When Should You Apply to Veterinary School?
Veterinary schools are highly competitive and demanding colleges that train future veterinarians. Anyone looking to apply must first meet a number of requirements. Once you have satisfied the entrance prerequisites, you will need to take one or more standardized examinations and fill out an application. You can use a centralized service to apply to more than one veterinary school. Application dates, standards and materials vary by school.
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What is Veterinary School?
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Veterinary schools are graduate-level educational institutions that educate future veterinarians (a physician who practices medicine on animals). They award veterinary degrees (i.e., DVM, VMD) at matriculation. In the United States, these programs can range from three to five years, and are considered arduous and demanding, and between classroom, laboratory and clinical duties, a veterinary student will spend about 4,000 hours completing the requirements to graduate.
Only 28 such schools are in the United States, so admission is competitive, with an average acceptance rate of 43 percent.
Qualifications
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Before you apply to veterinary school, you will need to meet certain requirements. Most of these relate to academic preparation for the material you will study at veterinary school. While each veterinary school sets its own admission requirements, students who want to apply to vet school must first complete an undergraduate degree. Their coursework should include pre-veterinary prerequisites that focus on biology, chemistry, math and the physical sciences. Emphasis is often also placed on communication and language skills.
Before you apply to any particular veterinary school, check to make sure that you have completed all the coursework required for entry. Please note that meeting the standard prerequisites will not guarantee entry to any particular veterinary school. -
What Do I Need to Apply?
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Obtain a copy of the Veterinary Medical School Admissions Requirements for the year in which you will apply. This book documents all the relevant information related to applying to each veterinary school. For each school, it details the necessary prerequisites, minimum and average Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score of the past year's accepted class, minimum and average Veterinary College Admissions Test (VCAT) score and application statistics and acceptance rates broken down by in-state vs. out-of-state applicants.
Select the veterinary schools to which you want to apply and then collect all of the documents you will need. These will include GRE scores, letters of recommendation, undergraduate transcripts and the application for each school, which you can usually download from each school's website.
Veterinary schools often show preference to applicants who have already acquired some animal or veterinary-related experience. Make sure you can document any relevant jobs, internships, or volunteer positions that show your past work with animals. Also have evidence of any awards, scholarships or recognition you have received, especially if it relates to your work with animals.
Using VMCAS
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You should first decide whether to use the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS). This organization streamlines the application process by handling the applications for a number of veterinary schools in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia.
The benefits of using their service include filling out one online application for all schools to which you want to apply. Also, VMCAS will also provide a level of quality control and feedback on your application.
Please note that some veterinary colleges now decline to participate in VMCAS' process. These include Tufts University, Texas A&M University and Tuskegee University.
When to Apply?
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You should apply as early as possible to veterinary schools. Contact the admissions office of each school to find out the earliest date that they accept applications for the upcoming term.
Make sure to ask any professors or employers for letters of reference well in advance of your application due date. Also, find out whether you can send more than the minimum three letters of recommendation, and if you can, send more, as these will show greater experience and a greater number of qualified professionals who recommend you for future study.
Focus on writing your personal statement early in the application process. Ask friends, family, your professors and writing professionals for feedback because this document will introduce you to the admissions board of each veterinary school. Also make sure to send your GRE and VCAT scores early.
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