VMCAS Questions and Rants c/o 2029

[Gangar#094]

That makes sense! I’m mastering out of my chemistry PhD program so I assumed the ever-present necessity of funding was translated across disciplines. Thank you!

Follow up question: Is the best way to distinguish yourself in the applicant pool mostly by diversity of experiences and personal statement? (Thank you all again for answering my dumb questions!!)

Strong letters of recommendation. LORs can attest to experiences listed in an application, verify readiness for veterinary programs, etc, so I recommend securing recommenders you 1) trust to provide a strong LOR and 2) help/enhance/highlight your application.

If you are familiar with requesting LORs, and you have a good relationship with the individuals you have in mind, further advice may be unnecessary but for anyone else who may read this and want additional advice I will add:

1) you absolutely can and should have a more meaningful conversation with your recommenders than "Can you write a letter?"

• expectations for the letter: are they speaking to your academics? Commitment to the profession?
• if the individual is not intimately familiar with you, it can also help to write a short blurb about yourself AND who the letter is for (in this case N# of veterinary programs)
• if it is a professor, consider referencing the classes/sections you took with them.

2) submit letters that cover each school's requested LOR writer. Maximize your application by ensuring you meet all requested/needed items. VMCAS allows for up to 6 LORs (iirc), and they attach/send to all programs you select, so maximize your application and ensure you hit all requested recommenders (veterinarian, professor, employer, etc.)

3) give them an earlier due date

4) not all recommenders are familiar with writing letters and may have questions; search "CVM information for reference writers" and some
options should populate.

• See VMCAS Guidelines for Recommendation Letter Writers as an example

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[Doctor Ham]

Re: pet ownership

It is NOT a given that every applicant has owned animals. And I believe not every animal ownership experience is the same. But they're all valid, even if it seems silly - if you think about why people can be uncomfortable around animals, it's usually because they just don't have experience with them. Growing up with dogs, horses, cattle, etc. means that you've had exposure to those animals and their normal behavior (hopefully), so even if you weren't the primary caretaker, having that familiarity is useful. If you inflate the hours or overstate the responsibilities, it's sort of obvious, but I would absolutely include it. It makes me sad when applicants reference the family farm in their essays, but don't include it in their experience hours. We cannot give credit to experiences that aren't listed!

 

[lianguine]

5. Prerequisites are prerequisites. If a school doesn't require it, don't feel you have to take it. If a school does require, 99% of people will need to take it at 99% of schools 99% of the time. The majority of schools will not forgive/replace a prerequisite for the majority of applicants. The only way you'll know is if you email schools about your specific situation.
- Do not be surprised if you're rejected from a school due to prerequisites not being met if you haven't taken it and have not listed it as planned. How do the schools know you'll have it done otherwise?

Emphasizing this. If you have any doubts that your course may or may not fulfill a prerequisite, ask the school ahead of time!! I was rejected from one school and almost rejected from another because I didn't reach out and thought my courses were equivalent to what they wanted. I was able to work things out with the other school because a different course credit fulfilled it. But I really regret wasting the money on the first school by making assumptions.

Edit: I had thought an English Literature course could go towards English composition oops

 

[KK5820]

Does anyone have a list of schools that are less holistic (more academics focused)/military friendly vet schools to apply to? I have a healthy amount of experience, but lack in LA veterinary experience. Im planning to lean on my GPA (I currently have a 4.0 cum.) and military experience in my application, just trying to find schools where my application will fit better

 

[battie]

Does anyone have a list of schools that are less holistic (more academics focused)/military friendly vet schools to apply to? I have a healthy amount of experience, but lack in LA veterinary experience. Im planning to lean on my GPA (I currently have a 4.0 cum.) and military experience in my application, just trying to find schools where my application will fit better

Your military status may make this a moot point, but what would your in state be?

 

[KK5820]

Your military status may make this a moot point, but what would your in state be?

Davis! However, I currently attend CSU

 

[battie]

Davis! However, I currently attend CSU

Honestly, Davis would be a good choice as far as GPA based. And while CSU has some holistic components, but when they have ~30 applicants per seat, having a good GPA is a good perk to have. TAMU and UGA also value high GPAs. Those are who I know off the top of my head.

