VMCAS Questions and Rants c/o 2025

[ksbarrelracer]

Mine doesn't say that - are you sure you haven't marked something somewhere stating that you didn't receive a letter grade? Mine asks for the CAS Grade, which can be either a percentage or a letter grade.

It has a box where you can either enter the % or letter grade, but it also has a box for the CAS too which it auto fills. I just went back and put in the letter grade.

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[hachamor_persists]

Do you feel you have gained enough experience to really speak about the field and understand the nature of being a veterinarian, should you apply this cycle? In my opinion, I feel that's what matters. I have definitely read in the past that people have been accepted with around 500 hours!

I agree with @biomajor2019. It's not about the quantity of hours but the quality and what you can bring to the table. I applied for vet school with mainly veterinary receptionist experience (2 years worth) and was accepted for the c/o 2024. Even now, I'm still working as a receptionist until matriculation. Although I feel like being a tech would have been super helpful for sure, being a receptionist allowed me to not only learn about veterinary jargon, medications, treatment, etc, it also gave me extensive experience in customer service (you learn real fast how to work with and calm down angry clients). In fact, I used my extensive customer service experience as something that set me apart from the crowd during my interviews. What I found that helped me a lot if you're looking for additional experience, though, is to look at shelter med. For example, my local shelter had a position with the spay/neuter clinic that allowed me to gain a ton of experience doing TPR and helping with surgery recovery. I also learned how to prepare surgery packs there as well.

All in all, it took me two applications to get in. If you believe you can safely take on more experiences, then all the more power to you! However, don't stress out too much. Everyone has their own path they take to get to vet school. Some people get in in one try while others take multiple. Some people have years of experience while others have less than 500 hours, like biomajor2019 mentioned. Just don't give up. Good things happen to those who wait ♥ .

I have some research and some clinical experience, but I would like more clinical experience for myself if not for veterinary school. I love research, but get the feeling I'd like clinical just as much or even more. While I have a decent number of clinical hours (probably equivalent to 3-4 months full time out of ~550-700 hours?) in several different clinics and many of great quality, I still feel like I need more to know for sure. I also need an additional letter of rec from a vet... It's complicated to explain over a forum, but anyone who wants to know more can message me. Especially if you have any advice on whether to ask a rock or a hard place for a letter of rec (vets that liked me but, well, it's a long story, oy).

Besides all that, I really planned for a year of salary to help with vet school. I'm only applying IS and planning to live at home through vet school, so that would be a bit more than a drop in the bucket. I also don't have the best grades. Very proud of them though (or at least the improvement in them) because this is not the first time my life and plans for it have been upended :/

Even given all that, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be out-and-about if I can avoid it and am not really bein essential since I'm under the impression that I'm at least medium risk--or high risk within my age Hopefully by the time I finish my coursework, the waves will have passed and/or we'll have more data that says I'm at a lower risk. Or, heck, maybe I lucked out and already got a mild case and antibody testing will tell me I am able to help out society by not being cooped up Total side note, but anyone knows if there's a way to apply to help with contact tracing, let me know! I know it's a lot of "boring" calling people over the phone type stuff, but a big reason I actually want more clinical experience is to make sure I really do love dealing with actual--and often anxious--people that much. Wouldn't help with the letter of rec I need from a vet, but would help with so many things that personally and societally matter.

 

[BigCats]

Does anyone know if there are any vet schools that require calc 2? I have AP credit for it but I'm trying to shuffle around which ones I get credit for in order to squeeze in a gen ed for MSU.

 

[BigCats]

Does anyone know if there are any vet schools that require calc 2? I have AP credit for it but I'm trying to shuffle around which ones I get credit for in order to squeeze in a gen ed for MSU.

For anyone curious, I looked at a few schools and didn't see anyone requiring anything above calc 1- doesn't mean I didn't miss a school somewhere, but seems likely not! And it seems like even more schools have stopped requiring calculus altogether which is so interesting to me!

