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#89 OOS I know it probably won't move that much, but thankful I got into Midwestern too, minus the cost!
VMCVM c/o 2025!
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if you don't mind me asking, what did your stats look like for your application (letters of rec, hours of experience, GPA)... totally okay if you're not comfortable sharing! wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable. I'm just wondering how I could improve my application for next year and what a stronger candidate would look like (I'm 83 on OOS list)
12FutureVet12
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OOS #29! For those who were asking about how much the OOS waitlist moves, when I talked to Shelby last she had said they had around half that had accepted their seats already for OOS out of the 40 that they have, and they have had some reject their spots. I am not sure if the people who pulled themselves off the waitlist were early or later on the list though! Good luck to everyone on the waitlist!
savannahrr914
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OOS #19
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OOS waitlisted at #166.
Listen, I know I’m not getting in to VMCVM, but this waitlist ranking certainly makes me feel better after learning my ranking on Iowa State was 298 out of 299. 🥲
Listen, I know I’m not getting in to VMCVM, but this waitlist ranking certainly makes me feel better after learning my ranking on Iowa State was 298 out of 299. 🥲
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I emailed her on the first and heard back yesterday. I think she is doing it in the order received, so she is probably just behind.
MooMooMedows
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You are really close, but you never know what's going to happen until it happens (I know, super corny)! So maybe not assume, but definitely prepare!
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Not an exotics person but I believe most exotics peeps track mixed. Third year electives include functional morphology of birds, ferret medicine, clinical reptile medicine, pocket pet medicine, wildlife medicine, avian medicine & surgery, and aquatic medicine & fish health. We all take the same classes 1st and 2nd year. Each track has a set number of free blocks during clinical year for externships, but I’m not sure how many mixed trackers get. That’s the extent of my knowledge, but can relay other questions to an exotics person if you have any!
Oh, I work in the teaching hospital and last weekend we had a rabbit come in through the ER when I was on call! I don't think that happens often though!
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I don't think so on this forum. If you gain admissions the best way to get in touch would be on the admitted students facebook page probably or to ask the admissions people if they can put you in touch - I'm sure some current students would be happy to you their email.
Students interested in exotics are split between the mixed track, the small animal track, and the public/corporate track.
The mixed track has more opportunity to get rotations outside of the school at exotics practices because they have more flexibility their clinical year. But you would also have to take classes and rotations in large animal which some people aren't keen on.
If you are interested in companion animal exclusively, you may want to track small animal because you'll have a better chance at getting elective rotations on cardiology, dermatology, etc. You'd have less chance to get outside of the vet school hospital and out to exotics practices, but you wouldn't have to do anything with large animal outside of the core rotations.
Many people interested in exotics also track Public / Corporate medicine because it crosses over with lab animal, zoo, and aquarium medicine. It doesn't sound like that's your angle though.
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Bvenus07
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Congratulations! And thank you for the information!
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Any current students that can please tell me what the curriculum is like? Are the classes all separate with no crossover, or do they cover the same topics at the same time to help integrate learning? Also is there PBL?
Edit: By same topics I mean Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, etc. covers nervous system, GI system, etc. at the same point in the school year or are they completely separate?
Edit: By same topics I mean Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, etc. covers nervous system, GI system, etc. at the same point in the school year or are they completely separate?
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I am not a current student (obviously lol) but my brother is in c/o 2023. He said first year was divided up into units based on specific areas. So infection and immunology was classified as “handling threats”; a good chunk of the nervous system was classified as “seeing and sensing”. A lot of muscle physiology/muscular anatomy/joint and skeletal anatomy was covered as “moving”. So it’s definitely more of an integrated learning approach than doing one infection and immunology class, one anatomy and physiology class, one professional development class, etc. Not sure if he does PBL, but I know that he has a core group of students who he studies with a LOT. I think they typically did 3 topic areas/semester. You have an end of unit final exam at the end of a topic area. I think that if you fail one topic area, you can move forward, but if you fail two topic areas then you fail for the year. You do receive the opportunity to redo the year with the next incoming class. I think my brother said 4-5 students failed out in his first semester.
I am repeating all this info secondhand, so any current students feel free to correct me on info that I got wrong!!
