VMCAS Questions C/O 2017 (Post your questions here.)

[asg02009]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Was your research related to animal sciences/did you have any contact with animals in your research?

I'm asking because I am currently working with a professor doing research on hydra. While these are technically animals, I'm not sure schools would consider it 'animal experience'.

 

[asg02009]

👍 I had this same question for VMCAS last year. I put any research under a PhD under veterinary experience since my top school of choice qualified that experience as such. VMCAS advised me to do the same. Schools understand that they each have different guidelines/requirements.

Was your research related to animal sciences/did you have any contact with animals in your research?

I'm asking because I am currently working with a professor doing research on hydra. While these are technically animals, I'm not sure schools would consider it 'animal experience'.

 

[mooshagen]

.

 

[irrelephant23]

I see where you're going, but you were doing all of those things within a veterinary clinic, and thus learning about the veterinary profession the whole time. I think you can learn SO much as "just a receptionist" that will help you as a future veterinarian...client interaction and conflict management, finances, customer service, scheduling appointments in an efficient manner, marketing (those phone-shopping clients asking about your prices)... I could keep going. Really play those up on your app - as a receptionist you do so much more than answer phones even though it may seem that's all that happens in your day. I do both the front desk and technician duties at my current job and have learned a ton from both positions. I feel like I have such a greater understanding of how to actually *run* a veterinary practice from working the front desk rather than just staying in the back.

You're absolutely right!

Was your research related to animal sciences/did you have any contact with animals in your research?

I'm asking because I am currently working with a professor doing research on hydra. While these are technically animals, I'm not sure schools would consider it 'animal experience'.

I'd consider hydra as animals, and if you're doing research then I'd go with "vet experience!"

 

[hopefulinva]

I see where you're going, but you were doing all of those things within a veterinary clinic, and thus learning about the veterinary profession the whole time.

Agreed! Not to mention a certain level of triage work with hesitant clients who'd prefer to take Fido - who's been vomiting 3x a day for the past week - in for the earliest appointment tomorrow - nuh uh, as a receptionist you get to tell them to come in immediately! 😉 And the knowledge you need to have when doing something as simple as scheduling appointments (radiographs and senior wellness exams may need extra time, etc) or letting the client know that yes, the pills are a different color but don't worry, we've simply switched our hydroxyzine manufacturer. Or when Rover needs a refill on Rimadyl but you know he needs a blood test first.

You know, stuff like that. =)

 

[bbeventer]

Hey, asking this for a friend, not 100% sure on the answer, but here is the situation. Master student, lots of animal experience as far as captures, necropsies, parasite identification, etc, working under a PI. The research experience would count for veterinary hours, so would this person still need the required hours shadowing a vet?

 

[zanydogz]

Hey, asking this for a friend, not 100% sure on the answer, but here is the situation. Master student, lots of animal experience as far as captures, necropsies, parasite identification, etc, working under a PI. The research experience would count for veterinary hours, so would this person still need the required hours shadowing a vet?

Is the PI a vet? If so, then yes they would count as vet hours. Otherwise, wouldn't they just be animal hours? Also, part of the point of shadowing is to get an idea and a feel for working in a clinic and what its like to work outside a school setting. So yes, they should shadow a vet for those purposes IMO.

 

[bbeventer]

Is the PI a vet? If so, then yes they would count as vet hours. Otherwise, wouldn't they just be animal hours? Also, part of the point of shadowing is to get an idea and a feel for working in a clinic and what its like to work outside a school setting. So yes, they should shadow a vet for those purposes IMO.

My understanding is working under a Phd, or health professional counts as veterinary hours.

 

[zanydogz]

My understanding is working under a Phd, or health professional counts as veterinary hours.

Yea you're right (I just checked the app). Either way, this person should still get some experience in a clinical setting. A wide variety of experiences, even if only for like 50 or 100 hours, is definitely a good thing.

 

[bbeventer]

Yea you're right (I just checked the app). Either way, this person should still get some experience in a clinical setting. A wide variety of experiences, even if only for like 50 or 100 hours, is definitely a good thing.

