VMRCVM Applicants c/o 2017

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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So I'd really like to live close to one of Virginia Tech's gyms, because that's the only foreseeable way that I will be able to work out. Any suggestions as to where I should look for apartments?
 
SoundofMusic said:
So I'd really like to live close to one of Virginia Tech's gyms, because that's the only foreseeable way that I will be able to work out. Any suggestions as to where I should look for apartments?
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McComas - the gym on campus - isn't too far from the vet school (like a 5- 10 minute walk) if you want to workout at lunch or during the day. You already pay for it with your tuition, so it's nice to use if you have the time. I either go during a long lunch or after classes. It can be busy, but it's a decent gym.

There are apartments all over town, so I'll try and list off gyms instead to give you general locations you can look for 🙂 There's a gym off University City Blvd and Glade Road called "The Weight Club" (its in the university mall). There is "New River Fitness" off of Prices Fork, near North Main and there is an Anytime Fitness in the First and Main shopping center. There is also a Crossfit across the street from the Kroger on South Main .

If you are a Christiansburg resident, you can use the Christiansburg Rec Center off Franklin and Catabwa for free as well.

Hope that's a little helpful!
 
Just accepted my offer as well 😀

I'm also non-traditional, married - yada, yada....glad to know I'm not the only one!! My biggest anxiety right now: what to do with my house here. 😕 and of course, my animals. I'm a firm believer that everything will work out - so I just have to have faith in that.

I've been to Blacksburg many times and I must second: The Cellar, Gillie's and I fell in love with T. Flynn's when I was there for the interview weekend. (Scots-Irish, curly, redhead here - love me a quaint lil Irish pub anyday!)

Looking forward to meeting everyone! I'm in Eastern VA (Hampton Roads area) if anyone is close to here and wants to get together before the year starts. Congratulations everyone!
 
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Also a lot of the big apartment complexes have gyms on the premises. The only issue there is sometimes the hours are weird.

Windsor Hills has a 24 hours facility but you guys will hear plenty about Windsor Hills from me later. 😉
 
Does anybody know if they start calling people off the waitlist as other people decline their offers, or do they wait until April? Last year I talked to a girl who was waitlisted at first and then called the very next day and accepted, I'm not sure if they changed it this year.
 
ACCEPTED. WHOOP. I know it happened a while ago, but just finally making it official on here 😍
 
CanHardlyWait said:
1- I'm one one the lucky ones whose spouse did come to Blacksburg with me AND he was able to find work, although in Roanoke. He's super modest, but honestly awesome at what he does, but still we were lucky. He's a carpenter and the construction industry isn't great now. I know a couple of people whose SO hasn't moved here yet cause they can't find work, some whose SO are working in low paying jobs completely unrelated to their careers, and other who have moved here and don't work at all. I know of even fewer whose SO have found work here or in Roanoke in their field. It's a small place, with a small economy. However, the Kroger here is 24 hours a day, I was shocked to learn recently.

2-Pros for me include
-Tech being an ag school, so lots of farm animals around and opportunities to do stuff with/to them related to school clubs
-I like the tracking curriculum because you can take focused,specialized classes in areas of interest, while still getting a well rounded vet education
-I really feel that the faculty here are fair, responsive to students and genuinely invested in my education. The administrators, too, for the most part...
-Active clubs with lots of fun wetlabs, meetings, speakers etc..
-Not a whole lot of distraction, especially if you live away from town
-Surprisingly good restaurants in terms of food and type of food available-I'm from a foodie place, so I was worried
-Great local alternatives to big box stores and plenty of local foods and products available-VA makes some great beer and wine🙂
-Outdoorsy opportunities (if it ever gets warm again)
-Hokie pride!! I even watch football now, Hokie football only though

Cons
-Not the most diverse student body, but I suspect that is true in all/most vet schools. Mostly just middle class, white, 20-something women.
-Not a whole lot of distractions, especially if you live away from town
-My husband driving 2 hrs a day to/from work
-Skunks are a serious problem for us and our dog
-If you're wild and crazy on weekends, beware, downtown is very small and you see everyone (professors, clinicians) all the time
-The weather in the winter, but if you're from a cold, snowy, windy place you'll be fine. It was nice here until January though.

