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

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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Bracco Pointer said:
Do you also list them in the "tests section" where there's the specific spot for APs?
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I didn't even realize that was there. Huh. I took those exams in (I shouldn't say this out loud 😳) 2001 and 2002, and while I remember a couple of my scores, one is a mystery to me.
 
Bracco Pointer said:
Do you also list them in the "tests section" where there's the specific spot for APs?
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I did now! 🙂 But, should I list my Physics AP test that I got a 2 on? I'm not sending my AP scores (we don't have to, right?), so do they need to know about that? It doesn't count for credit or anything, but I did take it...
 
equineconstant said:
I did now! 🙂 But, should I list my Physics AP test that I got a 2 on? I'm not sending my AP scores (we don't have to, right?), so do they need to know about that? It doesn't count for credit or anything, but I did take it...
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Sending scores depends on the school. I emailed a bunch of schools (since I only have one semester gen chem + AP scores) and (except for Ohio State who has only half answered my question), only Iowa State has wanted AP scores sent, and were fine with a copy of my score report.

In terms of listing in the tests section, I only listed those that I got credit for (which were all the 4s and 5s and mainly relevant ones--chem, bio, statistics, (plus French lit)). No one should care that I got a 3 on World History or what not. No point in listing a 2 on Physics. Doesn't matter, don't think anyone cares.
 
equineconstant said:
I did now! 🙂 But, should I list my Physics AP test that I got a 2 on? I'm not sending my AP scores (we don't have to, right?), so do they need to know about that? It doesn't count for credit or anything, but I did take it...
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So make sure you contact the schools to find out. My school didn't list what I got credit for on my transcript (AP Calc), but just said test credit. I had to rush scores to three or four schools because I didn't find out until later in the cycle. The others asked for things that showed proof like an advisement report (it shows all the classes I've taken and what requirements they fulfill). I had to get the registrar to email one school saying what the credit was for. It was not fun, but it kept me from taking other math classes.
 
Hi I just had a question about the employment experience section on vmcas.

I was just wondering if anybody knew of a way to add a name of a supervisor to the the contact number part of the work experience section? I just feel like the name of my supervisor or people I worked with would be more helpful than just the phone number of the company.

Should I add the name of my supervisor into the description/duties section or should I just not worry about this detail, and hope that if they do call my old places of employment they will be able to talk to the correct people?

Any input on the matter would be appreciated.
Thanks for your help and time.
 
Filling out animal experience... what should I put for type of experience? Say, if I was a working student at a horse farm, would the title just be "working student" and then elaborated on in the description, or should I put "working student at xxxx farm" or "xxx farm working student" or whatnot?
 
Tegan05 said:
Filling out animal experience... what should I put for type of experience? Say, if I was a working student at a horse farm, would the title just be "working student" and then elaborated on in the description, or should I put "working student at xxxx farm" or "xxx farm working student" or whatnot?
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I don't think there's any set formula. I personally just put down the job title and elaborated in the description box. So, I would put "Student Worker" in the job title and go from there. I think you have to put down the location of employment as is so stating it again as a job title might be repetitive.
 
fordgirl90 said:
Hi I just had a question about the employment experience section on vmcas.

I was just wondering if anybody knew of a way to add a name of a supervisor to the the contact number part of the work experience section? I just feel like the name of my supervisor or people I worked with would be more helpful than just the phone number of the company.

Should I add the name of my supervisor into the description/duties section or should I just not worry about this detail, and hope that if they do call my old places of employment they will be able to talk to the correct people?

Any input on the matter would be appreciated.
Thanks for your help and time.
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Fordgirl, my hunch is it doesn't matter because the schools aren't calling those people to ask for detailed information about you. They may call just to check and see if your experience checks out, but I doubt many schools even do much of that. So all you'd need is the general number.

That said, I think it'd be a great question to call VMCAS and ask them about.
 
zanydogz said:
I don't think there's any set formula. I personally just put down the job title and elaborated in the description box. So, I would put "Student Worker" in the job title and go from there. I think you have to put down the location of employment as is so stating it again as a job title might be repetitive.
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👍

Readability is the only formula. Use whatever you feel conveys the most appropriate information in a readable format.
 
zanydogz said:
I don't think there's any set formula. I personally just put down the job title and elaborated in the description box. So, I would put "Student Worker" in the job title and go from there. I think you have to put down the location of employment as is so stating it again as a job title might be repetitive.
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Also, some of those title (or whatever they call it, depending on the category) are a lot shorter than I was expecting, so I definitely elaborated on what the position actually was in the description box.
My goal was basically just to make sure everything I thought was necessary to make my role clear was somewhere for each experience.
 
