VMCAS Deadline!

Celebration! The October 2nd VMCAS deadline for submission has passed and veterinary schools are officially looking through all of the applications. Congrats and good-luck to all of you pre-veterinary students that got your VMCAS application, transcripts, letters of recommendations, GRE scores and fees in on time. Kick back and relax for a little bit because we all deserve it after going through such a rigorous process. But the stress of the application may be over, but now comes the supplementary applications, interviews, and the waiting game. Just remember to breath, always ask for help or advice when you need it, and be confident.      

For you younger students, here are a few tips for the general application process!
- Start it early!! The VMCAS opens up in early June and isn't due until October 1st. This may seem like a long time, but it goes by very quickly. So the day it opens, make your account and start getting familiar with what you need to do.
- Submit early!! The VMCAS suggests getting your application in by September 1st, but I suggesting doing it even earlier. I submitting my application in mid July and it took them three weeks to verify that my application was correct and sent to my schools. Not only is it piece of mind that your application is all set, it makes it easier to get things corrected before the final deadline.
- Start planning now. The VMCAS application is extremely comprehensive. They want to know everything that you have every done since high school. Hopefully you have been keeping a list, but if not starting thinking back to what you have been doing these past years.
- Give yourself time to retake the GRE and still submit those scores in time for the application. Hopefully you will meet your goal scores the first time, but just in case make sure to give yourself some leeway time.
- Ask your references early and make sure they know you. The more time that you give you references to write the letters, the better they will be and the less stressed you will be. You can ask your references even before the VMCAS opens up. But more than anything make sure that your references know you as a person, know your work ethic, and have some real-word experiences with you whether it is in the classroom, workforce, research lab, or in a veterinary clinic.
- Know the deadlines by heart (but hopefully you turn everything in early anyways). They do not make exceptions for people who turn the application and its materials in late. If the October 2nd deadline passes, then you have to wait a whole year to apply again.

Good luck! Keep posted for more advice blogs and more content to be added to the website.