3- I should know more about the financial part, but I'm not that fiscally responsible. I really don't know.
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She doesnt like all this cold weather!!! It seems to have bad weather here every friday which is very odd. And yes the skunk gives her dog breath...I can attest to that!!!

I love VMRCVM so much!!! Its great here. The classes are fun!! The teachers are great. The friends you will make are great. Lots of great clubs with fun wet labs. Its just a lot lot lot lot of studying.....😕😕😀
 
WhtsThFrequency said:
That's creepy. I lived at the end of Thomas Lane, the road right before Snuffy's and the other gas station. Past the dude who owns the cream and chocolate llama pair and the dude further down who had some cows.

Small world!
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OMG the exact camelids I was referencing! Expect they're alpacas. Pretty sure they're alpacas-we thought they were llamas when we first moved here, but I went out to an alpaca farm at the beginning of last semester and realized that they are alpacas. And just came home from an alpaca dystocia wet lab🙂 Which was awesome.

I also live off Thomas Ln, maybe I live in your old house, soo weird!
And we're obsessed with Snuffy's- you can get breakfast there and pocket knives and goat feed and fishing bait, it amazing. I'm from a city, so a country general store is a wonder for me...
good burgers and beer selection too!
 
Question to those of you in vet school now:
I'm looking at getting a tablet for next year. I have a 4 y.o. Windows laptop, but I want something more portable with a longer battery life, and the ability to mark on notes. My question is does VMRCVM have any OS that they prefer for running any specific programs required? Do you have a tablet or computer that you got for school that you're happy with?
 
BasilNutmeg213 said:
Question to those of you in vet school now:
I'm looking at getting a tablet for next year. I have a 4 y.o. Windows laptop, but I want something more portable with a longer battery life, and the ability to mark on notes. My question is does VMRCVM have any OS that they prefer for running any specific programs required? Do you have a tablet or computer that you got for school that you're happy with?
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If you're not 100% set on getting a Mac, I might recommend sticking with a Windows OS. The only reason I say that is our Histology class is now 100% virtual, and some of my classmates with Macs had some compatibility issues running the virtual microscope... and also getting his computer exams to pull up correctly.

A couple of my classmates have those convertible tablet-laptop computers, and they seem to be doing well. OneNote is fantastic with those, since you can scribble all over them and you don't have to worry about forgetting notes at home or anything like that.

If you're talking about an actual tablet PC, there are a LOT of us with iPads now. I don't have one so I don't know all the details, but they seem to be very happy with a certain app that lets them annotate all over the lecture slides that go up and whatnot. I don't know the name of it off the top of my head, but I've only heard good things.

Hope that helps. =)
 
Does anyone know if they are going to send out snail mail acceptance letters or if they even send them out non-electronically?
 
CanHardlyWait said:
OMG the exact camelids I was referencing! Expect they're alpacas. Pretty sure they're alpacas-we thought they were llamas when we first moved here, but I went out to an alpaca farm at the beginning of last semester and realized that they are alpacas. And just came home from an alpaca dystocia wet lab🙂 Which was awesome.

I also live off Thomas Ln, maybe I live in your old house, soo weird!
And we're obsessed with Snuffy's- you can get breakfast there and pocket knives and goat feed and fishing bait, it amazing. I'm from a city, so a country general store is a wonder for me...
good burgers and beer selection too!
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Brainfart, totally meant alpacas.

Snuffy's is so awesome. Last time I visisted the burg, a long time ago, I got a pic of their quintessential lunch special lol

307270_10100424245196083_8098093_n.jpg


I loved living out there. So nice to still be close to school but be able to "escape it" you know? Seeing stars with no streetlights, hearing people hunting with beagles at night in the distance 😍
 
hopefulinva said:
...

If you're talking about an actual tablet PC, there are a LOT of us with iPads now. I don't have one so I don't know all the details, but they seem to be very happy with a certain app that lets them annotate all over the lecture slides that go up and whatnot. I don't know the name of it off the top of my head, but I've only heard good things.

