UC Davis c/o 2015

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I had my interview last week as well, and it wasnt too bad. BeagleVet gave some good advice...dont ramble because they will let you and not cut you off. I was asked way more ethical and overpopulation problem type questions than questions about my experience, but did also get the expected questions such as where do you see yourself in 5 years.

Good luck you will be fine! Kathleen was super nice in the waiting room, and really helps calm you!
 
Thanks guys!

There are a couple questions where I want to cover a lot of "talking points" on, so I should try to get those as concise as possible.

Those "where do you see yourself" questions always seem a bit odd to me, especially when it's the 5 year plan. In 5 years I will only be 1 year out of vet school, and how can I say for sure now what I will be doing then. My mind may change from general practice to specialty or decide to do an internship later. I guess I will just go with what I feel right now...
 
Oh, one more question - when asked about current "issues", do they want you to talk about current events or current things related to the profession/personal issues individual vets face?
 
teatime said:
Oh, one more question - when asked about current "issues", do they want you to talk about current events or current things related to the profession/personal issues individual vets face?
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As for your 5 year plan, go with your current plans, and give them an idea- I had already said I'm thinking towards a residency so they had to amend mine to 10-15 years from now 😉

I don't recall that any of my questions were really current events- maybe only related to ethical issues, but I was prepared to answer the question of major challenges facing the Veterinary community if it came up. From what they did ask it was more issues personal vets face and making sure you are prepared for the challenge, but that you won't burn out.
 
Reviewing the amva website daily before my interview for their current event links, and reviewing their ethics sections really helped me feel prepared. I don't think I actually had to draw on any of the stuff I saw there for the interview, BUT I was more relaxed just because I felt prepared. 🙂
 
AHorseOffCourse said:
Reviewing the amva website daily before my interview for their current event links, and reviewing their ethics sections really helped me feel prepared. I don't think I actually had to draw on any of the stuff I saw there for the interview, BUT I was more relaxed just because I felt prepared. 🙂
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Didn't think to look up that section, but now I find it to be very informative! Alas, there are still some gray areas, but I'm glad I know now what vets are required/obligated to do compared to public perception about treating animals.
 
This is sort of a silly question, but what the heck.

I have an interview tomorrow at 4 and was originally planning on driving up to Davis the day of the interview. However, plans changed and I got to Davis a day early and was hoping to find way to meet up with someone/get shown around the college. I just contacted those in charge of organizing the student mentors, but I figured it was too short notice? Anyways, I was wondering if there were any UC Davis-ers here that might be free tomorrow and wouldn't mind showing me around!

😀
 
Had my interview today. Felt like it went in a different direction than anticipated. I got asked 3 ethical questions that were difficult and took up a significant portion of the time allotted. I felt like, and even they admitted, that we didn't get enough time to touch on my unique background. I also didn't feel like I got to show my knowledge of the profession enough. Still, I felt it went well and my answers were pretty good. Left a few things out, just trying not to second guess myself after the fact (impossible, i know) What's done is done! Glad it's over.
 
Thanks quantized!

I was actually able to get in touch with one of the students that organized the "student mentors", so I'll be meeting them and sitting in on your 9am class tomorrow! Thanks again though!
 
I want to go to neurology at 10am...never sent up a mentor - so if anyone sees me wandering the halls, could you send me in the right direction, please? 🙂

EDIT: whoops - I meant 11!
 
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nyanko said:
Deb: tomorrow?

edit: I think neuro is at 11, and respiratory physiology is at 10.
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uh...yeah - I meant 11 - haha - I don't think I should miss my interview in order to go to lecture. 😉
 
Nyanko- I was wodnering if the group learning is case based and sort of like pbl?? Or is that something I fabricated in my mind???
 
Teatime - I had mixed feelings about my interview, but as time has gone by (especially once the first 24 hours passed) I felt much better about it. Maybe it will be the same for you? Best of luck..... 🙂
 
AHorseOffCourse said:
Teatime - I had mixed feelings about my interview, but as time has gone by (especially once the first 24 hours passed) I felt much better about it. Maybe it will be the same for you? Best of luck..... 🙂
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Glad to know I'm not the only one! Im already starting to feel a bit better about it. Although I tried to take a nap and woke up in a cold sweat obsessing about one of my answers, haha. Besides the ethics portion, I felt my answers were really solid given the time limit. My issue is having responded to the ethics questions almost too quickly, maybe I should have taken more time to think about them... I just think this isn't the norm for an interview. They seemed to come up with them on the fly (like initially weren't even going to ask me), and one after another after another is just a lot to take when you're already nervous. But hey, maybe it says something about my stress endurance! And they might look at it later and say, hey, we were a little rough on her with those back to back questions, maybe we should take that into account when looking at the interview overall. Who the heck knows!
 