 

[battie]

If anything, a statistics class would probably be far more useful than calculus is.

10/10 agree. If you just need to fill a math credit for vet school requirements, take stats.

 

[SkiOtter]

I imagine it'll depend on how long this lasts; if things open up before the individual school's deadline I wouldn't expect them to excuse it

If anything they may extend the GRE deadline later too

 

[youstinatutti]

I am curious if vet schools will excuse the GRE this cycle.. I couldn't take the GRE this spring because of this pandemic and now I heard there is no set date as to when the facilities will be open again. I read that ETS is doing a take-home exam, but the rules are so strict and my type of computer is not approved to take the exam online.

So far the Vet schools that require the GRE aren't planning on changing the requirement unfortunately. I spoke to a few of the schools. My GRE got cancelled and I had to reschedule for April for the "at-home" GRE (which is more nerve wrecking in my opinion). We'll be watched live via webcam and they'll be taking a picture of us on exam day to send to the Vet schools with our score... so that means I can't wear my pjs haha. I'm nervous though because now that everyone's been reduced to stay at home, everyone's using the same internet provider causing it to crash multiple times during the day in our neighborhood. I'm really hoping it doesn't crash during my exam especially since its literally smack in the middle of the day.

 

[SkiOtter]

so that means I can't wear my pjs haha.

Eh wear your jammies. You need to be comfortable, not super professional, during the exam. It’s a long as heck exam. The only reason there’s a picture is because they can’t check your ID when you check in and it’s an extra step to make sure it’s actually you taking it.

 

[TrashCat]

The GRE is stressing me out. I already have scores from last year at least, but they aren't that great. I was thinking I'd be able to retake the exam, but I don't have a Windows computer to take it from home. Not really sure what to do.

 

[pawprintsandponytails]

So I actually just started a masters program this January, but based on my program of study and research timeline I should be done by spring/summer of 2021. So I am preparing my vet school application for my 2nd time around. (Party time people)

I do have a question for anyone who may have been in this situation before. For my masters program I am required to take a grad level statistics course And biochemistry course. Will these grades replace my undergraduate grades for the required GPA? Am I missing a big flashing neon sign somewhere that answers that question?

 

[meelc]

So I actually just started a masters program this January, but based on my program of study and research timeline I should be done by spring/summer of 2021. So I am preparing my vet school application for my 2nd time around. (Party time people)

I do have a question for anyone who may have been in this situation before. For my masters program I am required to take a grad level statistics course And biochemistry course. Will these grades replace my undergraduate grades for the required GPA? Am I missing a big flashing neon sign somewhere that answers that question?

They will not replace the other grades in your VMCAS calculated GPAs. It will be school specific whether or not they will replace lower level grades for pre-req and science GPAs. Some schools will accept the highest grade fulfilling the prerequisite, some may average the two grades, some will only consider the lower level/initial course that meets the pre req.

 

[pawprintsandponytails]

They will not replace the other grades in your VMCAS calculated GPAs. It will be school specific whether or not they will replace lower level grades for pre-req and science GPAs. Some schools will accept the highest grade fulfilling the prerequisite, some may average the two grades, some will only consider the lower level/initial course that meets the pre req.

That is what I was assuming! Thank you for your help!

 

[deleted676737]

For any applicants who haven’t seen it yet: AAVMC | COVID-19 Student and Applicant Information

 

[divergent14]

Since is this is the place I have the most anonymity, I figured this is the best place to post this question.
I have a 3.6 cum GPA, because I got 2 C's and 1 D that tanked my transcript. 3 weeks into my freshmen year of college, I was sexually assaulted and it became difficult to focus in class. I got the 2 C's my first year (got diagnosed with PTSD), and a D last semester after seeing my assailant in my hometown that triggered a bad flare up of PTSD. I do not want admissions to think it makes me weak or not a reliable candidate for vet school? It took me 2 years to process things and unfortunately It greatly impacted my academics. The positive note of this is that it made me a stronger, more resilient person.
Is this something I should use my explanation statement for or would it do more harm than good when they're piecing together who I am as a person??

