Virginia-Maryland School Atmosphere?

[bear90]

Hi all! Just wondering if anyone has heard anything about what the Virginia-Maryland school is like. VA-MD was one of the schools I applied to this year, and I'm just wondering how the town is, if the professors and students are nice, and if the facilities are good. Oh, and if there are good studying places!!

Thanks!

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[ZoeyBay]

Hey, sorry it took someone a long time to get back, we are in the midst of many many tests here at VMRCVM.

I am (for the most part) enjoying my first year here. I think Blacksburg is a great place to go to school...there is plenty to do on the weekends (outdoorsy-stuff and downtown) and the people are nice and southern. The school and professors are welcoming and willing to help out with weekly review sessions, etc. Most of the class is cool and not nuts (we have lots of people send out review sheets they made to the whole class).

It is definately a lot of work (especially these next couple of weeks, as all our midterms are piling up), but you just do what needs to be done. As for the hospital facilities, I have really only been on large animal rounds, but they seem to get interesting cases.

As for studying places, most prefer the library or the commons area at school. Outside of campus, there are various coffee shops, and they are building a Panera in Christiansburg (~5 min away). I prefer to study at home with my pets. Hmmm, any other questions? Hope that helps a little!

 

[bear90]

Thanks for responding and being so helpful! My family lives in Virginia (but closer to D.C.) so I'm hoping to visit Blacksburg soon. I spoke with the Maryland admissions advisor last year and she said I was a competitive applicant b/c of my GPA (3.77) and lots of research experience (sophomore year through senior including a summer internship), but I don't have a lot of clinical experience (about 180 hours at 2 vet clinics).

If anyone is open to sharing some information about their stats as an applicant, that'd be great! If anything it'd help me get a better idea of what my chances are and what I should focus on for re-applying next year!

Thanks so much, guys!

 

[alliecat44]

Hi, Bear,

I'm actually from the DC area and went to VA Tech for undergrad. I was very familiar with the applicant stats and whatnot as the VP of the pre-vet club. It sounds like you'll be a very competitive applicant--they are looking more and more towards improving their reputation as a major research institution. To that end, they give huge weight to research experience (to the point that if you don't have any, you really shouldn't bother applying). Your GPA is also competitive--I think the average GPA of this year's freshman class was a 3.7 (Zoey, can you verify?). If you rocked your GRE's, it doesn't matter much about your clinical experience.

Good luck! Blacksburg really is a great place to go to school. It's gorgeous, and the people are friendly and laid-back. There's plenty to do but not so much that you're continually distracted. You're about 4-4.5 hours south of your family in northern VA. Good luck!!

 

[ZoeyBay]

It sounds like you'll be a very competitive applicant--they are looking more and more towards improving their reputation as a major research institution. To that end, they give huge weight to research experience (to the point that if you don't have any, you really shouldn't bother applying). Your GPA is also competitive--I think the average GPA of this year's freshman class was a 3.7 (Zoey, can you verify?). If you rocked your GRE's, it doesn't matter much about your clinical experience.

There is a report on the Class of 2011's stats on the VMRCVM website. Cumulative GPA was 3.66 this year. As for research experience, it certainly doesn't hurt, and looks great on an application. I only did a summer and a semester of working in a lab only to find out I didn't care much for research, but I just showed that at least I tried.

We are one of the schools that track, and the Public/Corporate track is becoming more and more popular (although it is still beat out by small animal and equine) - so I would imagine reseach is important if you are looking into that field.

The application process seems to be a basic point system (first you get points for grades & GREs, and then experience and LORs, and your essay). There is a point cut-off and those above it get interviews. Then the interview points are added to the first number and the top get in from there. Sooo, it seems that one area (your grades and/or GRE) could compensate for your lacking in the experience area. If you do get an interview, just be prepared to explain/defend that you know what you are getting yourself into. Good luck!

 

[River5]

I am from MD and did not get into VAMDRCVM so take this with as much salt as you like but I had a bad experiance with the MD admissions commitee. If you would like more info you can PM me if you like. BUt I have talked to many people who love it down there.

 

[bear90]

Well, my GRE scores aren't that good. I got a 600 on the math section and 470 on the english. My writing score was good though - 5.5. Don't know how much weight they would put on that one. I would love to get into vet school this upcoming year, but I guess if I didn't I could always take a year off and work. Did any of you take time off after undergrad, or not get in the first application round?

How stressful were the interviews? I hear they are pretty tough at VMRCVM.

 

[winterfire1203]

First: on the research idea. I had done no research when I applied and only made a comment on my additional work that I planned to do a semesters worth before I left undergrad. What I did have was thousands of hours in large animal work (equine) and hundreds of hours at a mixed practice. So feel free to apply with or without research.

Second: I really do like Blacksburg. It's just enough rural and just enough city for me. If you are a big city person (as in Philadelphia and NYC are your ideal) you may not be happy but I think it has enough in between for others. People are here are into VT so they pretty much love us.

For the school: I really enjoy it and I'm very, very happy I'm here. But, I think school is what you make it. I'm taking on as many new experiences as I can: palpating cows (only touched calves before!), going on rounds to see the hospital, working with our education animals, etc. So decide what you want out of school and go after it. I can't speak for other schools but I think VMRCVM has something for everyone.

