put some odd answers on mine lol. Always try to sneak in interesting bits for the reader on those kinds of things, got to be boring to read all the feed back. But if they're going to actually use them for something....I'm gonna be in the 'Weird' group. 😀

 

[Vet Engineer]

So which textbooks are you going to buy? In the facebook group discussion, the opinions vary a bit on which textbooks are essential. If I buy all of the "required" ones, it will be over $700. Well, that is if I buy them from VESST.

Do we really need #10 blades, exam gloves, etc? If we do I will probably just order them from work since that will probably be cheaper.

 

[HopefulAg]

Do we really need #10 blades, exam gloves, etc? If we do I will probably just order them from work since that will probably be cheaper.

Gotta dissect with something. I guess you could just not wear gloves (lungs feel awesome, by the by) but most people like gloves. The dogs do come out of the freezer, after all, so they're cold. The thin layer of plastic helps with that a bit. You can get a box of 50 for 3 bucks at wally world.

As far as the books, no idea, haven't looked too in depth at them. I saw the cheapest book was $60, groaned, and put the list down.

 

[Vet Engineer]

I guess it's the 4 years of private schooling that made me assume we wouldn't need to buy our own blades or gloves. I'm a fan of the purple nitrile gloves so I'll probably just get those through the clinic where I work. For a second I thought you meant that we could get #10 blades from walmart. That made me shudder.

 

[4paws]

The survey is to put you in your mentor/husbandry group. Every group is responsible for feeding an animal for a week each semester. They use the surveys to group people based on experience and comfort. This way, all the people feeding the horse won't be deathly afraid of it. Or all the people feeding the cow won't be bored to death because they all grew up on dairy farms...

Yes, you need gloves and blades. You need them all year. You don't want to be without. You'll need more than 1 box of gloves (class time + after hours lab studying = lots of gloves).

Vesst is rarely (if ever) the cheapest place to buy books. If the prices make you shudder, maybe wait until you get your vet school email acct. Lots of people have books to sell and mass emails go out all the time.

 

[heavenfordogs]

Do we really need #10 blades, exam gloves, etc?

You're definitely going to want gloves (and lots of them). The preserving solution they use is definitely a skin irritant (as well as an eyes, nose, and throat kind of irritant), and I think you're required to wear gloves in lab anyway. I went through ~100 gloves in the first semester and even more the second semester. As far as blades, you're going to go through a number of them. However, if your lab partners always have extras (some people buy the box of 100 and pass them out like candy), you might not have to buy as many.

As far as textbooks, that's really up to you. The only one you really have to have is the dog dissection guide because you will be doing all your dissections based on that text. All the others can be helpful to have as reference depending on how much you like looking at outside sources for clarification on things the prof went over in class. Let me know if you want recommendations for other classes.

 

[nyanko]

But if they're going to actually use them for something....I'm gonna be in the 'Weird' group. 😀

Seems appropriate imo

 

[HopefulAg]

The survey is to put you in your mentor/husbandry group. Every group is responsible for feeding an animal for a week each semester. They use the surveys to group people based on experience and comfort. This way, all the people feeding the horse won't be deathly afraid of it. Or all the people feeding the cow won't be bored to death because they all grew up on dairy farms...

Aww crap. I wish they would've said that in the letter. I thought 'optimal groups for first-year courses' was just them picking what they needed to focus on more.

Seems appropriate imo

Probably some truth to that.

 

[Vet Engineer]

As far as textbooks, that's really up to you. The only one you really have to have is the dog dissection guide because you will be doing all your dissections based on that text. All the others can be helpful to have as reference depending on how much you like looking at outside sources for clarification on things the prof went over in class. Let me know if you want recommendations for other classes.

Yes, recommendations please! I was looking over everyone's comments on the facebook discussion and the views seem to vary a bit. I'm horrible with the wait and see what I need approach. I feel like I will be caught with my pants down so to speak. Also, I would like to space out my book purchases over the summer so I can pay for them while I still have an income.

So far I'm thinking I should get Miller's Anatomy of the Dog, 3rd ed; Miller's Guide to Dissection; Veterinary Anatomy 4th ed, Dyce; and Human Phys, 7th ed, Sherwood.

Sounds like Berne and Levy, Atlas of Histology, Basic Histology, SA Diagnosis and Procedures, and Lippincott's Biochem aren't really needed?

My natural sciences background is also pretty limited so I don't know if I may need some of the books others didn't. Now I will end my ridiculously long post.

 

[HopefulAg]

I think the ones I'm going to get are:

Miller's Anatomy of the Dog
Miller's Guide to the Dissection of the Dog (gonna buy it used off the FB discussion board)
Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy
Veterinary Immunology
Color Atlas of Histology (probably get this used as well)
and probably going to buy Basic Histology later (ditto on used)

Already have the 6th edition of Human Physiology from undergrad, so just gonna use that. Also using my undergrad biochem book in place of the Lippincott's.

