Prospective veterinary students may save time and money through an upgrade of the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS). One feature is the ability to order a single set of college transcripts rather than send records to each veterinary college to which a student applies for admission. The service, offered by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, will audit an applicant’s coursework and compare it against official transcripts, verifying the term, session, course title, credit hours and grades. "Transcript verification and other enhancements will make the application process more efficient, effective and media friendly for applicants to veterinary medical school,” said AAVMC executive director Andrew Maccabe, DVM, MPH, JD. "This will benefit schools by correcting any discrepancies ahead of time, easing the transcript verification process.” Applications for the 2014-2015 school year will be accepted starting June 5. Transcripts must be submitted by Sept. 1 to ensure verification by Oct. 2. AAVMC today also launched the admissions portal WebAdMIT, a Web-based program designed to improve how schools work with incoming applications. Features include built-in email, status reports and admissions committee review modules. Enhanced social networking includes Twitter and Facebook accounts for VMCAS as well as a new AAVMC Facebook page. Students should start the application process as early as possible, Dr. Maccabe said. "The application asks for a significant amount of information, and it can take several hours to complete,” he said, "but the system enables applicants to save information and return to the application at a later time.” The Washington, D.C.-based AAVMC is made up of all 33 veterinary medical colleges in the United States and Canada, eight departments of veterinary science, eight departments of comparative medicine, 12 international colleges of veterinary medicine and three affiliate members. <HOME>