Hope that helps. =)
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I think it's iAnnotate. I asked a first-year that was using an iPad about all the iPads I've been seeing around and that's what she recommended. My laptop is dying and I'm thinking of getting a tablet with one of those detachable keyboards for 4th year. Figure that will give me better portable battery life and allow me to use VetPrep to study for the NAVLE on the web wherever I may end up.
 
njphoenix said:
Does anyone know if they are going to send out snail mail acceptance letters or if they even send them out non-electronically?
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As far as I know, it's strictly electronic. You may get a phone call if they really need to get in touch with you.

RadRadTerp said:
I think it's iAnnotate. I asked a first-year that was using an iPad about all the iPads I've been seeing around and that's what she recommended. My laptop is dying and I'm thinking of getting a tablet with one of those detachable keyboards for 4th year. Figure that will give me better portable battery life and allow me to use VetPrep to study for the NAVLE on the web wherever I may end up.
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Yep! That's the one.

I'm happy with my laptop but dang do my classmates love their iPads. Just wish more fo them would put screen covers on them in the lab... uck
 
hopefulinva said:
If you're not 100% set on getting a Mac, I might recommend sticking with a Windows OS. The only reason I say that is our Histology class is now 100% virtual, and some of my classmates with Macs had some compatibility issues running the virtual microscope... and also getting his computer exams to pull up correctly.

A couple of my classmates have those convertible tablet-laptop computers, and they seem to be doing well. OneNote is fantastic with those, since you can scribble all over them and you don't have to worry about forgetting notes at home or anything like that.
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Picked up a Lenovo X230T from the Lenovo student site on a labor day sale... Excellent battery life, excellent keyboard, and as Hopeful mentioned (cue overenthused tablet-convertible pc owner)...

OneNote with pen input is beastly! Print all your .ppt/.pdf lecture slides into it and then scribble/type/highlight all over it... Record the lectures in OneNote and you get to go back and listen to what the professor said at the point you were typing/annotating the slides (it highlights what you entered as the audio plays!). Copy your histology slides into it and mark the areas that are important.

The best part about OneNote for me is I don't have to worry about organizing/tossing my notes after each semester. The only printed notes I get are the anatomy lab guides: everything else from my vet school career is easily searchable (Ctrl-E).

It really depends on your learning style... I was always more comfortable learning with pen and paper than taking notes on a computer. But, the pace and amount of information we get here really forced my hand to try something different - and so far, this is working out well for me. I get the speed necessary to keep up by having a keyboard at my fingertips, along with the "hands-on" approach of stylus-annotation.

Basil, if your laptop is still operational, you may want to look into keeping that for your word-processing needs (and occasional histo studying at home/test-taking in class) and getting an iPad for class. It may be a cheaper route that provides you the most flexibility (fyi, I didn't do this because my Mac died over the summer and I didn't want to shell out for two new devices).
 
Peperoncini said:
Basil, if your laptop is still operational, you may want to look into keeping that for your word-processing needs (and occasional histo studying at home/test-taking in class) and getting an iPad for class. It may be a cheaper route that provides you the most flexibility (fyi, I didn't do this because my Mac died over the summer and I didn't want to shell out for two new devices).
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Aaannddd if you do that, OneNote automatically syncs to the cloud so you can pull up all your notes on your laptop at home without physically syncing your machines. It's wonderful.

Alternatively, since I don't have a tablet and I'm stuck typing things by hand, I just save all of my powerpoints on Dropbox, which I have installed on my laptop at home (I bring a baby netbook to class - it's lighter and it's all I need), my phone, and my ancient tablet so my notes are always, literally, at my fingertips. It's fantastic.