Buying most of the other stuff here locally, and probably going to put together my own dissection kit. Need stuff to cut, slice, and hold. Can't be that much different from what they pick out.


Have you looked online for the books by chance? I did, but the prices were marginally better at best. Shipping costs would take away any savings.

 

[Vet Engineer]

Anyone know when we are going to get our financial aid packages? My status for the financial aid portal says that they need to receive a copy of my official acceptance letter, which I already sent them. However, it isn't official enough for them so I'm waiting for Yolanda or whoever to send the official list for class of 2014 to financial aid.

It just seems a bit ridiculous to be 2 months away from orientation/school to not know anything about financial aid.

 

[rtoddo09]

Berne and Levy is the primary textbook that they work off of for first year physiology. 90% of the reading assignments are given from B&L, but IMO, Sherwood is way better written and easier to understand. B&L chapters ended up taking me forever to read because its so wordy and the thoughts are all over the place... BUT its what they use primarily.

 

[HopefulAg]

Sherwood is what we used in undergrad phys and I have to ditto it being readable. If an undergrad can understand it, a vet student should be able to. Probably lacks as much depth though.

Anyone know when we are going to get our financial aid packages? My status for the financial aid portal says that they need to receive a copy of my official acceptance letter, which I already sent them. However, it isn't official enough for them so I'm waiting for Yolanda or whoever to send the official list for class of 2014 to financial aid.

You may want to call them. I've already gotten (and accepted) my financial aid offer.

 

[Pouches Rock]

Anyone know anything about the guy teaching Professional Devo? I couldn't find him on the website or a cv on the internet. The schedule says his name is Errol Gage.

 

[TexasTiger]

Anyone know anything about the guy teaching Professional Devo? I couldn't find him on the website or a cv on the internet. The schedule says his name is Errol Gage.

I don't have any insight at the moment, but one of the vets that I work with graduated recently ('07 I think) so I'll make a mental note to ask her. I've been meaning to ask her about the professors, anyway.

On another note, I received/accepted my financial aid package last week...it's getting close! I'm so excited! (Everyone thinks I'm a total nerd for getting this excited to go back to school...I generally don't contradict them, but rather point out the vet anatomy cards in my purse, haha)

 

[Vet Engineer]

Anyone know anything about the guy teaching Professional Devo? I couldn't find him on the website or a cv on the internet. The schedule says his name is Errol Gage.

So I google searched his name and a link to a facebook page came up with a picture of a guy flexing his bicep. hahaha I don't think he's our prof. Although, it would be pretty funny if it was!

 

[HopefulAg]

I tried googling him too and couldn't find him anywhere. He's not on the faculty rosters either and he's the only one I don't recognize.

He does have an awesome last name though.

 

[Pouches Rock]

Okay I think he goes by his middle name because I saw references to an E. Dean Gage and there is Dean Gage in the overall faculty list but still didn't see a cv.

Also when I picked a different more detailed view of the schedule on howdy there were additional instructors listed for twp of the courses so perhaps those are lab instructors or the courses are co-taught.

 

[Pouches Rock]

Hi all I just wanted to bump this up and say I am excited about orientation. I am guessing that most everyone has made their move to CS and I hope it has gone well 🙂. I noticed that there are several team building exercises listed on the schedule... does anyone have any inside information on what they might be? I figured we would be wearing business casual but, the majority of the team building exercises I have done before have been pretty physical.

 

[Vet Engineer]

I was wondering that myself. I'm assuming it isn't a ropes course because I feel like they would have told us about that ahead of time. So I guess we are just doing the simple activities that require minimal movement? What are you planning on wearing? Slacks, some sort of blouse, and flats?

 

[HopefulAg]

No real strenuous activities. We don't have to walk a tightrope between the small and large animal clinics or anything.

 

[4paws]

I was wondering that myself. I'm assuming it isn't a ropes course because I feel like they would have told us about that ahead of time. So I guess we are just doing the simple activities that require minimal movement? What are you planning on wearing? Slacks, some sort of blouse, and flats?

All of the activities are inside in classrooms and meeting rooms. The small group activities are fr you to get to know your mentor and your mentor group. You may have the option of working outside, but nobody wants that, it's too freaking hot.

Definitely wear business casual for orientation.

 

[TexasTiger]

No real strenuous activities. We don't have to walk a tightrope between the small and large animal clinics or anything.

Dang. I was totally hoping for a tightrope. Or at least a zipline...

 

[HopefulAg]

I dunno, those towers were pretty strenuous.

A zipline would be fun though. OkSU gets a ropes course, we should get at least a zip line.

 

[TexasTiger]

I'm pretty sure AU has a ropes course (including zipline!) as well. I would think that A&M could find some land somewhere to put one up. And I think those towers were strenuous for the people they fell on, haha