 

[MouseDoctor]

Hi all! I had two questions for you as a non-trad:

1. Can I list work promotions as an award under the Achievements section? I'm 10+ years out of school and have been working as a lab animal technician with a few promotions under my belt. I also plan on listing my lab animal certs (ALAT, LAT, LATG). I don't have any academic awards to list and didn't want to leave the section empty. I am also hoping to wrap up a first-author publication for JAALAS and will be listing that as an award if successful.

2. I'm aiming to become a lab animal vet and ~95% of my vet experience is in lab animal. I've also worked as a vet assistant at a SA hospital 13 years ago when I was first exploring vet med. Can I list this under vet experience or is it too old? I want to show that I am familiar with SA practice even though lab animal is my primary interest.

This is my second time applying if that is relevant info. First time was in 2013 -- rejected due to low GPA which I'm now fixing with a DIY post-bacc.

 

[renacuaja]

1. That would kinda of be an awkward use of the section imo. I don’t think there’s any harm in leaving it blank. You could also use within the experience description “started as XX, promoted XX times to current role” or something like that

2. You can list it. It might be worth diversifying your veterinary experience before you apply if you have time to shadow since vet schools want to see that you have knowledge in more than one area of the field.

 

[eleanor713]

Hi all! I had two questions for you as a non-trad:

1. Can I list work promotions as an award under the Achievements section? I'm 10+ years out of school and have been working as a lab animal technician with a few promotions under my belt. I also plan on listing my lab animal certs (ALAT, LAT, LATG). I don't have any academic awards to list and didn't want to leave the section empty. I am also hoping to wrap up a first-author publication for JAALAS and will be listing that as an award if successful.

2. I'm aiming to become a lab animal vet and ~95% of my vet experience is in lab animal. I've also worked as a vet assistant at a SA hospital 13 years ago when I was first exploring vet med. Can I list this under vet experience or is it too old? I want to show that I am familiar with SA practice even though lab animal is my primary interest.

This is my second time applying if that is relevant info. First time was in 2013 -- rejected due to low GPA which I'm now fixing with a DIY post-bacc.

Hi! I applied this cycle aiming to go into lab animal medicine. I also applied last cycle and my only experience was in lab animal medicine and I was denied or waitlisted from every school. This cycle I had more diverse experiences and got accepted to many. Not saying that was the only thing holding me back, but I think that even shadowing some equine or large animal vets before you submit your application will be helpful. I'm also always open to talk more about lab animal medicine!

 

[MouseDoctor]

Thank you both for the great advice. I'm going to list my promotions in the experience section instead of the award section.

Eleanor, congrats on the acceptances!! My application right now sounds similar to yours last year. My plan is to put my application in now with what I have and plan on expanding my vet experience next cycle if I don't get in. Would love to chat more lab animal medicine too but I'll try to find a thread for that so as not to derail this one too much!

 

[artemis.14]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of retaking some classes and one of them is biochemistry. I am planning on taking it online, so I can continue to work. Does anyone have any experience with taking biochem online and where at? I typically do well with online classes since covid got me used to that, but I don't want to get into something that doesn't work for my learning styles especially since I want to improve my grade. I appreciate it much and good luck to all of you!!!

 

[KK5820]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of retaking some classes and one of them is biochemistry. I am planning on taking it online, so I can continue to work. Does anyone have any experience with taking biochem online and where at? I typically do well with online classes since covid got me used to that, but I don't want to get into something that doesn't work for my learning styles especially since I want to improve my grade. I appreciate it much and good luck to all of you!!!

I dont have experience with the online version, but I know CSU offers their biochem course online (BC351). I believe Aaron Sholders teaches the fall semester (verify this before). I had Dr. Sholders in person, and I can’t recommend him enough! Fantastic professor, and I have seen in other forums that his online version is good. Exams (in person at least) are very tricky, but doable and force you to be able to apply your knowledge rather than just memorize

 

[KK5820]

Maybe a bit of a weird question, but I have a question pertaining to the army reserves and the experiences section in VMCAS.

I have been in the Reserves since 2020, and entered in as a Carpenter. I was in an engineering unit from Jan 2021-May 2023. In May 2023, I was able to switch into a veterinary unit, but we do not have hands on veterinary stuff happening every drill weekend. Should I count this under employment (under a veterinarian) or employment no under a veterinarian?

We do have some hands on things occurring on some drill weekends, but it really is hit or miss.

Thank you!

 

[battie]

Maybe a bit of a weird question, but I have a question pertaining to the army reserves and the experiences section in VMCAS.

