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UPenn c/o 2024
Started by VMDsurgeon
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God damn it. I actually got excited and I was like you video'd something?!?!
What are you talking about? That’s literally me and one of my classmates in the video.
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Present. I’m Patrick.
Oops just outed my true identity.... uhhh I mean... *shrinks away into bushes*
how do i know if I got rejected lol I haven't heard back yet! I at least want the rejection letter! is it by email?
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There are still two more weeks of interviews to get sent out. I believe they’ll email after that.
When I applied last year I got my rejection letter 2/18/19 (emailed). It seems they don’t let people know they have an interview until a few weeks before the interview date. There’s still a chance to get an interview.
NotYerAvgBanana
Full Member
Same here LETS GOOO
Nice!! Appreciating the screen name 😆
Don’t worry too much yet. Interviewers call whenever they get a minute. Many are clinicians and super busy during the day. My call came at 5:30 pm on the Monday after my interview. Other people heard back on Tuesday. I’ve even heard of people getting calls on Wednesday.
NotYerAvgBanana
Full Member
Lol thank you! I use this for wayyy too much
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Don't worry. Some interviewers that are busy or don't interview every year may take a day or two to get back. Tuesday most likely. Wednesday maybe. Beyond that... it's not looking so hot.
Ninja'd by ajs. I need to stop answering things and just comment on your posts, instead
I heard back Tuesday and was flipping alllll the **** out until that call so don’t panic
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Remember when your interviewer said “oh well if I had known that tomorrow was your birthday I would have waited until then!” Hahahaha
Stop re-traumatising me please
You find out the day of the interview. There’s a sheet with everyone in it and who’s scheduled for tour or interviews at which time and in which room. On there it says who everyone is interviewing with. So you can do a quick google of your interviewer first if you want.
Or you can ask us on here, and we can let you know how much deep ****, I mean, how nice they are!
Karensings2cats
VMCVM DVM-MPH c/o 2024
I interviewed with Marx and Freedman. To be honest it was like a chat with two uncles. The mood was very relaxed (maybe a little slap-happy as it was the last interview of the day 😛 ) and they weren't afraid to give me a hard time but also seemed to have no doubts that I would be able to academically handle Penn and become a DVM. The discussion was more about my personal career path, both past and future (I'm nontrad DVM-MPH). Haven't gotten a call yet but I thought it went well. I truly got the impression that everyone (faculty, staff, and current students) wants to create a class of people who belong at Penn and will successfully take advantage of what makes the school special.
*Ahem* VMD 😉
Karensings2cats
VMCVM DVM-MPH c/o 2024
Haha, y'know... thingy
Karensings2cats
VMCVM DVM-MPH c/o 2024
AHH I GOT IN! I will never say DVM again I swear hahaha
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Wow you couldn’t get better comedic timing than that
Karensings2cats
VMCVM DVM-MPH c/o 2024
On Friday there were 5 teams x 6 interviews per team x 2 sessions = 60 interviews a day by my count. Between the two sessions is the financial aid talk attended by both AM and PM interviewees.
Most interviewers were faculty but some alums (and of course some faculty are also alums).
And I'm OOS - seemed to be most of us Friday afternoon.
How big is the UPenn full DVM class?
The VMD classes are around 120, give or take a few.
Now I’m terrified of saying DVM in my interview...even though I haven’t even been invited yet...
Hahaha it’s honestly all in good fun at this point. A lot of interviewers and clinicians in general are DVM’s. Both of my interviewers were. When I talked about why I wanted to go to Penn and how growing up I thought VMD’s were the best of the best, they even joked and asked if that meant they were inferior. No one is that serious about it but it’s a nice little distinguishing mark of Penn.
So is Penn the only place you can get a VMD?
That’s correct. Every other school in the US gives a DVM. Ours is just that, but in Latin because our school stems from the med school and they wanted to keep it Latin (like in MD, or Medicinae Doctor).
They were asking about the DVM section specifically, I think...
PennWe in da house!
Note to interviewers (and I mean this in the nicest way): peruse the website to refresh yourself before interviews. It really helps to sound like.... you give a crap about this specific vet school and aren't just trying to get into any vet school.
