Admission Committee Expectations for Successfully Completed Applications
VMCAS Personal Statement: demonstrate competent written
communication skills, display depth of thought regarding personal commitment
to the profession, articulate a sense of your career focus, express experiential
learning gained from veterinary, research and animal experiences. A suggested
format may be as follows: a brief statement about who you are (grew up
on a farm, lived in a city, raised horses, raised mice, etc.), a brief
reflection about when, how and why you made your adult decision to be
a veterinarian (when you finally realized this is a science based medical
career that deals with animals), and a good overview of what you have
learned about the profession from your various experiences (not skills
like drawing blood, etc.) such as disease processes, surgical comparisons,
similarities or differences between treatments/medications for different
species, or results of research efforts. This essay is expected to be
no more than a page and a half (single spaced) or so.
College Supplemental Essay: This essay is a response
to a prompt paragraph/question. Again, the Committee expects to see competent
written communication skills, depth of thought about the question, and
clear articulation of your thinking. Be sure to read the prompt statement
very carefully and respond completely to whatever question (or questions)
are a part of the paragraph. You may need to employ some imagination in
this effort or even to do some research prior to constructing your essay.
You will be expected to demonstrate some knowledge about the field of
veterinary medicine in a broad sense. This essay will be about three quarters
of a page single spaced.