VMCAS Questions and Rants c/o 2029

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isn’t their next accreditation visit in two years?
I’m pretty sure its a different protocol for institutions under probational accreditation. Here: “These deficiencies must be corrected in two years from the date of the letter notifying the college of Probationary Accreditation.”

They have been on probation since 2022, it’s 2025 so we are past the 2 years mark. Here’s more information on the transition from Probationary Accreditation to Terminal.

 
Why wait if the class of 2025 has a below 80% NAVLE pass rate
Honestly this should warrant an emergency visit to any school at any point in their accreditation cycle. As you and I both know, they've done 'emergency' site visits over things far less concerning than a low NAVLE pass rate
 
If Tuskegee is put on terminal accreditation, I feel pretty safe guessing the increase focus on numbers is going to escalate. Not saying Tuskegee takes subpar students; far from it. But numbers are the easiest thing to connect.

Likewise, I would love to have attrition added to the accreditation standards.
 
I’m pretty sure its a different protocol for institutions under probational accreditation. Here: “These deficiencies must be corrected in two years from the date of the letter notifying the college of Probationary Accreditation.”

They have been on probation since 2022, it’s 2025 so we are past the 2 years mark. Here’s more information on the transition from Probationary Accreditation to Terminal.

Correct there is a different proscess. Ultimately an emergency visit isn't going to change anything as far as status goes and a visit will also not correct at least in this case the navle deficiency. Many schools when there are concerns get focused site visits so tuskeegee has been visited alot since 2022 and unfortunately is still in this boat.
 
Correct there is a different proscess. Ultimately an emergency visit isn't going to change anything as far as status goes and a visit will also not correct at least in this case the navle deficiency. Many schools when there are concerns get focused site visits so tuskeegee has been visited alot since 2022 and unfortunately is still in this boat.
That's really unfortunate. Tuskegee produces such high quality veterinarians. I hope they will fix their campus/academic issues and seek re-accrediation.
 
Second time's the charm✨ Good luck everyone!

Pray Game Show GIF by ABC Network
 
I don't think the decision can be appealed, they'd have to request a reevaluation and prove all deficiencies were addressed (so an appeal doesn't really make sense in this context, I guess).

What's interesting is that if a site visit happens in June and they do fall to terminal accreditation...could mean they can't start the c/o 2029 based on this: "To maintain terminal accreditation status, the college must: immediately cease enrollment of additional students; commit adequate resources to complete the education of currently enrolled students..."

So it could all be down to timing of when students actually enroll in classes I guess, if they are being that literal? I have vague memories of not actually enrolling for my first semester at Illinois until mid to late summer despite being accepted in March (my memory may be failing me here, though), so if that's similar for Tuskegee, this implies that 2029 could be screwed. What about waitlisted students that make it off the list in July, so would enroll later? This is uncharted territory honestly, I don't believe any US vet school has ever fallen to terminal status before. If by enrolling they mean starting classes, then it's even more likely that c/o 2029 wouldn't get to start classes if Tuskegee dropped down in June. Not trying to incite panic, but this is how it's reading to me.

Would be worth watching Cambridge from afar and seeing how RCVS handles things too, if their drama unfolds before Tuskegee's. Last I read, their last accreditation visit was pretty abysmal (failed something like 2/3 of the criteria)
As a 5th cycle applicant whose only acceptance so far is Tuskegee, this is my worst nightmare. I can’t imagine having waited all this time for an acceptance only to have it taken away. I’m still waiting to hear from a few schools but considering my gpa is 3.4, I don’t expect much. If I really don’t get another offer than I really, really hope that “enrolled” means signed up for classes, and that I and everyone else who was accepted are already enrolled by the time the terminal accreditation becomes official. You would think administration would be trying to speed up the enrollment process so that they can matriculate one last class.
Of course it doesn’t sound great to attend vet school at a school that obviously has some serious issues, but to me personally it’s worth the gamble that I will be one of those who will be able to pass the NAVLE since I’ve been waiting so long to move on with my life.
I just feel like it would be incredibly cruel to basically rescind acceptances. I really hope that there is some solution for those of us already accepted if it really goes down. Hopefully there will be some way for us to still start vet school this fall.
This is very worrying ☹️
 