 

[EngrSC]

I used the explanation statement to talk about my struggle with anxiety and an eating disorder to explain why I had done poorly early on in my college education. I think there’s a fine line between making it sound excusey/whiney and it showing how strong you are because of it. I used as few sentences as possible to state what happened, then used the rest to discuss what I did about it and provided examples of recent events that demonstrate how it’s no longer an issue. I had half a dozen or so people read it because I wanted to be sure it was conveying the right message. Done right, yes, using the explanation statement can help you ... but done wrong,

I’d be happy to share mine with you if you want an example

 

[divergent14]

I used the explanation statement to talk about my struggle with anxiety and an eating disorder to explain why I had done poorly early on in my college education. I think there’s a fine line between making it sound excusey/whiney and it showing how strong you are because of it. I used as few sentences as possible to state what happened, then used the rest to discuss what I did about it and provided examples of recent events that demonstrate how it’s no longer an issue. I had half a dozen or so people read it because I wanted to be sure it was conveying the right message. Done right, yes, using the explanation statement can help you ... but done wrong,

I’d be happy to share mine with you if you want an example

Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I would honestly love to see yours for an example. It's hard to figure out how to draw that line between positivity/learning and negativity/the event itself.

 

[EB73674]

Hi all, I have a question - I am going to be (hopefully, assuming all goes well) an author on a literature review by the time this upcoming application cycle closes. I won't have done any direct research, but I will be a first author & have spent significant amounts of time writing the review over the last few months. It was originally part of a class assignment, but it will have equal weight to my supervising professor's name. How do we think I list this on VMCAS? I'm leaning research because it will be a published in a scientific journal, but I also did not perform any hands-on research, just reading and writing. What do we think?

 

[WanttheDVM]

Does anybody have information on changes of GRE requirement due to the pandemic? I tried to enter the link AAVMC | COVID-19 Student and Applicant Information, but it doesn't open. Due to the situation, all of the dates before suggested dates are taken. I don't know what to do

 

[SkiOtter]

Does anybody have information on changes of GRE requirement due to the pandemic? I tried to enter the link AAVMC | COVID-19 Student and Applicant Information, but it doesn't open. Due to the situation, all of the dates before suggested dates are taken. I don't know what to do

Definitely try and contact individual schools. I think the AAVMC website is down and I know it was down for @batsenecal yesterday too.

 

[SkiOtter]

Update: looks like ETS is offering the GRE at home with a ProctorU proctor, so you would need a webcam.

Taking the GRE General Test at Home

The GRE General Test at home is a safe and convenient option for test takers. Learn more, including the equipment and environment requirements you must meet to test.

www.ets.org

 

[WanttheDVM]

Update: looks like ETS is offering the GRE at home with a ProctorU proctor, so you would need a webcam.

Taking the GRE General Test at Home

The GRE General Test at home is a safe and convenient option for test takers. Learn more, including the equipment and environment requirements you must meet to test.

www.ets.org

My computer is not compatible with the program, so I am having a hard time being able to take it before the suggested date (August 15). The only dates that are available start at August 21, and I don't know if its prudent to take it in this date. I have send emails to the universities, but haven't heard anything yet

 

[youstinatutti]

My computer is not compatible with the program, so I am having a hard time being able to take it before the suggested date (August 15). The only dates that are available start at August 21, and I don't know if its prudent to take it in this date. I have send emails to the universities, but haven't heard anything yet

I spoke to a few universities. Because it's being offered online they're still requiring us to take it, but as someone else said you have to contact the university separately since AAVMC recently released that Vet schools will be more lenient with it. But definitely contact universities for specifics. A few of the schools I spoke to said they aren't going to be lenient with the requirement while other said they will be.

Also, side question: Is the VMCAS portal down for anyone else? It's been a week and I can't access it.