I agree. They would not necessarily be perusing vet med for clinical practice, but I have encouraged them to shadow. Thanks Zandy.

 

[whalegirl]

Do you think an acting class could be considered speech?

 

[bbeventer]

Do you think an acting class could be considered speech?

No.

 

[Trilt]

Do you think an acting class could be considered speech?

Probably not, but maybe? This would be something I would really suggest emailing individual schools about.

 

[zanydogz]

Probably not, but maybe? This would be something I would really suggest emailing individual schools about.

👍 More than likely, it will fall under humanities or other, but definitely check first.

 

[wildcatj]

Probably not, but maybe? This would be something I would really suggest emailing individual schools about.

I don't think schools are really going to care where you put it. I wouldn't worry about calling them personally. If you did more speaking than anything out it for speech, if not pick humanities.

 

[equineconstant]

I don't think schools are really going to care where you put it. I wouldn't worry about calling them personally. If you did more speaking than anything out it for speech, if not pick humanities.

They might, if speech is required and wouldn't be filled otherwise. I had to take a speech class over the summer because it was a requirement and the theater Voice and Speech class wouldn't count (although now I can't remember whether the school or my advisor said it wouldn't count. Regardless, my point stands).

 

[orca2011]

I don't think schools are really going to care where you put it. I wouldn't worry about calling them personally. If you did more speaking than anything out it for speech, if not pick humanities.

I think they're worried more about fulfilling a pre-req.
My advice, contact the school because some schools will allow you to substitute a certain course for a pre-req. I used a literature class as a writing class for a couple of schools I applied to over the past two cycles. Just ask the school what their policy is and what is required as enough proof to substitute a course. For one school, I just had to provide a course description. For some others they wanted emails from the professor who taught the course.

 

[Trilt]

I don't think schools are really going to care where you put it. I wouldn't worry about calling them personally. If you did more speaking than anything out it for speech, if not pick humanities.

Orca beat me to it, but yeah, I'd think that they'd want the acting course to count as a public speaking/communications course, which is a requirement for a couple schools.

If it's just a rando class and you're not sure where to put it, shove it wherever you want, but if it's a pre-requisite definitely make sure what you've got will count with each individual school.

 

[CloudlessNights]

Hey guys! I've read many threads about how to classify experiences, and kennel technicians are always a toss-up between vet and animal experiences. Is there any consensus now about where to place it? It was a job at a vet clinic, and a vet owns it. I gave meds and restrained for exams/treatments when needed.

I assume vet experience but I figured I'd ask!

 

[Bracco Pointer]

Cloudlessnights, it sounds like vet experience to me, as long as the duties you listed were performed with the vet, and not with a technician. As long as you got out of the kennel and were able to "shadow" some vet procedures (even unofficially) then I'd call it vet experience. You can always clarify in your explanation what your primary duties were, and that you were able to do some vet stuff as well.

One question about VMCAS "community activities"... what qualifies as a "hobby?" Would I be safe listing sculpting/painting, recreational water sports, sports-fishing, and baking? Or are those not organized enough (ie: athletic teams)?

 

[equineconstant]

Cloudlessnights, it sounds like vet experience to me, as long as the duties you listed were performed with the vet, and not with a technician. As long as you got out of the kennel and were able to "shadow" some vet procedures (even unofficially) then I'd call it vet experience. You can always clarify in your explanation what your primary duties were, and that you were able to do some vet stuff as well.

One question about VMCAS "community activities"... what qualifies as a "hobby?" Would I be safe listing sculpting/painting, recreational water sports, sports-fishing, and baking? Or are those not organized enough (ie: athletic teams)?

Apparently someone listed scrapbooking and got asked about it in her interview! Don't remember who on here it was that told me that. I'm listing cake decorating on mine, but I took Wilton courses so I have definite dates and stuff, it was more organized.

 

[Trilt]

I put cooking on mine, and have done precisely zero formal training in the subject. I didn't apply to a school that interviewed, so I don't know that it helped me or that they cared, but I feel like if they say to put hobbies, they should expect to get hobbies...