Savethewhales said:
Nyanko- I was wodnering if the group learning is case based and sort of like pbl?? Or is that something I fabricated in my mind???
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The specifics of the way that any self directed or case based learning will be set up is left to the block committees and leaders. There's going to be a lot more autonomy than you guys seem to think - nobody is going to stand over your shoulder and make sure your group or you are doing stuff in a specific way. The idea of the curriculum is to limit that sort of thing. That in mind, most of the blocks that have presented to us thus far have definitely had scheduled blocks of time for self-directed/case-based learning where they will have a lot of faculty/clinicians from the block readily available to answer any questions that people might have while working, just not feeding you answers, standing over you or holding your hand. I really wouldn't worry about specifics so much...
 
I'm definitely not worried about it. On the contrary I am super excited that they are integrating the group learning and that normal and abnormal will be presented together. And I looooove case-based learning.I think since vet med has so many different aspects, we can definitely learn from our classmates since their experiences might be quite different than our own.

Thanks for the answer!
 
I've been going back and forth about my interview. Left it squeezing my smashed panda and feeling decently about it, but proceeded to overanalyze all my responses and felt pretty awful about them. At this point, I'm attempting not to think about it too much. I'm mainly freaked out that I didn't have strong answers about how specifically I intended to reach my goals in my field of interest. Also failed at a few of their little trivia questions. 🙁
But very relieved it's over and done! Now, just sit back, relax (i wish!), and wait.
 
thedogisgreen said:
I've been going back and forth about my interview. Left it squeezing my smashed panda and feeling decently about it, but proceeded to overanalyze all my responses and felt pretty awful about them. At this point, I'm attempting not to think about it too much. I'm mainly freaked out that I didn't have strong answers about how specifically I intended to reach my goals in my field of interest. Also failed at a few of their little trivia questions. 🙁
But very relieved it's over and done! Now, just sit back, relax (i wish!), and wait.
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I'm so glad I went over basic SA vaccines. They def quizzed me on those. One of the interviewers basically helped me out on answering one question. I had stated that my clinic only does DHPP, not DHLPP, and they asked besides rabies what was the other zoonose. I blanked, and then he proceeded to give me a hint and I said hesitantly "....lepto....?" to which he said, perfect. and then we all laughed. oh boy. 🙄

Davis was hands down the hardest interview I had. So I think we're all feeling a little mixed feelings right now.
 
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teatime said:
Davis was hands down the hardest interview I had. So I think we're all feeling a little mixed feelings right now.
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Okay, that's good to hear. I'm definitely in major panic mode now that it's over, and am not too hopeful about it. Feeling pretty awful about how it went at this point despite that I got a 'good job' at the end, but who knows...
Talked to one of the vets about it today and she said that the answer they gave to one of the trivia questions actually wasn't a proven fact to her knowledge. 😕
 
This probably sounds weird, but I'm in a panic about names. Does anyone know who is on the interview committee this year? I could at least SEE a handful of names ahead of time, so that when I am given three of them in a high-stress situation, I have a CHANCE.

I know, since I don't interview until next week, that's a little bit like asking the people in section 1 of lab what their quiz was like when I'm in section 2 of lab... :-( and I don't want to be doing that.

So nervous!
 
If you get to your interview a few minutes early you can ask Kim O'Bryan (or whomever checks you in) who will be interviewing you (or, if you forget, you can ask right after the interview is over). Then you can write the names down. But don't write them down during your interview, or get too distracted staring at the interviewers' nameplates!
 
thedogisgreen said:
Okay, that's good to hear. I'm definitely in major panic mode now that it's over, and am not too hopeful about it. Feeling pretty awful about how it went at this point despite that I got a 'good job' at the end, but who knows...
Talked to one of the vets about it today and she said that the answer they gave to one of the trivia questions actually wasn't a proven fact to her knowledge. 😕
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I actually feel a lot better after talking to my boss today. It sounds like she would have given the same answers that I did. Phew!