There’s nothing official, but I think you can ask for a tour.
Milano_cookie
New Member
Had my interview Friday and got a call this morning around 9 am that I was accepted!! SO excited and feels so surreal!
God I love these screen names. What's wrong with my class?!
lukietankie
New Member
I have my interview on Friday, I'm so excited! Current students - what are your favorite things about the school? Why did you end up choosing Penn over other schools?
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What I really like about the school itself: very long track record of producing great vets. Pretty diverse curriculum I think, with tons of opportunities for wetlabs, shadowing, time in the hospital, etc. Massive caseload at both the small and large animal hospitals. Very collaborative atmosphere where students don’t try to compete with each other. Admins are trying to get us more clinical experience and it seems like they’ve made progress and are continuing to do so. Cool opportunities for work and experience within the school. Tons of research opportunities. Penn is a research powerhouse.
I mainly chose it because I’m from here, my family is here, and my life is based around Philly. Most of what I know about vetmed started with things related to Penn. It’s just a great school with a long history and cool diverse location.
One of the things that really appealed to me about Penn is its Philadelphia location. I am a city girl at heart, and I really enjoy that the city is walkable, there's decent public transportation, and there's so much to do and see. For large animal peeps, our split campus might be a downside because it's about an hour drive to New Bolton Center, the large animal hospital, and there's no school-provided or public transit available. The school works with the students to set up carpools, however, and I've had no issues finding a ride to the large animal experiences at NBC. I don't have a car, and I don't feel like I miss it (maybe take it with a grain of salt, since I'm small animal/exotic focused).
Another huge deciding factor for me is that my boyfriend's family is 45 minutes away, which means I have a support system here. He lives in Boston, and he diligently makes the 6 hour drive to come see me about twice a month (God bless that man!)
As I mentioned before, I'm on scholarship, and that was probably the #1 deciding factor for me.
Penn has its upsides and downsides, just like every vet school. I don't necessarily agree with ajs that our school isn't competitive; it's vet school, and there are always going to be competitive people in this field. However, I'd say they do their best to create a class that's diverse and balanced. Overall, I'm happy with my choice.
Another huge deciding factor for me is that my boyfriend's family is 45 minutes away, which means I have a support system here. He lives in Boston, and he diligently makes the 6 hour drive to come see me about twice a month (God bless that man!)
As I mentioned before, I'm on scholarship, and that was probably the #1 deciding factor for me.
Penn has its upsides and downsides, just like every vet school. I don't necessarily agree with ajs that our school isn't competitive; it's vet school, and there are always going to be competitive people in this field. However, I'd say they do their best to create a class that's diverse and balanced. Overall, I'm happy with my choice.
What kind of opportunities does UPenn provide for students interested in surgery?
There are a good number of things. There are externships you can do from your fourth year that get you a good amount of surgical experience. There are trips to either other countries or other parts of the US where you give veterinary care to the pets in that area. There’s a shelter med course where you do a lot of spays and neuters. We have a surgery club that lets you shadow a lot of surgeries if you have the time as well. As of right now there isn’t a lot built in to the curriculum to get surgical experience, but it’s out there if you look for it. Maybe once the curriculum redesign is finalized we’ll find out more about it, and hopefully they’ll add some more opportunities.
I do agree that there are definitely some people who are competitive. Overall though (and I don’t know how it is at other schools) there are a ton of resources that students share with each other, going back as far as the late 90’s, to help students succeed and do very well. The info I’m going to say is obviously not for you because you know all of these details, but just to explain some nice things for anyone reading. The test box, for example, containing hundreds of tests for every first semester course. They did away with handing back exams for most classes so the exams aren’t too recent, but they do have a lot of good info from the same professors to gauge what sort of things they’ll ask. The drop box is really great too. Students post study guides, old exams, and anything else they think is helpful for every class. Any time I’ve ever asked students for help understanding something I’ve never been blown off. In undergrad, that’s definitely happened. I’ve asked people for help and they told me that they don’t want to share. Maybe these resources exist at other schools, but it definitely makes you feel like you can get the help you need and that no one has some unknown back alley to success in a class and no one has ever heard of it.