 

[BigCats]

I spoke to a few universities. Because it's being offered online they're still requiring us to take it, but as someone else said you have to contact the university separately since AAVMC recently released that Vet schools will be more lenient with it. But definitely contact universities for specifics. A few of the schools I spoke to said they aren't going to be lenient with the requirement while other said they will be.

Also, side question: Is the VMCAS portal down for anyone else? It's been a week and I can't access it.

The AAVMC site is down for me but I can still access VMCAS directly, just not through the AAVMC portal!

 

[youstinatutti]

The AAVMC site is down for me but I can still access VMCAS directly, just not through the AAVMC portal!

Thank you so much!

 

[sheltermed]

Hi all, I have a question - I am going to be (hopefully, assuming all goes well) an author on a literary review by the time this upcoming application cycle closes. I won't have done any direct research, but I will be a first author & have spent significant amounts of time writing the review over the last few months. It was originally part of a class assignment, but it will have equal weight to my supervising professor's name. How do we think I list this on VMCAS? I'm leaning research because it will be a published in a scientific journal, but I also did not perform any hands-on research, just reading and writing. What do we think?

Doesn't look like anyone responded about this. I would put this under research because it's under that umbrella and research involves scientific reading and writing. As long as your description is clear that you did not perform any work in a lab, I think research would make the most sense.

 

[deleted676737]

@EB73674 I had a very similar experience with compiling data, running stats, and writing a manuscript for publication in undergrad. I personally listed it as research experience, making sure to explain carefully what my actual duties were, and had no issues.

Congratulations on the first authorship!

 

[EB73674]

Doesn't look like anyone responded about this. I would put this under research because it's under that umbrella and research involves scientific reading and writing. As long as your description is clear that you did not perform any work in a lab, I think research would make the most sense.

Ok that's what I was thinking, thank you so much!

 

[EB73674]

@EB73674 I had a very similar experience with compiling data, running stats, and writing a manuscript for publication in undergrad. I personally listed it as research experience, making sure to explain carefully what my actual duties were, and had no issues.

Congratulations on the first authorship!

Oh awesome, yeah I figured that would be most appropriate - I was supposed to have compiled a few hundred hours of direct research by application time, but COVID, yannow?

And thank you so much for the advice and congrats - I'm excited, starting to feel like a real scientist lol

 

[biomajor2019]

For those of you who have applied in previous years, how do you suggest us c/o 2025 applicants address wanting to pursue a field that we don't have experience in. For example, I am interested in practicing as a mixed animal veterinarian back home (rural area), but right around the time when I was going to reach out to the local large animal veterinarians to shadow, COVID-19 became a thing. I have over 2,000 hours in small animal/exotics, but nothing in large animal (other than about 50 hours volunteering at a horse center). I feel I will look foolish, although I know they are being lenient about experiences, this cycle. How would you all suggest addressing this in applications? I don't see this all ending any time soon, where I will be able to get this experience over the summer. :/

 

[EngrSC]

For those of you who have applied in previous years, how do you suggest us c/o 2025 applicants address wanting to pursue a field that we don't have experience in. For example, I am interested in practicing as a mixed animal veterinarian back home (rural area), but right around the time when I was going to reach out to the local large animal veterinarians to shadow, COVID-19 became a thing. I have over 2,000 hours in small animal/exotics, but nothing in large animal (other than about 50 hours volunteering at a horse center). I feel I will look foolish, although I know they are being lenient about experiences, this cycle. How would you all suggest addressing this in applications? I don't see this all ending any time soon, where I will be able to get this experience over the summer. :/

I don’t think you 100% need to specify or you can be vague. I talked about what I learned in each of my experiences then said I’m most attracted to small animal GP or a specialty where continuity of care and client relationship are valued, as this relationship is most fulfilling to me. I really talked about that aspect of vet med because it’s what I love so much about the field, yet I left my ultimate career goal kind of vague. What is it about mixed animal medicine that you love? I would say focus on that and not so much the field itself. In another essay I think I even said that I’d be happy in any of the fields in which I’ve worked or shadowed, which is true. I think going into vet school open-minded is a good thing