I have been in the Reserves since 2020, and entered in as a Carpenter. I was in an engineering unit from Jan 2021-May 2023. In May 2023, I was able to switch into a veterinary unit, but we do not have hands on veterinary stuff happening every drill weekend. Should I count this under employment (under a veterinarian) or employment no under a veterinarian?

We do have some hands on things occurring on some drill weekends, but it really is hit or miss.

Thank you!

You're welcome to split the same experience into different sections. So you can put your reserves experience under regular appointment for the majority of the hours, then put the reserves experience hours with veterinary time under veterinary experience hours. It will be obvious it's the same employment opportunity. And even if you aren't doing physical exams with each weekend, if you're working with a veterinarian even doing regulatory or paperwork type stuff, that still counts!

 

[MouseDoctor]

Another question for you guys. Do you agree with how I've categorized these experiences in VMCAS? For all of these, I'm a lab animal tech reporting directly to a veterinarian in the pharma industry.

1. Animal experience:
   • Animal husbandry tasks. Health checks, cage changes, hosing kennels, flagging health reports, running cage wash. (Species: mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, pigs).
2. Veterinary experience:
   • Collecting CT scans in rodents and helping the veterinarian interpret them.
   • Drug dosing, blood collection and necropsy tasks in rodents for preclinical drug development.
   • Assisting vet & vet tech with dog dental procedures. TPRs, restraint, post-op monitoring, cuddles
     
   • Shadow vet during health surveillance tasks (checking health reports of received animals, sentinel testing results, etc).
   • Filling in for the veterinary technician on weekend clinical rounds (stuff like giving mice topical tx for dermatitis).
3. Research experience:
   • Collecting data for a poster and presenting it at AALAS
   • Drug dosing and blood collection (same as above) but it led to a manuscript where I'm a middle author
   • Measuring subcutaneous tumors in mouse models of cancer for a PI. I'm iffy on this one since it is for internal company research and not a manuscript.

Would love it if a lab animal vet could chime in! I am doing my best to get exposure to all the different facets of lab animal medicine as that is my primary interest. I looked at the VMCAS flowchart but it isn't very helpful here.

 

[renacuaja]

1. Animal experience:
   • Animal husbandry tasks. Health checks, cage changes, hosing kennels, flagging health reports, running cage wash. (Species: mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, pigs).
2. Veterinary experience:
   • Collecting CT scans in rodents and helping the veterinarian interpret them.
   • Drug dosing, blood collection and necropsy tasks in rodents for preclinical drug development.
   • Assisting vet & vet tech with dog dental procedures. TPRs, restraint, post-op monitoring, cuddles
     
   • Shadow vet during health surveillance tasks (checking health reports of received animals, sentinel testing results, etc).
   • Filling in for the veterinary technician on weekend clinical rounds (stuff like giving mice topical tx for dermatitis).
3. Research experience:
   • Collecting data for a poster and presenting it at AALAS
   • Drug dosing and blood collection (same as above) but it led to a manuscript where I'm a middle author
   • Measuring subcutaneous tumors in mouse models of cancer for a PI. I'm iffy on this one since it is for internal company research and not a manuscript.

Would love it if a lab animal vet could chime in! I am doing my best to get exposure to all the different facets of lab animal medicine as that is my primary interest. I looked at the VMCAS flowchart but it isn't very helpful here.

Make sure you aren't double counting anything. You'll also want to change the approach you have for your descriptions which currently focuses on technical skills.

I hope I'm not taking a leap in assuming that the reason you want to spread out a single job experience is because your application might feel "empty". If that's the case, I strongly recommend diversifying your experiences. If you look at the Successful Applicants threads over the past several application cycles you'll find that diverse experiences is common among almost all successful pre-vets these past cycles.

Veterinary Experience:
Job at XX
Description: XXXX Animal husbandry tasks count if your job is primarily under the supervision of a veterinarian. Don't separate it into animal and vet experiences

Research:
Research Project 1 (Presented at AALAS + manuscript?? or is that a separate project?)
Description: XXXX

Research Project 2
Description: XXXX

this document is really helpful (although more intended for pre-meds). I've c/p two key parts.

