Texas A&M c/o 2018 Applicants!

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epivetlove said:
I was waiting to see if you'd post! Congrats! Have you interviewed at A&M before?
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Congrats to you too!! I've never interviewed at A&M or even been to CS! I didn't get an invite the first time around due to low vet experience hours.

We have interviews for vet school in less than a month! Time to do some reading up on ethical issues and practice communication skills. I'm gonna be a ball of nerves on interview day!
 
LilHopefulVet said:
Congrats to you too!! I've never interviewed at A&M or even been to CS! I didn't get an invite the first time around due to low vet experience hours.

We have interviews for vet school in less than a month! Time to do some reading up on ethical issues and practice communication skills. I'm gonna be a ball of nerves on interview day!
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Ah, okay. I see! Well, this is my fifth year living in CS, so I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. 🙂

And I know! So terrifying and exciting. I'm meeting with a professor/DVM on the 3rd to do a mock interview. Don't know if it'll be helpful or not. Otherwise, I've been looking up any and all ethical or MMI-related material. Eek!
 
epivetlove said:
Ah, okay. I see! Well, this is my fifth year living in CS, so I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. 🙂

And I know! So terrifying and exciting. I'm meeting with a professor/DVM on the 3rd to do a mock interview. Don't know if it'll be helpful or not. Otherwise, I've been looking up any and all ethical or MMI-related material. Eek!
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One of the vets I work for actually assists with the interviews and has been a big help coaching me on what to expect. I hope to do a mock interview with him before my actual interview. While eight minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time, I've never been a big talker, so I don't know if I'll actually be able to talk the whole time!

I think I'm actually gonna be more nervous now than I was before I knew if I had an interview or not! :laugh:
 
LilHopefulVet said:
I think I'm actually gonna be more nervous now than I was before I knew if I had an interview or not! :laugh:
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Today I'm just basking in the happy glow and enjoying the relief..tomorrow...tomorrow I start freaking out, lol.
 
Congrats to everyone and good luck on your interviews. I'm taking my last 5 pre-req classes and will be applying next year. My 2 biggest concerns are animal experience and GRE. Can anyone share how did you gain your animal experience and how many hours you have before you apply?
 
pipab said:
Congrats to everyone and good luck on your interviews. I'm taking my last 5 pre-req classes and will be applying next year. My 2 biggest concerns are animal experience and GRE. Can anyone share how did you gain your animal experience and how many hours you have before you apply?
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I searched for whatever volunteer position I could find. I mostly volunteered at rehab centers, shelters and fostered cats. A&M has many animal-related classes like equine training, field herpetology, and a wildlife center where you can complete a "directed studies" course. I also grew up helping my grandparents work their farm, had a pet-sitting business for 2 years, and I did a great deal of breaking yearling and 2-year olds back when my dad bred and trained Paints. There are always opportunities, sometimes you just have to dig a little. Do you live in CS or elsewhere?
 
LilHopefulVet said:
One of the vets I work for actually assists with the interviews and has been a big help coaching me on what to expect. I hope to do a mock interview with him before my actual interview. While eight minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time, I've never been a big talker, so I don't know if I'll actually be able to talk the whole time!

I think I'm actually gonna be more nervous now than I was before I knew if I had an interview or not! :laugh:
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It's not a big deal if you don't. They may have some follow up questions, but in several of the rooms I ran out of things to say before time. Once you're done just tell them you're done and that's that. Nothing else gets marked down, the stone wall comes down, and they'll chat with you normally until time ends. No sense trying to drag it out.
 
Frozenshades said:
It's not a big deal if you don't. They may have some follow up questions, but in several of the rooms I ran out of things to say before time. Once you're done just tell them you're done and that's that. Nothing else gets marked down, the stone wall comes down, and they'll chat with you normally until time ends. No sense trying to drag it out.
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Small talk after answering the question(s) is allowed, then? That's a relief. I was worried we may have to sit it silence until time was up...I tend to fidget a lot when that happens. Yay.
 
Yeah, they'll make small talk, and just about everyone's friendly (no one was mean, but some were more chatty than others). They may ask you things like what you do for fun, so if you're like me and don't do small talk outside your comfort zone very well, you may want to have answers prepared for some "standard" interview questions. However, anything you say after you end your discussion of the posted topic won't count against you, so don't worry if you can't come up with anything interesting to talk about or stutter like a fool 😉
 
I live in Plano but I commute to A&M-Commerce for pre-vet classes. I just decided to go to Vet school a few years ago. I volunteered at SPCA and shadowed the veterinarian at animal clinic but so far my hours is a little than 200 hours. I don't how many hours will be sufficient?
 