As a 5th cycle applicant whose only acceptance so far is Tuskegee, this is my worst nightmare. I can’t imagine having waited all this time for an acceptance only to have it taken away. I’m still waiting to hear from a few schools but considering my gpa is 3.4, I don’t expect much. If I really don’t get another offer than I really, really hope that “enrolled” means signed up for classes, and that I and everyone else who was accepted are already enrolled by the time the terminal accreditation becomes official. You would think administration would be trying to speed up the enrollment process so that they can matriculate one last class.
Of course it doesn’t sound great to attend vet school at a school that obviously has some serious issues, but to me personally it’s worth the gamble that I will be one of those who will be able to pass the NAVLE since I’ve been waiting so long to move on with my life.
I just feel like it would be incredibly cruel to basically rescind acceptances. I really hope that there is some solution for those of us already accepted if it really goes down. Hopefully there will be some way for us to still start vet school this fall.
This is very worrying ☹️
I get it, if I were in your shoes I’d be taking the acceptance as well! Hopefully im misinterpreting it, but there’s a lot of unanswered questions for sure.
 
@Zadro I realize becoming a vet is the dream and it finally feels like moving on in life, but given the measily 51% pass rate last year and the other issues going on with the school I'd strongly encourage you to do some very deep reflecting before accepting and attending this school. That's the pass rate after ALL the testing windows. I guarantee the first testing window pass rate was even more abysmal than the 51%. That's alot of money that might be potentially wasted if you can't pass navle, and unfortunately theres a good chance you wouldnt pass and not because youre not smart. No one thinks it will be them but with a pass rate that poor, the school is failing to provide students with the base knowledge they need for not only boards but for life. I know you feel its worth the risk, but as someone on the other side I would not attend this school and would reapply or pursue plan b in life. It's not worth a good gamble of 200k+ with a very high probability of failure and limited work options post grad. This is not a you problem, it's a school problem.
 
@Zadro I realize becoming a vet is the dream and it finally feels like moving on in life, but given the measily 51% pass rate last year and the other issues going on with the school I'd strongly encourage you to do some very deep reflecting before accepting and attending this school. That's the pass rate after ALL the testing windows. I guarantee the first testing window pass rate was even more abysmal than the 51%. That's alot of money that might be potentially wasted if you can't pass navle, and unfortunately theres a good chance you wouldnt pass and not because youre not smart. No one thinks it will be them but with a pass rate that poor, the school is failing to provide students with the base knowledge they need for not only boards but for life. I know you feel its worth the risk, but as someone on the other side I would not attend this school and would reapply or pursue plan b in life. It's not worth a good gamble of 200k+ with a very high probability of failure and limited work options post grad. This is not a you problem, it's a school problem.
I understand where you’re coming from, and I appreciate the advice. At this point I am really hoping for another offer, in which case I will take that instead.

I know that going to Tuskegee would be a big gamble on passing NAVLE. But if I don’t have any other options, then it could be the only chance I have to be a veterinarian at all. There’s no guarantee I would ever be accepted elsewhere. For the sake of my future and my mental health, there’s no way I could take that risk. Thankfully I was offered a contract seat, so attending wouldn’t cost anywhere near that much. I will likely reapply next year in case I’m able to switch to a better school, even if it means starting over.

I know that my decision wouldn’t be what’s best for everyone. Anyone else that might end up in this situation should know what they’re getting into.
 