Convey your level of involvement in the activity
• Provide a thoughtful, heartfelt description of the way in which the experience impacted you:
o The insights you gained from the experience
o How the experience shaped your motivations
o How the experience shaped your personal development
… Do NOT provide a list of technical skills that you have mastered

Research is defined as involvement in a scholarly or scientific hypothesis investigation that is supervised by an individual with
verifiable research credentials. Research may be in any discipline and performed at any site, but it must involve the testing of a
hypothesis.
• State your research topic or specific question
• Convey your level of intellectual involvement. Note if you have:
o Been engaged in reading and discussing relevant primary literature
o Participated in laboratory meetings on a regular basis
o Contributed to experimental design
o Engaged in troubleshooting when the unexpected occurs
o Written a successful grant proposal
o Written a research thesis and/or manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal
o Presented at a conference
• Provide a reflection statement: Why have you have found it intellectually rewarding to engage in this work?
• If results are available, summarize them and briefly indicate why they are interesting/meaningful

 

[Gangar#094]

1. • Measuring subcutaneous tumors in mouse models of cancer for a PI. I'm iffy on this one since it is for internal company research and not a manuscript.

Working under a PI, even if for internal company research, is research. You could also talk to the PI if you need help detailing the research experience.

 

[Qopiexs]

I know for a fact WSU has in person interviews

WSU as in Washington only does in-state interviews too

 

[MouseDoctor]

Working under a PI, even if for internal company research, is research. You could also talk to the PI if you need help detailing the research experience.

Thanks, this was driving me nuts! I was getting hung up on whether the research had to lead to a publication to be considered research on VMCAS.

 

[sueshii]

Please for the love of god do not skip this step. I made this mistake the first time I applied and wasted almost $500 on applications the schools wouldn't even accept. Does it show up on your high school transcript? Does it show up on your college transcript? Doesn't matter. If it's a college class, report it as a separate institution.

As someone who did this their first time applying. PLEASE GOD DOUBLE CHECK. I did a summer math class in community college that didn't even count towards my prerequisites and totally forgot about it. They found that I took that class before I did and REJECTED ALL MY APPLICATIONS. Not one college looked at it. Paid 800+ for nothing.

 

[thenontraveler]

Could someone help me with this. How would you detail research necropsy technician. Would that be veterinary, research, or animal experience? We do our work under supervision of a veterinarian, but it is a lot of research protocols we collect for, so I am unsure of how to categorize this. I moved from a research clinical medicine position (very easy to categorize) to one that seems more gray area.

 

[Gangar#094]

Could someone help me with this. How would you detail research necropsy technician. Would that be veterinary, research, or animal experience? We do our work under supervision of a veterinarian, but it is a lot of research protocols we collect for, so I am unsure of how to categorize this. I moved from a research clinical medicine position (very easy to categorize) to one that seems more gray area.

Research.

Direct pull from VMCAS: Research experience includes any animal and veterinary research, as well as other field and/or laboratory-based research. Include specific details about your work/involvement, including whether the research experience provided an opportunity to present or publish.

 

[FutureDrMP]

Hello! For second time applicants, what is the protocol for personal statements? Should I rewrite my full statement or just modify what I already have? Thanks!

 

[eleanor713]

Hello! For second time applicants, what is the protocol for personal statements? Should I rewrite my full statement or just modify what I already have? Thanks!

I rewrote mine completely but I also feel like I grew so much in a year and had new reasons why I wanted to pursue vet med that I wanted to highlight

 

[FutureDrMP]

I rewrote mine completely but I also feel like I grew so much in a year and had new reasons why I wanted to pursue vet med that I wanted to highlight

Thank you!!

 

[KK5820]

Does anyone have tips for personal statement writing? Im at the point that I have no idea where to start. Im overthinking the whole process, and I am worried about writing a cookie cutter essay.

Thank you!

 

[Gina Lawson]

Hi,

Question about employment categorization. I've worked in claims for a pet insurer and as an instructor for a vet tech program. Would these be considered non-animal related employment as they are not directly with animals, and there is not supervision by a vet? Thanks!

 

[Gangar#094]

Does anyone have tips for personal statement writing? Im at the point that I have no idea where to start. Im overthinking the whole process, and I am worried about writing a cookie cutter essay.

Thank you!

You can start out with your "Why" and outline from there: why veterinary medicine for you? Hopes or goals to achieve within the profession? You can also think of the question 'so what' during the outline. Mittens was very dear to me does not answer the why or so what for committing yourself to the veterinary profession.