pipab said:
I live in Plano but I commute to A&M-Commerce for pre-vet classes. I just decided to go to Vet school a few years ago. I volunteered at SPCA and shadowed the veterinarian at animal clinic but so far my hours is a little than 200 hours. I don't how many hours will be sufficient?
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I grew up in Dallas, near Plano. There are several places to volunteer in the area. There's 2 therapeutic riding centers (I did a few weekends at ManeGait in McKinney), as well as InSync Exotics in Wylie. They work with big cats. If you can manage, try and find a clinic to work or shadow at. There's a million clinics in and around the Plano area and someone's always hiring. It won't be easy to get large animal vet experience in the city, but maybe there's a place on your way to Commerce? A&M likes to see a variety of animal and vet experience (small, large, equine, exotics, research, emergency, etc), with vet experience being more important.

Just keep looking and be tenacious, but don't pester vets. Let them know what you're looking for and why. You should be able to find a few that will empathize with the application process and would be happy to let you observe. Good luck!
 
epivetlove said:
I grew up in Dallas, near Plano. There are several places to volunteer in the area. There's 2 therapeutic riding centers (I did a few weekends at ManeGait in McKinney), as well as InSync Exotics in Wylie. They work with big cats. If you can manage, try and find a clinic to work or shadow at. There's a million clinics in and around the Plano area and someone's always hiring. It won't be easy to get large animal vet experience in the city, but maybe there's a place on your way to Commerce? A&M likes to see a variety of animal and vet experience (small, large, equine, exotics, research, emergency, etc), with vet experience being more important.

Just keep looking and be tenacious, but don't pester vets. Let them know what you're looking for and why. You should be able to find a few that will empathize with the application process and would be happy to let you observe. Good luck!
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Thank you. I'm currently volunteering at InSync Exotics. Hope the vet at animal clinic allow me to shadow him again in Spring. Good luck on your interview.
 
pipab said:
Thank you. I'm currently volunteering at InSync Exotics. Hope the vet at animal clinic allow me to shadow him again in Spring. Good luck on your interview.
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No problem! InSync is an awesome place that I wish I had found sooner. As for getting more vet hours, where there's a will there's a way. I wish you luck. 🙂 Also thank you! Hopefully you'll have an interview invite come this time next year.
 
Does anyone have any insight into A&M's view on the whole "pants vs. skirts" debate for interview attire? Sorry if this has already been discussed...
 
aflac said:
Does anyone have any insight into A&M's view on the whole "pants vs. skirts" debate for interview attire? Sorry if this has already been discussed...
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From talking to an AdCom member, there is no preference. Whatever looks nice and feels comfortable. Strangely enough...nothing was mentioned in the email about appropriate attire. Can past applicants speak to this? Are there any other emails before interviewing occurs?
 
epivetlove said:
From talking to an AdCom member, there is no preference. Whatever looks nice and feels comfortable. Strangely enough...nothing was mentioned in the email about appropriate attire. Can past applicants speak to this? Are there any other emails before interviewing occurs?
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As far as I remember that initial email was it. Just wear what you would wear to any other interview, which I would assume would be a nice suit, and don't sweat it too much.
 
Just wanted to stop in and say good luck to everyone interviewing!!

Oh. I wore pants and a button down top. Make sure to wear shoes you are comfortable walking around in if you are going on a tour.
 
It's one week away for me. I'm getting exponentially more nervous as each day passes. I'm trying to be cool about it and to not get worked up, but I want to get in so bad! Especially with other students posting about acceptances... I don't feel like I can prepare any further...unless the scenarios/questions asked are just out of left field. I've scoured for pretty much every ethic-type topic I could find and made a stance on each with what I think is sound reasoning. Ugh. At this point, I just want it to be done and over with so I can stop obsessing about it. :diebanana:


Only to start obsessing about if I'll get accepted or not. -snicker-
 
Does anyone know if attending the party (a BBQ I think?) has annnnyy effect on your chances? Or if going on a tour does? I've already been on tours so I don't really want to do another but if it'll give me some "bonus points" then obviously I will haha.
 
I feel like there would be so many people at such a thing, it wouldn't be noticed if you weren't there. Trust me, the interviewers will not remember most of you personally without your CV in front of them. Maybe by face at best, but I doubt they would remember your name. I sat in on some MMIs a year or two ago at A&M and couldn't remember a single student's name after it was done - that's why they all have to take notes.
 
laura210 said:
Does anyone know if attending the party (a BBQ I think?) has annnnyy effect on your chances? Or if going on a tour does? I've already been on tours so I don't really want to do another but if it'll give me some "bonus points" then obviously I will haha.
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I spoke with an AdCom member this week and she said there was no benefit of going on the tour other than to get acquainted with the vet school (which I know pretty well already). As for the BBQ, it's put on by current vet students and I think there is little or no input by the Admissions Committee. My birthday is the 10th which is when I interview...I'd rather spend my birthday night somewhere other than the vet school, especially after the stress of the interview, haha.
 
