I am so excited and can't believe that I ACTUALLY got into vet school and am going to be a veterinarian in 4 years!!! Ahh!! Now to find a place to live, a job for Eddie, etc, etc!
So now I am going to reveal my stats and explain the process that I went through for EACH of the 14 schools I applied to... this is going to be a long entry :)
So these are the different areas of the VMCAS application:
GPA and pre-requisite classes- have to send transcripts from ALL schools attended
GRE scores
Veterinary Experience
Animal Experience
Job Experience
Research Experience
Honors/Awards
Extracurricular/Community Activities
ELORS-letters of recommendations from professors/veterinarians/etc.
Personal Statement-why do you want to go to vet school/how did you get to this point
Optional Explanation Statement- I did not chose to do this- If you want to explain a gap in your schooling, bad grade, hardship you went thru, this is where you can explain it
So here we go: My stats according to VMCAS-NOTE: schools may calculate themselves differently
Cumulative GPA: 3.60 -competitive- this is normally around the average for accepted applicants when you look at school stats
Science GPA: 3.52- however most schools calculated themselves differently and it ranged from 3.30-3.52
Last 45 credit GPA: 3.38-most schools realize that you may not do as well when first starting college and use the last 45 credit GPA in deciding your academic score, mine was lower than average and that's because my summer courses of Physics were calculated in this (Physics was the lowest grade on my transcipts: B-)
Quantitative GRE: 154, 60% below- I think this was ok but saw other applicants do better than this
Verbal GRE: 145, 24% below- NOT a good score - I thought that this would really hurt my chances but I did an explanation statement that included my verbal GRE score-I discussed how my hearing impairment set me back in hearing and recognizing new words while growing up/learning and this hindered my score tremendously- obviously being a LVT I have a vast medical/veterinary terminology that I was able to learn and use fluently-I made sure to mention that
Analytical Writing: 4.0, 49% below, the scale is out of 6.0, I think is an average score
Side note: The GRE sucks! I'm sure many people would agree with me on this. Prepare for it ahead of time and know your vocabulary! Don't stress out too much though and don't go crazy taking it 3-4 times! If your scores are okay-good then just go with them! I took my GREs late (after I started the VMCAS application) and it was HORRIBLE for me-I decided to stick with my scores knowing that I wouldn't do much better if I took them again. Don't get me started on standardized testing-especially at this level of education?? Definitely not necessary. Just prepare, take them, and get them done with as soon as your ready to and don't think about them again!
Animal Experience: This is experience that you have gained with animals and NOT under the supervision of a veterinarian NOTE: Most schools do NOT count pet ownership
4000 hours Equine-Working/riding at a local barn for 5 years
100 hours Small Animal/Avian/Lab animal- Animal Care as a part of the Vet-Tech program
792 hours Small Animal/Exotics/Avian- Worked as a Pet Care Specialist at Petsmart-responsible for care and husbandry of fish, birds, small mammals, cats, and reptiles
865 hours Small Animal- Working as a Doggie Daycare Attendant/Bather at a Dog daycare/grooming/boarding facility
Veterinary Experience: Experience under the supervision of a veterinarian- probably MOST important experiences to get!! It is EXTREMELY important to get VARIED experiences with different types of animals such as: equine, large/food animal, small animal, exotics, avian, zoo animal, lab animal
70 hours Small Animal: First internship at a small animal hospital, mostly observed, some hands on lab stuff
20 hours Small Animal: Surgery observation/assisting
45 hours Equine: Equine Handling class at University of Findlay
~250 hours: I listed all my classes and labs taken at Medaille that were taught by a veterinarian
72 hours Equine/Large Animal: Advanced Farm Animal Lab-taught technical procedures on cows, llamas, sheep, goats, alpacas, horses
70 hours Equine: Shadowed an equine veterinarian
15 hours: Listed my experience at the North American Veterinary Conference that I was chosen to attend to
2100 hours Small Animal/Exotics: Working as a receptionist, assistant and now a licensed veterinary technician in a 24/7 emergency/referral/community practice
I had a lot of Small animal (which is the most common experience) and exotics from internships, school, and where I work. I also had some large animal and equine from shadowing a equine veterinarian and labs. I also have experience working in an emergency setting which is definitely worth mentioning and can be considered an experience of its own. Also listing my continuing education hours at the North American Veterinary Conference showed that I am constantly learning, open to new things, and was a great professional experience in general. I feel that my animal/veterinary experiences were a strong part of my application.
