All prospective MSU DVM students must apply though the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) by the deadline listed on their website. This is where applicants will upload their transcripts, request letters of recommendation, complete their personal statement, indicate their interest in our DVM/PhD Dual-Degree Program, etc.

There are many parts to the application. A few sections and MSU-specific requirements are highlighted below. International students may have additional requirements. Please reference the International Students page for more information.

A. Program Selection Applicants must add the veterinary schools/programs they want to apply to, to their general VMCAS application. You should be able to add programs to your VMCAS application in around May of your application year. There is also no additional fee to add MSU’s DVM program to your application.

Once you add MSU's program to you application, you will be able to: apply to MSU's program, complete MSU’s additional questions/essay(s), and match your coursework to MSU’s required courses. There will be four short answer questions. Each of these responses will tell the Admissions team more about your personal experiences or hardships, what you have learned from your experiences, how those experiences align with The College's values, and what attributes you have that will make you a successful veterinary student and professional. Also know the courses you match to MSU's prerequisite courses may not be what is used in the Science Prerequisite GPA calculation.

B. VMCAS Personal Statement The essay section of the VMCAS Application consists of one personal statement and it is required.

Your personal statement is a one-page essay (not to exceed 3,000 characters) that gives veterinary admissions committees a clear picture of who you are and, most importantly, why you want to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. Although there is no set of rules mandating what a strong personal statement should include, there are usually tips provided in the VMCAS application to help you successfully craft an effective personal statement.

C. Letters of Recommendation To apply to MSU’s DVM program, you must have three letters of recommendation submitted through your VMCAS application. Your recommenders will actually submit their letters directly to VMCAS and you will send recommendation requests to your recommenders through VMCAS. Recommendations cannot be completed by a family member and one letter must be from a veterinarian with whom you have shadowed, assisted, or worked. Our faculty recommends a minimum of 150 hours of experience with a veterinarian; however, this is not a requirement.

D. Experiences There will also be a section where you can enter experiences by category. The categories have included things like animal experience, veterinary experience, non-animal-related employment experience, research experience, extracurricular activities, and non-animal-related volunteering. Include as many of your experiences as you would like. They can only benefit your application (i.e. non-animal related employment may still be customer service experience).

It is recommended that applicants seek 150 hours of experience with a veterinarian. However, this is not a requirement. Veterinary experience includes any hours spent volunteering, observing, or working under the supervision of a veterinarian.

Animal experience includes any activity where you gain hands-on experience in working with animals. This includes hours spent volunteering, observing, or working with animals in a professional setting such as animal shelters, farms, kennels, zoos, pet shops, pet grooming salons, etc. The MSU College of Veterinary Medicine also does not require applicants to have a certain number of animal experience hours.

E. Standardized Tests The GRE and MCAT are not required, nor will they be considered.

F. Transcripts

You will be asked to enter transcript information into VMCAS. All official transcripts will also need to be sent to VMCAS. Please reference the instructions VMCAS has provided for submission of United States/English-Canadian Transcripts and Foreign and French-Canadian Transcripts. If you have issues with VMCAS transcript requests, please contact VMCAS Help here or via phone: 617-612-2884.

MSU Students: You will need to request that MSU mail official paper transcripts to VMCAS, please follow the steps linked here.

If you have taken courses at multiple schools, please be sure to submit all of your transcripts at the time you apply. Your application will not be influenced by the number of schools you have attended. Additionally, applicants who have attended an institution that uses narratives to evaluate students and does not issue numerical or letter grades should send an email to admiss@cvm.msu.edu once their application had been submitted.

Applicants who wish to pursue a dual-degree must apply to the CMIB Graduate Program in addition to the DVM program. Application to the Dual-Degree Program occurs after the DVM application process has begun. There is a question on the VMCAS application where applicants indicate their interest in MSU’s DVM/PhD Dual-Degree program. Make sure you answer this question accordingly if you are interested in the DVM/PhD program. Once applicants have been invited for an interview, they will be eligible to apply for the CMIB Graduate Program. The application deadline for the CMIB Graduate Program is usually in January. For more information about the Dual-Degree Program, click here. Please contact palazz39@msu.edu with questions regarding the DVM/PhD program.

In this stage, an applicant’s academic performance is reviewed. Applicants must meet all academic requirements set by the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine. These academic requirements include completion of all science prerequisite courses (with grade reported on the transcripts submitted to VMCAS) by the application deadline, a minimum Last Three Semester GPA of 3.0 and a minimum Science Prerequisite GPA of 3.0. Additionally, the applicant must have submitted three letters of recommendation through their VMCAS application (and one must be from a veterinarian).

All of the above is required for your application to receive a file review. More information about the GPA and prerequisite requirements can be found on the Academic Requirements page.

Note: Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine does not require and will not consider GRE or MCAT test results for admission to the program. Additionally, applications that are not verified by VMCAS will not be reviewed by MSU.

We will review the applicant’s experiences, letters of recommendation, achievements, essay responses and their alignment with the values of the College.

Interviews are by invitation only and will be held virtually. Applicants will be notified by email starting in November and through January if they have been invited to interview. Applicants will be invited for the interview based on the File Review Assessment and their performance in Academic Review. Applicants will also need to have all required letters of recommendation submitted at the time of application.

If you are offered a spot in MSU’s DVM program, you will be required to pay an administrative fee and a seat deposit to secure your spot in the class. The administrative fee is $65. The seat deposit is $500 for in-state students and $1000 for out-of-state students. A criminal background check will also be required for any applicant that accepts an offer of admission. The background check will not be used in the selection process and will not be started before the applicant accepts the offer.