 

[Okapi]

EngrSC beat me to it, but all I was going to say is iirc there is no place where you actually have to declare an area of interest on VMCAS. Some schools might ask it on a supplement, but the ones I had just made you rank a few and I also doubt they look at that that closely. If you want to mention it in your personal statement, I would just talk about why you want to pursue mixed practice (obviously you have reasons!) without expressly mentioning experience/lack thereof. Or tie in the experience you do have into how that may have influenced your career goals. You still learned valuable things working in SA clinics and they know that.

For what its worth, I wrote in one of my personal statements how I was really interested in orthopedic surgery and no one asked why most of my vet experience was in GP and ER if that wasn't what I wanted to pursue. All experience is good experience.

 

[biomajor2019]

Thank you @Okapi and @EngrSC!! I must have misinterpreted previous years' posts! For some reason, I had thought we had to mention somewhere what our interests are (such as: my goal is to be a mixed animal veterinarian) and having experience to prove we thought it out. This makes me feel so much better! It's been stressing me out!

 

[SkiOtter]

Thank you @Okapi and @EngrSC!! I must have misinterpreted previous years' posts! For some reason, I had thought we had to mention somewhere what our interests are (such as: my goal is to be a mixed animal veterinarian) and having experience to prove we thought it out. This makes me feel so much better! It's been stressing me out!

I think the advice is mostly that if you are going to say what area you’re interested in in your essays, you probably shouldn’t say equine vet if you only have small animal vet experience and have touched a horse once

 

[biomajor2019]

I think the advice is mostly that if you are going to say what area you’re interested in in your essays, you probably shouldn’t say equine vet if you only have small animal vet experience and have touched a horse once

Very good point! Do you think it would be worth it for me to mention my interests to practice mixed animal, then, if I have only worked with small animals/exotics? Or should I just stray away from declaring an interest in my essays?

 

[SkiOtter]

Very good point! Do you think it would be worth it for me to mention my interests to practice mixed animal, then, if I have only worked with small animals/exotics? Or should I just stray away from declaring an interest in my essays?

Do you have animal (non-vet) experience with LA? If you do I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s something to avoid mentioning.

 

[biomajor2019]

I was a volunteer at a horse center in college, and I am going to be starting volunteering with a co-worker at a horse stable, there are a few goats and cows there, as well. She was kind enough to offer me this when she heard I felt defeated by the stay at home order, and I knew my odds of being allowed to shadow someone in LA ,now, are very slim. I would say by the time applications are due to be submitted I may have around 100-150 hours, mainly with horses.

 

[Lupin21]

I was a volunteer at a horse center in college, and I am going to be starting volunteering with a co-worker at a horse stable, there are a few goats and cows there, as well. She was kind enough to offer me this when she heard I felt defeated by the stay at home order, and I knew my odds of being allowed to shadow someone in LA ,now, are very slim. I would say by the time applications are due to be submitted I may have around 100-150 hours, mainly with horses.

I would simply put you are looking forward to learning more about mixed practice in school as you are interested in rural medicine. I think it doesn’t make any sense to say you know mixed practice is where you want to end up without acknowledging you don’t have the true understanding of what that life entails.

 

[EB73674]

I was a volunteer at a horse center in college, and I am going to be starting volunteering with a co-worker at a horse stable, there are a few goats and cows there, as well. She was kind enough to offer me this when she heard I felt defeated by the stay at home order, and I knew my odds of being allowed to shadow someone in LA ,now, are very slim. I would say by the time applications are due to be submitted I may have around 100-150 hours, mainly with horses.

