UC Davis - hours

[Cassialoy]

Hi, UC Davis requires 180 hours, but the admitted students have 2500 to 3000 hours. Does that mean even with maybe 500 hours, they won't accept you?

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[verbal_kint]

i don't think so. it really depends on the quality of your hours and what you did. Other hours of your application are also important (GPA/GRE, letters of rec, etc)

also, the number is an average. if you take into account people who have worked for years as a vet tech, research tech, etc it's not hard to skew the average to seem really high. granted, lots of people who are accepted have way more than the 180 hours required.

I wouldn't worry about the number of hours you have as much as the quality of experiences you're getting. Are you expanding your understanding of the field? Are your experiences affirming your desire to become a veterinarian? As long as you have enough experience in the field to make a mature decision whether it's a good fit for you, i don't think the number of hours is going to be the determining factor.

hope that helps! GOOD LUCK!

 

[kate_g]

I've got a related question, so I'm hijacking a little to add this to the conversation. I have no idea how many hours I've got. All of my veterinary work thus far was done before I had any serious intent of applying. I was doing it for fun or as part of a job and I just never kept count. I suspect that some of you have been getting experience expressly for vet school, and keeping a meticulous log of every shift and all the times you've stayed a little late. I *hope* there are also people with experience more like mine, and to those people I ask: Did you just estimate? How closely did you try to judge, and were you conservative or generous in guessing? I don't necessarily want to fudge, but also I don't want to shortchange myself just to avoid fudging.

Oh, and here's another puzzle. I've been doing research like 7 days a week for the past 6 years. *Some* of that time was bona fide veterinary stuff. Some was animal handling without a medical purpose. Most was writing computer programs. Verbal_kint mentioned "being a research tech" as a reason some people have a lot of hours, and if I just counted 8 hours a day - which is itself probably an underestimate - I'd blow that 3000 average out of the water. But I can't get a remotely accurate estimate of how many scattered hours over the years have really been veterinary. Anyone else with experience like this (only part of the time spent with animals)? What did you do?

 

[HorseyVet]

I *hope* there are also people with experience more like mine, and to those people I ask: Did you just estimate? How closely did you try to judge, and were you conservative or generous in guessing? I don't necessarily want to fudge, but also I don't want to shortchange myself just to avoid fudging.

I honestly think at least half the people applying grossly inflate their hours. It's actually been a source of irratation for me for some time and have debated bringing it up, but figured it would be starting a fight.

I've keep records. Very detailed records. Other places where I worked I used my tax forms to figure out hours. I literally put down things like 103 hours here..443.3 hours there. If you didn't keep records b/c you did the stuff before you considered applying that's understandable but I do think some people are really really beefing up their hours. Research is a little different I think b/c its a lot of hurry up and wait generally and it doesn't indicate the same info about you as veterinary-practice type hours. It's more about what you accomplished and learned about your system.

Obviously if one of the places you shadowed at you're getting a recomendation from, the doctor will have to sign off on those hours and agree that that's what they were. I know some vets that really don't care if they're acurate at all (and even suggest adding a hundred or so) and others that really scrutinize the hours.

At one of the places I shadowed and got a recommendation from they sort of thought I was a fruit-loop in the begining b/c I wrote down my hours (and cases) at the end of the day and had them sign off on the page. After a while they admitted that they thought it was a great idea and that they'd really question someone who presents hours without some form of documentation.

All that being said, no one in my interviews asked to see my logs (which I brought with me) or remotely questioned me about the quanities.

I think it only seems to become important if you say you have a million hours and you can't really talk about the experience. In an interview though, there really doesn't seem like enough time to probe that sort of thing unless you are clearly clueless.

I think the inflation has become the standard rather then the exception and can only hope that the schools are well aware of the phenomena.

 

[kate_g]

I honestly think at least half the people applying grossly inflate their hours.

That's what I figured, too. So the stupid thing is now, do I estimate my hours generously to keep up? Or do I err on the side of honesty and maybe end up looking like a "worse" applicant for a really stupid reason? For instance, I volunteered in a shelter hospital from some time at the end of '98 or maybe the beginning of '99 (I don't even remember) until the middle of 2000. I worked 4 (or was it 6?) hours every Sunday, and maybe another 4 on some Wednesdays (I really don't remember) and other odd days for special events. There are no W-2s because I wasn't paid, and the shelter was way too disorganized to do something like log volunteer hours. None of the same people even work there anymore. But when it comes right down to it, I pilled cats, gave eye ointment and ear drops, injected insulin and ketamine, drew blood, hosed out kennels, dished out food, syringe-fed anorexic cats, administered fluids... After the first hundred or so times doing each of those things, either you've got it or you don't no matter how many more hours you spend at it, right? OK, so there are the rare events (bullet removal, seizures), and the fact that the longer I spent there the more I was trusted with (placing catheters). I guess I just hope verbal_kint was right and the actual number matters less than what you can demonstrate having learned.

 

[HorseyVet]

That's what I figured, too. So the stupid thing is now, do I estimate my hours generously to keep up? Or do I err on the side of honesty and maybe end up looking like a "worse" applicant for a really stupid reason? ... I guess I just hope verbal_kint was right and the actual number matters less than what you can demonstrate having learned.

I ran into a very simmilar problem with some of my older experience when I applied. Some things were just really a long time ago...

If it's not someplace you're getting a recommendation from just do the best you can. It sounds like even your low estimates will be fairly high. A lot of times they just like to see that you've experienced different feilds of vet med.

I don't think the difference b/w the high and low estimate is going to be a make or break you thing by any stretch, especially if you have a lot of other types of experiences. I would just do what you're comfortable with and be happy that you at least took the time to try to be honest. It really sounds like you're on the ball for everything else and will have plenty of other things to talk about in your interview.


Another thing about hours in general...sometimes their point is to also show that you were juggling other things while in school (especially if there was a problem with your grades during that time).