Below is a general list of important information and advice presented at our vet school representatives meeting. We have included the admissions counselors' names along with their contact information and the school's website if you have any further questions.
Tufts University: Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Location: North Grafton, Massachusetts
Tufts Admissions Counselor: Ford Barnet
Contact info: [email protected]
website: https://vet.tufts.edu/
Admissions Statistics
Average GPA: 3.65
GRE Scores: Verbal- 161
Quantitative-159
Analytical- 4.5
Class Size: 98 students (30% from Massachusetts, 70% out-of-state)
Background Information
Tuition: $49,886/year (out-of-state residents)
Facilities: Small animal hospital, large animal hospital, wildlife clinic, spay/neuter clinic, research laboratories
Programs: DVM – doctorate of veterinary medicine (Four years)
PhD- Comparative Biomedical Sciences
MS – masters program include: 1) Animals and public policy
2) Conservation medicine
3) Infectious diseases & global health
Student Life: 1st year- take classes (i.e. chemistry, anatomy, etc.)
2nd year- learn about problems pertaining to the animals, cases
3rd year- learn about solutions to the problems, successes/failures, start rotations by the end of the year.
4th year- clinic, rotations
Interesting Facts
1. Admissions
Tufts University does not look at an individual as a formula just based on his/her GPA and GRE scores. Although those are the most important factors, admissions officers also strive to answer the question, can this person succeed in our program? Therefore, officers thoroughly look at the courses that you took, your GPA trends throughout the four years, letter of evaluations, and other factors to consider if you are the right fit.
2. Classes
During a student’s first and second year, he/she automatically has something called selectives included into his/her schedule. A selective is placed on Tuesdays from 1pm-5pm. During this time period, a student can choose to participate in any field that they are interested in such as wildlife medicine, aquatic medicine, research, etc.
3. What makes Tufts unique?
Tufts University is located in a very small town/community. As a result, all classmates end up knowing each other and supporting each other. Another factor that differentiates Tufts is that they have the highest amount of small animal case loads compared to other vet schools (approx. >50,000 cases/year). They are also the first school to incorporate a wildlife curriculum.
Advice
1. Price, location, the institution and what programs it offers should be the main factors to consider when choosing a veterinary school.
2. Vet school is hard, take time to see what you can handle ( i.e. jobs, extracurricular activities).
3. Grades matter if you want to do a residency after vet school. If you are going to work in a general practice or do research, grades do not matter as much, but your skills are still important.
Massey university
Location: Palmerston North, New Zealand
Massey Admission Counselor: Eloise
Contact info: [email protected]
website: http://www.massey.ac.nz/internationalvet
Admissions Statistics
GPA: minimum B average in all science classes (They look at science GPA)
GRE: minimum average percentile 50%
Class size: 124 students (100 from domestic, 24 International)
Background Information
Tuition: approx. $44,000/ year
Accreditation: AVMA (US), CVMA (Canada), RCVS (UK), AVBC( Australia, New Zealand)
Program: 5 year program (Explanation for this below on Program Information)
Student Life: 1st years: pre-selection phase or classes
2nd-4th years: classes, practicals, clinics
5th year: Track year- Core week 50%: for students in all tracks
Set weeks 25%: spend time in your specific track
Own weeks 25%: pick your own options (internships/externships)
Program Information
The reason why Massey University’s veterinary program runs for five years is because they do not require students to have their bachelor’s degree before applying. This means that recently graduated high schoolers can go straight into the veterinary program after meeting requirements and getting picked from a pre-selection phase.
This diagram provided from Massey University shows the distribution of the groups of students whom get accepted. Students from New Zealand must go through a pre-selection phase for about a semester, in which they take pre-requisite science courses. Only 100 of those students get chosen to continue onto the professional phase for 4.5 years. The professional phase is when students actually start training to become a veterinarian. Group one students are those who are international students and have not taken all the required science courses (i.e. high school graduates, first years, second years). These group one students must also go through a pre-selection phase and must be chosen by admissions officers to continue to the professional phase. Lastly, group two is made up of international students whom have already obtained their bachelor’s degree or have taken the required classes (Ex. Third years, fourth years). These students start right at the professional phase after getting accepted and take about 4.5 years to finish the veterinary program.
Advice
1. Though going to international vet school seems overwhelming, you end up meeting a lot of different people and find a group of friends almost immediately.
2. If you get into an in-state vet school go to it instead of spending more money on an out-of-state school.
3. The hardship of going to a foreign vet school is trying to overcome being so far away from your friends and family. Luckily, there is a lot of technology these days to help you keep in contact with each other.
Kelli Chan
PSSD Historian 2016-2017