I'm sure it didn't go as bad as you're thinking in you're head. Now that the initial 24 hour period is over, I feel better about it. And I remember a few first year's on the student panel saying that their interview didn't go "well", and they got in. Don't give up hope until you get that email!
 
thedogisgreen said:
Okay, that's good to hear. I'm definitely in major panic mode now that it's over, and am not too hopeful about it. Feeling pretty awful about how it went at this point despite that I got a 'good job' at the end, but who knows...
Talked to one of the vets about it today and she said that the answer they gave to one of the trivia questions actually wasn't a proven fact to her knowledge. 😕
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Davis was by far the worst of my 3 interviews, and I got in as well so don't worry too much. I couldn't answer any of those knowledge specific questions they asked even with prompting!
 
That's really strange - I didn't get asked anything that I would ahve considered "trivia" or technical....I'm not sure why - maybe because I'm food animal and there weren't any food animal people on the interviewing committee. A LOT of questions about endurance (I do 100 milers) but it was mostly interest and not an "gotcha" questions. I too wish I had paused for a minute and at least appeared to think about my ethics question before spouting off. *sigh*. I didn't even recognize my ethics question for what it was until they started asking me to clarifiy my question - I thought it was more of a "how would you deal with a difficult person in this circumstance" question.
 
Davis was my only interview (and only school I applied to) so wasn't able to compare to different schools, but I was definitely feeling thep ressure. It's odd because I do a lot of interviewing (from both sides of the table) and this was absolutely one of the worse from a pre-stress standpoint.

I too had a panda!!!!!!!!
 
Had my interview yesterday and thought it went really well! It seemed a lot more productive than the more conversational interviews I had at other schools. I got asked just a couple easy "technical" questions (what is normal body temp of a dog/name a commonly used IV fluid) that just reflected the types of duties I had listed for a volunteer experience. There were a couple ethical questions, questions about the future, my education/research, about how I will cope with the challenges of vet school, and my field of interest. Very well rounded interview methinks.

Looking back I'm actually surprised at how many questions I got through in just 20 min! The only thing I'm worried about is that I told them I was already accepted into Cornell (after they asked me "What will you do if you don't get into vet school this year?") and I didn't outright say that I would prefer to go to UC Davis...

Eek! It was such a fun experience visiting. 🙂
 
I had a super answer prepsred for the "what if you don't get in this year" question and I didn't get asked. 🙁 and it's sure not something you bring up in your closing comments! LOL. *sigh*

Probably the longest AND shortest 20 minutes I've ever had in my life! And I can tell you I will never forget the experience 🙂

I'm obviously bored at work and trying to make the day go by faster! I'm really hoping all the SDNers that are interviewing at Davis get in.
 
bonaparte said:
Looking back I'm actually surprised at how many questions I got through in just 20 min! The only thing I'm worried about is that I told them I was already accepted into Cornell (after they asked me "What will you do if you don't get into vet school this year?") and I didn't outright say that I would prefer to go to UC Davis...

Eek! It was such a fun experience visiting. 🙂
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I also got asked that question, and I was honest about getting into Ohio. I however did say that had I not gotten in, I would have gained more DIVERSE experience before applying again. They asked me if I would go to Ohio if not accepted to Davis, and I said yes. I explained how crazy the process is and how there is really no telling what your chances are from year to year, and there's no guarantee I'd get this far for Davis next year. Not to mention I don't want to waste another year that could be spent getting closer to my career goals. They concurred with "well a bird in the hand is better than one in the bush" :laugh: Made me feel a lot better!

I did make sure to say that Davis was my absolute first choice and how excited I would be to get it in. I'm pretty sure they know that that is everyone's first choice so I don't think explicitly saying it vs not will have any effect.

Also....Am i the only one that got asked so many freakin ethical questions?! Geez Davis...
 
Wow that was a really good answer!! Sorry to stalk this as I didn't even apply, but it'd be cool if I got into Western, another close-by vet school! When do you all find out if you got in/waitlisted/denied? Did they give a date?
 
They are supposed to let us know between march 21st-april 4th.
 
teatime said:
I also got asked that question, and I was honest about getting into Ohio. I however did say that had I not gotten in, I would have gained more DIVERSE experience before applying again. They asked me if I would go to Ohio if not accepted to Davis, and I said yes. I explained how crazy the process is and how there is really no telling what your chances are from year to year, and there's no guarantee I'd get this far for Davis next year. Not to mention I don't want to waste another year that could be spent getting closer to my career goals. They concurred with "well a bird in the hand is better than one in the bush" :laugh: Made me feel a lot better!