Is anyone familiar with adding international veterinary experience? I went overseas with an organization so I'm wondering if the organization name should go under clinic or hospital. Also, should city and state refer to where the organization is based out of in the US and then I should just describe where this took place overseas in the description? Not much information about what to do in this case... 😕
 
shannon1414 said:
Is anyone familiar with adding international veterinary experience? I went overseas with an organization so I'm wondering if the organization name should go under clinic or hospital. Also, should city and state refer to where the organization is based out of in the US and then I should just describe where this took place overseas in the description? Not much information about what to do in this case... 😕
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I did enter in international experience let me see what I ended up doing...
I did Limon, Costa Rica for the city, and then did not applicable for the state.
 
kakurubird said:
Sending scores depends on the school. I emailed a bunch of schools (since I only have one semester gen chem + AP scores) and (except for Ohio State who has only half answered my question), only Iowa State has wanted AP scores sent, and were fine with a copy of my score report.

In terms of listing in the tests section, I only listed those that I got credit for (which were all the 4s and 5s and mainly relevant ones--chem, bio, statistics, (plus French lit)). No one should care that I got a 3 on World History or what not. No point in listing a 2 on Physics. Doesn't matter, don't think anyone cares.
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If you received ANY credit on your transcript for an AP class i would list it, even if you do not think it is relevant. i.e. if you received credits for World History with a 3 on the AP test I would list it. They may wonder how you got credit for something if you dont list the test and then wonder if you are "hiding" anything else.
 
wildcatj said:
I did enter in international experience let me see what I ended up doing...
I did Limon, Costa Rica for the city, and then did not applicable for the state.
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Just went and checked and this is what I did for my overseas research also.

But, more importantly, Limon, Costa Rica? Like, where the Sloth Sanctuary is? SO FREAKING JEALOUS.
 
Museum Nerd said:
If you received ANY credit on your transcript for an AP class i would list it, even if you do not think it is relevant. i.e. if you received credits for World History with a 3 on the AP test I would list it. They may wonder how you got credit for something if you dont list the test and then wonder if you are "hiding" anything else.
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I only got credit on my transcript for the ones I'm listing on VMCAS--the others (2s and 3s) aren't on my transcript anywhere and aren't on VMCAS. And the only school that's needed scores beyond what's on my transcript, I've sent a copy of my ETS score report to. I'm not too concerned.
 
kakurubird said:
just went and checked and this is what i did for my overseas research also.

But, more importantly, limon, costa rica? Like, where the sloth sanctuary is? So freaking jealous.
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Hehe, maybe! 😀
And just to increase jealousy...
A Poof!
 
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wildcatj said:
Hehe, maybe! 😀
And just to increase jealousy...
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OH MY GOSH.

I want to snuggle a sloth!

I spent a week in Costa Rica for a bio class and we didn't get to see any sloths. :cry:
But they are secretly super bada**.
 
kakurubird said:
Just went and checked and this is what I did for my overseas research also.

But, more importantly, Limon, Costa Rica? Like, where the Sloth Sanctuary is? SO FREAKING JEALOUS.
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I recently did international veterinary experience too! I was just wondering, did you count the entire trip as hours? I mean I know I had a little bit of free time, but does it really matter if the main purpose of the trip was for the experience? I don't want to be greedy and put something not true, but I could really use the hours :laugh:
 
happymochii said:
I recently did international veterinary experience too! I was just wondering, did you count the entire trip as hours? I mean I know I had a little bit of free time, but does it really matter if the main purpose of the trip was for the experience? I don't want to be greedy and put something not true, but I could really use the hours :laugh:
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If it is during your work hours, then count it. Like I counted 6am - 3pm even though we had some down time in there for breakfast and lunch. But otherwise I only counted hands on hours. No travel time or anything.
 
wildcatj said:
Hehe, maybe! 😀
And just to increase jealousy...
Click to expand...

Not at the sloth sanctuary, but me too! 😍 sloths 😍

I did the same thing for entering my experience in Costa Rica, although I actually traveled around a bit (on a VIDA trip) - I just put San Jose, Costa Rica (where I flew in) and nothing for the state.

For hours, yeah, just the rough times you're actually working, not downtime or travel or anything like that.
 
Nothing better than a sloth hug! Right?!
 
happymochii said:
I recently did international veterinary experience too! I was just wondering, did you count the entire trip as hours? I mean I know I had a little bit of free time, but does it really matter if the main purpose of the trip was for the experience? I don't want to be greedy and put something not true, but I could really use the hours :laugh:
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I only counted the hours that I did any sort of veterinary work. I worked about 35 hours or so but I was in the country for 9 days.
 
