VETERINARY MEDICAL COLLEGE

The Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS), established by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, is for applicants wishing to apply to colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States. VMCAS is a centralized application service that provides for the collection, processing, verification, and distribution of applicant data to the participating colleges for their use in the applicant selection process.

Application deadlines, prerequisite courses, and other aspects of the selection process differ from college to college. Applicants must pay particular attention to the information and instructions included in the application packet for each of the participating colleges.

Because Veterinary Medical Colleges application requirements are unique to their particular institution, the Health Professions Advisory Committee will only submit its own recommendation letter to each institution. The Committee letter will NOT include other recommendation letters necessary to fulfill the requisite number of recommendations. Most veterinary colleges require three evaluation forms/recommendation letters. The Committee will still require the students to provide at least three recommendation letters, which will be used to write the composite letter. This composite letter will count as one letter in fulfilling the recommendation requirement of each veterinary school.

Before HPAC will write its recommendation letter, the student will need to have a Committee interview. An interview will not be scheduled unless the student's file is complete. A complete file should contain:

1) Interview Application Form
2) Up-to-date transcript
3) Rough draft of your personal statement
4) At least three recommendation letters

Interviews are held in late spring each year.

The applicant is responsible for fulfilling the requirements of each veterinary college and requesting the necessary recommendation letters. They should provide the VMCAS evaluation forms, recommendation letter guidelines, and complete mailing instructions to each person when requesting letters. They should also request that a copy of the letter be sent to HPAC. Letters should be requested a minimum of six weeks (preferably longer) before the deadline to allow for the busy schedules of the individuals writing the letters. HPAC recommends that students applying to veterinary medical school thoroughly familiarize themselves with the Veterinary Medical School Admissions Requirements (in the United States and Canada). This is the official AAVMC handbook for the 31 veterinary medical schools in the United States and Canada.