Hi,

Question about employment categorization. I've worked in claims for a pet insurer and as an instructor for a vet tech program. Would these be considered non-animal related employment as they are not directly with animals, and there is not supervision by a vet? Thanks!

Did you work with animals during your time as an instructor? If yes, I'd put it as an animal experience. If no, put under employment for both.

 

[KK5820]

More questions haha

For transcript entry, I have transferred credits from my JST (Joint Serivce Transcript) for my current university (Colorado State). Under the transcript entry, it says to enter credits for where I originally took the course. All of my JST credits were obviously not done at my university, but were done during my military training. Does anyone have any experience with the JST and how to enter those credits into VMCAS?

 

[Gina Lawson]

Hobbies... I want to make sure I can present a comprehensive picture of who I am outside of vet-med. How did I list hobbies that don't pertain to a particular formal organization?

Thanks

 

[aubieluver24]

Hobbies... I want to make sure I can present a comprehensive picture of who I am outside of vet-med. How did I list hobbies that don't pertain to a particular formal organization?

Thanks

Unless the hobbies had some sort of organization involved with them, I do not think there is a way to include them on the VMCAS unless you write about them in your personal statement or supplemental essays. With that being said, two schools I applied to last cycle had supplemental essays about what I was passionate outside of vet med (cooking for me!) and that was super fun to write about, plus it was brought up in one interview.

 

[ali9280]

Hobbies... I want to make sure I can present a comprehensive picture of who I am outside of vet-med. How did I list hobbies that don't pertain to a particular formal organization?

Thanks

I put mine under extracurricular activities for the experience type, volunteer for the recognition type, and then personal activity for the title. For the employer and supervisor section, I just put "self". This was for the 2027 cycle so maybe VMCAS has changed but that's how I input my hobbies

 

[Gangar#094]

Unless the hobbies had some sort of organization involved with them, I do not think there is a way to include them on the VMCAS unless you write about them in your personal statement or supplemental essays. With that being said, two schools I applied to last cycle had supplemental essays about what I was passionate outside of vet med (cooking for me!) and that was super fun to write about, plus it was brought up in one interview.

Directly from VMCAS: Extracurricular activities include experiences you were involved with from high school until the present, including sports/intramurals, clubs, honor societies, committees, community activities, social activities, fraternities/sororities, certifications, and hobbies. List the most recent first.

More questions haha

For transcript entry, I have transferred credits from my JST (Joint Serivce Transcript) for my current university (Colorado State). Under the transcript entry, it says to enter credits for where I originally took the course. All of my JST credits were obviously not done at my university, but were done during my military training. Does anyone have any experience with the JST and how to enter those credits into VMCAS?

Directly from VMCAS: US military academies (note this does not include courses on SMART or JST Transcripts) Hyperlink included. Since VMCAS receives transcripts, I'd follow up with their support. I recommend keeping whatever response they provide you for your records.

 

[battie]

I recommend keeping whatever response they provide you for your records.

As a general rule, this is a good idea for everything. Anything anyone sends you in writing about your application should be kept on file (email, screenshot, whatever).

 

[miniaturedove]

So nervous/excited for this cycle to start

 

[Gina Lawson]

So nervous/excited for this cycle to start

Simultaneous feelings of: "I can't believe I've gotten far enough to even apply." And "I feel like I'm going to vomit."

 

[jreissatia]

Hi l am wondering if I am screwed. My schools program only offers English composition as a 4 credit class but a lot of these vet schools requires English composition as a 6 semester credit (requirements) helpppppp

 

[battie]

Hi l am wondering if I am screwed. My schools program only offers English composition as a 4 credit class but a lot of these vet schools requires English composition as a 6 semester credit (requirements) helpppppp

5. Prerequisites are prerequisites. If a school doesn't require it, don't feel you have to take it. If a school does require, 99% of people will need to take it at 99% of schools 99% of the time. The majority of schools will not forgive/replace a prerequisite for the majority of applicants. The only way you'll know is if you email schools about your specific situation.

1. The English comp 6 credit requirement might be for 2 classes of English comp at 3 credits a piece vs 1 class or English comp at 6 credits.

2. Email your schools for clarification. If some schools require an additional class, you could schedule it for the spring semester. That way you don't have to commit to it before knowing if you have interviews or maybe even acceptances before actually taking the class.