Hello all,

So, here's the situation: When I was a sophomore in high school, I did a 'Career Day' thing where a vet came and talked to us about what being a veterinarian was like, and then some of us went to a clinic and sort of shadowed for a couple of hours. I wasn't paying much attention, because I had already done a bunch of research/talked to a lot of vets/decided I wanted to be a vet. I know I wrote down the names of the vet and the clinic, but since then my family has moved houses, and the info got lost in the move. I have tried to contact the high school to see if they have records, and I can't get hold of a person by phone or email. How can I list this experience without a name for the vet or the clinic?

The reason I'm stressing about this at all is it's the earliest official vet experience I have - everything before that, and after for a few years, was just to do with my own pets, which I think we aren't supposed to list, right?

Any advice?
 
washbucket said:
The reason I'm stressing about this at all is it's the earliest official vet experience I have - everything before that, and after for a few years, was just to do with my own pets, which I think we aren't supposed to list, right?

Any advice?
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You won't like this advice, but mine is figure out the clinic or don't include it on the application.

A few hours isn't going to matter one way or the other, most likely. I suppose you could not list the clinic and include it under the title 'Career Day' but really ... it's not going to matter.
 
LetItSnow said:
You won't like this advice, but mine is figure out the clinic or don't include it on the application.

A few hours isn't going to matter one way or the other, most likely. I suppose you could not list the clinic and include it under the title 'Career Day' but really ... it's not going to matter.
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I have to agree with LIS, a few hours of experience in which it appears as though you weren't attention to the experience anyway isn't going to really help your application. Either figure out the name or don't include it, but if you weren't really paying attention to the experience, I would not even include it.
 
DVMDream said:
I have to agree with LIS, a few hours of experience in which it appears as though you weren't attention to the experience anyway isn't going to really help your application.
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That says it better than I did. Not being able to give the specifics sorta suggests (true or not, doesn't matter) that it wasn't very impacting/meaningful. Better without it than being vague.
 
washbucket said:
Hello all,

So, here's the situation: When I was a sophomore in high school, I did a 'Career Day' thing where a vet came and talked to us about what being a veterinarian was like, and then some of us went to a clinic and sort of shadowed for a couple of hours. I wasn't paying much attention, because I had already done a bunch of research/talked to a lot of vets/decided I wanted to be a vet. I know I wrote down the names of the vet and the clinic, but since then my family has moved houses, and the info got lost in the move. I have tried to contact the high school to see if they have records, and I can't get hold of a person by phone or email. How can I list this experience without a name for the vet or the clinic?

The reason I'm stressing about this at all is it's the earliest official vet experience I have - everything before that, and after for a few years, was just to do with my own pets, which I think we aren't supposed to list, right?

Any advice?
Click to expand...
Agree with everyone...I would not include it. I couple of hours is not going to make a difference one way or another. Not sure what other pre vet advisors have said but mine said if you dont have at least 25 for a line dont list it as a separate experience.
 
Museum Nerd said:
Agree with everyone...I would not include it. I couple of hours is not going to make a difference one way or another. Not sure what other pre vet advisors have said but mine said if you dont have at least 25 for a line dont list it as a separate experience.
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I disagree with this, if the experience is unique - yeah, if it's small animal and you have a bunch of small animal experience, 10 hours here or there won't count much, but I had a couple very short term experiences I did (one with a zoo vet, one with an equine, one in a museum) that were outside of my interest area but showed my exposure to different aspects of the profession.

In the specific case we're talking about, I agree with the consensus to just leave it out, but I wouldn't say it as a general rule.
 
Anyone else super excited to start applying to vet school when VMCAS opened up, and now they're just sick of it and trying to find anything to do but go on the website?

That's what I'm feeling right now...I need some motivation!
 
You can do it RetroUnicorn. Just remember why you're doing it. (The becoming a vet part not another 4 years of school. :laugh:).
 
I was super excited when vmcas opened! I knocked most of the application out in the first couple weeks. Now I am having trouble working on my PS and supplemental essays. I can't even get past the opening paragraph of my PS. Major writer's block! I just need some inspiration and a side of focus.
 
irrelephant23 said:
I was super excited when vmcas opened! I knocked most of the application out in the first couple weeks. Now I am having trouble working on my PS and supplemental essays. I can't even get past the opening paragraph of my PS. Major writer's block! I just need some inspiration and a side of focus.
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In the EXACT same boat atm.
 
irrelephant23 said:
I was super excited when vmcas opened! I knocked most of the application out in the first couple weeks. Now I am having trouble working on my PS and supplemental essays. I can't even get past the opening paragraph of my PS. Major writer's block! I just need some inspiration and a side of focus.
Click to expand...

