The Vet School Application Process

The application process for veterinary school is extremely long and stressful. Many applicants begin preparing their application years before they're ready to submit. Once submitted, it takes nearly 9 months before you receive a verdict of either accepted, waitlisted, or denied. Those 9 months are full of excitement, suspense, and more often than not, self-doubt. It's no secret that getting accepted to veterinary school is one of the most difficult professional goals to achieve, with an average of 10 applicants for every one position, and it can be a challenge to remain optimistic. As a successful applicant, I hope that some of my knowledge and experiences may help other future applicants to achieve their goal of attending veterinary school. Here are my top ten pieces of advice to keep in mind as a pre-vet student:

1. As soon as you decide that veterinary school is the path for you, start doing research. Compile a list of schools that you think you would be interested in attending. Find out what prerequisites are required by each school, and plan your undergraduate schedule accordingly. Most veterinary schools require you to have all but two of your prerequisites completed by the end of the fall semester the year you apply. You don't want to find out too late that you are missing a prerequisite class necessary to attend your dream school. 
2. Familiarize yourself with the application process as soon as possible. The majority of schools use an application service called VMCAS (Veterinary Medical College Application Service), and you will send the same application to every school. There are a few schools in the US (and a handful of international schools) that don't use VMCAS, so if you plan on applying to any of those, make sure you are aware that they require a separate application. For those schools that do participate in VMCAS, the application opens in early June and closes in September, giving you approximately 3 months to complete it. Don't wait until the last minute, though! Your stress level will be high enough already without having to worry about not meeting important deadlines. 
3. Make sure your finances are in order before beginning the application process because it is expensive! For the 2014-2015 application cycle, the VMCAS fee was $195 for the first school and $100 for each additional school after that. In addition to VMCAS fees, you will have fees for each school's supplemental application (generally ranging from $50-$100 per school), fees for submitting your GRE scores ($27 per school), and fees for sending your transcripts to each school. And don't forget the cost of taking the GRE and the cost of traveling to any interviews you may be offered. To give you an example, I applied to 7 schools in total and spent approximately $1500 on applications (excluding the cost of interviews). I attended interviews at 4 of my 7 schools and spent approximately $300 per interview (although I was lucky enough to be able to drive to them all; airfare would have been substantially more expensive!) 
4. When applying to veterinary school, grades aren't everything, but they definitely are important! Make sure they are a priority to you. If you find yourself struggling to maintain your grades due to overextending yourself, give up some of your extracurricular activities and focus on studying. You can always gain more experience after you graduate if need be, but it is infinitely harder to improve a poor GPA.
5. On that note, admissions committees also like to see that you can handle a difficult course-load, so don't just take a bunch of classes that will give you an "easy A." Strive to challenge yourself as much as possible. Coming from someone who didn't have the best GPA (only a 3.5), but who pursued a difficult major (biochemistry), I can say that getting B's in challenging, upper-level classes says a lot more about you than getting all A's, but only meeting the minimum pre-requisite requirements. The added benefit of taking extra upper-level classes is that once you get accepted to veterinary school, you'll already be familiar with some of the material, which will put you ahead of the game. 
6. Diversity is an important factor for many admissions committees. Most schools have approximately 1000 applicants and only 100 seats in each class, so do whatever you can to make yourself stand out! Pursue a unique major, join extracurricular activities that highlight your interests, and seek out uncommon experiences. Allow yourself to think outside the box, too! Several experiences that I had that I believe made me stand out were my research experience, my volunteer position at a hospital, and my past employment in the marketing field. There's always a way to relate your experiences back to veterinary medicine, so find those connections and use them to your advantage!
7. Continuing with the diversity aspect, make sure you have a wide variety of animal and veterinary experiences. Veterinary medicine has many different facets, and admissions committees want to see that you have a well-rounded understanding of the field. Try to gain experience with both large and small animals; even if you think you'll ultimately only focus on one or the other, you'll be required to learn about both during veterinary school. Experience with exotics or research animals will also go a long way in making you stand out. And don't forget that the quality of the experience is just as important as the quantity!
8. Try to maintain an up-to-date list of all your activities and the hours spent at each one because the VMCAS application will ask you to be specific. It's also helpful to keep a master list of any awards or scholarships you may have, since there's a separate section to list these on the application. And I would definitely recommend keeping a journal about your animal or veterinary experiences. Any time you witness something really interesting, jot down a little note about it. Trust me, it will be immensely helpful when it comes time to write descriptions of your activities and brainstorm subject matter for your personal statement.
9. The importance of strong letters of recommendation cannot be understated! Try to form relationships with your professors, mentors, or veterinarians that you shadow. Most schools require at least three letters of recommendation, but VMCAS allows you to upload as many as six. Make sure you are familiar with each schools' requirements. A wide variety of letters that showcase your unique personality will allow admissions committees to get a more complete picture of your passion, interpersonal skills, and work ethic. Using myself as an example: I had letters from three different veterinarians I worked for (each one with a different specialty), as well as a professor that I was close with, the P.I. of my research project, and the medical liaison at the animal shelter where I volunteered.
10. Above all, do your best to remain optimistic during the admissions cycle! Every applicant has their strengths and weaknesses, and everyone has worked extremely hard to make it to where they are. Have confidence in yourself and your abilities, and remember that you deserve to be admitted just as much as anyone else! 

Best of luck to all current and future applicants! I can't wait to be colleagues with you all!