What's the deal with the evaluation process?

[lailanni]

"Your application will be thoroughly evaluated over the next few months
and we will contact you between January and March of 2008, to update you
on the status of your application."

So I'm curious...

What is the application evaluation process like?

Does everyone get looked at equally, or do they sort by grades and then look?

Who does the evaluating? Who gets the final say to call for an interview?

How many people look at one application? A group of people, or just one person?

Why does it take so long? Is it really that hard, or are they just slow?

Can visiting a school while apps are being evaluated influence their decision on you?

Why does it cost so dang much?

-Thanks for any insight. I'm a bit clueless about how this very lengthy process actually gets done.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[rexosaurus]

"Your application will be thoroughly evaluated over the next few months
and we will contact you between January and March of 2008, to update you
on the status of your application."

So I'm curious...

What is the application evaluation process like?

Does everyone get looked at equally, or do they sort by grades and then look?

Who does the evaluating? Who gets the final say to call for an interview?

How many people look at one application? A group of people, or just one person?

Why does it take so long? Is it really that hard, or are they just slow?

Can visiting a school while apps are being evaluated influence their decision on you?

Why does it cost so dang much?

-Thanks for any insight. I'm a bit clueless about how this very lengthy process actually gets done.

Well for one, consider the sheer volume of applications they get. For instance, Tufts alone got some 900+ applications. I personally think they should take as much time as they need evaluating my application to decide that I should be invited to come to their school Also, there is an admissions comittee made of professors and such that volunteer their time to evaluate applications. I'm not exactly sure who else makes up this comittee, perhaps somebody else can put some light on this subject. Visiting schools during app season will not influence your application, if it did, everybody would visit. Besides, it is an unfair advantage to those who can afford to fly accross country (for example) to visit their college of choice; although they may remember you more. Perhaps you should visit the aavmc website or the particular schools website you are interested to gain more insight on how they evaluate prospective students. They often have a section that breaks things down, for example, how they weight your GREs, grades, interveiws, etc. Hope this helps!

 

[m&ossyducks]

Also, there is an admissions comittee made of professors and such that volunteer their time to evaluate applications.

Being on the admissions committee for various lengths of time is a part of their job requirement as a vet school professor. They are getting paid to do this at most vet schools, not just volunteering their time.

 

[rexosaurus]

thank you for the clarification, i myself am not too certain on the composition of an admissions committee.