Yep, VMCAS was filled out by mid-June. At this point all I need to do is finish my online class so I can confirm the grade, finish my PS and submit the thing (and pay... which may actually be more painful than PS writing. Goodbye, $725. I'll miss you.).

I've written all about the case I'm using as the unifying theme of my PS. Now it's time to actually talk about me, and it's just. not. going. well.
 
Thanks to everyone for the advice. 🙂 I actually didn't mind getting this specific advice, I'm just glad there was a consensus after me dithering about it for a while.
 
Just had a major DOH! moment. I was all on top of things and had sent all my transcripts. Well, forgot I was taking a summer course. Not a pre-req, it was a computer programming class, but I got an A and it was a 4 credit class. Probably should re-send them all, huh?
 
Anyone familiar with composite letters? I thought that I knew what they were but when I contacted a school to make sure that they accepted composite letters someone from admissions had absolutely NO CLUE what I was talking about. Now I am second guessing all of my knowledge on composite letters. I was under the impression that a composite letter is individual letters from two or more people in the same working environment combined as 1 letter. For example, I have worked for a company for many years under a few different people. Each of them would write me a LOR and I would submit them together as 1 LOR. That has been my understanding of a composite letter. VMCAS has you mail the letters to them because they cannot be submitted electronically. Please correct me if I am wrong... 😕
 
shannon1414 said:
Anyone familiar with composite letters? I thought that I knew what they were but when I contacted a school to make sure that they accepted composite letters someone from admissions had absolutely NO CLUE what I was talking about. Now I am second guessing all of my knowledge on composite letters. I was under the impression that a composite letter is individual letters from two or more people in the same working environment combined as 1 letter. For example, I have worked for a company for many years under a few different people. Each of them would write me a LOR and I would submit them together as 1 LOR. That has been my understanding of a composite letter. VMCAS has you mail the letters to them because they cannot be submitted electronically. Please correct me if I am wrong... 😕
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That is what a composite letter is. I don't know how you're supposed to submit them, largely because a lot of schools don't accept them and so I never considered having one written.
 
orcagirl said:
You can do it RetroUnicorn. Just remember why you're doing it. (The becoming a vet part not another 4 years of school. :laugh:).
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Haha of course...just gotta fight through my PS and all these supplemental apps argh!
 
So I have finished putting in all my coursework but it is not checked off like the rest when you complete them. Any ideas?
 
So I registered all my evaluators, but I didn't get a notification yet that VMCAS sent out the e-mails. Has any one else's evaluators received them? I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something wrong with my app! I feel like they weren't sent this late last year...
 
catlady816 said:
So I registered all my evaluators, but I didn't get a notification yet that VMCAS sent out the e-mails. Has any one else's evaluators received them? I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something wrong with my app! I feel like they weren't sent this late last year...
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My evaluations are all in, so I know they have sent mine. I got an email with a subject like "VMCAS Evaluator Confirmation" or something like that when I listed each evaluator; my eLOR writers all had their emails from VMCAS by the time I got that email. Can you ask one of your evaluators if they've heard from VMCAS, just to be sure?
 
catlady816 said:
So I registered all my evaluators, but I didn't get a notification yet that VMCAS sent out the e-mails. Has any one else's evaluators received them? I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something wrong with my app! I feel like they weren't sent this late last year...
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As in - you're worried that VMCAS hasn't sent your evaluators the welcome email instructing them how to submit an ELOR? I believe those emails should be sent out as soon as each evaluator is registered (and I'm not sure that VMCAS notifies you). Definitely check with each of your evaluators individually to make sure they've gotten the emails. I remember there being issues with aol users not getting the emails.
If I misunderstood your question, then disregard all that. =)
 
any suggestions as to where to include published papers?? 🙂
 
OwlandPussycat said:
As in - you're worried that VMCAS hasn't sent your evaluators the welcome email instructing them how to submit an ELOR? I believe those emails should be sent out as soon as each evaluator is registered (and I'm not sure that VMCAS notifies you). Definitely check with each of your evaluators individually to make sure they've gotten the emails. I remember there being issues with aol users not getting the emails.
If I misunderstood your question, then disregard all that. =)
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Nope, you completely understood! I'll just have to check with my evaluators to make sure everyone got it. Thanks!
 
Hi!

So I submitted my VMCAS a few weeks ago now and it still says "Your Application Is Meeting VMCAS Requirements" and under College Designations it still says that all of mine are "Not Mailed." Is there something I should do, or does it really take them 3+ weeks to complete this...? Not sure if I'm missing something here 😕
 
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