@Zadro I realize becoming a vet is the dream and it finally feels like moving on in life, but given the measily 51% pass rate last year and the other issues going on with the school I'd strongly encourage you to do some very deep reflecting before accepting and attending this school. That's the pass rate after ALL the testing windows. I guarantee the first testing window pass rate was even more abysmal than the 51%. That's alot of money that might be potentially wasted if you can't pass navle, and unfortunately theres a good chance you wouldnt pass and not because youre not smart. No one thinks it will be them but with a pass rate that poor, the school is failing to provide students with the base knowledge they need for not only boards but for life. I know you feel its worth the risk, but as someone on the other side I would not attend this school and would reapply or pursue plan b in life. It's not worth a good gamble of 200k+ with a very high probability of failure and limited work options post grad. This is not a you problem, it's a school problem.
I'll reiterate this. As much as the situation sucks, and I hope that you ultimately get other acceptances and then the decision becomes null anyway, but going to a program that is losing accreditation is an extremely large financial risk. There is a very significant chance that you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on tuition, never pass NAVLE due to having a weak foundation of knowledge (not reflecting on you - but Tuskegee has repeatedly demonstrated in their abysmal NAVLE pass rate that they are not preparing their students adequately), and thus never become a veterinarian. And then you're out of luck, not being a vet, but not being a vet with a huge amount of student loans that you still need to pay off.

I would strongly consider passing on that offer because it's not a very good one. I understand the somewhat desperation of having gone through many cycles and this feeling like your only shot, but your odds of actually becoming a practicing veterinarian are not great attending Tuskegee as it currently is.
 
I understand where you’re coming from, and I appreciate the advice. At this point I am really hoping for another offer, in which case I will take that instead.

I know that going to Tuskegee would be a big gamble on passing NAVLE. But if I don’t have any other options, then it could be the only chance I have to be a veterinarian at all. There’s no guarantee I would ever be accepted elsewhere. For the sake of my future and my mental health, there’s no way I could take that risk. Thankfully I was offered a contract seat, so attending wouldn’t cost anywhere near that much. I will likely reapply next year in case I’m able to switch to a better school, even if it means starting over.

I know that my decision wouldn’t be what’s best for everyone. Anyone else that might end up in this situation should know what they’re getting into.
Yeah that’s kinda what I meant by saying I’d do it too. At this stage, your only focus is getting into vet school and it’s hard to look past that. I’m not going to get into all of the ‘should people even be going to vet school right now?’ back and forth because that’s a different can of worms, let alone going to a risky school.

Have you reached out the school to ask about accreditation concerns? I’m just curious.

You do also bring up mental health here…shorty is absolutely correct in that you may very well end up in a very expensive hole that takes you a few years to climb out of. We don’t know. I’m not trying to discourage you, but it is absolutely a huge risk. Similar to people going to unaccredited foreign schools (because it was their only acceptance) and struggling to pass the ECFVG
 
Hi all. I need to take a microbiology lab prior to matriculation in August. I have already received permission from the school to take an online lab at Southern California U. Health Sciences. They have a 5wk self paced lab. Does anyone have experience taking online labs there?
 
I’m currently a few weeks through an online lab class that I do not need for a vet school prerequisite or gradation for undergrad. Once upon a time I thought I might need it for vet school but it’s not listed in any of the provisional requirements I need to complete. I haven’t used any financial aid to pay for this class but I did have it listed on my planned classes for VMCAS. Do you think I need to notify accepted schools if I withdraw from this online lab/ would it affect my acceptances?
 
I’m currently a few weeks through an online lab class that I do not need for a vet school prerequisite or gradation for undergrad. Once upon a time I thought I might need it for vet school but it’s not listed in any of the provisional requirements I need to complete. I haven’t used any financial aid to pay for this class but I did have it listed on my planned classes for VMCAS. Do you think I need to notify accepted schools if I withdraw from this online lab/ would it affect my acceptances?
So, I emailed a few schools about this and they all said that if it's reported, but not a requirement for them, that there is absolutely no problem with dropping it! They only care about outstanding prerequisites. (Oregon was one of the schools BTW. 🙂 )
 
So sorry this is not a question, but I HAVE to recommend, to anyone deciding between schools right now and costs and having a hard time visualizing it, I made this graph to help me understand everything better. I cannot recommend enough how helpful doing this is!!!

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Anyone know about the reserve list for Edinburgh? Can I accept another offer while waiting for an answer from them?
 
Anyone know about the reserve list for Edinburgh? Can I accept another offer while waiting for an answer from them?