Also, the e-mail system at VT is handled through Google, so your student account comes all set up with Google Drive and all that fun stuff. I don't use that one as much, but we have had class-wide, interactive study guides up on Drive before finals. =)
 
I have a question about 4th year that wasn't really answered when I visited the school. So from my understanding, during 4th year, students are required to complete a certain number of core rotations for their track. After those are done, can students choose to do a rotation at another school or somewhere other than VMRCVM?
 
co0lbeansx33 said:
I have a question about 4th year that wasn't really answered when I visited the school. So from my understanding, during 4th year, students are required to complete a certain number of core rotations for their track. After those are done, can students choose to do a rotation at another school or somewhere other than VMRCVM?
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As far as I know, yes. There are core rotations that everyone needs to take regardless of track, and often your track will then add other required elective blocks that are (usually, for some LA stuff you may be able to do it elsewhere) done through the school. I was a public-corporate tracker and therefore got a lot of "elective" blocks. As long as the appropriate paperwork is filled out and the school approves it, you should be ok. I spent a rotation at Purdue and had a lot of fun.
 
Hmm. The reason I ask is because I am interested in doing a rotation at a sea turtle hospital. I'm not sure if it would be approved, and I can't find much info about it on their website. I know VMRCVM doesn't get many exotic cases, but if I were to choose a mixed track, would I be able to do a rotation in exotics?
 
co0lbeansx33 said:
I have a question about 4th year that wasn't really answered when I visited the school. So from my understanding, during 4th year, students are required to complete a certain number of core rotations for their track. After those are done, can students choose to do a rotation at another school or somewhere other than VMRCVM?
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Yeah, basically, but the core requirement blocks, track requirement blocks and elective blocks do not have a set order, meaning you do the core blocks first or whatever. The scheduling is by lottery. Most blocks are done at the school, each track has a certain # that can be, but don't have to be, done away from the school.
The senior year hand book explains it http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/acad/dvm/index.asp
Go to that page and under DVM program information, click Senior Handbook.
 
co0lbeansx33 said:
Hmm. The reason I ask is because I am interested in doing a rotation at a sea turtle hospital. I'm not sure if it would be approved, and I can't find much info about it on their website. I know VMRCVM doesn't get many exotic cases, but if I were to choose a mixed track, would I be able to do a rotation in exotics?
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If you are most interested on exotics, the school recommends tracking small animal, so that you have more elective class space, which you can fill with exotics classes. The mixed track is really either a combo of either small animal/food animal, small animal/equine, or food animal/ equine.
If the program/hospital is acceptable to the school, I think you can do your electives anywhere, on any aspect of vet med, regardless of track.
Also- plug for a club that I'm an officer in- we have a Public Veterinary Practice Club, which does a fair amount of exotics talks and wetlabs. Actually our meeting tonight is on some snake disease. We had an exotics wetlab last month on bandaging and placing catheters in ferrets and birds. Last semester we took a club trip to the Baltimore Aquarium.
 
Thanks, I didn't realized I skipped over the section that outlined all of the rotations/electives. I am interested in exotics, but only a few exotic species. I just want to make sure that I can give myself the best opportunities for what my interests are. The other school I was accepted to gives students a lot of freedom to pick what rotations they want to do, so I want to make sure I would have at least a little flexibility if I decide to go to Virginia.
 
You could also consider tracking public/corporate if you're interested in exotics. Several people in my class did that. It leaves you with a lot of flexibility with rotations fourth year, even if the track classes are fluffy.
 
WhtsThFrequency said:
You could also consider tracking public/corporate if you're interested in exotics. Several people in my class did that. It leaves you with a lot of flexibility with rotations fourth year, even if the track classes are fluffy.
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They modified it last year so there are much fewer free blocks (womp), but you can still tweak the required ones to do pretty much whatever you want. =)

How many of you guys will be at Prospective Student's Day next weekend? I've volunteered to help out so I'll be around if any of y'all will be there!
 
I'll be there! Looks like there are some really awesome activities lined up for us!
 
Anyone coming to the accepted student day/open house feel free to PM me for info on the area, or for grabbing a beer/pizza/coffee and talking about the school, what to expect 1st year etc...
I'll also be at the Public Veterinary Practice Table all morning and the Integrative Veterinary Medicine Club table all afternoon the day of open house. Stop by and say hey🙂
 
CanHardlyWait said:
Anyone coming to the accepted student day/open house feel free to PM me for info on the area, or for grabbing a beer/pizza/coffee and talking about the school, what to expect 1st year etc...
I'll also be at the Public Veterinary Practice Table all morning and the Integrative Veterinary Medicine Club table all afternoon the day of open house. Stop by and say hey🙂
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As a fellow older, non-trad student...I would love hearing your words of wisdom! I will definitely try to find you on Saturday.
 