Job Experience:
3120 hours:Worked at Wegmans for 5 1/2 years
150 hours: Peer tutor
Research Experience: Working in research under the supervision of a DVM or PhD
I have no real "research" experience- I had applied for 2 summers in a row for multiple research internships so that I could gain some experience in this area. However I was never chosen for these internships and my school didn't have a strong research department. However, I did take an Intro to Lab Animal Medicine and decided to list this under research experience so that I didn't leave it blank. This class was about the husbandry of the lab animals used in research and all the laws and regulations that you must follow. It was a different angle on research that what I think vet schools are still looking for but I still listed it!
75 hours Lab Animal- Intro to Lab Animal Medicine class/lab
So clearly the research area of my application was poor-but I had many other experiences to make up for it :)
Honors and Awards: Now you get to list every honor/award that you have ever received pretty much so my advice is to keep track of them starting in high school!
Deans List: 7/8 semesters
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society: Was invited into this society because of my grades and paid my dues to be a member but never really did anything with it...
Medaille College Collegiate Scholarship: Received during my time at Medaille (GPA based)
UAW CAP Scholarship:
Wegmans Schoalrship:
Buffalo Urban League Scholarship:
National Honor Society: In high school
I had a couple scholarships that I was proud of but other than that I wasn't student leader of the year or anything special like that !
Extracurricular/Community Activities: This would include volunteer work, clubs, study abroad trips, etc.
Spanish Club: In high school
AFS (American Field Society): In high school, hosted foreign exchange students, multi-cultural club
European Discovery: Chosen to be a Student Ambassador to represent People to People-traveled to Europe for 3 weeks to travel/study- I write about this in an earlier post
Pre-Vet Club: At University of Findlay
Vet-Tech Club: At Medaille
Life Sciences Club: At Medaille
Trip to Belize, Central America: This was with the Life Sciences Club, spent 10 days travelling to different ecosystems of Belize and learned about the culture, flora, and fauna.
Personal Statement: From VMCAS app
-Discuss briefly the development of your interest in vet med
-Discuss those activities and unique experiences that have contributed to your preparation for a professional program
-Discuss your understanding of the vet med profession
-Discuss your career goals and objectives
This is obviously written in essay format and you have to cram all your experiences, thoughts, ideas, future goals into 2000 characters-which is equivalent to 1 page typed. START THIS EARLY and have several people read it and proof it for you! I talked about how my hearing impairment and being an only child lead me to this field because i recognized the importance and significance of the human-animal bond at such an early age. From there I summed up all my experiences, what it had taught me, why I can handle this program, and how I will be successful, etc.
ELORS: Can have up to 6 letters (if i remember correctly) however most schools ask for 3 with one of them being from a DVM
These are the people that I asked!
-LVT/Hospital administrator from where I work
-Chemistry professor at Medaille
-Veterinarian/Professor at Medaille
-Veterinarian/Professor at Medaille
I asked these 4 professionals because I felt that they all knew me well and for a good period of time, they knew my strengths/weaknesses and I felt that they thought positively of me ;)
I didn't ask any DVMs from work because I felt that I didn't have a close relationship with any of them at the time of application ( I was only working on weekends as a receptionist/assistant and just gotten my license) After I became full time as a LVT I felt that I could ask some of the DVMs there but it was too late.
My advice would be to ask a DVM that you work with in practice for a recommendation. It is good to have recommendations from different professionals who work in different parts of the field or are in different disciplines.
So there you have it: the breakdown of the VMCAS application! It is not an easy app and requires lots of time and planning ahead- START EARLY- most cycles open up around the first week of June and the deadline is October 2nd. START IN JUNE and SUBMIT IT EARLY :) Will save you lots of stress!
I will talk about the 14 schools I applied to and the breakdown of each in my next post :)
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