Shopping Spree

Last Friday, I bravely battled the fierce traffic of downtown Washington, D.C. and made my way to the Westin Hotel, on the corner of 14th and M Streets, to attend a Veterinary Medical Career Fair sponsored by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). Here, representatives from the majority of the vet schools accredited by this organization set up tables featuring their recruiting literature and a plethora of useless tchotchkes (seriously, what on earth do I need with a foam stress device in the shape of a dog bone?). I figured this would be a fantastic opportunity to talk to the different schools and find out what they’re all about. A bit of school shopping if you will (and y’all know how much I love to shop!). Plus, it got me out of work a bit early on a Friday – woo-hoo!

After spending the better part of two hours talking to the various schools, here’s what I found out:

- Kansas State seems really desperate to recruit students. This is probably not a fair statement since ALL the vet schools are hard to get into, but the recruiter working the table seemed overly excited to talk to me and quite literally shoved everything he had to offer into my hand – brochures, pencils, bandanas for my dog – all while speaking at a rapid fire pace. Not a slam on the man as he was quite nice; I just thought he was funny. However, he did inform me that KSU has no minimum hour requirements for the non-academic “animal experience” portion of the application process. Hmmmm, interesting...

- Americans and Europeans differ greatly on their opinions regarding how much “personal space” each human is entitled. I spoke to a recruiter from the Royal Veterinary College from the University of London who was a real sweetheart and absolutely fascinating to talk to, but did so at a very close range. Honestly, she was so close I felt like she was going to reach out and hug me at any moment. However, she told me enough great things about the school that I feel like London could be a very neat place to attend vet school.

- Don’t like lecture-based learning? That’s OK. Cornell, Western and Colorado State Universities all have some form of what is called “Problem-Based Learning,” PBL for short. This is really cool. Instead of sitting in lecture for three years and doing clinical rotations only in the fourth year, you start working on cases the first day you step foot into the school. They break the class up into groups of about 8 or 10 and in these small groups, you break each case down by medical component, study it, digest it, lather, rinse, repeat until you finally do your formal rotations in the fourth year. In other words, you get to do doctor stuff from day one. Wow.

- The guy from University of Pennsylvania gave me a great strategy on how to better my chances of getting in. Become a resident again. This places you into a different applicant pool that increases your chances of acceptance from under 0.5% all the way up to 25%. Still pretty shaky in terms of numbers, but MUCH better than trying to apply from out-of-state. My gut tells me this strategy is not limited to U of PA. Something to chew on…

- Apparently Michigan State University is too sexy for its recruiters. Or decent brochures. Their table was in a corner, by itself, no one behind it, with only flyers consisting of two stapled, letter-sized pieces of paper offered to those interested. However, from talking to other people, reading articles and doing my own research, I hear MSU is still a great school and is definitely worth looking at. I suppose it helps that I have family living about an hour away.

- Speaking to representatives from Virginia Tech, the school I had most anticipated gaining admittance (for obvious reasons) was a bit of a let down. When asked similar questions to those asked of other schools, which did require a certain amount of comparison to other schools, the woman became a bit defensive and called out other schools on some of their faults. Salesmanship 101 will teach you that bad mouthing the competition does not serve as a successful marketing strategy and can, in fact, backfire. This was exactly how I felt. I know very well that one person’s opinions may not reflect the quality of the school in its entirety, but to say I was somewhat disappointed would be a gross understatement. I feel like I will still apply, but perhaps with less enthusiasm as before. Perhaps a visit to the campus will reinstate my good feelings toward the school. After all, the gentleman from VA Tech did say that most applicants who declined their acceptance offers had done so without ever seeing the campus.

So there you have it, the top 7 schools I am interested in applying to a few years from now. Which one of these schools would I like most to accept my application? Whichever school will admit me, that’s which one.

Oh, but wait! Those counting along will note that I mentioned 8 schools. Yeah, there’s no way in hell I’m going to Kansas. Sorry Kansas! I’m sure you’re a very nice state and you have a wonderful personality; I’m just not feeling the chemistry, if ya know what I’m sayin’. Same goes for states that begin with the letter “I.” Too bad there isn’t a vet school in Hawaii.

Ha! I suppose beggars can be choosers, afterall.