I guess it's a new thing this year...? It was mentioned briefly in the interview invite email and then we received a more detailed letter a few days ago. This was what Yolanda said about it:

"I can’t answer any questions regarding this event so please contact the appropriate person listed in this correspondence."

And then there was an attachment and a link to a GoogleDoc to RSVP. I declined. 😳
 
When interviewers ask you 'do you have any questions for us'? what are you supposed to ask? Ive never understood this during interviews, haha.
 
laura210 said:
When interviewers ask you 'do you have any questions for us'? what are you supposed to ask? Ive never understood this during interviews, haha.
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You can ask what their interests in vet med are or what role they have in the profession. 🙂 Or something similar.

Less than 24 hours until my interview. Really only concerned about not being able to answer a question/scenario at this point. Mostly I just want it to be over with, haha.

Good luck to anyone else interviewing tomorrow!
 
Good luck to all interviewees tomorrow!! I wish my interview was tomorrow that way it would just be over. This anticipation is going to kill me! 😕
 
For all those who interviewed today: how'd it go?
For those going tomorrow: good luck! 🙂
 
i dropped the ball on one question and 3 of the scenarios had a minute or two left over. 🙁
 
I'll just say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It goes by very, very quickly. I'm out celebrating with friends and trying not to dwell on my answers. Hopefully I did well enough. I'll just have to wait and see.

Good luck all that are still interviewing! You'll do great! 🙂
 
laura210 said:
i dropped the ball on one question and 3 of the scenarios had a minute or two left over. 🙁
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That's pretty much how I felt last year. But that's also the point of the MMI: if you don't impress one set, you've got 5 more to go. And taking up the entire time I don't think is as important as being able to express yourself clearly and concisely (which you may not be able to do like normal in that situation, but again, they're prepared for some nervousness). I started analyzing every answer in the days following my interview, even the ones I was initially happy with. It's hard not to, especially with two months to wait between now and acceptances going out. But there's nothing you can change at this point, and from the classmates I've talked to about our interviews, they had the same concerns I did afterward. It's normal. Try to distract yourself with something else when you start to stress, and March will be here before you know it!
 
Well, it went much more quickly than I was expecting. I know I completely bombed one room and don't feel super great about the others. Two of the rooms I ran out of time before the interviewers could ask follow-up questions. In several other rooms, I was answering follow-up questions when time was up. Only one room did the interviewers get to ask casual questions after I was done with the scenario.

I don't know if it's better to run out of time answering the questions or to finish concisely and have small talk at the end?? Either way, I'm glad it's over!

Now, two more months of waiting. Ugh!
 
I felt the same as others! I talked over time in 3/6 rooms. I believe Ms. Kenita (love her!) said that we wouldn't be docked if that happened. Hopefully I just didn't hear what I wanted to, lol. I spent the whole night rehashing my answers and didn't fall asleep until 3am, despite being physically exhausted.

I hope we all get to post good news here in a few months! 🙂
 
For those that have submitted fall transcripts, has TMDSAS received them? If so, may I ask when you mailed them? Kinda freaking out about it since they've due in this coming Friday. Ordered 1/2, but A&M didn't mail until 1/8. 🙁
 
disclaimer: not pre vet (pre med actually), but I have a friend that is looking into vet school....


on average, how many applications does TAMU receive a year? how many do they accept? interview? any advice that I should give my friend when it comes to preparing her applications? what do vet schools look for? etc etc...

Thanks in advance!!
 
eggman2013 said:
disclaimer: not pre vet (pre med actually), but I have a friend that is looking into vet school....


on average, how many applications does TAMU receive a year? how many do they accept? interview? any advice that I should give my friend when it comes to preparing her applications? what do vet schools look for? etc etc...

Thanks in advance!!
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I don't know how accurate these numbers are, but this is what I've heard being whispered among other applicants, so take it with a grain of salt.

Between 500 to 600 people applied this year, with just over 400 of those being eligible for an interview (i.e. they passed the initial cutoff), and approximately 200 of that number were actually granted interviews. Of those that interview, I believe around 130 are accepted as In-State and around 10 are Out-of-State. No idea what the breakdown of IS/OOS applicants per year is. Unlinke other schools, IS is the majority, though. Mostly because A&M accepts so few OOS'ers and also because no one wants to fill out 2 applications (at least that's my theory).

