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The University of Minnesota

Admissions Contact Information

Phone: 612-624-474
Email: dvminfo@umn.edu
Address: 108 Pomeroy Center, 1964 Fitch Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108
Website: http://www.cvm.umn.edu/

Background Information

  • When was the school founded? The Veterinary College was founded in 1947. 

  • What is the mission of the institution? The College of Veterinary Medicine affects the lives of Minnesotans every day by educating current and future veterinarians and biomedical scientists, discovering and disseminating new knowledge and skills, and providing state-of-the-art veterinary services.

  • Is it a public or private University? It is public. 

  • Do they have any special programs? The VetFAST program addresses a nationwide shortage in food animal veterinarians. Freshman undergraduate students enrolled in the Animal Science program at the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the U of M Twin Cities; Biology students from the U of M Morris; and Animal Science students from the U of M Crookston can apply early for admission to the D.V.M. program. Typical applicants have past experience working with food animals, are in the top 25 percent of their high school class, and have scored 25+ on their ACT scores. There is also the summer scholars program Now in its twelfth year, the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine Summer Scholars Program offers first and second year veterinary students the opportunity to participate in research projects related to veterinary, animal, and human health initiatives. Through this experiential learning, students will gain an appreciation of biomedical and veterinary research careers and see firsthand how research contributes to advances in health care and veterinary practice.

  • Do they have any special facilities? Yes, the veterinary medical center, the veterinary diagnostic lab, raptor center, the Ben Pomeroy Student-Alumni Learning Center, The Equine Center, and the Minnesota Veterinary Historical Museum.

​Ranking​

  • U.S. News and World Report Ranking: 9

  • Accreditation: ​Yes, The University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine is fully accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Education.

​Required Coursework

​- English (one writing course and one english course)

- Mathematics (college algebra, pre-calculus or intro-calculus)

- Chemistry (general inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry)

- Biology (general biology, zoology, genetics, and microbiology)

- Physics 

- Liberal Education (four courses total split between social sciences/history and arts/humanities)

 

Veterinary Program​

  • How many years is the program? 4 year program

  • What is the start date? September 4th

  • What is the average class size? 92 

  • What concentrations are offered? Small animal, large animal, equine, mixed practice, zoological, food animal, public health, dairy, exotics.

  • What other degrees are offered? DVM, MS, PhD, DVM/PhD dual degree, and graduate programs. They also have the veterinary public health degree and applied business certificates. 

  • What are the residency placement options? They offer a pathology residency program and a veterinary public health program. Currently they have two coming soon programs, which are in clinical medicine and clinical intern programs.

  • What is the NAVLE pass rate? 98%

  • What is the retention rate? 98%

  1. What are some student activities? There are many research programs and activities available for students at Minnesota. Such research programs as STAR, YEAR, and VSTP allow first through fourth year students the opportunities to experience animal-oriented, hypothesis-driven, biomedical research. There are also many different clubs on campus directed towards veterinary medicine and other animal related fields. For example there is the behavior medicine club, the lab animal medicine club, shelter vets club, and veterinary pathology club.

  • What professional development do they offer graduates? There hold conferences and seminars for the veterinarians in the area to help further their knowledge.

  • What academic support programs do they have? They have lots of career development tools for students and alumni. They have the AVMA student externship locators, the AVMA training and service opportunities system, the Jobs within the college search engine, MVMA membership, St. Paul Career center, student job postings, the veterinary career network, and a whole office dedicated to helping students prepare for getting a job.

​Admissions General Information​

  • Professional Application Service:  VMCAS

  • VMCAS Deadline: October 2nd

  • Do they have a supplemental application? They do not have a supplemental applicantion between they do interviews. However, they do still have a $85 fee that you still have to pay for the processing fee. 

  • Do they have interviews? The University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has adopted a behavioral interview as part of the evaluation process for applicants seeking admission to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). The change reflects a growing trend in candidate evaluation and a response to changes in the veterinary profession, where success depends on the ability to handle more than just animal issues. Interviews are typically conducted in late January and early February. The interview last approximately 60 minutes and consists of 10 interview questions. The questions are done by a team of two people who could be veterinary faculty, professional staff, alumni, and external veterinarians who have been trained to do the behavioral interview process. These interviews are blind, which means that the interviewers will not have access to the applicants file in advanced. 