I did make sure to say that Davis was my absolute first choice and how excited I would be to get it in. I'm pretty sure they know that that is everyone's first choice so I don't think explicitly saying it vs not will have any effect.

Also....Am i the only one that got asked so many freakin ethical questions?! Geez Davis...
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That was a good answer. I feel kind of bad for only saying, ".. Well... actually... I have already gotten into vet school..."

I did say that I was really excited about Davis' new curriculum, but that's all. Ack.

Also, my interviewers never gave me an opportunity to ask questions! HAha. Once they were finished asking me questions, they thanked me for coming in then stood up... maybe being the last interview of the day wasn't the *best*.
 
bonaparte said:
That was a good answer. I feel kind of bad for only saying, ".. Well... actually... I have already gotten into vet school..."

I did say that I was really excited about Davis' new curriculum, but that's all. Ack.

Also, my interviewers never gave me an opportunity to ask questions! HAha. Once they were finished asking me questions, they thanked me for coming in then stood up... maybe being the last interview of the day wasn't the *best*.
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I don't think you should feel bad, you got into Cornell for god's sake! Did you tell them where you were accepted?
 
bonaparte said:
Also, my interviewers never gave me an opportunity to ask questions! HAha. Once they were finished asking me questions, they thanked me for coming in then stood up... maybe being the last interview of the day wasn't the *best*.
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They did the same thing for me and mine was in the middle of the morning. In the interview workshop, they said 20 min for the interview and 5 min for questions, so I assume they must have just gone 25 min for the interview for us. Either they loved us and wanted to know more, or wanted to interrogate us more. We'll find out soon!
 
I didn't say they would let you ask questions at the workshop - in fact, it's been my experience that they generally don't ask you if you have any questions, and rather if there is time at the end they will ask you to sell yourself/ask if there's anything else you want to tell them.
 
Did anyone do the student mentoring thing when you had your interview? I'm curious as to how helpful you felt it was and if that had any impact on your view of the school???
 
Savethewhales said:
Did anyone do the student mentoring thing when you had your interview? I'm curious as to how helpful you felt it was and if that had any impact on your view of the school???
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I did. I met with a third year student the day of my interview, a few hours before. She was really helpful in answering any questions I had, and helped me feel a bit more at ease about everything. Not to mention beforehand we e-mailed back and forth about some housing issues I had questions about. It def made me feel even more so than I did at the workshop that Davis students are awesome. 🙂
 
Since we were talking about computer reqs over on the Illinois thread, I was wondering what the tablet and mac options were this past year for you first years?
 
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/Academic_Programs/computing/

The above link is a comparison of the two computers we were offered this year (I went with the Mac because I don't know how to use PCs, lol. Our class is the first with over 50% Macs 😀)

They recently sent out a survey for us to fill out about our opinions on the computer options. The Mac version of the survey asked how we felt about the Mac Air as a potential choice, as well as a MacBook Pro with even more HD space than the current model).

I mention this just to point out that the options may change for next year because they are definitely looking into it (plus, our options were different from the preceding classes). Regardless, there will almost certainly be a Mac option, and a tablet PC option.
 
Thank you for the link. So it looks like they don't actually tell you what brand of tablet you're signing up for...interesting.

Does your mac have to run windows or can you just use MS office for mac?
 
Oh, yeah, sorry - I didn't look at the link very carefully before posting 😳 They'll tell you the specifics of the computer types you have to choose from. This year's tablet is a Lenovo (I think), and the years before have Toshibas.
 
Who is left to interview?

I'm getting anxious for decisions to go out. I just found out that someone is holding the world's BEST apartment for me, in Dixon, until I hear whether I got in or not. It's amazing and I'd be able to see my horse from my kitchen window. 😍 Rent is substantially cheaper and I can pay my board by feeding in the mornings before class. PERFECT!!

Now, if only I can just get accepted...👍
 
I'm really impatient to start hearing some news. I'm not even nervous about whether I get in or not - I just want to KNOW. It seems like everyone else at other schools already knows and is getting to do all their exciting planning. 🙁 2 more weeks.....*sigh*.

The apartment sounds perfectly awesome. 🙂 I'm jealous - I've never gotten to live at the same place as my horse!
 
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