The core courses for the first two years are completed integrated. You'll take one 10 credit course at a time that lasts for 8 weeks. So you take two 10-credit classes per semester. (Fall semester courses run Aug- Oct then Oct- Dec. Spring semester the courses go from Jan- March and March-May).
Courses are arranged thematically, mostly by body system. So anatomy, physiology, etc is integrated throughout the curriculum.
Here's the classes:
- Normal Animal (bit of an intro to everything to get everyone on the same page)
- Dealing With Threats (all things pathology, bacteriology, virology, parasitology, etc)
- Moving (all things musculoskeletal)
- Sensing & Seeing (neuro, optho, derm, etc)
- Breathing & Circulating (cardio, etc)
- Eating & Eliminating (GI, etc)
- The Next Generation (repro, etc)
- Healthy Populations (epi, herd health, etc)
The first two years there is a cap on average hours per week in lecture/lab/exams. You can't have more than an average of 25 hours per week of classroom time in any course (some weeks will have a few more or less, but will avg out to 25 hours).
There is one lecture exam every two weeks that covers everything you've learned during that two week time period. It's (almost) always on a Monday morning.
There are 1-2 anatomy/lab exams as well per course.
There is an integrative problem based learning session every Friday, otherwise Fridays are pretty light. (Often just pbl, but sometimes there are a few lectures or a lab)
The third year of the curriculum is for your track's required courses plus electives. Those are all separate and run sort of like undergrad, just with more credits. You can make your life relatively easy by taking the minimum number of credits (16 per semester). There is no limit to how many credits you can take though.
Our clinical rotations are split. We do early clinics during the summer between 2nd and 3rd year. Then you finish the rest starting in September of 4th year. (So you get the summer between 3rd and 4th year off.)
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This isn't really correct so I wanted to address it. (I know you're not a current student, so I understand it got garbled as second hand info!)
You cannot fail a class and move forward to the next semester. If you fail you will have a chance to take a comprehensive remediation exam. If you do not pass the remediation exam you will fail out. You can fail an individual test during a course, but you cannot fail the course as a whole.
That said, the remediation exams take place at the end of the semester and there are two mega courses back to back. So if you fail the first course of the semester, you could continue with the next course in that semester, but you must pass the remediation exam for the first course after its over.
For example, the course sequence for the spring of first year is 8 weeks of "Moving" class followed by 8 weeks of "Sensing & Seeing" class. If you failed Moving, you would be able to continue on to take Sensing & Seeing. But at the end of the semester you would have to take the remediation exam for Moving. If you did not pass the remediation exam, you would fail out even though you passed Sensing & Seeing.
Also, you do not automatically get the opportunity to recycle into the class below you. You will have to petition to join it and make a case as to how you will pass if given another chance. (Generally speaking they will allow you back in, but technically it is not automatic and not guaranteed.)
You get one chance to repeat during the first two years. If you fail out twice during the first two years you will not be allowed to petition again for acceptance into the next class. (Except perhaps in very extenuating circumstances. The one person I know of who failed out twice was not allowed to petition to try again for a third time.)
You can fail and repeat once during your third year as well.
And you can fail one rotation during your 4th year and repeat it during the summer semester after you were supposed to graduate. (It might actually be more than one? Like 2 or 3? Not 100% sure other than I know you can fail at least one and repeat it.)
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Probably would have been easier to just post this rather than typing it all out (sorry if the picture is huge!). I also attached the course catalog so you can look at a description of the core courses and the 3rd year electives.
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Just to add onto what @britzen said, though she pretty much covered everything...
What I like about our curriculum is that we cover important things more than once and from different perspectives. Like we covered rabies in virology in Dealing With Threats first semester and we've covered rabies again this semester in Sensing & Seeing from a neuro perspective. I also really like that our exams are written by multiple professors since our curriculum is integrated so if you don't "jive" with one professor's teaching or testing style it really isn't a huge deal. And while we are on the pass/fail system, we do still get a class rank based on our exam scores. For some of my classmates a pass is a pass (and that's perfectly fine!) and for others (myself included) the pressure is still there to do well
What I like about our curriculum is that we cover important things more than once and from different perspectives. Like we covered rabies in virology in Dealing With Threats first semester and we've covered rabies again this semester in Sensing & Seeing from a neuro perspective. I also really like that our exams are written by multiple professors since our curriculum is integrated so if you don't "jive" with one professor's teaching or testing style it really isn't a huge deal. And while we are on the pass/fail system, we do still get a class rank based on our exam scores. For some of my classmates a pass is a pass (and that's perfectly fine!) and for others (myself included) the pressure is still there to do well
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Thanks for this correction! I think he said the majority who failed out had struggled during Normal Animal, but had actually failed during Dealing with Threats. What you are saying makes more sense!