  • Are AP credits accepted? Yes, they accepted AP/ID credits as long as it is documented on an undergraduate transcript.

  • Do they require a pre-professional curriculum? No, as long as all required courses are met.

  • ​What professional test do they accept? GRE

Admissions Statistics (2013)

General Statistics 

# of applications received per year - 1031

# of out-of-state applicants per year - 814

# of students accepted - 102

% of applicants accepted - 9.8%

% of in-state students enrolled - 55.9%

% of out-of-state students enrolled - 44.1%

% female - 85.3%

% male - 14.7%



GPA Statistics

Avg. last 45 credits GPA of admitted students - 3.74

Avg. required credits GPA of admitted students - 3.65

 

GRE Statistics

Avg. verbal score for admitted students - 156

Avg. quantitative score for admitted students - 154

Avg. total overall score for admitted students - 311

 

Subjective Review Components

The evaluation of applicants is a three-stage process that includes academic measures, non-academic measures, and a behavior interview.

​

1. GPA Required Courses: This GPA is based on the completed required courses for admissions with neither the Fall 2013 or Winter 2014 being taken into consideration. Repeated courses will be averaged if retaken within three years and only the new grade is used if it has been longer than three years. 

 

2. Most Recent Cumulative GPA: the last 45 semester hours of graded course work are counted in this area.

 

3. GRE: The GRE must have been taken no earlier than October 2nd, 2008 and the applicants percentile must be above 35th percentile to receive any points.
 

4. Knoweldge of the Veterinary Profession, Knowledge of and Interest in Animals, and Professional Goals: This is assessed by their exeriences with veterinarians and experiences with and responsibility for the care and management of animals and goals in the profession. 

 

5. Maturity and Reliability: This takes into consideration employment experiences and responsibilities, ability to communicate with others, experiences suggesting leadership, extracurricular activities, academic load, and the amount of time devoted to employment and other activities while enrolled in college.

 

6. Interview: The behavioral interview is intended to objectively collect and evaluate information, using a series of questions that focus on the competencies required for success in the veterinary profession.

 

Tuition and Fees

  • In-state tuition = $33,880

 

  • Out-of-state tuition = $58,346

 

  • Is there an enrollment deposit required? No

 

  • Residency status options = Residency for admission purposes is determined by the Residency Officer in the Office of the Registrar and must be established one year prior to the application deadline in early October. Applicants from all other states will be considered for approximately 45 of 100 seats in the class. Students from out of state may get residency by attending a post-secondary institution within the first calendar year before attending the veterinary program. Or after the first year students may potentially change their classification if they can prove that they did not move to Minnesota just to attend the school.

 

​Funding Options​

  • Grants-in-aid - Yes, there are grants available to students who are academically competitive and in financial need. There is also a loan forgiveness program at Minnesota (The purpose of Minnesota’s Rural Veterinarian Loan Forgiveness program is to recruit and retain large animal/food animal veterinarians to needed areas and facilities within Minnesota. Loan forgiveness is an important benefit for veterinarians as well as rural communities experiencing a shortage of access to large animal/food animal veterinarians). They also have income-based repayment plans, pay-as-you-earn programs, and public service loan forgiveness. See the website above for many more grants and programs.

 

  • Fellowships - Yes, There are a number of competitive national and University of Minnesota fellowships and awards for which University of Minnesota. There are especially fellowships in the food animal industry and public health because those areas are in need of veterinarians.

 

  • Scholarships - Yes, Scholarships are available and typically awarded to select students during years three and four of the program. Approximately $250,000 was awarded in scholarships during 2011.

 

  • Assistantships - It does not appear that there are any assistantship positions at Minnesota.

 

  • Military Funding - The U.S. Army offers a variety of scholarships for veterinary students. If you are interested in the military, they will pay for your entire tuition in exchange for four years of service as a veterinarian. They also pay for all of your books/fees and you get a $1907 per month stipend. Once you start school you are a Second Lieutenant and after you graduate you are promoted to a Captain.

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