I received specific advice about this - essentially, if you can't show that you have a really strong idea of what this type of practice would entail, stick to something you do have experience in. You can always branch out in vet school, you're not beholden to the things you put on your application now, but they definitely want to see you've spent a good amount of time in the specialties you've listed. I would stick with small animal/exotics for now until you can get a little more vet experience in the large animal arena.

 

[tayla96]

Can I get some advice please, I applied this past cycle and got waitlist at ISU and waitlisted to interview at 2 other schools. I started a tech job at the spay and neuter clinic at an animal shelter right after I had turned in my application so I couldn't put that on there. Fast forward to now and I am miserable at my job, the work environment is so toxic, we have been at least 4 techs short for the last 4 months. They take time out for our lunches that we dont get and dont pay us overtime. Honestly I can go on and on about things that are off. I want to put my two weeks in today but is that a bad idea vet school application wise? I have already applied elsewhere but if I dont get that I dont want them asking me why i did nothing all summer you know?

 

[SnowJ]

Can I get some advice please, I applied this past cycle and got waitlist at ISU and waitlisted to interview at 2 other schools. I started a tech job at the spay and neuter clinic at an animal shelter right after I had turned in my application so I couldn't put that on there. Fast forward to now and I am miserable at my job, the work environment is so toxic, we have been at least 4 techs short for the last 4 months. They take time out for our lunches that we dont get and dont pay us overtime. Honestly I can go on and on about things that are off. I want to put my two weeks in today but is that a bad idea vet school application wise? I have already applied elsewhere but if I dont get that I dont want them asking me why i did nothing all summer you know?

You can always do shadowing and volunteering to get veterinary-related experience without killing yourself at a toxic work environment. As someone who waited to leave a bad-work-environment veterinary job until second year vet school- please get out now, take care of yourself and your mental health. It is absolutely not worth it to keep up a position that doesn't value you.

 

[battie]

I want to put my two weeks in today but is that a bad idea vet school application wise? I have already applied elsewhere but if I dont get that I dont want them asking me why i did nothing all summer you know?

Get out. Leave. It will not negatively affect your application. Remember, most applicants wont be doing much of anything this summer due to COVID.

 

[EngrSC]

Can I get some advice please, I applied this past cycle and got waitlist at ISU and waitlisted to interview at 2 other schools. I started a tech job at the spay and neuter clinic at an animal shelter right after I had turned in my application so I couldn't put that on there. Fast forward to now and I am miserable at my job, the work environment is so toxic, we have been at least 4 techs short for the last 4 months. They take time out for our lunches that we dont get and dont pay us overtime. Honestly I can go on and on about things that are off. I want to put my two weeks in today but is that a bad idea vet school application wise? I have already applied elsewhere but if I dont get that I dont want them asking me why i did nothing all summer you know?

Leave. I worked for one of the nastiest vets and I was so afraid to leave because I was about to apply to vet school and didn't want to have to check the "no" box on the permission to contact in VMCAS. I bowed out as best I could. I gave my 2 weeks notice and just said I needed to take a step back because my husband was getting ready to leave the country and my other job (higher paying) and school were demanding more time. She believed me and I left on good terms. I included the experience in my VMCAS and checked the yes box that they could contact her. Best decision ever to leave. I work at another hospital now with a doctor that is polar opposite and keeps asking me if I'll come back as an associate after vet school Get out, you won't regret it!

 

[BigCats]

Speaking of, does it look “bad” to check the “no” box for contacting experiences? I have some sporadic little experiences from forever ago where I doubt they would remember me, as well as one more-recent experience which wasn’t a great environment for me. I of course have plenty of others where the people can speak highly of me if they are contacted, so will schools notice/care if some of them are no-contact? Will that be something that would be brought up in an interview?

 

[ksbarrelracer]

I'm applying this year, but I have one more year left of undergrad to finish out my pre-reqs. This fall, I'm currently enrolled 10 credit hours. I don't mind it at all, but I was wondering if I should take anatomy/pysiology (most likely human) as well. The college I'm hoping to attend doesn't require it and I don't need the credits, but I was wondering if anyone else took those classes and found them useful for vet school or not. Thanks!

