College Admissions
Qualifications | VMCAS |
Application Deadline | GRE |
Letters of Recommendation
Transcripts | Citizenship
| Selection Procedure
ADMISSION PROCEDURES
Approximately 85 applicants are admitted to the professional program of the College of Veterinary Medicine each year.
TO QUALIFY FOR ADMISSION:
A candidate must have completed at least the minimum pre-veterinary course requirements as listed.
All preveterinary course requirements must be completed by the end of the spring term of the year in which you intend to matriculate.
All prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of C or better.
Preveterinary course requirements may be completed at any accredited college or university offering courses equivalent to those at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
- Completion of preveterinary course requirements does not guarantee acceptance into the College of Veterinary Medicine.
|
Subject Area |
Semester Hours |
|
|
|
| General inorganic chemistry with lab |
8 |
| Organic chemistry with lab |
8 |
| General biology / zoology with lab | 8 |
| Cellular biology | 3 |
| Genetics | 3 |
| Biochemistry, exclusive of laboratory* | 4 |
| Physics with lab | 8 |
| English composition | 6 |
| Social sciences / humanities | 18 |
|
|
|
| Total semester credit hours | 66 |
* This should be an upper-division course in general cellular and comparative biochemistry. Half of a two-semester sequence will not satisfy this requirement. The biochemistry course requirement must have been satisfactorily completed within five years of the time you wish to enter the processional program. Applicants are strongly encouraged to take additional biological science courses especially comparative anatomy, mammalian physiology, and microbiology with laboratory.
Admission of new students will be for the Fall Semester each year. Applicants will be carefully screened by a faculty committee to determine those best qualified for admission to the College. Eighty-five (85) applicants are admitted to the professional program each year. Approximately 65 positions are designated for qualified applicants who are Tennessee residents. In addition, the College will admit approximately 20 highly qualified non-resident applicants each year.
WHAT IS VMCAS
The College uses the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) to make it easier for applicants to apply to the College. VMCAS, established by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, is a centralized application service which provides for the collection, processing, verification, and distribution of applicant data to participating colleges. VMCAS is not involved in admission decisions. Admission decisions are the prerogative of the College of Veterinary Medicine.ONLINE APPLICATION DEADLINE:
Completed online applications must be received by VMCAS no later than October 1 each year.LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION & EVALUATION FORMS:
Also, it is your responsibility to request three (3) VMCAS Evaluation Forms & Letters of recommendation in a timely fashion.GRE:
The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) General Test is required to be considered for admission.
You must designate that your GRE General Test scores be sent directly to The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.
The GRE General Test must be taken and results received by the College by January 15th, 2009
College code: 2104
For applicants planning to matriculate in the College in August, 2009, results of GRE tests taken prior to November 1, 2003, will not be accepted.
TRANSCRIPTS:
Also, it is your responsibility to request transcripts, in sealed official envelopes from appropriate college/university registrars, for all post-secondary institutions you attended. These transcripts must include ALL course work completed through Summer Term, 2008. Transcripts must be mailed directly to the College of Veterinary Medicine (not to VMCAS), and must be postmarked by the October 2 deadline date.
A NON-RESIDENT APPLICANT MUST HAVE A MINIMUM CUMULATIVE GRADE POINT AVERAGE OF 3.2 ON A 4.0 SCALE FOR HIS/HER APPLICATION TO BE CONSIDERED.
CITIZENSHIP:
Applications are accepted only from U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States.SELECTION PROCEDURE:
Selection of applicants is a two-phase process and is normally completed by April 1.
The first phase is objective and a point value is derived from evaluation of academic transcripts and the GRE scores.
The second phase involves an evaluation of the non-academic attributes of those individuals selected after completion of phase one, and includes a personal interview at the College. Not all applicants are invited for the personal interview.
A point value for the second phase is also derived and a total score determined. The class is selected from among the interviewed applicants.The phase one evaluation represents approximately 70 percent of the selection process and phase two the remaining approximately 30 percent.
The specific criteria used for applicant selection are as follows:
PHASE ONE EVALUATION
In all categories, grade point average (GPA) is calculated on all course work attempted, including repeated courses.
Overall GPA, including graduate work x 6
GPA of all undergraduate level physical science courses (mathematics, chemistry, physics, biochemistry) x 12
GPA of all undergraduate level biological science and animal science courses x 6
GPA for the most recent four semesters or six quarters of undergraduate level course work x 6
(NOTE: Categories 2, 3, and 4 above are calculated using only undergraduate level course work. Further, no semester or quarter of less than 10 credit hours will be used in the calculation of category 4.)
Total number of semester hours successfully completed at the time of application will be assigned points as follows:
Over 94 = 1 Over 114 = 4
Over 100 = 2 Over 120 = 5
Over 107 = 3 Over 127 = 6Average course load per full term (at least 12 credit hours) successfully completed will be assigned points as follows:
15 hours = 1 18 hours = 4
16 hours = 2 19 hours = 5
17 hours = 3 20 hours = 6GRE7 General Test: Scores from the verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections of the GRE7 will be evaluated. A maximum of 25 points will be added to each applicants academic evaluation based on performance on each section of the GRE7. For the verbal and quantitative sections, a maximum of ten (10) points for each section may be earned for scores between 500-800 (i.e.: 510 = 0.33 points, 520 = 0.67 points, 530 = 1.0 point, etc.). For the analytical section, up to 5 points may be earned for scores of 3.5 or greater (i.e. 3.5 = 1.0 point, 4.0 = 2 points, etc.)
The maximum number of points an applicant can earn on the Academic profile calculation is 157. The lowest Academic profile score with which an applicant will be interviewed may vary from year to year depending on the number of applicants to be admitted and the qualifications of the applicant pool, and is determined annually by the Student Selection Committee.
PHASE TWO EVALUATION
The second phase of the selection process is the non-academic evaluation and interview. Each applicant selected for the Phase Two Evaluation will be interviewed during a single meeting with members of the College faculty. Each interview team member scores the applicant independently, and none of the members has access to the applicant's phase one score. An interviewed applicant may earn a maximum of 68 points for phase two. Characteristics and documents evaluated during the interview include, but are not limited to, motivation, maturity, experience with animals, knowledge of the veterinary profession, personal qualities, leadership potential, personal statement, letters of reference, and the application.
The scores from phase one and two are added and a total score derived. The Student Selection Committee recommends to the Dean the class to be admitted.