VMCAS Perception

[Onnkee]

For anybody in a greek organization in undergrad, are you putting it in your vmcas application? Also, what about possibly controversial clubs such as a shooting or a hunting club?

This is for anyone who wants to chime in - would you omit a club or organization if you think that a reviewer may view it in a negative light based on personal opinions or previous notions?

After your application is evaluated for grades and scores and whatnot, I would hate to think that in such a competitive pool of applicants that a detail held you back that you could have easily omitted. How you portray yourself in your application could be for better or for worse depending on who reviews your application. What do you think?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[HowIMetYourPet]

Personally, I think it depends on how you explain the experiences. I'm in a similar situation, through the fact that I breed and show dogs.....this is a very touchy subject, especially for those heavily involved in research...I was honest about it, and I highlighted how responsible I am in the process, keeping track of every puppy for their whole lives, taking responsibility for them, and also working with the breed rescue. Some people aren't going to like it, but my feeling is, if I don't get into a school because of something that is a part of my life, a part of me, then that must not be the right school for me. As long as you explain the good you did through it, or what you learned from it, highlight the positives, I think you're fine.....

 

[LetItSnow]

For anybody in a greek organization in undergrad, are you putting it in your vmcas application? Also, what about possibly controversial clubs such as a shooting or a hunting club?

This is for anyone who wants to chime in - would you omit a club or organization if you think that a reviewer may view it in a negative light based on personal opinions or previous notions?

After your application is evaluated for grades and scores and whatnot, I would hate to think that in such a competitive pool of applicants that a detail held you back that you could have easily omitted. How you portray yourself in your application could be for better or for worse depending on who reviews your application. What do you think?

As long as its a legit club I wouldn't be afraid to put it on the application. Certainly a shooting or hunting club would be legit and I'd be stunned to hear you judged negatively for it on your application. I mean, I wouldn't mention heading up the 420 squad on campus..... But hunting and shooting are both legit, legal activities.

Put differently, I think the probable gain of noting the extracurricular outweighs the possible negative of someone criticizing you forms shooting or hunting.

I feel a bit differently about the tattoo/piercing question, because I think some people view that (wrongly, to me) as unprofessional. I'm hard-pressed to see anyone viewing a hobby like shooting/hunting that way, even if they don't like guns or hunting. Make sense?

 

[Lissarae06]

I was in a Greek organization in undergrad. I got a lot of leadership experience out of it so you bet I listed it.

 

[Jess Monster]

Mmm, none of those things are really "controversial."

Hunting is an acceptable activity, as is shooting (as long as you're not doing either in some "The Most Dangerous Game" parody). Being part of a frat or sorority tends to go hand-in-hand with volunteer and leadership activities.

Controversial to me would be like Grand Master of the local KKK. That would probably get you noticed for the wrong reasons.

 

[that redhead]

As others have said, they key is describing positive experiences/qualities you gained from being a part of that organization. If you were the president of your sorority or hunting club and learned leadership, organization, communication, etc, that's worth a lot more that someone who lists "pre-vet club" with nothing to show for it.

 

[deleted498041]

I was in a Greek organization and I was on their executive board so I highlighted how that helped my leadership experience. I don't think it hurt me for vet school. The masters program I applied to asked me about it, but they seemed impressed not biased against it.

 

[deleted497320]

I was involved in a lot of political clubs as an undergrad that some may consider controversial- somewhat radical anti-war and anti-capitalist groups. They were all completely non-violent, of course, but I was still careful about which groups I included and how I described them when I applied for vet school as an undergrad. I stressed my leadership roles in the clubs, the charitable activities we did, and the more mainstream groups we worked with. When I applied again as a grad student, I had a lot more mainstream/non-controversial extracurriculars, so I barely mentioned any of my undergrad activities. I'm not ashamed of anything I did; if asked, I will talk freely about my liberal hippie phase in college. I just don't want to be judged by anyone for something that doesn't negatively impact my ability to be a vet.

 

[bunnity]

There are plenty of profs at school that are involved in breeding and showing. I just talked with one today whose dogs do field trials (bird hunting). I really don't think anything described so far in this thread would offend much of anyone at my school.

In response to HowIMetYourPet, I am as shelter/rescue oriented as they come and I don't think our two worlds should be opposed at all. With a lot of the rarer breeds it seems that the show people and rescue people are one and the same. Now if you were breeding your two backyard sibling mutts and selling the puppies on craigslist, we would have a problem.