As a general rule, I would recommend having a seat secured. There's nothing wrong with waiting to see if you get off the wait-list. You'll likely forfeit the deposit

This is predicated the UK schools don't have different rules
 
As a general rule, I would recommend having a seat secured. There's nothing wrong with waiting to see if you get off the wait-list. You'll likely forfeit the deposit

This is predicated the UK schools don't have different rules
I thought I heard someone say that if you commit somewhere else you get taken off the waitlist…. But I’m not too sure
 
I thought I heard someone say that if you commit somewhere else you get taken off the waitlist…. But I’m not too sure
How would they know that you have committed somewhere else unless you tell them? Most schools (at least the US ones) also are aware that many students will accept a space and hold out hope for a waitlist position and drop their accepted space if they get off a waitlist. That’s how the waitlists even move. People accept a seat, get in elsewhere, decline their seat, and it goes to someone on the waitlist. 🙂
If you’re concerned that you heard someone potentially say it, clarify with the school in writing.
 
How would they know that you have committed somewhere else unless you tell them? Most schools (at least the US ones) also are aware that many students will accept a space and hold out hope for a waitlist position and drop their accepted space if they get off a waitlist. That’s how the waitlists even move. People accept a seat, get in elsewhere, decline their seat, and it goes to someone on the waitlist. 🙂
If you’re concerned that you heard someone potentially say it, clarify with the school in writing.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking too. Like no way they track who’s accepted where but yeah I will double check that.
 
Yeah that’s what I was thinking too. Like no way they track who’s accepted where but yeah I will double check that.

There's a thing in human medicine where there is some sort of tracking of students and where people are accepted, wait listed, and rejected. However, as far as I'm aware, that's not a thing in vet med. I recommend reaching out to Edinburgh directly to ask.
 
This is really unrelated to the ongoing conversation so my apologies for that. I wonder if anyone has advice or experience navigating a long distance relationship in vet school? my boyfriend and i have been together for two and a half years and have decided to do long distance for my first two years of vet school. We will not be living close enough to visit frequently and likely will only be able to over breaks. I’m really struggling with the thought of it and would love some advice!
 
There's a thing in human medicine where there is some sort of tracking of students and where people are accepted, wait listed, and rejected. However, as far as I'm aware, that's not a thing in vet med. I recommend reaching out to Edinburgh directly to ask.
yeah i did ask. they replied and said it does NOT affect the reserve list if you accept another school.
 
This is really unrelated to the ongoing conversation so my apologies for that. I wonder if anyone has advice or experience navigating a long distance relationship in vet school? my boyfriend and i have been together for two and a half years and have decided to do long distance for my first two years of vet school. We will not be living close enough to visit frequently and likely will only be able to over breaks. I’m really struggling with the thought of it and would love some advice!
How far will you be going from your boyfriend? and will he be able to visit or only when you return back home? I personally have done long distance with my bf for about 2 years (September-april) with only going home at Christmas. its hard but also it makes coming home better and also I think if both partners put in effort and communicate well it'll be good. I always tell myself too, if its meant to be it'll be.
 
This is really unrelated to the ongoing conversation so my apologies for that. I wonder if anyone has advice or experience navigating a long distance relationship in vet school? my boyfriend and i have been together for two and a half years and have decided to do long distance for my first two years of vet school. We will not be living close enough to visit frequently and likely will only be able to over breaks. I’m really struggling with the thought of it and would love some advice!
Hey! My now-husband and I survived our first years (2.5) together long distance, while I was in college and he was working full-time and getting a masters! Happy to talk more if you feel like DMing me. It’s hard, but doable- and if you’re both fully committed to it, can absolutely be done! Now, vet school will be harder of course, but I know there are others who can probably support you, as well!
 
How far will you be going from your boyfriend? and will he be able to visit or only when you return back home? I personally have done long distance with my bf for about 2 years (September-april) with only going home at Christmas. its hard but also it makes coming home better and also I think if both partners put in effort and communicate well it'll be good. I always tell myself too, if its meant to be it'll be.