As far as preparation, check out A&M's prospective DVM page (vetmed.tamu.edu/dvm/future). It lists pre-reqs for eligibility, such as courses, minimum GPAs, experiences, etc. General rules of thumb: get as much animal and vet experience as possible (many applicants have 1000s of hours in both of these categories) and make it varied, make as many As as possible, especially in the sciences, do well on the GRE, and foster good relationships with vets/professors so that they can write some solid letters of recommendation.

I think that about covers it. Maybe someone else can chime in if I've missed something or presented inaccurate data.
 
epivetlove said:
I don't know how accurate these numbers are, but this is what I've heard being whispered among other applicants, so take it with a grain of salt.

Between 500 to 600 people applied this year, with just over 400 of those being eligible for an interview (i.e. they passed the initial cutoff), and approximately 200 of that number were actually granted interviews. Of those that interview, I believe around 130 are accepted as In-State and around 10 are Out-of-State. No idea what the breakdown of IS/OOS applicants per year is. Unlinke other schools, IS is the majority, though. Mostly because A&M accepts so few OOS'ers and also because no one wants to fill out 2 applications (at least that's my theory).

As far as preparation, check out A&M's prospective DVM page (vetmed.tamu.edu/dvm/future). It lists pre-reqs for eligibility, such as courses, minimum GPAs, experiences, etc. General rules of thumb: get as much animal and vet experience as possible (many applicants have 1000s of hours in both of these categories) and make it varied, make as many As as possible, especially in the sciences, do well on the GRE, and foster good relationships with vets/professors so that they can write some solid letters of recommendation.

I think that about covers it. Maybe someone else can chime in if I've missed something or presented inaccurate data.
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I thin it's about in the 120's for IS and 10 or often less for OOS.

I know like other schools their numbers have been on the rise, at least the past couple years. When I did my interview last year Yolanda told us it was the largest number of applicants they'd ever had. I think it was in the 600s. The TMDSAS is a pain in the arse.
 
Sorry. I should mention that my number of acceptances is due to the school overaccepting. I think like 134 IS applicants were accepted last year, with 12 OOS...for a class of what? 135? Again, these numbers come from other applicants (repeat applicants to be specific), so not sure on the legitimacy of them.
 
There's an admission statistics link on TAMU's website that answers a number of these questions--number of qualified apps, number interviewed, seats offered, etc. They haven't updated it for the current class (2017), however. I can tell you we started out with 133 students, but one left for a PhD program after the first semester, so now we're down to the usual 132. I don't know the breakdown of IS vs OOS.
 
I wish you all, who were interviewed here, get accepted. I enjoy reading all posts but also feel panic at the same time. I'm going to apply this year. When did you start your application?
I have very little animal experience (100+). I heard that animal experience and GRE are more important than GPA. So I want to get as many as hours I can get before I submit the application. I'm looking for a job at animal clinic but no luck.
 
Thanks for the well wishes! I started my application in May, finished everything before August, though I think I waited until later to submit so that I could maximize the amount of hours I was accumulating.

As for animal experience, it accounts for a small portion of the total points that are used to determine interview invitations and ultimately acceptances--12 points out of 300 to be exact. Veterinary experience is a little more important at 16 points (though, every point counts!). GPA and GRE are probably the two most important factors--120 points for GPA (cumulative, science, and last 45 credits) and 60 for GRE. Do well on the GRE, especially the quantitative and analytic (writing) sections, and try to boost your GPAs wherever you can and you should be fine.

If you're still located in Frisco, just keep looking--try Craigslist even. I applied to several clinics when I was living in Dallas and got offers a few places (this was in 2011). They're are plenty of clinics in and around Frisco (may need to look around Carrollton, Plano, Castle Hills, etc.), so just keep trying. I walked in to most clinics I was interested in with my resume. Sometimes I was lucky, sometimes I wasn't.

Good luck!
 
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LilHopefulVet said:
They still don't have all my stuff updated on the supplemental yet🙁. Hopefully will be within the next week! Any ideas on how to prepare/practice for the MMI format A&M uses in the event that I get an interview? Still a looooooong way off, I know, but I can't help thinking about it if I get one! 😛
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Don't sweat it. Just give yourself adequate time to prepare with practice scenarios. If you need a good MMI book to help you develop a framework to the MMIs and with practice scenarios check out the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) for the Mind prepbook.

It's primarily geared towards premed students but effective for prevet students too. Google or search it on Amazon.
 
i completely forgot to write thank you notes to interviewers.... how bad is that going to affect me :nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:
 
Yeah, don't sweat it. Maybe if it was a traditional interview, but the MMI? They see so many people, and supposedly have their decisions made within the first few days...well before your thank you would reach them!
 
I'm guessing no OOSers have heard back? A calendar I found on the vetmed site that said decisions (calls?) would tentatively happen on 1/31.
 
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