 

[irrelephant23]

I am including both yoga and half marathon training in mine! I may even put baking. I could relate all of them to some aspect or another of vet med. Get creative! If nothing else, sculpting and water sports will show how well rounded you are and that you have an outlet for all of the stress you'll be under!

 

[orca2011]

I think I got asked in every single interview what I like to do for fun, so the more stuff you have to list in the hobby section, the better. I feel like I don't have many hobbies, I'm not artistic and have just never really taught myself to cook/experiment with food, so I pretty much said CrossFit classes. I ended up talking about them and actually was asked about someone I would bring to an award dinner. I think it took me like 5 minutes to come up with an answer. I ended up choosing the guy who teaches the classes because of how much of an inspiration he is and what he has done for so many people. I think they appreciated it since it was a celebrity or a president or something like that. Was really worried that 5 minute freak out killed me but I got accepted. So if you list something, just make sure you're interested enough to talk about it. I also mentioned club sports I participated in while in college.

 

[Tegan05]

Question... would you list vet experience that you've done with your own animal? I'm not referring to basic vaccines and care, but my horse had a lot of lameness issues and I worked closely with a few vets for diagnostic and therapeutic work, and in all it probably added up to a fairly decent amount of hours.

I learned a lot and it definitely contributed to my motivations for vet school, but I feel like its 'cheating' a bit to log experience on your own animals that you paid for, you know? I'm not quite sure how I would word the explanation section of it either.

 

[Bracco Pointer]

Tegan, I would try to incorporate that into your application somewhere. Do you have your horse ownership listed in any other way - eventing, showing, etc? You could mention it there, but keep it as simply animal experience. Or you can list it separately, and explain that you've owned horses for X number of years, but were extremely involved with the treatments for this horse. Make sure to mention what you learned and how you interacted with the vet(s).

 

[LetItSnow]

Question... would you list vet experience that you've done with your own animal? I'm not referring to basic vaccines and care, but my horse had a lot of lameness issues and I worked closely with a few vets for diagnostic and therapeutic work, and in all it probably added up to a fairly decent amount of hours.

I learned a lot and it definitely contributed to my motivations for vet school, but I feel like its 'cheating' a bit to log experience on your own animals that you paid for, you know? I'm not quite sure how I would word the explanation section of it either.

I think that you need to make sure you do a fair reckoning of the hours spent with vets, but I wouldn't feel at all bad about putting that experience on my application if I were you so long as it's genuine experience working with the vet and your animal. I mean, I didn't add in hours for taking my animals to the vet for wellness exams.

In the explanation section, just write what you saw. Don't overthink it too much. 🙂 "In the process of treating my own horse, I observed blah blah blah."

 

[equineconstant]

So...what's the format of the explanation statement supposed to be like? I'm sort of doing two paragraphs about two separate things, and it seems kind of non sequitur...does that sound okay?

 

[LetItSnow]

So...what's the format of the explanation statement supposed to be like? I'm sort of doing two paragraphs about two separate things, and it seems kind of non sequitur...does that sound okay?

If you've got two separate issues, it might just be tricky to write and you might just have to accept that it doesn't flow well. If it were me, I'd opt for short over long, and I'd divide your words into 20-33% acknowledging the issue, and 66-80% noting all the positive things since then that demonstrate that it's not an issue.

I wouldn't worry about the flow (for this section specifically - you definitely need good flow through your personal statement!) so much as making sure that whatever you say leaves them with a positive feeling.

Personal example: I failed out of college when I was young, so I obviously had to note that. I did so, briefly, and then I took the opportunity to highlight my 4.0 when I returned to school as an adult. I think I said exactly one sentence about why I did so poorly earlier, and 3 sentences about what I've done since.

I suspect most people limit their statement to 'explaining' the negative: use it as an opportunity to promote yourself even more!

 

[equineconstant]

If you've got two separate issues, it might just be tricky to write and you might just have to accept that it doesn't flow well. If it were me, I'd opt for short over long, and I'd divide your words into 20-33% acknowledging the issue, and 66-80% noting all the positive things since then that demonstrate that it's not an issue.