I will be attending the University of Minnesota CVM and he will be in Colorado (where I attended undergrad). Unfortunately, not super close to be able to visit frequently. Thank you so much for your perspective. I definitely will believe that it will work out but still very daunting.
 
Thank you, I definitely might reach out! I’m very lucky to have a ton of family in Minnesota and so that will be very helpful.
 
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This is really unrelated to the ongoing conversation so my apologies for that. I wonder if anyone has advice or experience navigating a long distance relationship in vet school? my boyfriend and i have been together for two and a half years and have decided to do long distance for my first two years of vet school. We will not be living close enough to visit frequently and likely will only be able to over breaks. I’m really struggling with the thought of it and would love some advice!

I will be attending the University of Minnesota CVM and he will be in Colorado (where I attended undergrad). Unfortunately, not super close to be able to visit frequently. Thank you so much for your perspective. I definitely will believe that it will work out but still very daunting.

Hey! Both of my major relationships were long distance, at least at first. The first one died in a ball of fire, but there were a lot of issues there beyond the long distance. It would have died regardless; maybe even sooner if we hadn't been long distance tbh.

However, my now husband and I were long distance all of vet school essentially. I was born/raised/lived in Colorado and attended Illinois for vet school, so similar distance. Started dating December of 2017 and I graduated May 2021, and we got married 2 days later. We've been married for 4 years this May. He came to visit me once per year and then I came home every break. I also lived with him in Colorado during COVID clinics when we were entirely online. It comes down to communication. I was busy all the time and purposely spent 12-16 hours per day at the school at least during the week cause of clubs and such. If he didn't hear from me for a while, he would simply text, "Are you alive?" He knew if I was going to be doing something major all day, like study groups and such. One thing we did for ourselves was "Book Club" where we each read the same book at the same time. So we would start reading at, like, 7 or 8 my time for an hour or so and finish at the same spot and talk about the book.

It's definitely doable. You have to put in the work though for sure.
 
Hey! Both of my major relationships were long distance, at least at first. The first one died in a ball of fire, but there were a lot of issues there beyond the long distance. It would have died regardless; maybe even sooner if we hadn't been long distance tbh.

However, my now husband and I were long distance all of vet school essentially. I was born/raised/lived in Colorado and attended Illinois for vet school, so similar distance. Started dating December of 2017 and I graduated May 2021, and we got married 2 days later. We've been married for 4 years this May. He came to visit me once per year and then I came home every break. I also lived with him in Colorado during COVID clinics when we were entirely online. It comes down to communication. I was busy all the time and purposely spent 12-16 hours per day at the school at least during the week cause of clubs and such. If he didn't hear from me for a while, he would simply text, "Are you alive?" He knew if I was going to be doing something major all day, like study groups and such. One thing we did for ourselves was "Book Club" where we each read the same book at the same time. So we would start reading at, like, 7 or 8 my time for an hour or so and finish at the same spot and talk about the book.

It's definitely doable. You have to put in the work though for sure.

thank you so much!! I really appreciate the insight.
 
How far have you guys gotten into your application? I've completed all things just waiting for LORs and writing my essay until my fingers fall off!
 
This is really unrelated to the ongoing conversation so my apologies for that. I wonder if anyone has advice or experience navigating a long distance relationship in vet school? my boyfriend and i have been together for two and a half years and have decided to do long distance for my first two years of vet school. We will not be living close enough to visit frequently and likely will only be able to over breaks. I’m really struggling with the thought of it and would love some advice!
I'm a bit late to the party! I'm also at UMN right now, and while I'm living with my spouse, we were long distance all four years of undergrad. We started dating junior year of high school and made a promise to not pick colleges based on our relationship. We were a four hour drive/seven hour bus ride apart. Things we did that I think helped:

Texted every single day, FaceTimed 2-3x/week. Visited as often as possible (which was about once a school year and then spent as much of our summer breaks together as possible). Sent each other letters/little gifts in the mail all the time. Talked about our needs and respectfully discussed when they weren't being met.