As for the Maryland commissions people: River5 I'm sorry you had a bad experience I was warned by my undergrad that they could be very hard on people and that people had cried (wow!) but I actually had a very good experience, felt respected as an applicant, as though they wanted to know me and weren't trying to back me into a corner or anything. Spent five minutes talking to my cold interview people before they remembered it was supposed to be an interview and we got down to business. I think everyone's experience varies. My roommate had a good experience. I've talked to several people from Virginia who had a difficult experience and thought they'd failed miserably because they were pushed so hard and stumbling for answers, etc. I've heard from several people however that it can be good when they push you because you've been having almost to easy a time and they want to see where the vet student ends and the human begins

Good luck to everyone who applied!

Hope to see you here!
Now, as ZoeyBay said, back to exams (I hate biochem...)

 

[ratbandit]

How stressful were the interviews? I hear they are pretty tough at VMRCVM.

I was super nervous before the interview started but I think it ended up going better than all the other interviews I had at other schools. They talked to me a lot about why I wanted to be a vet and what my veterinary interests were...pretty easy conversation topics, I didn't get any technical questions or anything. I would say they were the friendliest interviewers that I had! Just know about your own experiences and the area of veterinary medicine you said you were interested in and you should be fine! Out of all the schools I visited it seemed like VA-MD students liked their professors the best.

 

[Beagingese]

I love going to VA-MD. I came to an open house well before I applied and loved it. They also do admissions events during the summer when you can come in and sit down and the admissions director goes over all the important things you need to have in your package to be a competitive applicant. I am from Maryland so I interviewed in College Park (everyone else interviews in Blacksburg) and the interview was stressful just because it was so different from my other interviews. VA-MD does a "hot"/"cold" system. You have a "hot" interview first- very formal, you go into a big room with a long board table and you're sitting at the very end with 2-3 people in each side. Everyone in the room has read your application cover to cover and knows everything about you. The questions are fast-paced and one right after the other and they can and will pull out smaller details from your application to ask you about. It was definitely more nerve-wracking than I anticipated. The good news- it's only 15 minutes long. So by the time you realize it, the whole thing's over because there were so many questions so quickly. On that note, though, keep your answers short and sweet because if you talk long you use up all your time. Say what you need to say, but don't be long-winded. Then you leave, get a 5-15 minute break to recover and go into your "cold" interview. This was completely different. You are sitting in an office just on the other side of the desk, they offered me water and cookies and there are only 2 people there. They know nothing more about you than your name. You get ~1 minute to start with to introduce yourself, why you are there, and basically whatever information you feel like telling them. They want to see that you can talk about yourself in a clear succinct manner and are looking for clues to the things you think are important, because that's what you'll talk about. Then based on what you say, they ask you questions. Everything's based on your answers and again it's a 15 minute interview. Much more relaxed and comfortable and almost enjoyable. It was much more like a straight-forward conversation than an interview. And that was it. I went home and they called me 6 days later to offer me a place in the class.

Now that I'm here, I LOVE it. It's beautiful here but I'm VERY glad that I'm living in Christiansburg rather than Blacksburg. There's too much undergrad drunken stupidity there and while it's very quaint, it bugs me at the same time. I'm always glad to leave school, drive a little further away and not feel like I'm living at school, if that makes sense. And because of the new bypass it's only a 12 minute drive so it's very doable.

There's lots of awesome stuff to do here, too bad I don't have time for any of it, but it's here...So yea...yay Hokies!!!

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I absolutely love it here. I wouldn't have gone anywhere else. [well except Colorado for the scenery ] There are so many academic opportunities...all the professors are extremely approachable...the social environment is great...and if you are outdoorsy, let me tell you, Blacksburg is for you - the hiking is superb....

I also came in with very little clinical experience but a lot of research experience - actually there is a big "alternative career" push here at VMRCVM - they love people into research/diagnostics/exotics etc. So don't worry about not much clinical stuff. If you come in and say hey...I don't necessarily want to do clinics - they will be all for it! If you want to do some cutting edge disease/animal health research, VMRCVM is DEFINITELY one of the best places to be.

I also thought the interviews were not NEARLY as bad as I had heard. Even the hot interview didn't hit me with any surprise questions. Just the basic "why do you want to come here" "why should you come here?" "what do you plan to do with your time here" "i see you worked at [insert job here], what was your experience there?" The cold interview was actually kind of fun, we all just chatted about what I was interested in.

 

[bear90]

The school sounds great, so does the location! Was it about February that you guys got your replies and interviewed?

I definitely have a lot of research experience and can talk about that, but most of it didn't deal with animals. Hopefully that's ok . . . it is still biological research. Just on the molecular side.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Bear90 - a ton of research we do here IS on the molecular scale Especially the oncology work, which is really great. (http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/ceco/archives.html) . Most of my research experience was chemistry/biochemistry - no live animals even, but they still really liked it...the tracking program we have also lets you tailor tyour classes more - so if you're more into research, infectious disease, etc you can take, say, another histopath class or an epidemiology class instead of a small animal repro class...weeee

Blacksburg is a great place to be. It's a college town, so it has all of its little unique nooks and crannies - little organic coffee shops, a wide variety of resraurants, a great famers market that even has local meat and eggs, bars for both "college types" and "indie types" alike......but a half hour drive will get you right up in the mountain and on the Appalachian trail - pure nature!. If you like to hike, then by golly,you'll be happy. Of course, liking football is a must!!

It's just so great being able to see mountains in the distance wherever you are on campus...beautiful.

I honestly can't remember exactly when we heard, but Jan/Feb sounds about right.