I wouldn't worry about the flow (for this section specifically - you definitely need good flow through your personal statement!) so much as making sure that whatever you say leaves them with a positive feeling.

Personal example: I failed out of college when I was young, so I obviously had to note that. I did so, briefly, and then I took the opportunity to highlight my 4.0 when I returned to school as an adult. I think I said exactly one sentence about why I did so poorly earlier, and 3 sentences about what I've done since.

I suspect most people limit their statement to 'explaining' the negative: use it as an opportunity to promote yourself even more!

Neither paragraph is explaining a negative, actually. 😉 I mentioned that I had to complete a Citizenship Project for Honors Forum, so I'm explaining that in detail for the first paragraph. The second paragraph is defending the fact that I took psych stats, and copying in the course description, to prove that it totally should count for statistics.

 

[Trilt]

So...what's the format of the explanation statement supposed to be like? I'm sort of doing two paragraphs about two separate things, and it seems kind of non sequitur...does that sound okay?

I had two separate things to address and did something like:

Two items of note:

1 - Blah blah clinician blah etc lorem ipsum blah

2 - Blah blah blah blah incomplete bloo blah

Neither of mine were explaining something negative, either, just giving additional details on vets I worked with and explaining why I took one course randomly at a community college after an incomplete in another.

 

[LetItSnow]

Neither paragraph is explaining a negative, actually. 😉 I mentioned that I had to complete a Citizenship Project for Honors Forum, so I'm explaining that in detail for the first paragraph. The second paragraph is defending the fact that I took psych stats, and copying in the course description, to prove that it totally should count for statistics.

Hm. I just created an account to look at the application ... things have changed since when I did it. That explanation statement is all by itself now and clearly intended to be broader reaching than before. I don't recall my character limit, but I think it was less than 2000. The statement used to be stuck in somewhere else (I think wherever you reported your GPAs?).

Makes one think a bit more. I think in your shoes I'd still feel perfectly ok with two paragraphs that didn't flow, but I would be sure to write complete paragraphs with well-constructed sentences, etc.

If it were me, I'd probably separate them somehow. Either number them, or put a heading at the top of each, or something to make it visually apparent they are unrelated. What Trilt said makes sense to me, but clearly I'm already out of date. 😛

 

[zanydogz]

Neither paragraph is explaining a negative, actually. 😉 I mentioned that I had to complete a Citizenship Project for Honors Forum, so I'm explaining that in detail for the first paragraph. The second paragraph is defending the fact that I took psych stats, and copying in the course description, to prove that it totally should count for statistics.

You're gonna have to ask the individual schools themselves if they will take psych stats over regular stats. More than likely, you'll have to email the adcoms your syllabus and have their stats professors see if it counts. I personally had to do this for genetics for TAMU since they wanted a 300 level course and my genetics was a 200 level course. They accepted it after I sent in the syllabus.

So basically, I don't know if that's something you want to put in the explanation box since its so school dependent, but its up to you.

 

[LetItSnow]

You're gonna have to ask the individual schools themselves if they will take psych stats over regular stats. More than likely, you'll have to email the adcoms your syllabus and have their stats professors see if it counts. I personally had to do this for genetics for TAMU since they wanted a 300 level course and my genetics was a 200 level course. They accepted it after I sent in the syllabus.

So basically, I don't know if that's something you want to put in the explanation box since its so school dependent, but its up to you.

Are a lot of schools requiring stats now? I know it wasn't a requirement when I applied (I had taken two semesters anyway) .... I've been *really* glad I had those two semesters. It's kinda funny, but those stats classes have been more useful to me in vet school than most (maybe all?) of my required pre-reqs. Only exceptions I can really think of would be biochem (got me through my first vet school biochem exam in week 3), genetics (my pre-req course was more encompassing), and maybe microbiology.

 

[zanydogz]

Are a lot of schools requiring stats now? I know it wasn't a requirement when I applied (I had taken two semesters anyway) .... I've been *really* glad I had those two semesters. It's kinda funny, but those stats classes have been more useful to me in vet school than most (maybe all?) of my required pre-reqs. Only exceptions I can really think of would be biochem (got me through my first vet school biochem exam in week 3), genetics (my pre-req course was more encompassing), and maybe microbiology.