 

[battie]

I'm applying this year, but I have one more year left of undergrad to finish out my pre-reqs. This fall, I'm currently enrolled 10 credit hours. I don't mind it at all, but I was wondering if I should take anatomy/pysiology (most likely human) as well. The college I'm hoping to attend doesn't require it and I don't need the credits, but I was wondering if anyone else took those classes and found them useful for vet school or not. Thanks!

I took both human and animal anatomy at my undergrad. The level of detail that my vet school's anatomy got blew my undergrad's anatomy right out of the water. Undergrad didn't cover even a quarter of what vet school did. I'd say don't bother spending the money on the credits if you don't need it for the schools you are applying to.

 

[SkiOtter]

Speaking of, does it look “bad” to check the “no” box for contacting experiences? I have some sporadic little experiences from forever ago where I doubt they would remember me, as well as one more-recent experience which wasn’t a great environment for me. I of course have plenty of others where the people can speak highly of me if they are contacted, so will schools notice/care if some of them are no-contact? Will that be something that would be brought up in an interview?

Doubt they’d care. Also most places don’t bother contacting experiences either. Georgia is one of the only places (maybe the only place) that actually does contact experiences/references regularly but that’s what they do instead of interviewing applicants. Other schools don’t have the time or desire to and would likely only contact someone if you said you worked somewhere for 6 weeks but had 600 hours of experience there. (Basically only if something looks real fishy to them).
It shouldn’t be a problem to check “no” on some experiences if you don’t want them contacted under any circumstances. If you left them checked “yes” and they for some reason were contacted and spoke poorly of you, that would be so much worse for your application than the school seeing that you didn’t want them contacted, if the latter even would have an effect.

 

[SnowJ]

I'm applying this year, but I have one more year left of undergrad to finish out my pre-reqs. This fall, I'm currently enrolled 10 credit hours. I don't mind it at all, but I was wondering if I should take anatomy/pysiology (most likely human) as well. The college I'm hoping to attend doesn't require it and I don't need the credits, but I was wondering if anyone else took those classes and found them useful for vet school or not. Thanks!

I found my undergrad anatomy class helpful as a strong baseline when I got to vet school anatomy, but that is because it was a veterinary anatomy class (taught by the vet school anatomy teacher to boot). If it will cost more to take it I wouldn't, but if it is no different cost-wise it might be a nice base to work from.
What human anatomy I did get wasn't nearly deep enough to be that helpful, but I had a pretty in-depth phys class that saved my butt on a few vet school phys exams.

 

[AntoDVM2025]

Hey guys!
If I have never repeated or even withdrawn from a course and do not have any credits from anywhere else other than my college, is my VMCAS overall GPA going to be exactly the same as my cumulative GPA that I graduated with? I have heard of many people having differently calculated GPAs, but I am assuming it is because they all had repeated courses that their colleges did not count?

 

[BigCats]

Hey guys!
If I have never repeated or even withdrawn from a course and do not have any credits from anywhere else other than my college, is my VMCAS overall GPA going to be exactly the same as my cumulative GPA that I graduated with? I have heard of many people having differently calculated GPAs, but I am assuming it is because they all had repeated courses that their colleges did not count?

Yes I believe so! I think a lot of people run into issues with that because their college allows for grade replacements, so if they get a D in Orgo and retake it for an A, their college will calculate just the A in their GPA, whereas VMCAS will calculate all attempts taken. If you haven’t had any grades replaced, your GPA should be the same in VMCAS.

 

[AntoDVM2025]

Yes I believe so! I think a lot of people run into issues with that because their college allows for grade replacements, so if they get a D in Orgo and retake it for an A, their college will calculate just the A in their GPA, whereas VMCAS will calculate all attempts taken. If you haven’t had any grades replaced, your GPA should be the same in VMCAS.

Great, thank you!