Just a friendly reminder that the vet schools actually look at these forums and the veterinary world is small, because we all talk to each other. I understand being upset, but it is quite unprofessional to be openly bashing a respected institution on the internet where things are forever.
Not in vet med, so I don't really care. Honestly, though, I stand by what I've said, and I'm fully aware that--between SDN, APVMA, and other pre-vet resources I've helped to develop--it's very easy to piece together who I am. Again, doesn't really bother me. In my mind, at least, I feel like what I've said isn't "bashing" but instead detailing a legitimate problem that has now cropped up two application cycles in a row.
Additionally, the accreditation process is grueling and not very easy, considering new vet schools haven't popped up since around the 80's or 90's before Midwestern, Western, University of Arizona, and Long Island University. Unless you are on the COE panel, please stop disrespecting the incredible work our institutions and AVMA do in order to allow us to reach our dream occupation.
You don't have to be on the COE panel to point out an issue. Like,
the entire policies and procedures are laid out online. Sure, there are probably many more factors that go into the actual evaluation and accreditation process, but the basics are publicly available.
Right, there's a difference between informing people and then going on and on and on aggressively on the internet about whatever issues they may or may not have. Also remember that you may not be coming off the way you think you are over the internet and that can land you in some hot water with your institution. You're making statements that are considered libel unless you have your sources cited, which again, is unprofessional.
While I don't know that I agree that bringing up the questionable history between the AVMA and Western is particularly helpful and it shouldn't really have an impact on current events, what
@ajs513 has brought up
is accurate, and it's easy enough to find the information backing it up. Calling it libel is a little much.
Plenty of veterinary schools and graduate schools over accept, it isn't a new concept. Does it suck? Yes, but the world is unfair and unfortunately you still have to become a professional in this world.
Overaccepting. Is. Not. The. Issue.
I'm growing tired of explaining this over and over again, so I'm just going to quote a previous post of mine on this:
Schools overaccept all the time; they find ways to make it work. That's not the issue. The issue is that for them to institute what is effectively a "first come, first served" method of acceptances based upon when deposits are sent in---even if it is well prior to April 15th---is in violation of the April 15th policy, the entire point of which is to save applicants money in putting down deposits at multiple schools in order to secure a seat, as several schools don't put decisions out until later in the cycle. To incentivize early payment of the deposit at the risk of deferral and/or losing your seat in the Class of 2024 is coercion.
Literally no other vet school does it this way.
I just wanted to clarify, too, that I don't think offering deferred acceptances is necessarily a bad thing; I know of at least a couple of other vet schools that have done this when more students than anticipated accepted admissions offers. But generally when that happens, there are at least some incentives offered. Obviously, since Western is private they can't give those deferred IS tuition, but I think that it's only right that they offer something. It's kind of a big deal to suddenly have a year-long delay in starting a program like that.
And this has happened now two cycles in a row. At the very least this year, it looks like they're offering refunds. From what I remember, they didn't do that last year.
Additionally, I have to wonder if you'd still be saying "Oh, well, it's unfair but I still have to be professional" if you'd been one of the people who had an acceptance ripped away from you because you couldn't pay your deposit for a seat right away for whatever reason and the school decided that it was going to close off the class and instead
maybe defer you (it's apparently not even guaranteed!), even though it is potentially well before April 15th. That's kind of a big deal. Have some empathy, please.
I agree that it’s a problem that needs to be fixed but I would like to play “devil’s advocate” on two points. Someone brought up Western adding an additional interview day and how that was wrong. Historically, they have done this when students couldn’t attend their original interview dates due to travel constraints and other obligations. Not to add applicants at the last minute from my understanding.
I don't thinking adding an additional interview day would have made a difference, truthfully. It's likely that they just need to utilize longer (actual) waitlists and accept fewer people outright, if it is indeed true that they cannot increase their class size and/or accommodate the extra admits like other vet schools do when they overaccept.
There are other private schools with no teaching hospitals. Do they have issues, yeah, but I’ve personally worked with veterinarians from these programs (non SA GP) and have nothing but nice things to say.
But Western was the first private school with no teaching hospital. They were the first ones to implement a distributive model. They were the ones to set the precedent and there are people who've been in the profession for a while who don't like the precedent that was set with them being more or less pushing the COE into a corner in order to get accredited despite not meeting at least one or two standards for accreditation.
Is that wrong? I don't know. I have to be honest: I don't have the best impression of any of these private schools, especially those without teaching hospitals, and I don't understand why they tend to be so much more expensive than state schools that
do have teaching hospitals on average, even if going OOS. It just sits wrong with me considering the issues with debt and saturation that the profession as a whole is already grappling with.