Communication is so important, and it's a level of communication beyond what I think people in "normal" relationships do. You have to be open and honest about your needs and whether or not they're being met, and open to your boyfriend's needs as well. I would highly recommend discussing expectations before you move with the understanding that your schedule will impact your availability. One of the things my spouse and I discussed was that we would not try to force the long distance if it wasn't working. Not that we wouldn't put effort in, but that we would be honest if it ended up being more than we could manage.

Long distance takes a lot of emotional effort. You need to be all in for it to work. But my thought process has always been you won't know if it will work until you try it. Be willing to do a lot of introspection on what's working and what isn't. There were a few times during college where I wasn't sure that long distance was tenable, but now we've lived together for four years and have been married for two months.

A bit rambly so summarized:
Schedule when you're going to talk, send each other little surprises, and stay as involved in the relationship is as you can.
COMMUNICATION. Would genuinely recommend if you struggle with communication trying to find some therapy based resources online. I credit my 8+ ongoing years in therapy with the fact that my spouse and I rarely fight, because we can communicate so well.
 
Hey everyone!! I don’t know if this is the right forum for this question, but I’ll go for it anyway. A couple weeks ago I sent an email to a university where I was waitlisted letting them know that I have accepted an offer at another university. They congratulated me and then asked if I could tell them where I accepted my offer. I have never heard of another university asking this, and when I emailed another university where I was also accepted letting them know that I will not attend they didn’t ask me this question. Is this normal? Should I answer?
 
Hey everyone!! I don’t know if this is the right forum for this question, but I’ll go for it anyway. A couple weeks ago I sent an email to a university where I was waitlisted letting them know that I have accepted an offer at another university. They congratulated me and then asked if I could tell them where I accepted my offer. I have never heard of another university asking this, and when I emailed another university where I was also accepted letting them know that I will not attend they didn’t ask me this question. Is this normal? Should I answer?
I’ve had about half of the schools I declined ask, and half did not. It really depends on the data they’re collecting; I don’t think it’s a weird thing for them to ask, though.

FWIW, I’ve had several schools I sent emails to just not respond at all, which I find the most frustrating. Received, not received, who knows? I did my best.
 
Hey everyone!! I don’t know if this is the right forum for this question, but I’ll go for it anyway. A couple weeks ago I sent an email to a university where I was waitlisted letting them know that I have accepted an offer at another university. They congratulated me and then asked if I could tell them where I accepted my offer. I have never heard of another university asking this, and when I emailed another university where I was also accepted letting them know that I will not attend they didn’t ask me this question. Is this normal? Should I answer?
I declined acceptances and none of the schools asked me this. I haven’t personally heard of this before.

They may be collecting the data for future admissions procedures (ie. Statistical purposes vs Yield protection)
 
Hey everyone!! I don’t know if this is the right forum for this question, but I’ll go for it anyway. A couple weeks ago I sent an email to a university where I was waitlisted letting them know that I have accepted an offer at another university. They congratulated me and then asked if I could tell them where I accepted my offer. I have never heard of another university asking this, and when I emailed another university where I was also accepted letting them know that I will not attend they didn’t ask me this question. Is this normal? Should I answer?
I'd guess they are just trying to figure things out for future recruiting purposes +/- see if there is a trend in OOS students choosing certain schools over them. I'd answer, but it's probably also entirely up to your comfort level.

I don't think it's a bad thing. If anything, maybe it could improve a school's recruiting tactics (aka better scholarships for certain candidates).
 
Hey everyone!! I don’t know if this is the right forum for this question, but I’ll go for it anyway. A couple weeks ago I sent an email to a university where I was waitlisted letting them know that I have accepted an offer at another university. They congratulated me and then asked if I could tell them where I accepted my offer. I have never heard of another university asking this, and when I emailed another university where I was also accepted letting them know that I will not attend they didn’t ask me this question. Is this normal? Should I answer?
Cornell also asked me this in a survey type thing when I declined their offer. Not sure if you're talking about Cornell too? I didnt find it odd though.
 
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