I know some definitely are, but not all of them. TAMU did for me and when I applied, both Purdue and UPenn required them. I think what schools are doing now is requiring calculus (which is typical) and some sort of stats, so either regular or biostats. That's what I've been seeing lately at least.

 

[equineconstant]

I know some definitely are, but not all of them. TAMU did for me and when I applied, both Purdue and UPenn required them. I think what schools are doing now is requiring calculus (which is typical) and some sort of stats, so either regular or biostats. That's what I've been seeing lately at least.

I'm doing it for Penn. And actually I suspect it won't count, which is why I'm bothering to include it in my explanatory statement.

 

[orca2011]

I'm doing it for Penn. And actually I suspect it won't count, which is why I'm bothering to include it in my explanatory statement.

I would contact Mac Keiter (or someone else in admissions) personally about this and see what they would like you to do. Like I said, for some schools I applied to I had to have the professor email the school directly, so if I wasn't going to count, I didn't want to bother spending the money to apply to the school.

 

[irrelephant23]

Thanks for bringing up the explanation statement business! I haven't started that part yet, but I was clueless on how to format it. I have to describe a couple of things... retaking orgo 2 (blah), the fact that all of my school's orgo's are online 100% (double blah), and that I had a bad semester when I thought I could handle 30+ hours of class and internship credit and realized that was stupid. I might take the different headings approach and smooze my way in with talking about how much better I am now!

Also- Did any second time + applicants talk about reapplying other than in PS? Is it something I should mention in my explanation and high light how I'm better? I'm only applying to 4 of the same schools that I applied to last time.

 

[equineconstant]

I would contact Mac Keiter (or someone else in admissions) personally about this and see what they would like you to do. Like I said, for some schools I applied to I had to have the professor email the school directly, so if I wasn't going to count, I didn't want to bother spending the money to apply to the school.

I've sent 2 emails to admissions and I'm still waiting for a response...how long should I wait before I go ahead and call to ask those questions?

 

[orca2011]

I've sent 2 emails to admissions and I'm still waiting for a response...how long should I wait before I go ahead and call to ask those questions?

Hmmm. They're usually pretty good about getting back to you. They might be a bit busy sending my class a bunch of paperwork and stuff (all our loan paperwork is coming out and I want to die). When did you send your emails? You won't hear anything tomorrow cause of the holiday, so maybe give them until Friday???

 

[equineconstant]

Hmmm. They're usually pretty good about getting back to you. They might be a bit busy sending my class a bunch of paperwork and stuff (all our loan paperwork is coming out and I want to die). When did you send your emails? You won't hear anything tomorrow cause of the holiday, so maybe give them until Friday???

Sent one question last Tuesday, and the other one on Saturday.

 

[LetItSnow]

I had a bad semester when I thought I could handle 30+ hours of class and internship credit and realized that was stupid.

Only you can say how bad your 'bad semester' actually was, and how important it is to you to bring up, but ....

.... I'd be cautious about bringing up just one bad semester. Nobody - absolutely nobody - cares about one bad semester with a couple lower-than-normal-for-you grades or something. All you're doing by bringing it up is making an eyebrow go up on some application reader and raising a red flag.

Just something to consider.

 

[irrelephant23]

Only you can say how bad your 'bad semester' actually was, and how important it is to you to bring up, but ....

.... I'd be cautious about bringing up just one bad semester. Nobody - absolutely nobody - cares about one bad semester with a couple lower-than-normal-for-you grades or something. All you're doing by bringing it up is making an eyebrow go up on some application reader and raising a red flag.

Just something to consider.