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Thank you so much! The fact that VMCVM didn't host any info sessions for alternates definitely put me off, but learning that the curriculum is so integrated and has PBL helped me feel me better (I have ADHD so I need all the help I can get). I don't know how high my chances are for being #13 on the Maryland list but I hope it moves so I can be in significantly less debt after vet school.Just to add onto what @britzen said, though she pretty much covered everything...
What I like about our curriculum is that we cover important things more than once and from different perspectives. Like we covered rabies in virology in Dealing With Threats first semester and we've covered rabies again this semester in Sensing & Seeing from a neuro perspective. I also really like that our exams are written by multiple professors since our curriculum is integrated so if you don't "jive" with one professor's teaching or testing style it really isn't a huge deal. And while we are on the pass/fail system, we do still get a class rank based on our exam scores. For some of my classmates a pass is a pass (and that's perfectly fine!) and for others (myself included) the pressure is still there to do well
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The curriculum is a huge reason why I chose to come to school here!
Fingers and toes crossed for waitlist movement for you!
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I'm definitely a "Pass is a Pass" type. Also, they don't tell you your class rank (until I believe 3rd year? for externship purposes) unless you ask, which is also nice if you'd rather not know.Just to add onto what @britzen said, though she pretty much covered everything...
What I like about our curriculum is that we cover important things more than once and from different perspectives. Like we covered rabies in virology in Dealing With Threats first semester and we've covered rabies again this semester in Sensing & Seeing from a neuro perspective. I also really like that our exams are written by multiple professors since our curriculum is integrated so if you don't "jive" with one professor's teaching or testing style it really isn't a huge deal. And while we are on the pass/fail system, we do still get a class rank based on our exam scores. For some of my classmates a pass is a pass (and that's perfectly fine!) and for others (myself included) the pressure is still there to do well
They'll call whenever they have spots. Usually most movement is after the deadline because that's when people make their final decisions if they are deciding between schools.
They only told everyone in 3rd year because so many people were harassing them that it was easier to just email everybody, haha
techtovetnyc
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OOS alternate #74
On MD IS I moved from 41 to 38 between the 1st and Tuesday.
Are we supposed to ask Shelby if our placement on the waitlist moves? Or will she tell us?
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You have to ask. But obviously if you’re pulled off then you’ll be contacted
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OOS 196. I knew I'd be far down the list but not that far.
I asked (just to find out for everyone else). Shelby said they haven’t pulled anyone from any lists yet, so there has been some movement, but only due to people taking themselves off the lists.
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I know I’ve moved up one spot, but seems like it may just be because of waitlist spots being declined
If you are fairly high on the list, you probably will notice less change because the people dropping off the list are probably behind you in numbers.
That’s actually really exciting because I was #39!
ijustwanttobeavet01
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anybody know the waitlist movements for MD IS in past cycles?
Lol last year was a whopping 12 places. So being that I’m now 38, I don’t see there being any chance of getting in unless for some crazy reason more people drop off the waitlist.
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Get used to not getting appropriate information for the next four years. Those of us about to do summer rotations got a three week notice on how our surgery rotation was cancelled and we would have to find our own.
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Same topics, same time. One semester you do nervous system. One semester you do reproductive, etc.
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Lol yessss, second years still haven't gotten much info on stuff happening next week...Get used to not getting appropriate information for the next four years. Those of us about to do summer rotations got a three week notice on how our surgery rotation was cancelled and we would have to find our own.
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Feeling so excited/nervous/anxious!! VMCVM is the only school I applied to, I am crossing my fingers and toes for enough waitlist movement!