Has anybody gotten pulled off of the waitlist yet? Haven't seen anything on the threads and was wondering if they wait until after April 15th to even try to fill the spots. Just wondering since I don't know (and haven't heard) of anybody who has gotten accepted from the waitlist. Thanks!
 
GatorRunner said:
Has anybody gotten pulled off of the waitlist yet? Haven't seen anything on the threads and was wondering if they wait until after April 15th to even try to fill the spots. Just wondering since I don't know (and haven't heard) of anybody who has gotten accepted from the waitlist. Thanks!
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I would guess they wait until after April 15th. Especially because, as weird as it is, the letter didn't say anything about declining, and the place to pay online had nothing either. I went ahead and sent an e-mail but got no response, so I guess they'll figure it out when I never pay :shrug:

Only a couple more weeks to wait! Good luck!
 
That's pretty weird that there was no directions to decline lol. But thanks for the info! Makes me feel a little better that I haven't heard anything yet! haha.
 
GatorRunner said:
Has anybody gotten pulled off of the waitlist yet? Haven't seen anything on the threads and was wondering if they wait until after April 15th to even try to fill the spots. Just wondering since I don't know (and haven't heard) of anybody who has gotten accepted from the waitlist. Thanks!
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One of my friends was originally wait listed for VA. She was offered an acceptance about 2 weeks after the initial decisions went out. Hopefully you will hear good news soon!
 
Declined my offer today (OOS), hopefully it helps pull someone off the wait list!
 
Hey all long time lurker,
Just wanted to let those who are on the wait list know that they are calling people. I was admitted today! (IS VA)

They didn't tell me what position I was so... sorry I can't help with that.
 
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DAVAM said:
Hey all long time lurker,
Just wanted to let those who are on the wait list know that they are calling people. I was admitted today! (IS VA)

They didn't tell me what position I was so... sorry I can't help with that.
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Congratulations!!!!
 
Has anyone on the waitlist found out their number yet? They said we could ask via email after April 15th and I emailed the admissions office this morning but didn't get a response. Do you think when they said after April 15th they meant starting tomorrow? Or should I have email someone else such as Joyce Massie instead of the DVM admissions email?
 
I just emailed them now. I thought we had to call, so good thing I checked my email. I'm just checking for fun, but I am about 99.9% sure I'm going to Mizzou even if I get called off the waitlist.
 
vickers said:
Has anyone on the waitlist found out their number yet? They said we could ask via email after April 15th and I emailed the admissions office this morning but didn't get a response. Do you think when they said after April 15th they meant starting tomorrow? Or should I have email someone else such as Joyce Massie instead of the DVM admissions email?
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They probably meant tomorrow. I think Joyce checks the DVM admissions e-mail; I needed to contact her a couple times and I sent my e-mails to that account and she responded, quickly too.
 
Small animal track only has 2 elective rotations, but the Public/Corporate core rotation is external by default, so you would be away from Blacksburg for at least 3 blocks. I was originally a Mixed tracker but switched to double-up (for a total of 6 weeks each) on Specialty Med, Small Animal Surgery, and Small Animal Med rotations, and because the Mixed track required double rotations with Production Medicine Management (not for me!). Still, I did manage to get a rotation at the WARL in DC in November, a VCA in Maryland next February, and San Diego Zoo next March.
 
I got my email this morning about my alternate position so keep an eye out. They started replying! 🙂
 
Does anybody know if our waitlist ranking from the email is our original ranking right after the interview? Or are they updated after people have already been pulled off the waitlist?
 
Random Question,
I was wondering If a current student could tell me if the University is closed on Columbus Day. I am in a friends wedding the sunday before Columbus day and I am trying to make travel arrangements.
 
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