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, my bad semester involves some core courses ie Orgo/Orgo lab, nutrition, anatomy to name a few. Now that I think about what you've said, I might not actually bring it up. I didn't have to retake any of those courses so I think I'm fine gradewise. They'll forgive a couple C's. I'm glad I have two more semesters to separate my GPA from it. Last time, my last 45 GPA included all of that semester. boo

 

[orca2011]

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, my bad semester involves some core courses ie Orgo/Orgo lab, nutrition, anatomy to name a few. Now that I think about what you've said, I might not actually bring it up. I didn't have to retake any of those courses so I think I'm fine gradewise. They'll forgive a couple C's. I'm glad I have two more semesters to separate my GPA from it. Last time, my last 45 GPA included all of that semester. boo

I have a C ( O Chem II) and 2 W's (Gen Chem and Gen Chem Lab-had to w/drawl from the lab if I dropped the course...had an A in though). No one ever brought it up. I think I brought it up in relation to something, and my Penn interviewer was like "it's one C...your grades aren't bad"

 

[NStarz]

I actually disagree with what LIS said. I also had one bad semester on my transcript (went from 3.7+ every semester to a 3.0 or so with a couple of C's). I wasn't planning on bringing it up on my application because I didn't want to draw attention to it, but I went to UPenn to talk to admissions and they asked me about it. She said that they would notice it anyway and that it was better to explain it somehow than leave them wondering about it. I think it actually helped me to mention it, since I wasn't asked about it at any interviews (so my explanation must have been satisfactory). Also helps that you have a strong upward trend.

Anyway, that's just my $0.02.

 

[irrelephant23]

I actually disagree with what LIS said. I also had one bad semester on my transcript (went from 3.7+ every semester to a 3.0 or so with a couple of C's). I wasn't planning on bringing it up on my application because I didn't want to draw attention to it, but I went to UPenn to talk to admissions and they asked me about it. She said that they would notice it anyway and that it was better to explain it somehow than leave them wondering about it. I think it actually helped me to mention it, since I wasn't asked about it at any interviews (so my explanation must have been satisfactory). Also helps that you have a strong upward trend.

Anyway, that's just my $0.02.

Hmmmmm. Interesting. I guess I will think about this further then. I mean, I only have what? 3 months left.. 🙄 I suppose I can figure it out by then.

Thanks!

 

[NStarz]

I have a C ( O Chem II) and 2 W's (Gen Chem and Gen Chem Lab-had to w/drawl from the lab if I dropped the course...had an A in though). No one ever brought it up. I think I brought it up in relation to something, and my Penn interviewer was like "it's one C...your grades aren't bad"

I think it really depends on how "bad" the semester is and how much of a departure from the norm it is.

 

[orca2011]

I think it really depends on how "bad" the semester is and how much of a departure from the norm it is.

This is true. My first two years of undergrad my GPA was on the lower end but my junior and senior year were pretty solid, so it was the upward trend that probably helped me a good bit.

And I am by no means a straight A student, so the C at that time probably could have been viewed as sort of normal since my grades were a bit lower. Started out as more of a B/B+student my first two years and worked my way up to being around a B+/A- student. Probably could have been done better, but I needed to enjoy college a bit while I could.

 

[irrelephant23]

My first two years, I had a pretty solid 3.5 ish GPA. First semester junior year (aka bad semester) I got a 2.8 semester GPA. The three semesters after were all above 3.6 though, so it was definitely just a deviation. Those grades ranged from B+ to C, so nothing too bad. It was definitely the kick in the butt I needed to realize that I needed to put in more effort. You know, as a second semester junior I got my butt in gear... Sometimes I wish I could smack undergrad me. No drinking, more studying! Oh well. I gotta do what I can 🙂

 

[Emiloo4]

My first two years, I had a pretty solid 3.5 ish GPA. First semester junior year (aka bad semester) I got a 2.8 semester GPA. The three semesters after were all above 3.6 though, so it was definitely just a deviation. Those grades ranged from B+ to C, so nothing too bad. It was definitely the kick in the butt I needed to realize that I needed to put in more effort. You know, as a second semester junior I got my butt in gear... Sometimes I wish I could smack undergrad me. No drinking, more studying! Oh well. I gotta do what I can 🙂

I TRULY don't think that one semester is going to hurt you since you bounced right back up. I had a year of dropped classes and crappy grades due to being in and out of court for a year, and it didn't hurt me. I would write a short explanation, and not even worry about it. 👍